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Back Sow the Seed
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

At home in the little terraced house, Mrs Godfrey fussed over the infant. ‘Leave her with me, Kate. She’ll be right as ninepence here in her crib. Go and have a lie down, dear. You look exhausted. You really didn’t ought to be sewing again yet.’

‘Oh, I’m fine really. I didn’t sleep too well last night.’

‘Really? I didn’t hear her crying.’

‘Oh no, she only woke the once to be fed. She’s a good little thing. No – it was just that – well, after I fed her I couldn’t get off again.’

Mrs Godfrey eyed her sympathetically. Kate knew the older woman understood some of the thoughts going through Kate’s mind. ‘Peg’s written last weekend to tell Jonathan, so – your mother will know.’

Kate nodded, biting her lip. She forced a smile. ‘I didn’t expect to hear anything.’

She bent over the baby, asleep in the cradle. The child was a sweet little thing, with tiny features and downy fair hair. The birthmark along her jawline was fading a little and only deepened in colour when the child screwed up her face and cried. It seemed a cruel twist of fate, Kate thought, that the innocent child should bear the mark of Esther’s wrath.

Mrs Godfrey sniffed disapprovingly and rocked the cradle with her hand as it stood at the side of her sofa. ‘Well, I’d have expected better from our Jonathan.’

Mavis and Isobel arrived on the doorstep bearing gifts for the baby.

‘Sorry we haven’t been before,’ they explained. ‘We wanted to come together and couldn’t seem to organize leave at the same time.’

‘They can’t manange without us, you know,’ Mavis joked.

While Isobel sat and chatted to Mrs Godfrey and nursed Ella, Mavis drew Kate into the front room. She fished a letter out of her bag.

‘This arrived for you at camp last week. I – didn’t want to post it on to you. I wanted to make sure you got it.’

Kate took the letter as Mavis said, ‘It arrived in the mail from a station up north – in Yorkshire.’ When Kate did not answer, Mavis persisted, ‘The CO went up to Yorkshire, didn’t he?’

‘So he did, Mave,’ Kate murmured, and composing her face, she looked up again and smiled. ‘I expect it’s just a friendly letter.’

‘Oh, most probably,’ Mavis said, with more than a hint of sarcasm. Kate felt her friend’s shrewd gaze upon her face. “Spect he doesn’t know you’ve left, does he?’ she remarked pointedly.