Larkrigg Fell Read Online Free PDF Page A

right man for you. Someone better will come along, I’m sure.’
    Beth felt suddenly raw and exposed, as if her inner feelings were on view to everyone. ‘I never wish to think of Jeremy ever again.’
    ‘That’s the ticket.’
    Or of his caressing hands and soft kisses, yet the memory continued to haunt her day and night. And the picture of him in bed with someone else sent her mad with despair. ‘Right now it’s hard to imagine I ever will. Find someone else, I mean. I really wouldn’t care to risk it. He can’t have loved me at all.’
    Meg kissed her cheek. ‘I understand how you feel. I was betrayed too, remember, by Jack Lawson, my first love. I thought I’d never recover, but I did. I still have the luckpenny that his father gave me. And I still have Broombank. Then I found Tam and perfect happiness. So there you are. Lakeland will make you well too.’
    A soft laugh and the two were hugging and Beth was mopping up tears and blowing her nose, insisting that really she was fine. ‘Sarah likes it here too, don’t you Sarah? Though she wasn’t too sure at first.’
    Sarah thought of the empty, lonely landscape, the drizzling rain, the bleak grey-walled house they’d so briefly glimpsed and forced a smile. ‘It will certainly be different,’ she said. ‘Mind you, a warmer welcome would have been nice.’
    A stunned silence filled the room as all eyes turned upon her. Beth’s heart sank. Trust Sarah to put everyone’s backs up from the word go.
    ‘My fault,’ Tessa hastily put in. ‘I’ve already said how sorry I am to have - missed them at the station.’
    Meg smiled, shrewdly judging it unwise to pursue whatever was causing these two to cut sparks off each other. ‘Everything has seemed to go wrong this week. May in general has been a disaster. Let’s hope June, with the Jubilee Celebrations, is better. We’re planning a big party to which you are all invited.’
    ‘Great!’ said Sarah drily.
    Meg met her granddaughter’s sulky gaze with a speculative lift of one brow. ‘We must try to make up for our neglect, mustn’t we? Though warmth, I’ve always thought, needs to flow two ways.’
     
    It was a blessed relief to everyone that the Thursday of the Jubilee celebrations dawned to a pale lacy mist that rolled off the hills, revealing a burning bright day. The scent of new grass was strong on the hills and meadow pipits feasted on the insects which flew up as the three girls passed by.
    This was meant to be a family day with races, wrestling, dog trials and all the usual country events. ‘Plus a parade of the queens,’ Meg told them. ‘Everyone who cares to join in the fun must dress in period costume.’ Meg and her sister-in-law, Sally Ann, had been sewing for weeks for this day.
    ‘Count me out,’ Sarah had protested.
    ‘Oh, don’t be a spoilsport,’ Tessa had challenged her.
    They’d settled, in the end, for a vaguely pastoral look with soft muslin blouses pulled off the shoulder, flowers in their hair and about their necks, wrists clinking with beaded bracelets. Even baby James was decked out in a flowered bow tie and red dungarees. They all looked fresh and young and very lovely.
    From down in the dale came a hum of activity on the clear fresh air. Marquees carried jaunty flags, stall holders jostled cheerily for space. Children ran about, whistles, barks and happy laughter. The farming community in their best frocks and setting-off suits were enjoying themselves as only dalesfolk can. This was as good as a holiday to them.
    ‘They’ve been holding this sort of sport’s day since before the war,’ Tessa told the twins, hitching the baby higher on her hip. ‘And the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling for a hundred years or more. We usually have it at the end of July but we’ve tucked in an extra day for the Jubilee.’
    ‘How terribly exciting,’ Sarah commented. ‘I can hardly wait.’
    ‘Oh, come on,’ Beth urged. ‘Stop grumbling. Let’s have some