Wait for Me. Caroline Leech

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ he was needed for. And Esther says their Land Army girl is useless and the size of a sparrow, not like your Nellie at all.”

      “Nellie’s hardly enormous,” said Lorna.

      “No, but she’s strong and she knows about engines and stuff.”

      “Yes, but she’s still a woman. And apparently my dad would rather have a German on the farm than another woman, even a German who looks like that.”

      “Looks like what? Is your prisoner old and fat too?”

      “Not exactly …”

      “Young and fat?”

      “No …”

      “Well, is he young and handsome then?”

      “Not exactly …”

      “He is, isn’t he? You think he’s handsome!”

      “Oh stop!”

      “You do, don’t you? You fancy a German!” Iris cried.

      “Iris, shhhh! I mean it, stop! He is young but … oh, it’s awful. He’s been … burned … his face … it must have been awful.”

      Lorna could picture him again: the tight angry, brilliant pink skin contrasting with eyes the color of snow-laden clouds, and the sneer that tweaked the corner of the disfiguring mask. Lorna wondered for the first time how bad his pain had been.

      “Oh my goodness, no!” said Iris, looking more thrilled than horrified. “That’s dreadful! Well, I suppose it’s dreadful, isn’t it? I mean, he is a German, so maybe he deserved it … not deserved it exactly, but … oh, you know what I mean.”

      “Iris! Just because someone’s a German doesn’t mean he deserves to be hurt so badly.”

      “But you hate Germans.” Iris looked genuinely puzzled. “Aren’t you pleased that this one’s been hurt?”

      “Well, yes … no … maybe … I mean, yes, but when you’ve got a real one standing right in front of you and the damage to his face is so terrible, well, it’s … different. Somehow.”

      Lorna realized only then that her initial revulsion was passing on, allowing pity to creep in behind. She looked at Iris, expecting to see a reflection of her own discomfort, but Iris was smiling.

      Iris leaned in close, her face eager.

      “But you still haven’t told me,” she said in a loud whisper, “would your German have been handsome if he wasn’t so … you know?”

      “Iris!”

       Three

      Mrs. McMurdough had her coat on to leave when the girls walked into the kitchen. On the range behind her, a huge pot of stew simmered deliciously.

      Lorna threw down her schoolbag and wrapped her arms around the housekeeper from behind. Taller by several inches now, Lorna kissed the old woman on the top of her head as she hugged her.

      “Mrs. Mack,” said Lorna, who had seldom heard the housekeeper called by her full name, “that smells wonderful.”

      Mrs. Mack had looked after Craigielaw since Lorna’s mother died when Lorna was a toddler. She came in from the village every day to cook, clean, and care for the family. Now that the boys were away and Lorna was older, however, Mrs. Mack would leave when Lorna got home from school and go look after her own grandchildren while her daughter Sheena worked the late shift in the aircraft repair factory at Macmerry. Before she went, however, Mrs. Mack always had a meal ready for Lorna to serve up to her father and Nellie.

      “And a good afternoon to you, too!” Mrs. Mack turned round and hugged Lorna back, but only for a moment. “But just look at my floor!”

      Lorna stepped back. A trail of mud ran from the door to end at her filthy shoes.

      “I did not spend half the morning on my poor old knees scrubbing, just for some young besom to drag mud across it. Out you go, and take those filthy shoes with you.”

      She gave Lorna a playful shove toward the door.

      “Oh, and Iris is here, how lovely. Actually you’ve saved me a trip, dear. I’ve some cotton curtains that I want made into pinafores for my granddaughters.” Mrs. Mack barely paused for breath. “I’d sew them myself, but my fingers aren’t up to stitching anymore, and I know that you and your mum would do a lovely job on them. I saw the party frocks you did for Mrs. Gunn’s twins. Very pretty. So shall I pop the material in to your mum on Sunday after church?”

      “We’d love to help, of course,” replied Iris, “but we won’t be home after church on Sunday. The minister and Mrs. Urquhart have invited Mum, Dad, and me over to the Manse for Sunday dinner.”

      Mrs. Mack’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

      “Sunday dinner at the Manse with the minister? My, how grand!”

      “Well, now that William and me, I mean William and I, are stepping out together …”

      Mrs. Mack’s eyebrows rose even more.

      “Now, that’s some news I hadn’t heard about,” she said, looking pointedly at Lorna.

      “Well, it’s only been a week or two, eleven days actually,” continuted Iris, “but we are very keen on each other. He’s very good-looking, don’t you think? Just like a young Tyrone Power, that’s what we’ve always said.”

      Lorna vigorously shook her head behind Iris’s back to make sure the housekeeper knew that she was not part of that “we,” and Mrs. Mack suppressed a smile.

      “Well, I don’t get to the pictures very often these days, so I wouldn’t know about that,” Mrs. Mack said, “but I’m sure you’re right.”

      “And he’s very clever too, and very moral. So we’re doing things the right way, and that’s why our parents are meeting on Sunday.”

      “Meeting on Sunday?” Mrs. Mack burst out. “But your folks and the Urquharts have known one another for years. Decades even. Didn’t Reverend Urquhart baptize you and Lorna and every other bairn born in the village these last twenty years?”

      “But it’s different now.” Iris was pursing her mouth again. “They’ll be meeting for the first time as the parents of a couple who are stepping out. Don’t you see?”

      Behind Iris, Lorna picked up an imaginary noose and mimicked hanging herself. She could see Mrs. Mack was struggling not to smile.

      Suddenly, Iris spun around, catching Lorna with one hand in the air.

      “What are you doing, Lorna?” she demanded.

      “Sorry,” Lorna choked out. “You know I was only kidding.”

      “You’re СКАЧАТЬ