Where the Heart Lies (36 page)

Then he opened a door, and the hallway was flooded in sunlight. Stepping into the book-lined room, Julie’s breath caught as her gaze went immediately to the wide bay windows which looked directly out to sea. She could imagine she was on the bridge of a ship.

‘What a lovely view,’ breathed Jess. ‘You are lucky, Mr Hopkins.’

‘You get used to it,’ he muttered. ‘I hardly notice it any more.’

Julie saw he was looking decidedly uneasy, and thought he was probably dreading the dressings coming off. ‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ she soothed. ‘I know it’s unpleasant and painful having your dressings changed, but Miss Miller will be very gentle.’

His gaze went from Julie to Jess and back again. ‘I don’t actually need the dressings changed,’ he admitted, his hands twisting nervously in the pockets of his sagging cardigan. ‘I’ve got you here for something else.’

Julie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

His face was etched with lines of some terrible worry as he looked back at her. ‘It’s my daughter who needs you, not me.’

‘Your daughter should have made the appointment then,’ she replied. ‘This is all very irregular, Mr Hopkins.’

‘Melanie only came home yesterday, and isn’t registered at the surgery yet. But I need you to look at her with some urgency, Sister. She’s not right, but she’s refusing to go to the hospital, and I’m really very worried.’

With rising alarm, Julie looked back at him. ‘How old is your daughter, Mr Hopkins?’

‘She’s sixteen, and has been living with her mother in Guildford. Look, Sister,’ he said, his concern making his voice rise, ‘I know this isn’t how you
usually work, but I would be very grateful if you could give her the once-over.’

Julie pulled her casebook out of her bag. ‘I’m going to need her details, Mr Hopkins, so she can be registered as one of our patients, and I’m not only going to have to report on this visit to the doctors, but charge you for it too.’

He regarded her intently as he shuffled impatiently from one foot to the other. ‘I’d rather you didn’t tell anyone,’ he said nervously. ‘Is it really necessary? I don’t mind paying, but . . .’

Julie suddenly didn’t like the feel of this at all. ‘What happens here will go no further than Dr Sayers unless it’s illegal,’ she said rather sharply. ‘Where is your daughter?’

‘Upstairs in the front room.’ He opened the door into the hall. ‘Turn left at the top, it’s the second door,’ he muttered. He ran his fingers through his hair as he edged towards the bottom of the stairs. ‘I’ll . . . I’ll leave you to it then.’

All of Julie’s instincts told her that something was very wrong here and, as she and Jess reached the bedroom door, she could see the other girl was just as uneasy. ‘Just follow my lead, Jess. This could be tricky.’

The room was in darkness, and she could barely make out anything. ‘Draw the blackouts, Jess,’ she said quietly.

‘Who’s that?’ The voice was young and high with fear.

As light flooded the room, Julie saw the huddled outline of a figure beneath a pile of blankets. ‘I’m Sister Harris, the district nurse,’ she said quietly as she approached the bed. ‘Your father tells me you aren’t feeling very well, Melanie. What seems to be the matter?’

The girl gave a deep groan and shifted beneath the mound of covers. ‘You’ve got to help me,’ she whimpered. She groaned again, giving a sharp cry of pain. ‘Make it stop, please make it stop,’ she whimpered.

Julie swiftly drew back the covers and caught her breath as she saw the blood-soaked sheets and what lay between Melanie’s thighs. She understood everything now.

She glanced at Jess, who was standing wide-eyed by her side. ‘There’s a telephone on the hall table,’ she said quietly. ‘Call an ambulance, and then ring the surgery. There’s a protocol for situations like this, and the police will have to be informed.’

As Jess raced back downstairs, Julie stacked books from a nearby shelf under the end of the bed in the faint hope it might help stop the bleeding. She then shrugged off her cloak, opened her medical bag, and pulled on thin rubber gloves. ‘Melanie,’ she said softly. ‘I need you to try and stay calm while I examine you.’

‘I’m frightened,’ the girl moaned.

Julie did a swift internal examination, which revealed that Melanie was right to be frightened. Whoever had performed this piece of butchery had
seen to it that the girl not only lost this baby, but probably any hope of having another.

