Josephine Cox Sunday Times Bestsellers Collection. Josephine Cox

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СКАЧАТЬ car passing by, occupied by that one with her nose in the air would be like a red rag to a bull.

      Breaking into song, Lucy returned to her work, gave the large silver teapot another rub with the cloth, then with the greatest of care replaced it in the cabinet, where she shifted the silverware about until the display was pleasing to the eye.

      She now closed the door, took up a clean cloth from her basket and giving the door-glass a good polish, gave a sigh of relief. ‘All done for another week!’

      A few minutes later, she was out of the house and running across the back lawns towards the fields. Now, as she rounded the brow of the hill, she heard the laughter from Barney’s house. Pausing, she took off her shoes, set off at the run and before long was at the gate of Overhill farmhouse. ‘Quick, Lucy!’ Vicky was beckoning her. ‘Hurry!’

      When the young woman ran into the garden, she saw little Jamie standing with his back to the trunk of the apple tree, arms wide and laughing as only a child can laugh. ‘He’s trying to walk all the way over to us unaided,’ Vicky told Lucy. ‘Three times he’s started off and three times he’s fallen. I’ve stood him up again, but he loves this game, and he wants to carry on playing it.’

      Lucy was delighted. Jamie was a good little walker now, but his gammy leg meant he often fell over. Falling to her knees, she opened her arms wide, coaxing the boy. ‘Come to your mammy, sweetheart.’

      He stopped giggling and stared at her, as though he might be giving it some thought. Then he looked up to excitedly point into the skies, at a hawk hovering nearby. ‘Bird!’ he shouted. ‘Big bird.’

      Arms still wide, Lucy took a step nearer. ‘Look at me, Jamie. Come on, sweetheart.’

      The child would have none of it. Completely ignoring her, he scoured the skies with his big bright eyes, one finger pointing as he slowly but surely slid downwards, his back seemingly glued to the tree.

      ‘Stay there, Lucy!’ Running forward, Vicky propped him up again. ‘Try, sweetheart,’ she urged the little man. Slowly she backed away, one hand up flat, as though it might dissuade him from sliding down again.

      Standing next to Lucy, Vicky took a cooked sausage from the picnic hamper. ‘Ooh – look what I’ve got.’ She waved the sausage from side to side. ‘If you want it, you’ll have to come and get it.’

      Lucy laughed. ‘That’s a wicked thing to do.’

      Suddenly the child was interested. He licked his lips and raising his arms, made an effort to shuffle forward. ‘He means it this time,’ Vicky whispered. ‘He’ll do it now, you see if he doesn’t.’

      And he didn’t, because when he spotted Barney appearing, he promptly sat down. ‘Leave the little fella alone.’ Still in his work-clothes, his cap pulled forward, Barney stood beside the two women and looking at the boy asked, ‘What are they doing to you, eh?’

      Lucy straightened up. ‘We’re trying to coax him to walk over here without falling over,’ she answered. ‘Vicky said he tried and failed three times.’

      ‘Is that right?’ The smile he gave Vicky spoke volumes; even when he wasn’t saying he loved her, he still showed it – in his smile, in his eyes, in the way he always stood by her side – always there with her, even when he wasn’t.

      ‘Well, he looks proper fed up now, and no mistake. Poor little bugger, you’ve stuck him up against a tree and now he can’t do nothing but sit down.’ And that was exactly what Jamie had done. Sitting on the ground he was pulling the grass up and attempting to eat it.

      ‘Go on then. Stand him up again, but this is the last attempt,’ Barney insisted. ‘Looks to me like he’s had enough.’ Tipping back his cap he stooped to one knee, and waited until Lucy had propped up the child. ‘Right then, Jamie, old son.’ Looking the child in the eye, he said quietly, ‘You’re to take no notice o’ these women. They’re like all women the world over – nag, nag, nag. Anybody’d think you’d only got a minute to learn the walking, when truth being, you’ve got all the time in the world.’ He feigned a deep sigh. ‘But if it’s the only way you can get to sit down in peace and eat your sausage, then if I were you, I’d give it another go.’

      He raised his arms and stretching them apart, he gave the boy a cheeky wink, quietly chattering to himself. ‘It’s up to you, son. You can either come and give Uncle Barney a cuddle, or you can refuse to budge an inch and sit down. Like I say, it’s up to you. But you’d best be quick about it. I’ve been on the go since five o’clock this morning and every bone in my body aches. I need a cuppa tea and five minutes in the armchair to put me right, so come on … walk on them fat little legs o’ yourn. Do it for Barney, there’s a good ’un.’

      Vicky gave him a playful shove. ‘Stop nattering to yourself. You have to raise your voice and talk clear, or he won’t hear a word you’re saying!’

      In that moment, Lucy gave her a dig. ‘Look at him, Vicky. Look at Jamie!’

      Barney’s ‘nattering’ seemed to have worked, for the child had stood himself up straight and was now pushing against the tree, trying to get started. Arms outstretched towards Barney, he took one faltering step, then another, then a third step. When he saw Barney making faces at him, he burst out laughing and almost lost his balance again.

      A few minutes later, encouraged by the big man’s coaxing, Jamie completed his walk across the orchard and fell into Barney’s arms. ‘Who’s a champion then, eh?’ After giving him a kiss and a bear hug, Barney swung him round to Lucy. ‘There y’are. Now that he’s walking so well, you’ll need eyes in the back of your head, and serves you right, the pair of you.’

      With that, he gave Vicky a knowing wink and strode off, still ‘nattering’ to himself. ‘Poor little devil never had a chance. Women and their bullying – what’s a man to do, eh?’ But he wouldn’t want to be without his Vicky for all the treasures in the world.

      Thrilled at Jamie’s performance, Lucy took him by the hand and the two of them slowly followed Vicky into the house. It was another special memory that Lucy would cherish forever.

      While the child slept soundly after all his efforts, the three of them sat together in the kitchen, each with a cup of tea and a generous slice of homemade fruit-cake; Vicky and Lucy at the table and Barney in the armchair. Once or twice, Lucy caught the two of them discreetly exchanging glances, as though they shared something she ought to know about.

      ‘Where’s Susie?’ Lucy had grown fond of Barney and Vicky’s daughter, but she was hardly ever around. She was either out with her school-friends, or in town learning how to make hats.

      ‘She’s gone on a picnic with a group of friends.’ Vicky worried about her young daughter. Though loving and giving, she seemed unsure of what she wanted to do with her life. Whenever Vicky spoke to Barney about her fears, he would tell her, ‘Leave the child be, and she’ll find her way soon enough.’

      ‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,’ Vicky told Lucy after a while. ‘It’s been plaguing me for some time.’

      Barney looked up at her remark. ‘Then you’d best get it off your chest,’ he urged. ‘There’s no use fretting about it.’ He knew exactly what concerned Vicky, because it also concerned him, though not to the same degree.

      ‘What is it?’ For the first time in their company, Lucy felt uncomfortable. ‘Is it something СКАЧАТЬ