Watching. Jeff Edwards

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СКАЧАТЬ of the gardeners off with a message for one of her relatives.

      Within an hour a wet-nurse was found, baby Janice was put to breast, while Ann was left to recover her composure, leaving all the obligatory problems to her servants.

      Ann was relieved to be rid of the child, leaving its upbringing to the staff, and devoted herself to managing the household, acting only as supervisor and chief critic in her daughter’s rearing.

      Her father, on the other hand, was delighted with his new bundle of joy, whose green eyes were an absolute delight to him. He immediately began calling her Jade and bought a small pendant of that stone to hang around her neck.

      Ann was aghast, and refused to call her anything but Janice.

      The staff however, opted for her father’s approach, and called her ‘Missy Jade’. Ann saw this as a direct slight to her command of the household though, and after many tirades the staff were forced to refer to the child as ‘Missy Janice’ whilst in her mother’s presence, but reverted quickly to ‘Missy Jade’ when Ann was not around.

      John, trying to assert a modicum of authority under his own roof, paid no heed to Ann’s wishes, and called the child Jade at all times.

      The wet-nurse that had been found was the cook’s niece, an intelligent young woman by the name of Yee-Ling. Yee-Ling’s husband, a schoolteacher, had died of influenza when she was four months pregnant with her first child, and grief had hit her badly. She ate little, and her weakened body, as well as her tortured soul, produced a further tragedy of the stillbirth of her child.

      Yee-Ling was just eighteen years of age, standing just a little over five feet in height, with lustrous black hair that reached to her waist and the high cheekbones of a true oriental beauty.

      Fortunately, the position as wet-nurse saved the girl from a slow death due to grief, and meant that Yee-Ling could concentrate all her energies on raising Jade as a substitute for her own child, which she did with a single-minded determination that almost bordered on mania.

      Nothing on this earth was going to take her new child away from her ...

      * * *

      For convenience, Yee-Ling was given a room next to Jade’s nursery, and Jade’s earliest memory was of a savage night of storms, with thunder and lightening erupting around the house. Scared, clutching her favourite stuffed animal, Jade had jumped out of bed and ran to the room next-door. Climbing into Yee-Ling’s bed, Jade was overcome with the feeling of warmth and safety experienced there.

      Yee-Ling had crooned softly to her in Chinese, stroking her hair, making her feel better until finally, she had fallen asleep once more. The following morning she had been disappointed to awake and find herself back in her own bed.

      As Jade grew older, she began to sense the undercurrents of unhappiness within her family.

      The older girls at school whispered about what their parents did in their bedrooms at night. Hinting at some very mysterious occurrences, she came to realise that her parents sleeping in separate rooms was not how the other parents lived. It seemed to explain why her parents never seemed to smile as much as other parents she had met.

      Her mother remained prim and proper, going about her household duties in the most precise, and impersonal, manner. It was the same manner that she adopted in her dealings with her husband, and Jade. No matter how hard Jade tried to gain her mother’s approval, she never achieved more than the indifferent nod of the head if she did something worthy, and was always chastised at length for even the most trivial offence.

      Jade gravitated more and more toward her father and Yee-Ling, who were far more generous in their affections and welcomed her presence. They were the ones who played with her, and showed their delight when Jade was able to produce a painting or bake an apple pie for their supper.

      She also began to notice the way in which Father regarded her mother. Knowing it was useless to try to argue with her, he agreed with Ann’s wishes on almost all occasions. Like Jade, he sought to break down the barriers between them, but without success. As a result of the intolerable situation, he began to seek solace in drink.

      Jade noticed that he often came home late, and then spent a great deal of time working in his study, with papers spread across the desk before him, and a large glass of liquid near at hand — a glass that was rarely empty.

      Having raised Jade through her early childhood, Yee-Ling continued to be the person who had the closest links to Jade, with her father a close second. With the position of wet-nurse no longer required, she remained in the household, helping the cook and the maid in her spare time and while Jade was at school, but on her return, in the early afternoon, Yee-Ling was the one who helped her with her homework, and would feed and wash her, ready for bed. If Jade was to visit friends, Yee-Ling accompanied her, and brought her home afterwards.

      When her father arrived home, if it was early enough, he would sometimes spend some time with Jade, helping her with her studies, nodding with approval at Jade’s accomplishments. She had proved to be a natural student, absorbing information like a sponge. Jade loved to stand before her father, and Yee-Ling, reading from her books, and demonstrating her abilities to conquer even the most complex spellings.

      It was while she was reading to the two of them that she noticed something unusual. Her father and Yee-Ling were sitting side by side on her bed, as she read to them from her latest book. Both were giving her their full attention, when they noticed that their thighs had come into contact. Each sprang aside, and Yee-Ling blushed deeply.

      ‘Please excuse me,’ said Yee-Ling, as she rose and left the room.

      Jade wondered what had caused such a strange reaction to such a simple event, but promptly forgot about it as she continued to read to her father. However, her father did not appear to be listening.

      It was not the last time that she noticed Yee-Ling blush while in the presence of her father. Jade became aware that her father’s eyes often followed Yee-Ling as she moved about the room.

      Several weeks later, a fierce storm lashed the house.

      Jade awoke, and lay listening to the thunder rolling across the sky. She was not afraid of storms any more. After all, she was now at school, and a young lady, however, the thought of Yee-Ling’s warm embrace, and soft, gentle singing, was enticing. Climbing from bed, she went to Yee-Ling’s room, and whispered, ‘Yee-Ling, may I sleep with you?’

      ‘Of course you can, little one,’ she responded as she opened her arms to the young girl.

      Snuggling close, Jade felt warm and safe, as Yee-Ling began to sing. Just then, the door opened, and her father stood in the doorway. Dressed in a dressing gown, he had been about to go to bed when he thought to look in on his daughter. He swayed slightly, and Jade could see that he had been drinking.

      ‘I was just checking on Jade, and found her room empty.’

      ‘She is here with me, Mr John. Safe and well.’

      ‘Good. Good. But it is best if she were in her own bed. She’s getting to be too old to be creeping to your bed for comfort.

      Please take her back to her room, and then return here. I wish to talk to you.’

      ‘Of course, Mr John,’ replied Yee-Ling, as she arose and took Jade by the hand. She led Jade back to her bedroom, and tucked her in, with a kiss on the forehead.

      Jade СКАЧАТЬ