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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

Annie grinned. ‘Yes – that is true. But some of them were very nice to me when they heard I was going. And I’ll miss Lizzie.’ She looked at Margaret. ‘I’m so glad you’ll still be here to keep an eye on everyone – Den and all of them.’

‘Did you tell them you were going in for nursing?’ Uncle Eb said, pulling his sleeves up in happy anticipation of a good meal.

‘No,’ Annie said. ‘No – I just said I was going home.’

‘Which you are,’ Margaret pointed out. ‘For the moment.’

They had told their father that they would both return home after Christmas – Margaret just for a couple of weeks; Annie until she had turned eighteen in April and could apply to be accepted somewhere as a nurse, which, being Annie, she seemed quite certain she would.

Margaret would be returning to make her life in Chain Street. Daisy was wild with impatience about this.

‘Why can’t you just get married now?’ she kept asking Margaret.

‘Because we have to make a few arrangements,’ she said. ‘With the church, for a start.’

Daisy looked blankly at her. Margaret had told Philip she would like to be married, by her father, at Carrs Lane church.

‘Margaret,’ he said, holding her in his arms. The joy and sense of wonder she saw in his face lit her heart. ‘Anywhere – on the moon, if you like, so long as you’ll be my wife.’

They had decided to be married in the middle of January with Daisy and Annie, of course, as bridesmaids.

Now that the decision was made, Margaret was happier than she could ever remember. Each day she saw something new and loveable in Philip Tallis. There was only one small cloud in the sky of her happiness which she wanted to clear. The day before, she had managed to speak to her aunt alone in the back kitchen.

‘Auntie.’ She felt foolish, nervous. ‘I . . . I really do love Philip, you know.’

Aunt Hatt came up and took Margaret’s face gently in her warm hands. ‘I can see that, Margaret. It’s written in every line of you. You’ve blooms in these cheeks I’ve never seen before.’ She lowered her hands, smiling. ‘And I know we’ll be living out in Handsworth – maybe you can persuade him to move out one day as well! But we’ll be here with the business, and it’ll be lovely to have you about.’

‘It’s just . . .’ She looked down, twisting her fingers together. ‘I have had the impression that you and Uncle Eb don’t – didn’t – really like Philip very much.’