Shoddy Prince

by Sheelagh Kelly

  ‘God help us, I’m glad you didn’t go into nursing,’ a muttered laugh passed from mother to daughter. ‘This is what we would’ve had to put up with – all right, Sister, we’re going!’

  Oriel smiled at her mother’s joke, but hung back as Bright said her goodbyes, feeling left out of it all, abandoned. At the drop of a hat her mother, her beloved mother, had agreed to leave her, to go and live the other side of the world.

  Confident that her wishes were about to be obeyed, the sister temporarily left them to bustle around her other patients. Even in his heart-thumping, light-headed turmoil, Nat was quick to note the despondency on Oriel’s face. ‘You can come an’ all if you like,’ came his gruff offer.

  She smiled, but the fact remained that her mother had not considered her feelings. She felt very hurt. ‘I’ll have to think about it. I’m not so impulsive as Mother. It’s an awfully big step.’ Maybe Bright would change her mind when she had time to reconsider the enormity of her action.

  He nodded, then directed all his attention on the mother who remained in his warm grip.

  ‘I’ll have to go now.’ Bright uttered a little laugh at his refusal to let go of her hand.

  ‘But you’ll come back?’ His blue eyes searched hers for the merest hint of duplicity.

  She gripped his fingers and kissed the tips of them, then squeezed her eyes shut and replied with an earnest nod, ‘I’ll be here if you will.’

  And finally Nat released her, knowing her words were true. ‘I’ll never leave you again,’ he promised.

  First published in the United Kingdom in 1995 by HarperCollins Publishers

  This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by

  Canelo Digital Publishing Limited

  57 Shepherds Lane

  Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU

  United Kingdom

  Copyright © Sheelagh Kelly, 1995

  The moral right of Sheelagh Kelly to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 9781788630757

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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