Free The Favourite Child by Freda Lightfoot Page A

receive any of them. His life had fallen apart. It took all of Bella’s tact and persuasion to persuade him to carry on.
    ‘Where would any of us be if the mill were to go bust and you were to be blamed for it? You have to go to work Pa, if only to see that others are doing what they are paid to do. Mother won’t even notice you are gone, since you now have to sleep in the dressing room.’
    ‘She may need me.’
    ‘I shall be there to see to her.’ With sinking heart, Bella thought this could well prove to be her lot in life from now on. Though she and her mother had never been close, it was more than she could bear to see her like this. Bella abandoned her regular afternoon calls and instead devoted herself entirely to Emily’s care, bathing her, feeding her with sips of beef tea, chatting to her or reading snippets of news from the Manchester Guardian in the hope of engaging the interest of this wreck of a woman who lay prone and twisted with rage in the great brass bed. The prospect of years stretching ahead caring for an invalid mother filled her with dismay, coupled with a very real sense of guilt that it should. Dear heaven, she would go mad. ‘Besides, we can’t afford for you to lose your job. Who would pay for Mother’s care then? She’s going to need a great deal in the future, even when she starts on the road to recovery which I’m sure she’ll do soon.’
    It was this last, desperate plea which finally registered and the very next morning Simeon put on his three piece worsted suit, attached his stiffest white collar to his blue striped shirt, added his blackest tie and hat and left the house on the stroke of five-thirty, umbrella in hand.
    Edward too, went to the mill as usual. Dr Lisle called regularly every morning and, little by little, the daily routine of the house returned to normal, save for the fact that Bella’s calls on Mrs Stobbs, Violet and her other ‘ladies’ must now cease. She regretted this hugely, since the hushed atmosphere which emanated from the sick room was so depressing she would have welcomed any respite with open arms.
    Bella was also concerned about Jinnie’s continued avoidance of the subject of the “accident”. She’d finally admitted that she hadn’t yet got around to explaining it all to Edward.
    ‘He were - was - that excited when he asked me to marry him, I just couldn’t spoil it for him, for either of us, if I’m honest. Then he told me about how we’re to be engaged for two years afore we wed, so there’s plenty of time, eh? It don’t seem quite the right moment to tell him now, do it? He’s troubles enough on his plate.’
    ‘But you must tell him soon. You can’t agree to marry Edward without telling him the truth and the longer you leave it, the more painful it will be for you both. It’s my fault in the first place for making up the tale. Would you like me to explain?’
    Jinnie was adamant that she would do it herself, even pleaded with Bella to say nothing. ‘I’ll tell him. I will. Soon as maybe.’
    Yet even these worries became overridden by the deeper concerns about her own situation when it became clear that Emily’s condition showed little sign or hope of improvement.
    Caring for the poor and needy was one thing but, for all she was more fond of her mother than she’d perhaps realised, being chained to her sick bed without hope of remission was quite another matter altogether. There had to be a better solution if Bella was not to entirely forfeit her youth and freedom. She set about finding it with renewed determination, resolving to discuss the matter with her mother’s physician at the very first opportunity.

Chapter Six
     
    Dr Lisle was a thin, wiry, bespectacled man who had clearly devoted himself to medicine since being, at well past forty, still single. Thin strands of fading hair were carefully stuck down over a polished pate, though he wore a bushy moustache above a narrow top lip as if to prove he had once been well