Read Facing the World for Free Online

area, I do so hate walking on muddy grass and I’ve always wanted a fish pond. Mummy thinks water in a garden is so peaceful.’
    Rick sighed but said nothing. He sometimes wondered why they even pretended to discuss anything as all the decisions were overridden by Amy and her mother.
    Amy was at the window when Eric strolled past. ‘Look! There’s that awful tramp again. He walks past slowly just so he can look in the window! We’ll have to have thick net curtains at all the bedrooms and the ground floor.’
    In vain Rick protested. ‘He isn’t a tramp and I hate nets. We agreed that we’re far enough away from the road to make them unnecessary.’
    ‘I agree, darling, but having someone like that dirty tramp wandering around changes things, doesn’t it?’
    Rick walked outside and looked at the garden in the light escaping from the kitchen. A fox slipped through the neglected hedge and stared at him. ‘I bet she’ll call it a patio,’ he whispered. ‘And the summer house will be a gazebo.’
    The fox walked across the garden and before going through the opposite hedge stopped and stared as though in sympathy. ‘I don’t recommend you visiting once we’re living here,’ he called after the beautiful creature. ‘Amy’s mother wouldn’t approve.’
    He was smiling as he went back inside. He was being petty about small things. Once they were married and settled, Amy would run things her own way and her mother’s influence would fade. It was a difficult time with the wedding to arrange and the house to make into their home. He knew just how much Amy depended on her mother both for planning the wedding and the finances. Once he was solely responsible for their living expenses, everything would be perfect.

Chapter Two
    SALLY WAS WALKING to the park with Sadie in her pushchair, armed with bread with which to feed the ducks, a favourite activity for the little girl. Amy, the new tenant in what was still called the Waterstones’ house, was coming out of her gate and Sally smiled and greeted her with a remark about the weather.
    ‘We’re off to feed the ducks, aren’t we, Sadie?’ she said.
    Amy gave a stiff smile and was about to walk on, but undeterred, Sally said, ‘Are your alterations to the house nearly finished? When are you and Rick tying the knot? I hope it will be finished in time – so much to do with the wedding to arrange as well as sort out builders.’
    ‘We have everything in hand,’ Amy replied rather pompously, and this time Sally allowed her to walk on. Pointless trying to befriend her. She was clearly uninterested in getting to know her neighbours. Then she heard a call, and Rick appeared. ‘Hi, how is little Sadie? Two years old, that’s quite an age,’ he said as he approached them. Amy had hurried on and he shrugged apologetically and ran after her.
    ‘Come on, love,’ he encouraged. ‘If we’re going to live here we have to be polite to our neighbours.’
    ‘Some of them certainly, darling, but definitely not all.’
    Philosophically calm after the attempt to speak to Amy, Sally was convinced that the young woman would eventually come round to accepting the local people. They were friendly and kind and she would soon learn that, whatever Milly Sewell had told her. She walked on to the park, chatting cheerfully to Sadie, trying not to feel hurt. Amy’s attitude must be due to that woman’s gossiping tongue. She wondered why she took such pleasure in upsetting others. 
    After watching the ducks for a while, Sally went to the bank. It was time to send more money to Rhys. A balance reminded her of how little was left. She wondered whether they would be able to put a deposit down on a house. If he came home soon, got a job, earned a reasonable wage then they might just manage. His two years at college had cost more than they had expected and it still wasn’t over. She folded the statement and hid it in her pocket.
    Buying a house wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning.