Blood Brothers Read Online Free PDF Page B

tea in his hand and a mischievous look on his face. When their eyes met, he gave a reassuring smile.
    Returning the smile, Alice made her way towards the stairs.
    A short while later Alice returned, washed and dried; her hair tied back in a ribbon, and looking fresh in a pale cream-coloured dress with floral collar and wide belt. ‘Oh, Alice! You look pretty as a picture! I remember that dress from when I was young.’ Nancy ushered her to the table. ‘Now then, I’ve made you a cup of honey and hot milk. You’re to drink it straight down and no arguments, ‘cause it’ll keep the chills away!’
    Outside, Tom and Joe were deep in conversation. Settling Alice at the table, Nancy drew Alice’s gaze to where the two men were sitting under the beech tree. ‘Tom’s eager to know what our Joe’s been up to, and Joe needs to know that we’re all right.’
    A look of pride lit her homely features. ‘Joe’s been a fine son to us,’ she confided. ‘Oh, it’s not to say our Frank isn’t also a good lad, because of course he is. Only they have a different way of dealing with things.’
    Curious, Alice asked her, ‘How do you mean?’
    Nancy had a heart full of love for both her sons, but she was careful in her reply. ‘They’re different in nature, that’s all,’ she answered cagily.
    ‘In what way?’ Alice asked curiously.
    Nancy thought about that. ‘Well now, let me see.’ She parked herself in the chair opposite Alice. ‘They’re both hard-working, and they’ve each got their good points,’ she emphasised. ‘But y’see, Joe is more a thinker than Frank; although I’m not altogether sure his dad would agree. What I mean is that our Joe will examine a problem from all angles before he makes a decision, while Frank is more impatient and impulsive. He’ll only see what he wants to see. He’ll often dive in at the deep end without weighing up the consequences first.’
    She laughed. ‘He was the same as a boy…put the fear of God in me at times, he did!’
    Almost oblivious to Alice’s presence, she began to reminisce. ‘I recall when Tom had his new fork lift delivered. Joe was only a toddler, while Frank was coming up to his sixth birthday. I was in the kitchen and I’d put young Joe outside in the wooden playpen…lovely thing it was. His dad made it for him.’
    She hesitated, her face drawn up in a deep frown. ‘When I wasn’t looking, Frank carried his brother to the truck and tied him on to the forks. ‘Course little Joe thought it was all a game. When I saw what had happened, I ran out. By the time I got there, Frank was already in the driving seat, trying to start the engine.’ She gave a great heavy sigh. ‘It nearly gave me a heart attack!’
    Having learned a little about the mechanics on a farm, Alice was horrified. ‘If Frank had started the engine and the forks had gone up, Joe could have been badly injured!’ She knew that much.
    Nancy agreed, though she had never seen it as a deliberately cruel prank, more as Frank’s little game to amuse his baby brother.
    She said so now. ‘Of course, Frank didn’t realise that Joe could have been injured,’ she said. ‘But his father was horrified. He gave Frank a bit of a spanking and put him to bed.’
    Nancy chuckled. ‘He went wild, kicking and yelling, and wanting to come down. But his father said he was to stay there until he realised that what he had done was dangerous. Later on Frank apologised, and nothing like that ever happened again. Like I say…Frank’s a fine man but as a boy, he did have a bit of a temper.’ She could have said more. Instead, she turned her mind to other things.
    Taking hold of Alice’s hand, she wrapped her two hands around it. ‘You’ll be so good for him, Alice,’ she said quietly. ‘You have a calming nature, and I’ve never known anyone to be so kind of heart. Oh! and you have such spirit, for a little thing!’
    She looked down into Alice’s remarkable dark-blue eyes and she was