Read Angels at War for Free Online

One glance at their closed faces, and at the way they stood half turned away from each other, told her the futility of such a dream. Mercy still refused to believe that her half-sisters had fully accepted her into the family and loved her for herself.
    It didn’t help that Ella had decked herself out in her smartest coat and hat with the fur trim, and Mercy, for some reason, wore nothing but a shawl over her stuff gown to keep her warm on this cold autumn day.
    ‘Goodness, you’ll catch your death in that. Where’s your coat?’ Livia scolded as she greeted them each with a kiss and a hug.
    ‘I save that for best,’ Mercy icily responded. ‘I can’t afford two coats, not like some.’
    Ella clicked her tongue with impatience. ‘Anyone would think Amos didn’t pay you decent wages, and he most certainly does. You could perfectly well afford another.’
    ‘I don’t go nowhere except to the cowshed or the barn, so why bother?’
    ‘I’m so glad you could both come,’ Livia enthused, resolutely ushering them to a table. ‘There’s so much I have to tell you I don’t know where to begin.’
    ‘With a pot of tea and a decent lunch in recompense for our disappointment over a certain wedding we’d hoped to celebrate,’ Ella sternly remarked, looking cross.
    ‘But it was my friend she let down,’ Mercy retorted, then turning to Livia, added, ‘I’m not sure I can ever forgive you for treating Jack so badly. He deserves better.’
    Livia gave a rueful smile, knowing the two had ever been close as Jack had been like a big brother to Mercy. Before she’d decided how to respond to this accusation she was interrupted by Ella’s scolding voice yet again.
    ‘And I am your sister, so should have been forewarned.’
    ‘But Jack was hurt most,’ Mercy insisted.
    The pair were at once embroiled in an argument as to which of them had suffered most by Livia’s decision. Sighing, Livia quickly intervened to ask after the children, which generally distracted Ella, but felt a deepening dismay as Mercy continued to glower and sulk. How the pair of them coped with working together in the farmhouse every day, she really couldn’t imagine. The waitress serving themtea and ham salads couldn’t get away quickly enough, the atmosphere was so frigid.
    Desperate to bring the subject round to her own news, Livia was determinedly cheerful. ‘This is delicious. I wonder what kind of food I can expect to get at the store. No doubt it’ll be some unidentifiable meat, watery potatoes and soggy cabbage. Still, I dare say I’ll cope.’
    Ella frowned. ‘I wasn’t aware Angel’s possessed a café?’
    ‘It doesn’t.’
    ‘Then how could you eat there?’
    ‘Ah, good question,’ Livia teased, and was thankful to note that she had at last captured their attention. She cleared her throat. ‘The reason I asked you both here today was to tell you that I’ve got a job at the store.’
    ‘What? You mean you’re actually going to run it?’ Ella asked, eyes widening in shock. ‘Is that what cancelling the wedding was all about, your ambition?’
    Livia laughed. ‘Perhaps, but I won’t be running it after all. I had to swallow quite a bit of pride on that score, since dear old Blamire, our overcautious legal advisor, has provided us with a manager. One Matthew Grayson, who, I am told, has excellent credentials.’
    She was already regretting some of the remarks she’d made to the fellow in thesolicitor’s office. Livia had been taken rather by surprise at the sudden appearance of a manager, and had been annoyed that the store had opened without her. Yet she realised that she may not have given a very good impression of herself as a result. Her attitude might have been a bit too starchy and high-handed, and upon reflection she had decided that she didn’t at all mind starting at shop-floor level, even if it did mean sleeping in a dormitory with the other girls. It couldn’t be too bad, could it? And what better way to learn