Anne Bennett 3-Book Collection: A Sister’s Promise, A Daughter’s Secret, A Mother’s Spirit. Anne Bennett

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СКАЧАТЬ already turned five o’clock.’

      ‘You don’t mean in the evening?’

      ‘I do indeed.’

      ‘I can’t have slept all that time.’

      ‘You did, and all I can say is you must have needed it.’

      ‘Maybe I did,’ Molly said. ‘But I am still annoyed with myself. Can we not go out afterwards, when I have eaten?’

      ‘Out in the blackout with a full moon shining in the sky?’ Ray said. ‘How would it be if we were caught in a raid that went on for hours and we were unable to get home? Trust me in this, my dear.’

      ‘All right,’ Molly said with a sigh. ‘To tell you the truth, I still feel tired and not myself at all. I don’t think I would be up to it anyway.’

      ‘It is quite understandable,’ Ray said. ‘You sit and rest yourself and drink your tea, and I will rustle us up something to eat.’

      When Ray had gone, Molly put the drained cup down and got out of bed, padded across the room and immediately caught sight of herself in one of the many mirrors. Her face was the colour of lint and her hair tousled about her head because she hadn’t plaited it and it had come adrift from the Kirbigrips that had held it fast. Her eyes looked puzzled and were screwed up in pain.

      She was wearing the most beautiful nightdress, which she was sure she had never seen before. It was made of silk, and a deep azure blue with a white lace trim, and though it was floor length there was a split either side to her thigh. There wasn’t much to the bodice at all. It seemed to be made entirely of lace and it was so low cut it barely covered her nipples. Her face flushed with shame for, by her standards, the nightdress was almost indecent. She suddenly realised with alarm that her locket was gone. Scanning the room a little frantically, she spied it on the little table by the bed. But she never took it off. Then she told herself she couldn’t remember taking anything else off either, and she felt ashamed of her behaviour.

      Ray didn’t seem bothered about any of it, though, and he brought her broth in on a tray. ‘Come back into bed,’ he said, ‘and eat this up. Then maybe you would like a bath?’

      ‘Oh, I would love one. Will anyone mind?’

      ‘How could anyone mind? There is only you and me here. I’ll have to find you something else to wear; the things that you had on last night are covered in dust. There are plenty of clothes here, and for all you are a bit on the small size, I’m sure I will find something to fit you.’

      ‘I can’t wear someone else’s clothes.’

      ‘Well, you sure as hell can’t go round in your birthday suit,’ Ray said with a grin. ‘It’s too cold, for one thing. Anyway, it didn’t bother you last night when you put on that nightdress.’

      ‘But who do they all belong to?’

      ‘Don’t you worry your pretty head about that,’ Ray said. ‘Eat up now. You’ll feel better afterwards.’

      And Molly did. She was unaware of the white powder that Ray had mixed in with the broth. Afterwards a bath seemed a wonderful idea, and a few minutes later she was luxuriating in a hot bath full of fragrant bubbles. She washed her hair too with creamy shampoo.

      Eventually, she stepped out and, wrapping herself in a towelling robe, she went through to the bedroom when Ray had laid some clothes on the bed. They were not at all the sort of things she was used to and she was not at all sure she wanted to get used to them either. She had virtually lived in dungarees and shirts for over five years, and though she had longed for something prettier and more feminine, she had never envisaged wearing clothes like those Ray had laid out. The lacy underwear and sheer silk stockings were nice enough, but the blouse was so clingy, none of her shape was left to the imagination and the neckline plunged so low it showed a fair bit of cleavage. The skirts were far too short too.

      Fully dressed, she surveyed herself in one of the many mirrors. She looked like a different person and she knew without doubt that if there had been a person dressed as she was in Buncrana, people would assume she was fast, up to no good. Molly’s cheeks grew hot at the thought.

      When Ray knocked on the door she was almost too embarrassed to open it, feeling sure she was showing too much flesh altogether. He obviously didn’t feel the same way, though, for she saw his eyes widen in appreciation.

      ‘Do I look all right?’ she asked tentatively.

      Ray knew that Molly would have no idea how fetching she was. Her skin was fresh and glowing from the warm bath, her cheeks pink-tinged, and her hair was wrapped up in a towel, turban-style but some of her curls had escaped the turban and framed her pretty little face. For a moment Ray regretted that girls as beautiful as this one did not stir him in the slightest.

      Molly’s eyes were troubled, but when Ray said, ‘You do not look just all right, you look wondrous,’ they cleared a little.

      She looked doubtfully at her reflection. ‘Are you sure?’

      ‘Quite sure.’

      ‘You don’t think I look a bit, well, sort of fast?’

      ‘Molly, believe me, you are the picture of loveliness,’ Ray said. He caught up her hands and turned her round to face him, and added, ‘You also look seductive and extremely sexy, and what’s wrong with that?’

      ‘I … I don’t know that I want to be sexy,’ Molly said. ‘And these clothes feel strange on me.’

      ‘They don’t look strange.’

      ‘Well,’ Molly said with a shrug, ‘they’ll do, I suppose, till I can get something more suitable.’

      Ray pulled Molly towards him and put an arm around her shoulder as he said gently, ‘Listen, sweetheart, Britain is at war. Making clothes in vast quantities is not considered important for the nation’s survival and most places that make clothes have been converted to making uniforms anyway, so there is little in the shops to buy. You were not the only one, either, to be left with just the clothes on your back. No one can afford to be too choosy these days. So these things may not be your choice, but there is little alternative.’

      Molly knew Ray was probably right. After all, what did she know of war restrictions? And she had no desire to upset the man who had been so kind to her.

      ‘Anyway,’ Ray went on, ‘you have a lovely body. Never be ashamed of it.’

      ‘But it’s wrong to show yourself.’

      ‘Who said? The harridan of a grandmother?’

      ‘No, well, I mean she didn’t need to. I just knew.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘I mean why is it wrong to show your body?’ Ray said. ‘The female naked form can be beautiful. Look at some of the paintings.’

      ‘I … I haven’t seen paintings like that.’

      ‘There are many of them in the art gallery in the town, or were before the war.’

      ‘But СКАЧАТЬ