Free The Four Streets by Nadine Dorries Page A

could face right now. Physically walking up the stairs and getting into bed was normality. He wasn’t ready to cross that line and accept that life without her was now the new normal.
    ‘Did ye know Bernadette well?’ he asked.
    He was completely ignorant as to who Alice might be and was racking his brains to try and remember whether she was one of the girls from the hotel who had come to their wedding. But they had all been Irish lasses and this lady was definitely English. She had an air of stuck-up-ness about her which no one from Ireland ever had.
    Nellie stirred and, suddenly, it was as if Alice wasn’t even there, while he turned his full attention to the babe in his arms.
    ‘Shush, now, Nellie, don’t fret ye little self, shush,’ he whispered tenderly, as he rocked her up and down.
    Alice looked at them both with a curiously expressionless face, clearly untouched by the scene in front of her and regarding it with, at best, mild curiosity.
    ‘Here, let me make you some tea, you look worn out,’ she said, and walked over to the kettle, making herself slightly too much at home, although Jerry seemed not to notice as he laid Nellie down in her basket.
    Stiffly, almost reluctantly, Alice walked over to the basket and leant over. ‘Goodness me, she is a beautiful little thing, isn’t she, and with such a look of Bernadette about her,’ she said with a false brightness.
    ‘Aye, she has that,’ said Jerry, whose eyes didn’t leave Nellie as he straightened up. ‘I’m overrun with cake, so would ye like a slice with ye tea?’ he asked politely. He didn’t really know what to say to this very proper and posh stranger, but the Irish gift of welcoming friendliness automatically kicked in.
    ‘Oh, yes please,’ said Alice as she handed him her muslin-wrapped gift. She seemed embarrassed as he opened it to reveal a cake and for the first time he looked at her and smiled.
    ‘Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t realize, I am such an eejit, thank you so much,’ he said. ‘I will be the size of a tram by the time I have eaten all this cake but it is all very welcome, I can tell ye.’
    They sat down and Jerry sliced the cake. The conversation was slightly awkward, but she managed to keep it going while they drank their tea. Although he couldn’t have said why, Alice made Jerry feel slightly uneasy. She spoke in a clipped, accentless tone and her smart clothes made him feel inferior. He found himself gabbling.
    Fear of ruthless British dominance runs deep into Irish roots and Jerry had no idea that, from this inbuilt default position, he was already losing.
    When it came time for Alice to leave, Jerry politely showed her to the door. He hardly took in her promise to return soon to see if he was getting on all right. As he turned back to Nellie in her basket, he was already dismissing from his mind the whole strange episode and the unexpected visitor.
    From behind her nets, Maura watched Alice leave. She had been standing at the bedroom window since the moment Alice arrived and she saw Alice smile, rather smugly, as she walked away. This disturbed Maura so much that she crossed herself.
    ‘That one’s up to no good, you can be sure about that, it’s written all over her face. Holy Mary, Mother of God, I’ve a bad feeling about this, so,’ she wailed to Kitty, who had brought them both a cup of tea sent up by Tommy and was hiding behind the curtains with her. As Kitty was growing older, she was becoming her mammy’s best friend as well as her little helper. Maura gave a dramatic shudder.
    ‘Jaysus, Kitty, someone has just walked over me grave, so they have.’
    Maura went in search of Tommy to give him the news. As she passed through the kitchen door, she picked up her rosary, hanging off the big toe of the plaster cast of Jesus mounted on the wall, and thrust it into her front apron pocket where she stuffed both of her hands. A stranger on the street at any time was big news. A stranger arriving a week after