Free Blood Brothers by Josephine Cox Page B

either that, or you cook your own meals for the next six months.’
    ‘Have sense, woman!’ Tom groaned. ‘I’ve a gammy leg, in case you’ve forgotten!’
    ‘I have not forgotten,’ she answered. ‘But gammy leg or no gammy leg, you’d best get yourself to that village hall with the rest of us, and no argument. You can sit it out and sulk if yer afraid to join in, ‘cause it’ll make no difference to me.’
    She gave him a shrivelling glance. ‘Besides, you’ve never once danced with me in public anyway, and only once in private, and that was on our wedding night when you were blind drunk and couldn’t care less who saw you.’
    ‘That’s not a nice thing to say.’
    ‘Mebbe not, but I don’t reckon it’s nice if you’re ashamed of dancing with your own wife in public.’
    ‘Don’t be daft, ‘course I’m not ashamed.’
    ‘Yes you are. I know it, you know it, and everybody in this village knows it.’
    Tom actually had a flush of conscience. ‘All right then, Nancy Arnold. If it’s dancing yer want, it’s dancing you’ll get, but it’ll be your doing if this old leg gives up the ghost.’
    Alice clapped her hands and gave him a kiss. ‘You’ll enjoy it,’ she promised.
    Nancy’s face was wreathed in a broad, happy smile. ‘That’s settled then, husband.’ And flushing with pleasure, she laid the leaflet on the table.
    When Joe picked it up, she told him with a twinkle in her eye, ‘I expect the girls will be swarming all over you. In factit wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t find yourself a really nice girlfriend. That Rosalind Thompson always had an eye for you, and she’s still not wed. Oh, she’s had a few men-friends but nothing’s ever come of it.’
    Frank chipped in, ‘That’s because she only ever wants what she can get from them, then when their pockets are empty, she dumps them and moves on to the next victim. No wonder they call her the shark; given half a chance, she’ll eat you for breakfast and spit out the pips!’
    Joe laughed. ‘She won’t be interested in me then,’ he quipped, ‘I’ve got nothing worth the taking.’
    ‘ You said it, not me,’ Frank said spitefully. ‘Anyway, like I said, Rosalind Thompson doesn’t want a serious relationship.’
    Tom spoke without thinking, ‘As I recall, didn’t you have a bit of a fling with her at one time?’
    Frank laughed it off. ‘Not really. She might have wanted to get her claws into me, but I’m nobody’s fool. I soon told her where to get off.’ He smiled at Alice and was relieved when she smiled back.
    He was furious with his father for mentioning the embarrassing fling he had had with that Thompson bitch.
    Truth be told, it was Rosalind who unceremoniously dumped him, and not the other way round. He was heartbroken, until he found Alice Jacobs.
    Frank had always been careful to make Alice believe she was the only one.
    He had no intention of letting her find out that she was his consolation prize.
    The conversation changed direction and continued over dinner, with Tom and Nancy having the occasional teasing dig at each other, and Alice thoroughly enoying their company.
    Frank assailed them all with talk of his ambitions to have his very own farm, ‘…with a hundred acres of prime, crop-growing land; another fifty acres of pasture, and a stable filled with top quality horses straight from Ireland. I’ll build us a fine house and hire enough experienced men to run the place, while the two of us travel the world,’ he told Alice.
    Joe was impressed at the scale of his brother’s ambitions; though he was naturally dubious. ‘So, how d’you intend funding this amazingly extravagant enterprise?’
    Frank resented his question. ‘Why, from Alice’s parents of course.’
    Alice was shocked. Like the others, she had no inkling that he was making such plans. ‘You mustn’t rely on my parents, Frank,’ she cautioned him gently.
    ‘Why not?’ Unlike the others, Frank was surprised and irritated