BooksBarbecue
Back Sisters of Gold
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

Lizzie held the candle up and in its light, Annie saw Ada lying amid the muddle of bedding, looking very small and alone. She leaned down to touch the little girl’s forehead, hoping she would wake so that she could see how she seemed and question her. With a shock, expecting feverishness, or at least warmth, she felt an unnatural coldness.

‘Oh, no.’ Frantic, Annie pulled back the covers. ‘Oh, Lord in heaven, no!’

‘What’s happened?’ Lizzie cried, almost throwing the candle down on to the chair. ‘Ada? Ada, babby, you got to wake up now.’ Her arms made helpless movements. ‘What’s up with ’er, Annie?’

Annie felt frantically for Ada’s wrist, hardly able to believe the child’s stillness, the cold desolation of that little body. She lay her head on the fragile chest, listening for the beat of her blood, but there was nothing, only a terrible silence. There was no rhythm of life left in her.

‘No . . .’ she could hear Lizzie saying over and over. ‘No – Annie, make ’er wake up. Ada – wake up, babby!’

She came and knelt on the bed and snatched Ada from Annie’s grasp, pulling her sister into her arms. ‘Ada!’ Sobs wrenching from her, she shook the little girl’s body. ‘You got to wake up now – Ada! Please, oh, please . . . You can’t . . .’

‘Lizzie, no, stop it!’ Annie grasped her shoulders. It was terrible to see her shaking the little girl. ‘Stop – Lizzie, please!’

At last Lizzie heard her. She held Ada pressed to her for a second, then, as if taking in that she was holding something dead, something foreign to her, she let her go, pushing her back on to the bed, and put her hands over her face, her shoulders shaking.

Annie reverently lay Ada’s body straight. She had ministered to the dead before, but this time she had a terrible feeling of unreality. Her hands trembling, she hesitated before covering the little girl’s face, as if it was the wrong thing to do, as if Ada might at any moment open her eyes. The only sound in the room was Lizzie’s quiet weeping.

There was no sheet and she chose the softest cover, a threadbare candlewick counterpane, and lay it softly over Ada as she lay there, still as stone. At last she stepped back, whispering the first words that came into her head.

‘The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.’

As she ended with an ‘Amen’, she heard Lizzie softly join in. Then Lizzie looked up at Annie, a terrible expression on her face, and said, ‘Who’s going to tell our mom?’

Twenty-Nine

Twenty-Nine