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Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. ABOUT THE BOOK
  3. Dedication
  4. PREFACE
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY
  55. ENDING
  56. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  57. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  58. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  59. Also by Val Wood

Ellen nodded and the tears began, two small streams leaking unbidden and slowly tracing their paths down her cheeks. ‘A young nurse told me as I sat waiting to go on to ’ward. You can’t go in without permission, you see. She was going off duty, she said, and … well, she must have known Jim was near ’end and she didn’t want him to be on his own, cos ’nurse tekking her place might have – missed him.’

‘Why did she ask you?’ Lizzie said softly. ‘How did she know that you’d be able to …’

‘I’d sat with him last time I was there,’ Ellen said in a rush, as if to get the explanation out as soon as possible. ‘He thought I was his mother.’ Her voice caught in a sob. ‘And she’d heard me. So that’s what I did.’

She lifted her eyes to her sister, though she could barely see her through the veil of tears. ‘I pretended I was his mother. Did I do wrong, Lizzie? I onny wanted to bring him comfort; to let him know he wasn’t on his own. He hadn’t anyone, you see. He was an orphan, and his onny friend, Benny, another young lad from ’workhouse, was inside ’mill when it fired.’

She took a handkerchief from her skirt pocket and blew her nose. ‘It wasn’t a difficult thing to do. I’d have felt far worse if he’d gone off on his own with no one to hold his hand, poor lad, so I just told him what I thought he’d want to know, what any mother would want her child to know.’ She swallowed. ‘That he was loved and safe, and that I’d stay with him until he fell asleep, just as I used to when he was onny a bairn.’

She sniffed, and saw that Lizzie had tears running down her face too. Tears were healthy, she thought. Tears proved that you were mortal, that you had warmth and feeling and love in your veins. She wiped her streaming nose. ‘So that’s why I decided I deserved a penny meat pie, and hang the expense.’

Lizzie blinked away her tears. ‘Well, Ellen,’ she muttered, ‘I’ve absolutely no excuse at all to offer for buying a pie and eating every crumb of it. I must be ’most selfish and extravagant creature anybody might have ’misfortune to meet.’

The sisters gave watery smiles. Standing up simultaneously, they put their arms around each other, to comfort and endure.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX