BooksBarbecue
Back All the Days of Our Lives Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. All the Days of Our Lives
  2. 1945
  3. 1931-1944
  4. I
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. 1946
  28. II
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. III
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. IV
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. V
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Thirty-Four
  44. Thirty-Five
  45. VI
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. 1948-1949
  49. VII
  50. Thirty-Eight
  51. Thirty-Nine
  52. Forty
  53. VIII
  54. Forty-One
  55. Forty-Two
  56. Forty-Three
  57. IX
  58. Forty-Four
  59. Forty-Five
  60. Forty-Six
  61. X
  62. Forty-Seven
  63. Forty-Eight
  64. Forty-Nine
  65. Fifty
  66. Fifty-One
  67. Fifty-Two
  68. Fifty-Three
  69. Fifty-Four
  70. XI
  71. Fifty-Five
  72. Fifty-Six
  73. XII
  74. Fifty-Seven
  75. Fifty-Eight
  76. XIII
  77. Fifty-Nine
  78. XIV
  79. Sixty
  80. XV
  81. Sixty-One
  82. Sixty-Two
  83. 1953
  84. All the Days of Our Lives

‘Never you mind, bab,’ Dot said. ‘Not everyone’s meant to be a rolling stone like Molly. You’re here, making a home for your lad, and you may not get any thanks for it, but that’s what matters – and don’t you forget it.’

‘Thanks, Dot – I s’pose you’re right,’ Em said, smiling. She leaned over and touched Dot’s hand. ‘I know you being around has always made all the difference to everything – hasn’t it, Mom?’

‘Oh, it certainly has that,’ Cynthia said.

Em drained her cup. ‘Anyroad, I’d better not dawdle. I need to get Robbie home for his tea.’

XV

KATIE

Sixty-One

May 1949

Katie had already been certain of how much she loved Marek, but from Christmas night – when they had sat up talking almost all night, holding each other, kissing by the dying fire – she knew she was even more deeply, tenderly immersed in her feelings for him. She had never felt so completely at home with another person, or experienced so much longing for them. Life without him was unimaginable. Even being apart from him for a few hours made her yearn for his presence, for the sight of his face and their endless talking and laughter.

When, in the New Year, they told Sybil that they were intending to marry, she was as pleased as if she was a mother to each of them. And in some ways it felt as if she was.

‘I couldn’t be more delighted,’ she said, smiling up at them. She was sitting by the fire in the dining room and they stood rather bashfully before her, close, so that the backs of their hands were touching. ‘You make a lovely couple, and I’m sure you’ll make a good go of it.’

Katie and Marek looked at each other, beaming with the miraculous sense of their love and happiness.

‘Though it is quite quick,’ she cautioned.

Katie, though rapturously in love, had thought about it carefully. More soberly now, she said, ‘We’re very sure. And Marek has lost such a lot. I don’t have anyone much, either. We both want family . . . I suppose we feel there’s no point in delaying.’

Sybil nodded. ‘I see.’ And they could see also that she did.

‘The thing I’d feel less delighted about,’ Sybil went on, ‘is the prospect of losing you both. Have you thought where you might live? There’s nothing much going, you know.’

Once again they looked at each other, their smiles fading a little.

‘We have thought . . .’ Marek said.

‘. . . But we don’t really know, until we look.’

Sybil regarded them in silence for a moment. ‘Well, why not stay here?’