Red Sky in the Morning Read Free Page B

looked suddenly much younger, laughter lines wrinkling around his eyes. ‘For all the things I’ve forgotten to bring from the market the day
before when I’ve had one too many.’
    He stood up and brushed the hay from his clothes. ‘Come on, Tony. Time you were getting ready for school.’ He turned back to Anna and smiled down at her. ‘You stay here. When
the wife’s gone, I’ll come back and take you down to the cottage.’ He pulled a wry expression. ‘But it’s not much to look at.’
    The man descended the ladder first and the boy followed, pausing briefly to smile back at her. Anna raised her hand and curled her fingers in a kind of wave, but could not summon an answering
smile.

Three
    ‘It’s not much of a place,’ Eddie said again as they walked up the slope away from the farm, ‘but it’s in a good spot near the woods. Sheltered,
but very isolated.’ Anna felt his glance. ‘It’ll be lonely for you.’
    That’ll suit me
, she thought, though she said nothing.
    She had waited in the hayloft until she heard the trap rattle out of the yard, the sound of its wheels on the roadway receding into the distance. Only a moment later she had heard the man
calling softly from below. ‘Coast’s clear, lass.’
    They walked on, but near the top of the hill Anna paused and looked back towards the farm where the man and his family lived. Cackle Hill Farm, for she had seen the name on the gate as they
left, was set against a background of trees, beyond which was the rolling countryside of the Lincolnshire Wolds. She turned and followed the man, who was still plodding to the top of the rise. When
they reached it, they both paused to take in the view below them. The land sloped away again and at the bottom of the track on this side of the hill Anna could see the outline of a cottage nestling
against a wooded area on the right from where she was standing. The land was cold and stark, the trees naked against the grey sky, but in spring and summer she guessed the view would be idyllic.
Just beyond the cottage she could see a stream bubbling down the hillside and disappearing round the far side of the wood. Sheep dotted the sloping fields and, for the first time in weeks, Anna
smiled.
    ‘You like it?’ Eddie asked gently. Anna jumped. For a moment she had forgotten he was there.
    ‘Oh! Oh yes.’ She nodded. ‘It was the sheep. I – I like sheep,’ she added diffidently.
    Eddie nodded. ‘Mek you feel at home, d’they?’
    Her smile faded and at once her face took on a closed look. ‘Something like that,’ she murmured and the man knew he had said the wrong thing. Silently, he vowed not to mention her
home, nor question her about her background. But he liked this lass. He wanted to help her. She was like a lost sheep herself and his tender heart reached out to her. He sighed. If only his wife
would be as kindly disposed towards her.
    They were nearing the cottage now and Anna could see that it was as tumbledown as he had said. It was a small, lime-washed, mud-and-stud, thatched building with a central front door and a window
on either side. To the left of the door, there was a gaping hole where the mud had crumbled away, leaving the wooden slats of the framework exposed. On the same side of the cottage the thatched
roof was badly in need of repair. Several of the windowpanes were broken and the front door leant drunkenly on its hinges. When Eddie pushed it open, it scraped the mud floor.
    ‘This place is only used at lambing time. I stay here, specially if the weather’s bad. My lad comes too – if his mam’ll let him.’ The last few words were murmured,
almost as if he did not intend the girl to hear them.
    The door opened into a tiny hallway with steep stairs, more like a ladder than a proper staircase, leading to the upper floor.
    ‘It’s two up and two down, but I only ever use this room,’ Eddie said, leading her into the room to the right. He laughed as he jerked his thumb over