The Doorstep Child
Page 42
‘Thing is, Carl, now we can scatter them somewhere. A place Gary would’ve liked.’
Carl looked blank.
She thought about the cut, down near the boat. Then she remembered Gary’s little face that day, that ghostly, skinny little boy who had been her pal, in the gloom of the air-raid shelter.
One day, I’m gunna go and live at the seaside!
She doubted Gary had ever set foot at the seaside, never mind living there. Well, that’s where he’s going now, she thought.
She had set the bag containing the things they would need down near where they were digging.
‘Kids, you carry on for a minute, all right? See how big you can make it. Carl?’ She nodded towards the bag. ‘We’ll be back in a tick and when you’ve finished your castle we’ll go and get some fish and chips, all right?’
Tracy and Andrew were digging frantically. She smiled. They had a fragile peace after everything they had all lived through so far. A peace she hoped would keep on growing and growing, even if it meant losing some of the branches as Dolly said.
She and Carl went to the water’s edge, away from the other few people walking their dogs along the sand. In the bag she had the urn and two little bunches of flowers.
‘Here, Carl, you do it. He was your brother. He’d’ve liked it here, wouldn’t he? Watch the wind – throw it sideways, like this.’
She showed him. His face very serious, Carl dispatched the grey slew of ash in one sweep of his arm.
‘T’ra, Gary,’ she whispered. ‘Rest in peace, mate.’
She took the bigger of the two bunches of flowers – a mix of yellow and white chrysanths – and scattered them on the waves. The blooms lay in the shallows, washing peacefully back and forth.
‘There,’ she said.
‘There,’ Carl said.
‘We’ve done it. D’you want to go and help them dig now, bab?’
Carl hurried along the beach to join the children, seeming glad to be released.
Evie stood by the water’s edge with her other bouquet of tight pink rosebuds. With the waves lapping at her feet she allowed the distant ache to rise in her again at the thought of her little girl’s face, her curled fists now grown into the hands of a twelve-year-old girl who she would never know. All she could do was pray that those hands, that little body and spirit, were treated with kindness and love.
‘Goodbye, Julie. Bless you. Bless your sweet life.’ She didn’t know what else to say. She wanted the sea to take all her wounds, all her sadness, leaving her unburdened.
The flowers curved in the wind and fell, as Gary’s had done, quite close to her, into the froth of waves washing up on the sand. People would wonder what they were doing there, she thought. Never mind. She had done all she could do.
Her heart lifting, she walked back towards the stooped, busy figures on the beach and the new castle growing in the sand.
Acknowledgements
For some information about Canada I am indebted to Invisible Immigrants by Marilyn Barber and Murray Watson, as well as to Peter Sherrington.
A number of websites have been useful for all sorts of small details in this story. The Birmingham History Forum is always a fund of information and pictures, as were sites about the Tower Ballroom, Rubery Hill Hospital and www.motherandbabyhomes.com. Also thank you to Debbie Carter for filling me in on various details.
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The Doorstep Child
ANNIE MURRAY was born in Berkshire and read English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first ‘Birmingham’ story, Birmingham Rose, hit the Sunday Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written many other successful novels, including the bestselling Chocolate Girls and War Babies. The Doorstep Child is Annie’s twenty-first novel, after the top ten bestselling Now The War Is Over. Annie has four children and lives near Reading.
PRAISE FOR ANNIE MURRAY
Soldier Girl
‘This heart-warming story is a gripping read, full of drama, love and compassion’ Take a Break
Chocolate Girls
‘This epic saga will have you gripped from start to finish’ Birmingham Evening Mail
Birmingham Rose
‘An exceptional first novel’ Chronicle
Birmingham Friends
‘A meaty family saga with just the right mix of mystery and nostalgia’ Parents’ Magazine
Birmingham Blitz
‘A tale of passion and empathy which will keep you hooked’ Woman’s Own
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Birmingham Rose
Birmingham Friends
Birmingham Blitz
Orphan of Angel Street
Poppy Day
The Narrowboat Girl
Chocolate Girls
Water Gypsies
Miss Purdy’s Class
Family of Women
Where Earth Meets Sky
The Bells of Bournville Green
A Hopscotch Summer
Soldier Girl
All the Days of Our Lives
My Daughter, My Mother
The Women of Lilac Street
Meet Me Under the Clock
War Babies
Now the War is Over
First published 2017 by Macmillan
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ISBN 978-1-4472-8396-6
Copyright © Annie Murray 2017
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