Georgia Read Online Free PDF

was, a fifty-year-old, respectable, dependable bank manager, neat and industrious.
    The traffic was heavy as Brian approached Lewisham High Street, he tutted with irritation, realizing that for the first time ever he was going to be late.
    He parked his Humber in the side road close to the bank, took his briefcase from the back seat and hurriedly locked the car door.
    ‘Good morning, Mr Anderson!’
    Brian looked up at the sound of his secretary’s voice.
    ‘Good morning, Miss Bowden,’ he smiled. ‘I’m afraid I’m a little late. I took Georgia to her new school this morning.’
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Miss Bowden didn’t miss the frown lines on his forehead. ‘I purposely didn’t make you any appointments this morning until after ten thirty. I anticipated you might get held up.’
    Miss Bowden had been his secretary for five years now. A sensible spinster in her mid-thirties, she was as dedicated to her job as Anderson himself. Her dark suit and white blouse, the sturdy flat shoes and neat brown hair were a constant reminder to the other, younger clerks that this was how a woman in banking should look.
    ‘I just hope Coulson was on time,’ Brian took up his position on the outside of the pavement, irritated still more by the amount of early shoppers pushing their way along to the market. ‘It’s so long since he was expected to unlock the bank, I doubt he remembers how to.’
    ‘Of course he does,’ Miss Bowden reassured her employer. ‘Look, you can see yourself the lights are on.’
    Anderson had no need to be at the bank before nine thirty, but old habits died hard for him, and often he was behind his desk soon after eight thirty, well before the rest of the staff arrived. It had been this sort of reliability which got him promoted to manager, and although Celia kept telling him it was time he sat back and took things easier, he still liked to be there to unlock.
    ‘How was Georgia this morning?’ Miss Bowden asked. ‘Was she nervous? It’s a big step going to such a huge school.’
    ‘A little nervous, but she’ll be fine once she’s settled in.’ Anderson’s expression softened a little. ‘Remind me to telephone my wife later, will you?’
    ‘What a lovely girl she is!’ Miss Bowden smiled warmly as they approached the bank door and rang the bell to be admitted. ‘She’s a credit to you both.’
    ‘Well, thank you Miss Bowden,’ Brian’s plump face beamed at the compliment’. Sometimes he felt a little overshadowed by Georgia and it was nice to know his staff at least felt he was responsible for the way she had shaped up, ‘It hasn’t all been easy you know, but she’s been worth the disruption.’
    No one knew how much he’d dreaded having a child of unknown background in his home, Celia least of all. He hid it away, just the same way he did so many things. Celia was like his mother, it was easier to go along with her wishes than argue.
    Now it made him blush when he remembered the way he reported to friends and colleagues about Georgia’s lacerated back on her arrival. He took all the credit for caring for her, implied he intended to move heaven and earth to get St Joseph’s shut down.
    He had been horrified by her injuries, but it was Celia who coped with it, not him. Why had he been so afraid that one small child would ruin their lovely peaceful home? Why had he sulked silently while Celia threw herself into her new mother role wholeheartedly?
    Of course, he hadn’t known then what benefits one child could bring with her. Perhaps if he’d realized he would lose his tag of ‘Boring Old Anderson’ overnight, he might have been less truculent. It had been like joining an exclusive club. Suddenly he was no longer exempt from conversations centred on family life. His staff took more interest in him and for the first time in his life he felt fully accepted.
    Maybe it had taken a little longer to learn to be a real father than he allowed his colleagues to see, but it had its