Nobody’s Girl (32 page)

‘Has the baby been borned?’ asked Bella. ‘Is it a girl, Emma? I hope it’s a girl.’

‘What’s up, Em?’ Luke asked. He was a sensitive boy, so unlike the others that their mother said he was like a cuckoo in her nest. At that thought, a sob arose that Emma was unable to stifle. Holding her hand to her mouth, she looked wildly across the room at Alice.

‘Shall I tell them, love?’ the woman asked kindly.

For a moment, Emma was tempted, but then Luke was by her side, his eyes wide. ‘I knew when Alice came to fetch Dick that something was wrong. What is it? Is Mum all right?’

Emma shook her head, but only Luke realised the implications. She flicked her eyes around the room and saw that the others were all looking at her expectantly. God, how was she supposed to tell them? How could she break the news that both their mother and their new baby brother had died?

Emma crossed the room and, sitting down, she pulled James onto her lap, beckoning the others to her side. She prayed for inspiration, but her mind remained blank.

‘Why is Luke crying?’ Susan asked.

Emma looked at Susan, poor plain Susan, who always seemed to have a runny nose and caked eyes. Susan’s bony knees showed beneath her skirt as she moved closer and taking her hand, Emma struggled to answer her question. ‘Luke’s crying because … because,’ it was no good, the words wouldn’t come, and once again Emma’s eyes flew to Alice.

With a small, sad shake of her head Alice came to her side. ‘Listen, pets, I’m afraid your mother and the new baby have gone to heaven. They’re with the angels now.’

Susan was the first to speak, her voice high. ‘You mean … you mean our Mum’s dead?’

‘Yes, love, I’m afraid so,’ Alice said quietly.

A loud cry pierced the air, and as all eyes went to Bella, Alice quickly drew the child into her arms. Susan, too, began to sob, and it was Luke who comforted her, whilst Emma struggled to answer Ann’s questions.

‘What does she mean, Em? What’s dead?’

‘Mummy was ill and she didn’t get better.’

‘What! Like Mrs Dunston’s dog?’

‘Yes, love, that’s right.’

‘They buried him in the garden. I don’t want them to do that to our mum,’ she wailed, tears filling her eyes.

‘They won’t do that, darling.’

James suddenly squirmed on her lap, and he too began to cry. ‘Want my mummy. Want Mummy.’

It was too much for Emma, and pulling him close to her she again gave vent to her feelings. For several minutes they remained like that, clutching each other and crying, none of them aware that little Archie was crying too, obviously affected by their grief.

The door opened, and as Dick came into the room he immediately swept the toddler up into his arms. ‘It’s all right, Archie. It’s all right,’ he consoled.

At last their tears subsided. They all clung to each other until Alice gently pushed Bella away, patting her head as she said, ‘I’m sorry, pet, but I’d best go back upstairs. You lot stay here for a while, and if you’re still hungry there’s bread and a pot of jam in the larder.’

Emma stood up, and placing James in her seat she went to the larder. As she cut the bread, a thought forced its way to the front of her mind. The task of looking after her brothers and sisters would fall to her now.
Oh Mum, how am I going
to cope without you
?
Blinking furiously at the tears that had begun to form again, Emma’s eyes alighted on a newspaper lying on the table. Just below the banner she saw the date, and knew that December 7th, 1948 would be etched in her mind forever. Their lives were changed, their cornerstone gone. With dread, she wondered what would happen in the future.

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.

AVON

A division of HarperCollins
Publishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This paperback edition 2007

First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollins
Publishers
2007

Copyright © Kitty Neale 2007

Kitty Neale asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work

Extract from Kitty Neale’s new novel © Kitty Neale 2007.
This is taken from uncorrected material and does not necessarily
reflect the final version.

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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 eBooks.

ePub edition June 2008 ISBN-9780007278930