Wishing Water Read Online Free PDF Page A

contact between you. I am not too foolish to recognise a clever ruse when I see one.’  
    ‘Clever ruse?’ Meg’s eyes widened.
    ‘Indeed. To get money out of me. Or my husband, as no doubt you have cleverly done in the past on many occasions, gullible fool that he is.’  
    ‘I beg your pardon?’  
    ‘Come, come, Mrs O’Cleary , do not pretend with me. He helped you get a mortgage once, I seem to remember. But you will not succeed. I do not acknowledge your illegitimate child as any responsibility of mine.’ She turned away and pulled on a bell pull. ‘Now we have the matter straight, I believe this interview is over.’  
    Meg looked as if someone had punched her in the face. Her voice shook. ‘How dare you? How dare you suggest such things? And in front of the child.’  
    ‘It’s all right,’ Lissa said, anxious to calm Meg. ‘I understand, and I really don’t mind about being a bastard, only I would’ve liked to know why I wasn’t wanted.’  
    The shock waves of this little speech almost knocked Lissa off her seat. Rosemary Ellis shot to her feet, clasping and unclasping her hands in agitation. ‘If that child uses that word once more in my presence…’ A tall, angular figure with good bone structure, but any beauty she might once have possessed had long since dissipated. A sour mouth thinned perceptibly, even as Lissa gazed wonderingly upon it.
    ‘Stern discipline is what this little madam needs. Though I can think of no respectable establishment which would admit her, and you seem quite unable to provide it.’  
    It was a long moment before Meg answered, concerned as she was about Lissa, seeing the tears brim in the violet eyes, young ears taking in every nuance of the argument. Very quietly she got to her feet. ‘We need no help to bring up our own daughter, Mrs Ellis, and you are the last person I would ask, if we did.’ Meg was trembling with anger. ‘Had I known you were going to attack us with your nasty insinuations, I would have left Lissa at home.’  
    Lissa was, in fact, paying less attention than Meg realised. The whole scene had made her feel distinctly odd. A pain started deep in her belly and she wanted, very suddenly, to be sick. She clamped her teeth tightly together in desperation as the room began to swim about her.
    Meg was speaking from a long way off.
    ‘If you had not been so hard hearted as to throw your daughter out all those years ago, you might have found a bit more love in your own life. Which might have spared you this warped view of the world, Rosemary Ellis. And certainly would have benefited Kath, as well as your poor husband. Yes, Jeffrey was kind to me in the past, but I asked him for nothing and he gave me nothing but his advice and support. I never took any money from him. Ever. Although I greatly valued his friendship. I will not stay and bandy insults with you. I want nothing from you, not now, nor in the future. I agree with you about the letters. I too would prefer it if they stopped. Please ask Katherine to refrain from making promises to Lissa which she has no intention of keeping. It is thoughtless and unkind and causes nothing but hurt and upset for the child.’  
    Lissa groaned as the pain shot deeper, like a great weight between her legs. Neither woman heard her.
    ‘You have clearly read too much into her words. Katherine responds as best she can only because the child insists on writing to her.’ The older woman was almost spitting her contempt now as the two stood facing each other, determined adversaries. Meg held to her point.
    ‘Kath encourages this fantasy of Lissa’s that they might meet one day. It does enormous damage. Every time Kath lets her down the child feels rejected all over again.’  
    ‘Utter rubbish!’ The whiskered chin shook. ‘Rejected indeed. You cannot believe that Katherine or I owe any responsibility to a child who readily admits herself to - to be what she is. Ours is a respectable family. She is no