Ruby shook her head. She just wanted to get away. She had reached the back door and opened it when Olive’s voice behind her said, ‘Whether you believe me or not I didn’t want it to be like this.’ Ruby paused for one second but she didn’t turn round or speak before stepping into the bitter cold, leaving the door ajar behind her. She walked across their small yard and opened the gate into the back lane and again she left this open, and as she trudged down the track that was practically knee high with snow she expected any moment that her mam would come running after her calling her name, but the snowy night was silent and she was the only person alive in the whole wide world.

And now the tears streamed down her face.

Chapter Three

Vera Walton stared aghast at the young lass she thought of as a daughter. When Ruby had knocked on her door the evening before and had almost collapsed into her arms it had been some time before she could get the full story of what had happened out of the distraught girl amid her storm of weeping. Once she had become aware of the whole sorry mess she had made Ruby a hot drink, adding a good measure of the brandy she kept for medicinal purposes and which had been in the back of the cupboard for goodness knew how long. She’d then made up a makeshift bed on the sofa with thick blankets and a spare eiderdown. It was only after another mug of tea, again with a large dollop of brandy, that she had persuaded Ruby to lie down, a stone hot-water bottle at her feet. Ruby had dropped off within minutes, worn out by crying and no doubt aided by the amount of alcohol in her bloodstream.

Now it was seven o’clock in the morning and they’d just had toast and a pot of tea, but it wasn’t Ruby’s chalk-white face or the change in her persona that worried Vera – it was the fact that the lass had just told her of her intention to leave Sunderland that very day.

‘Listen, m’dear, I know you are dreadfully upset and with good cause, but don’t do anything hasty. You can stay here as long as you please, you know that. We can clear out the spare room where I store the material and whatnot and that can be yours. You’ll be quite at liberty to come and go as you see fit, and I would be delighted to have you here indefinitely.’

Ruby forced a smile as she said quietly, ‘Thank you, Mrs Walton, and I appreciate your kindness more than you will ever know, but I need to get away. Right away.’