AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Even though you fancy him and he fancies you?’
‘Why on earth would a man like him fancy a woman like me when he could have anyone?’
‘I notice you didn’t deny your feelings for the toff.’ Jim folded his arms, amused, looking older than his years. ‘It’s funny to hear someone who is so adamant that a little limp isn’t going to stop her fall at the first hurdle and hide behind it when a man is involved. Who’s the coward now, Hattie? What happened to grabbing life by the lapels?’
The wretch had her there and he knew it. ‘I am not discussing your silly flight of fancy any longer.’
He smiled at her, his expression teasing as he aptly aimed another one of her pearls of wisdom right back at her like an arrow. ‘The most important things are always the hardest to talk about, Hattie. Especially if you are scared.’
Unwittingly, he had given her the perfect opportunity to not only change the depressing and humiliating subject, but to bring up what she had come here specifically to talk about. Because heaven only knew it was time to stop torturing herself with unrealistic nonsense and to refocus all her attentions on doing something with a proper purpose.
‘Is that why you refuse to talk about Dr Cribbs fixing your leg, Jim?’
Silence all of a sudden as the shutters came down with a bang.
‘I know you are scared, Jim, but with every passing day, as your bone sets harder, the less chance you have of him doing the best job possible. Look at me...’ Calm reason and honesty were going to be her new mantras with him now that she knew him better. ‘For me, the months of delay meant that some of the damage was irreversible. You are lucky that yours is still—’
‘I’m not lucky!’ The flash of anger told her she had pushed too far again. Either that or she needed to push harder. ‘This isn’t lucky!’ He pointed to his splinted legs. ‘This has ruined everything!’
‘Only temporarily. Once you are healed...’
Tears filled his eyes before he could cover them with a snarl. ‘Once I’m healed I get to limp back to the Cleveland Street workhouse! The place useless people from my world get sent to when nobody else wants them!’
‘That will only be temporary too.’
‘They said that to my gran, and she never came out!’ His eyes were wide with panic now. ‘Nobody ever comes out of that prison alive, and nobody lasts in there that long!’
‘That is why you don’t want to be fixed, isn’t it?’ Understanding suddenly dawned as bright as the sun. ‘Because they will only have you back if you are.’
‘I’d rather take my chances on the streets begging for coins with the rest of the cripples than ever set foot in that stinking hellhole again!’
‘Then surely that’s all the more reason to get fixed?’ Hattie nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Jasper’s voice behind them. As her head whipped around, she saw he was leaning on the door frame. Goodness knew how long he had been there or, heaven help her, how much of their conversation he had overheard.
