Magda's Daughter Read Online Free

it,’ Alma suggested. ‘You’ll have to come too, Beth, to make sure that your future daughter-in-law doesn’t skimp on lace negligees, silk knickers, and French perfume.’
    â€˜I do have a budget,’ Helena warned, knowing how embarrassingly generous her future mother-in-law and godmother could be when it came to presents.
    â€˜That’s why we need to come, to make sure you exceed it. And we’ll lunch in The Angel, my treat. It’s ages since I’ve given myself a day off from the business. You might be Magda’s daughter, but, having two boys, I like to think that a little bit of you belongs to me.’ Alma hugged Helena. ‘The girl I always wanted and never had.’
    â€˜The best godmother ever,’ Helena said sincerely.
    â€˜The best godmother you could have had to spoil you,’ Magda amended. ‘Whenever I wouldn’t give you something when you were little, you used to pout and say, “I’ll ask Auntie Alma instead.”’
    Their laughter echoed down the passage to the living room where Ned and his father, Andrew, were sitting at the table nursing two small brandies.
    â€˜Your mother is in her element helping to organise the wedding.’ Andrew heaped a spoonful of sugar into his coffee. ‘Much as she didn’t approve of Rachel’s choice of a fiancé, she was disappointed when your sister broke off her engagement.’
    â€˜Rachel’s very young.’
    Andrew suppressed a smile. ‘I wouldn’t let Rachel catch you saying that. She would take it as an insult coming from a brother two years younger than her.’
    â€˜I feel older.’
    â€˜I hope so, given the responsibility you’re about to take on.’ Andrew eyed his son. ‘Nervous?’
    â€˜Not about the wedding or the responsibility. Helena’s the most mature person I know.’ Even if he had been nervous, his father was the last person Ned would confide in. Andrew John had always seemed a remote figure to his eldest son, possibly because he had spent the first five years of Ned’s life – the war years – in a German POW camp. By the time Andrew returned, Ned had forged such a strong bond with his mother that he’d regarded his father as an interloper. When his eldest sister Rachel had enthusiastically assumed the role of ‘Daddy’s girl’, Ned had been only too happy to relinquish his share of their father’s attention to her.
    â€˜So you’re expecting Helena to look after you?’ Andrew didn’t conceal his amusement at the thought.
    â€˜We’ll look after one another, with more than a little help from you and Granddad. We’d be renting, not buying a house, if he hadn’t left me a trust fund. And it would have taken me years to buy into a partnership in a general practice, if you hadn’t offered me a place in yours.’
    â€˜That’s down to pure selfishness. Aside from the fact that I could do with your· professional help, with Rachel intent on working abroad next year, your foster-sisters all married, and Evan and Penny heading for university in the next couple of years, your mother and I appreciate you settling close to home.’ Ned’s foster-sisters were four orphaned sisters Bethan had adopted during the war. Evan and Penny were his younger brother and sister.
    â€˜In any case, Helena wouldn’t consider living anywhere except Pontypridd.’
    â€˜She’s a marvellous girl. We’re proud to have her in the family and look forward to eating Sunday lunch with you at least once a month – your place, of course,’ Andrew joked.
    â€˜I didn’t know Evan was intent on going to university. Penny, possibly, once she calmed down, but Evan?’ Ned looked quizzically at his father. Evan was his least academic sibling, and Penny had earned herself the reputation of being the wild one. Keener on boys, dances and