BooksBarbecue
Back Sow the Seed Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Margaret Dickinson
  3. Dedication page
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  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. Part Two
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  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. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Sow the Seed
  50. Note
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Copyright page

Esther gave a soft groan. ‘I wouldn’t have had this happen to you – or Danny – for the world. I tried, really I did, in the only way I could think of to keep you apart. But the harder I tried, the more you seemed drawn to each other . . .’ She broke off, raised her head and looked straight at Kate, a sudden urgency in her tone. ‘He – he hasn’t – touched you, has he?’

There was silence in the kitchen except for the ticking clock and the hissing of the red-hot wood in the grate as Esther waited for the answer that was so important to her, meant everything to her.

Kate stared back at her mother, holding her breath. She had it in her power at this moment to wound her mother deeply; to plunge a knife into her heart in retaliation for the hurt she and Danny were feeling; to punish Esther for the actions of her youth which had brought about this tragedy.

She opened her mouth to speak, to say, ‘Yes, yes, yes, he’s touched me! We’ve lain together. We’re man and wife in all but name . . .’ But she couldn’t do it. All the years of love that lay between Kate and her mother, all the values that Esther had instilled into her daughter and Kate’s own natural, inborn honesty, would not allow her to tell such a dreadful lie. Slowly, Kate let out the breath she was holding and, with it, some of the resentment against her mother. After all, she had not been solely responsible either for what had happened years ago or for keeping it secret. Danny had been kept in ignorance too. Yet Kate could not blame Beth Eland so much; she had more to risk by telling her son the true circumstances of his birth. She must have feared losing his respect, perhaps even his love.

So, although shreds of resentment against her mother still remained for she believed Esther could, and should, have told her the truth years ago, now Kate said heavily, ‘No, Mam. We haven’t – done anything.’

‘Thank the Lord!’ Esther murmured.

Then, as Kate added, ‘But I have to go away, Mam. At least, for a while,’ all Esther could reply sadly, was, ‘Kate, oh, Katie.’

That night as Kate lay in bed, her knees pulled up to her chin, she cradled the whelk shell in her hand.

It was all she had left of Danny; and all she would ever have.

She gave a sob into the darkness as she remembered suddenly, and tears trickled down her cheeks.

Tomorrow was her birthday.

Part Two

Seventeen

SEPTEMBER, 1939

‘War! Oh no! Not again. Not another one.’