Free The Velvet Glove by Mary Williams

tempting him; you never know.’
    Walter wagged a finger at her. ‘It’s not like you to be uncharitable, love. Tell you the truth I’ve always felt sorry for that girl. Can’t have had much fun in life – pushed about from one place to another, then ending up with that stiff-necked cousin of mine and her “do-good” husband.’
    ‘ She had a respectable upbringing,’ Emily said primly, ‘and breaks with us at Beechlands.’
    ‘ Just a few weeks a year,’ Walter reminded his wife, ‘and between you and me I don’t reckon our Kate’s been much help to her.’
    ‘ So now you’re criticizing our own daughter.’
    Walter chuckled. ‘No, my dear. Just putting things into proportion, or trying to. You can’t deny that Kate’s likely to overshadow any other girl in her company.’
    ‘ Well – she failed with Jon Wentworth, nevertheless,’ Emily retorted sharply. ‘I was pretty sure those two would end up together. Kate and Jon. A mother can sense these things, and at one time we do know Kate was infatuated.’
    ‘ Until Ferris came along and snapped her up from under his nose.’
    ‘ So it appears,’ Emily agreed. ‘But I shall never be quite easy in my mind about what happened there. It was something at the dance—’
    ‘ Oh, you women,’ Walter retorted, ‘always ready to make a mystery of things. There’s no mystery there; the two got together – Ferris and Kate – and that was that. A good match if you ask me. He’s the means and strong character to keep her contented and in good order. And that’s what our girl needs. As for Cassie’ – he shrugged – ‘she’ll not let the Wentworths down. She’s a malleable shy little thing. They’ll soon have her shaped to what they want. So stop fussing and worrying, woman.’
    ‘ Emily , ’ came the reply sharply. ‘I’m not just your woman .’
    Walter grinned. ‘You are, always have been and always will be,’ he said affectionately, giving her a warm kiss on the cheek.
    Emily smiled.
    Any slight difference of opinion or argument they had usually ended that way. It had been the same from the beginning of their marriage when he was twenty and she only seventeen. But then, though humbly born, he was a natural charmer without having to resort to subtlety. You knew where you were with him. His goals in life might have been difficult but he’d gone straight for them, blunt and straightforward, with a genial twinkle in his eye, always ready to take the sting out of his victory when he won a point over a rival, socially or in business.
    ‘ Rough soil may have bred him,’ a highly born member of Lynchester county council had once said when Walter won a seat on it, ‘but he’s a clever one – Walter Barrington. Better as a friend than an enemy.’
    Which was true.
    Emily recognized that his remarks concerning the suitability of Kate’s marriage to Rick were probably correct. Their daughter did need a strong man to guide and maybe control her if the occasion arose, but being a woman she also delved a little deeper, and sensed the hidden romantic streak still lurking somewhere unappeased beneath Kate’s bright façade. Still, if and when they had a child, maybe any previous yearnings for a fairytale, more sentimental, union would be erased. She’d be too occupied – hopefully – with the full-time business of motherhood.
    Kate herself was unsure of her feelings on the subject. She was not basically the passionately motherly type, and when she ’d heard the doctor’s verdict – following an interview dealing with a number of minor ailments – that she was pregnant, her first reaction had been of mild shock. It was the natural outcome of lovemaking, of course, and she and Rick were both vital healthy individuals. But so soon ! She’d looked forward to an immediate future of social events, travelling perhaps, and if Rick could tear himself away from his endless business and newspaper commitments – perhaps a season in London,