Truth Will Out (28 page)

‘And the doll’s house!’ Maggie prompted eagerly.

Maude was staring at them, her mind churning, and it was left to Derek to say. ‘Yes, of course! Off you go.’

As they went upstairs Maggie told Amy, ‘We have to be quick because we can’t stay long. Mrs Surridge plays cards tonight.’

Maude said, ‘We shall have to think this over . . . Take our time . . . Oh! They shouldn’t have come!’ She stepped back, leaning against the hall stand for support as fresh tears pressed against her eyelids. Her hands balled into fists and she crossed them in front of her chest defensively.

A silence deepened between them. It lasted minutes but to Maude it felt like hours. She said, ‘Help me, Derek!’

He took a deep breath. ‘I don’t believe we have anything to discuss because I think you already know what you are going to do, Maude. We both know it’s inevitable.’ He reread Alice’s last words then gently opened the fingers of Maude’s right hand and closed them round the crumpled letter. ‘Little Maggie is Alice’s child and Lionel’s child but they are both gone from us. We have each other and little Amy, but Maggie has no-one. I don’t think we can let her go into an orphanage. She can be ours now. An unexpected gift from Alice.’

‘A gift!’

‘Exactly. She can be Amy’s big sister.’

‘It may not be as easy as we think.’

‘Nothing worthwhile ever is, Maude!’

Maude was smiling through her tears. ‘We can love her, can’t we?’

Derek held out his arms. ‘Love her? Most certainly we can.’ Peals of girlish laughter came from Amy’s bedroom and they smiled at one another. He wiped her eyes with his handkerchief. ‘We’ll go and tell Mrs Surridge and then set the wheels in motion.’

Maude nodded, slipping her arm through his. ‘Do you think, in a strange way, that it was meant to be?’

‘My dearest Maude, I’m sure of it!’