She dealt with things as best she could in the circumstances, and then reached for the hypodermic and the small phial of analgesic she always carried in her bag. ‘You’ll feel a bit of a scratch on your leg, and then in a few minutes the pain will start to fade.’

Jess came back with towels and a jug of hot water. ‘Dr Michael’s on his way and so is the ambulance,’ she said. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Help me strip the bed and clean her up,’ Julie replied. ‘There’s nothing much else we can do but try to keep her warm and comfortable until the doctor gets here.’

It had been a long, distressing day for both of them, and Julie and Jess returned very late from their round to find Dr Michael waiting for them in the kitchen. ‘You’re both to be commended for your handling of the situation with dignity and calm this morning,’ he said solemnly.

‘Did Melanie pull through?’ asked Julie.

He shook his head. ‘It has been a sad day all round, and unfortunately this won’t be the end of it. There’s bound to be a police inquiry, and you will both be expected to give a clear and concise account of the events of today.’ He took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. ‘But, with Melanie dead and her father denying all knowledge of the abortion, it thankfully won’t go to court. I’ve had a
word with the coroner, and he’s promised to hold his inquiry in camera. The last thing we need is for our practice to be linked to such things.’

Julie felt a stab of fury. God forbid his precious practice should be tainted by a girl desperate to risk her life and that of her baby to go to some old crone in a back street. If fewer people kept silent, that particular trade would disappear altogether. But she knew better than to say anything. She was tired and saddened by the day and just wanted to write up her notes and get home to William and the comfort of Peggy’s kitchen.

Julie let herself in and headed straight for the pram where both babies were sleeping. She wanted to pick William up and hold him for the comforting feeling of his warm little body after her awful day, but she knew that if she did it would disturb them both, so she resisted and went into the kitchen.

It was a haven of peace, with Mrs Finch sitting beside the fire with her tangle of knitting, Harvey snoring on the rug and Anne reading a book. The plaster was off her leg, leaving it looking pale and wasted against the other.

‘How does it feel to have two legs again?’ Julie grabbed the oven glove and reached into the warming compartment of the range for her supper plate.

‘A bit strange, to be honest – and I’m much more nervous about putting any weight on it than I thought I would be.’

‘That’s quite normal. You’ll soon be dashing about as usual.’ Julie placed the hot plate on the table and lifted the metal cover to discover not only a sausage, but thick gravy and mashed potato. ‘My goodness,’ she breathed as her mouth watered. ‘This is quite a treat.’

Anne laughed. ‘Mum managed to get the sausages this afternoon and came back with them as if she’d found the hidden treasures of El Dorado. Dad was so pleased, he’s taken her out to the Anchor for a drink.’

‘Have you managed to tell Peg about you leaving?’

Anne nodded. ‘She was very good about it, really, but we both ended up in tears.’ She gave a weary sigh. ‘I hate what this war’s doing to our family.’

‘Oh, dear,’ muttered Mrs Finch. ‘I can’t seem to get this sleeve right, and I so wanted to have it finished for Ron’s birthday.’

Anne reached for the knitting as if glad to have the distraction. She eyed it doubtfully. ‘It looks a bit too big, Mrs Finch,’ she said. ‘Grandpa would need to be eight foot tall for arms this long.’

‘Well, it’s obvious I’ve got it wrong,’ the old lady replied rather crossly. ‘That’s why you need to sort it out for me.’

Anne smiled at her with affection and began to unpick the sleeve. ‘By the way, Julie,’ she murmured, ‘there’s a letter for you. It’s up on the mantelpiece.’

Julie glanced up at it as she finished the delicious meal. She felt drained of energy and ached for her
bed, but a letter from London would cheer her up no end. Having washed up, she dried her hands and reached for it. But the postmark wasn’t London – it was Yorkshire.

‘I’ll read it upstairs,’ she said with a calmness that belied the awful turmoil in her heart. She left the kitchen, gently plucked William from the pram and carried him upstairs. Once he was settled in the old cot she’d found at the Town Hall, she sank onto the bed and turned the letter over and over in her hands, dreading opening it, but knowing she must.

There was only a single page of neat writing, signed at the bottom by Edith Wigglesworth – Bill’s mother. With a sense of foreboding, Julie began to read.

