Born Bad

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by Josephine Cox


  In fact, when it had seemed to go off all by itself, it frightened her so much, and that was why she ran – that and the knowledge that he truly meant to kill her.

  She took a deep breath, for she had not thought she would ever say these words, but now she must. Try to help my father, Lord, wherever he is. After all, he is what You made him. I believe that somewhere along the way, things went wrong. I’ve tried so hard to forgive him, but I can’t. I never will. But I’m asking You, please … Maybe if You could forgive him, it might help me to.’

  She stayed a moment longer, watching the skies shift and move in that great heaven, and she felt a sense of peace.

  Returning to the house, she went to look at the almost-dead embers in the grate. The letter was just black ashes now; except for the two words which lay charred and crumbling. Forgive me – that’s all she could read now.

  With grim determination, she picked up the poker and swished the remains about, until it was as though the letter had never existed.

  She was relieved about that. She had a future now, with the man she adored.

  That future was sealed when, three months later, Judy found she was having Harry’s child. ‘A brother or sister for Tom,’ she announced.

  As it turned out, the child was a sister for Tom; strong-featured and perfectly formed, Kathleen said that little Susan looked just like Harry.

  A year later, Harry was promoted at work, and the couple bought their own little house not too far away from the lovely Kathleen.

  Soon after that, there was another addition to the family.

  ‘Twin boys!’ Sammie was thrilled. ‘That’s three boys and one girl. You’d best even it up,’ Nancy laughed. ‘We can’t have an odd number, can we?’

  Two years later, Harry and Judy obliged with another daughter, Vicky. ‘That’s it!’ Harry declared. ‘There’s no more room in this house.’

  As it turned out, there was room for one more – a girl, in the image of Judy.

  The six children were named: Tom, Susan, James and Joseph, Victoria and little Anna.

  All dearly cherished, born out of a love that refused to die.

  At long last, for Judy the badness was over.

  About the Author

  Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn, one of ten children. At the age of sixteen, Josephine met and married her husband Ken, and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to college and eventually gained a place at Cambridge University. She was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home, but she went into teaching – and started to write her first full-length novel. She won the ‘Superwoman of Great Britain’ Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, at the same time as her novel was accepted for publication. Her strong, gritty stories are taken from the tapestry of life. Josephine says, ‘I could never imagine a single day without writing. It’s been that way since as far back as I can remember.’

  Visit www.josephinecox.co.uk to read her exclusive serial, catch up with her online diary and to find out more information about Josephine.

  Praise for Josephine Cox

  ‘This is vintage Cox. Passionate and touching, an irresistible read. It’s a perfect book to while away an afternoon. Just make sure you hide Born Bad away from your mum and grandmother because they’ll love it too’

  News of the World

  ‘The latest emotionally charged story from the mega-selling author won’t disappoint her army of fans’ Bella

  ‘Cox’s talent as a storyteller never lets you escape the spell’

  Daily Mail

  ‘Another masterpiece’ Best

  ‘A born storyteller’ Bedfordshire Times

  ‘Any regular readers of Josephine Cox will tell you that the second you start to read one of her books you are actually living the scenario along with the characters’

  Sue Brunton

  Also by the Author

  QUEENIE’S STORY

  Her Father’s Sins

  Let Loose the Tigers

  THE EMMA GRADY TRILOGY

  Outcast

  Alley Urchin

  Vagabonds

  Angels Cry Sometimes

  Take This Woman

  Whistledown Woman

  Don’t Cry Alone

  Jessica’s Girl

  Nobody’s Darling

  Born to Serve

  More than Riches

  A Little Badness

  Living a Lie

  The Devil You Know

  A Time for Us

  Cradle of Thorns

  Miss You Forever

  Love Me or Leave Me

  Tomorrow the World

  The Gilded Cage

  Somewhere, Someday

  Rainbow Days

  Looking Back

  Let It Shine

  The Woman Who Left

  Jinnie

  Bad Boy Jack

  The Beachcomber

  Lovers and Liars

  Live the Dream

  The Journey

  Journey’s End

  The Loner

  Songbird

  Divorced and Deadly

  Copyright

  Harper

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road,

  Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2009

  Copyright © Josephine Cox 2009

  Josephine Cox asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

  The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Source ISBN 9780007221172

  Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2009 ISBN 9780007290048

  Version: 20130723

  HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

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  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

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  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1 Auckland,

  New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

 

 

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