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

Tears rose in Margaret’s eyes. She realized it was the first time she had seen either of the Poole children smile, let alone laugh. Mary Poole must have cut Ivy’s hair, because it was now a little blonde pudding-basin shape around her ears, and her face looked rounder and very sweet.

She hardly liked to interrupt, but she slipped into the room, sat on the chair behind them and watched.

‘Hello, Miss Hanson,’ Daisy said, after a while, getting to her feet. ‘Can you do dog noises? You could have this puppet.’

‘Oh, well, I don’t know about that,’ Margaret laughed.

‘Please!’

So she joined in as best she could, yapping and woofing like one of the little Jack Russells in the village even though the puppet was a brown mongrel of indeterminate breed.

‘You’re very good!’ Daisy said, and all of them laughed and played on.

After a while, Margaret said, ‘Now – you heard what Daisy said about Mr Tallis needing a bit of peace and quiet after his dinner. So if you two come next door with me, Mrs Watts said you can have a little bite to eat before you go home. She’s got some very nice-looking sausages.’

Den and Ivy leapt up, hearing this.

‘Are you coming with us for a walk tomorrow?’ Daisy said to Margaret with big, pleading eyes.

‘I think tomorrow, Daisy, I shall be going to church with Annie,’ Margaret said. ‘But I’ll see you very soon. Have you got your cap, Den?’

She led Den and Ivy next door, taking Ivy’s hand. To her great surprise, as they went into the hall of number twenty-six, Den caught hold of her other hand and held it, seeming unsure.

In the bustle of getting into the house, she did not at first register that something was different. From the back room, she could just hear the murmur of voices.

‘Right – it smells as if the dinner is ready,’ she said, leading the children along.

She pushed the door open. In a second her body went rigid. There was a tingling at the back of her neck as if the hairs were standing on end and she was suddenly grasping the children’s hands so hard that Ivy gave a whimper and pulled hers away. Margaret had to remind herself to breathe and her heart was pounding.

‘Hello, Margaret dear!’ Aunt Hatt got up, with a smile. ‘Well, here’s a lovely surprise for you – a visitor.’

She indicated the figure who had been sitting by the fire and was now getting to his feet. There, only a few feet away, apparently unchanged in every detail, was Charles Barber.

Forty-Five

Forty-Five

He was so utterly familiar: the old Charles, the charming, friendly man whom she had thought she loved, walking towards her, a smile breaking over his face.