Dear Miss Harris,

Firstly, I apologise for not replying to your letters. It was very kind of you to keep us informed of William’s whereabouts, and we are extremely grateful that you are taking care of him. I would have written before, but I was advised to wait until Bill returned home on leave, so he could decide what to do for the best.

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you now that our son has been listed as ‘Missing in Action and presumed dead’. The telegram arrived a month ago, and I haven’t had the heart to write until now. Bill was our only child, and it is as if a light has gone out in our lives. But a part of our precious boy lives on in young William, and we feel
it is only right to acknowledge him and raise him as our own. I realise it will be hard for you to let him go, but you are young and free and will have babies of your own one day. It is too late for us, and I beg you to give us the precious gift of our son’s child. We promise to love and cherish him as much as we did Bill.

As my husband and I are unable to leave the farm to make the long journey south, my sister, Charity Farnsworth, will be arriving in Cliffehaven within the month to collect William and bring him home to us.

I look forward to hearing from you very soon,

Edith Wigglesworth

Julie’s tears smudged the ink and she set the letter aside, her heart aching with the terrible burden of this coming loss. She’d begun to hope that this day would never come, had ignored the warnings and started to believe that William would always be with her. Now this had happened.

She gently lifted William from his cot and held him to her heart, breathing in his sweetness and warmth as the tears streamed down her face. She felt bound to him as only a mother could – and yet he was not hers to keep. How cruelly Fate played her games – and how empty her arms would feel when he was taken from her.

‘Oh, William,’ she breathed, ‘my precious, precious boy.’

ALMOST THREE WEEKS
had passed since Julie had received the letter, and now Charity Farnsworth was due to arrive on the late afternoon train. Julie’s emotions were in turmoil as she pushed the pram down the High Street in the warm June sunshine and turned into Camden Road. These would be her last few precious hours with William, and she couldn’t begin to imagine how the pain of losing him could grow any harder to bear than it was already.

She paused and reached into the pram, where William was sitting up batting at the rattle she’d tied to the hood. Her fingers caressed his soft cheek, earning her a beaming smile which revealed four tiny teeth. At six months old, William was still rather small, but he’d filled out and his little face was glowing with happiness beneath the cotton bonnet that shielded him from the sun. How on earth could she hand him over – how could she find the strength and courage to let him go now he’d become such an intrinsic part of her life?

She took a deep breath and was about to continue her stroll when she heard someone calling her. Turning, she saw Eileen hurrying towards her, and
felt rather ashamed of the swift stab of resentment she felt at her intrusion on this intimate moment. ‘I was just on my way home to give William his lunch,’ Julie said coolly.

Eileen was looking very smart in a pair of tailored slacks and crisp white shirt, her hair freshly washed and set, her make-up immaculate as always. She regarded Julie thoughtfully. ‘You can spare me a minute, surely?’ she replied. ‘After all, we are sisters.’

The stab of resentment came again and Julie tightened her grip on the pram handle. ‘Not that you’d know it,’ she muttered. ‘You made it quite plain when I arrived that you wanted nothing to do with me or William.’

Eileen had the grace to look uneasy at this truth, and swiftly turned her attention to William. ‘He’s looking very well, considering his heart condition,’ she said, her expression softening as she tickled him under the chin and made him gurgle.

‘The doctors are very pleased with him,’ Julie replied, unable to stifle the quaver in her voice as the pent-up emotions threatened to overwhelm her.

Eileen looked at her sharply. ‘What’s the matter, Julie?’

‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ she replied, blinking back the tears and struggling to maintain a cool façade.

‘You don’t strike me as being someone who cries over nothing,’ Eileen said tightly. ‘Even as a kid you put a brave face on things, as I remember.’ She put
her cool hand on Julie’s arm. ‘Why don’t we go to my place and have a cuppa?’

Julie had found some solace in pouring her heart out to Peggy, but despite her kindness and wisdom, Peggy wasn’t family. Perhaps it was time to take the olive branch being offered by her sister? ‘That would be nice,’ she murmured, the tears blinding her. ‘But I can’t be too long. I have to get back . . . back in time . . .’

‘Come on, we can’t have you crying in the street.’ Eileen steered the pram and Julie down the road and parked the pram outside her door. ‘Bring William, and I’ll put the kettle on,’ she said as she opened the door and hurried upstairs.