Deceit of Angels Read Online Free Page A

everything went almost supernatural. 
When she reached the part about marital status, her mind had rebelled.  She sat
back in the chair, staring at the screen.  She wanted more, she wanted it to be
so different.  Her dreams had vanished like sea mist at the age of eighteen and
perhaps it was time to redress the balance.  Give fate a hand.  Quickly taking
the cursor back to where she had typed ‘married’, she typed ‘widow’.
    She
remembered feeling appalled and sitting back in the chair, pushing her hands
between the knees of her jeans and biting her lip.  Why had she done that?  It
was such a terrible lie. 
    “But
it’s only a little lie that won’t do any harm, nothing to worry about really,”
she had whispered.
    She
had posted her CV and letter never expecting to hear anything, so when the
reply arrived two weeks later inviting her for an interview, Anna had almost
fallen off the kitchen chair. 
    Yes,
she had had to tell a lie to gain one precious day of freedom but as she had
boarded the train bound for Bristol Temple Meads that Thursday morning, she had
felt it was all worth while.  It had been exhilarating, the wonderful sense of
freedom and independence accompanying her all the way to Bristol.
    But
everything had come crashing round her when Mrs Wilby, the housekeeper, had
asked such personal questions.  She hadn’t realised that her lies would have to
be qualified since she had naively believed that no one would be interested in
her private life.  Multiple sclerosis!  Where had that come from?
    Suddenly,
Anna remembered Jason Harrington’s expression as he had shaken her hand, his
wonderful smile and his friendly manner.  A feeling of longing swept through
her and she wandered over to the window.  The next door neighbour was in the
act of chasing a cat from his immaculate garden and she sighed sadly.  She must
make that phone call soon, it was only fair to Sharon and Jason.  Looking down
at the crumpled advert in her hand, Anna read it once more and then threw it in
the kitchen bin.
     
    “I’m not sure
what to pack for Romania?” said Anna, folding yet another pair of jeans.
    Martyn
looked over her shoulder.  “The weather is a bit like here, I think.  Better to
take warm stuff while we’re working on the farm.”
    “Yes,
but our oldest things,” added Christopher.  “The place will be full of
sh…manure.”
    Anna
chuckled and studied her two sons who were already taller than her.
    “You’ll
take care of each other, won’t you?”  She slipped her arms round their waists. 
“Keep in touch and…Oh, God, I’m going to miss you both.”  Tears stung her eyes.
    They
hugged her close.  “You mustn’t worry about us and we’ll send you texts every
day,” said Martyn. 
    “Yeah,
and if anything goes wrong…,” Christopher started and received a warning glance
from his brother.  “But nothing’s going to go wrong, of course.  We’ll be
fine.”
    “I
expect you to take charge.”  Anna turned to Martyn.
    “Why
must he take charge?” asked Christopher indignantly.
    “Because
your head’s always in the clouds,” scoffed Martyn, grinning. 
    Anna
smiled through her lonely tears.
    And
she was lonely after they had left.  How still the house was.  At first, it was
hard to get used to it and often she would wander around the quiet, tidy rooms
like a ghost.  The emptiness she felt was made worse by the fact that usually a
married couple would feel delighted to have the house to themselves, but there
was no comfort in her marriage and she knew why.  Dave had destroyed her trust in
the early days when she had found out about his first affair.  That’s if it had
been his first affair, since she had never been sure when the betrayal had
begun.  The twins were just over a year old when Elaine had discovered it and
reluctantly told her, hoping that their closeness as sisters would soften the
blow. 
    Although
denying it at first, she had been dumbstruck when he