A Daughter's Ruin by Kitty Neale

Author:Kitty Neale [Neale, Kitty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-01-13T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Despite being determined to see Ethel, Constance couldn’t risk going to see her very often, and close to the end of March she was so deeply unhappy that she rarely spoke any more. She did the housework, cooked the meals – though never to Dora’s satisfaction – and there had been little softening in her mother-in-law’s attitude towards her.

She was now seven months pregnant, and had been told by the doctor that everything was coming along nicely. She didn’t want it to come along nicely. She wanted to rip this baby from her body. If she hadn’t been pregnant she wouldn’t have been forced to marry Albie, and every day she desperately sought a way out. She had even considered going to see her father and begging him to allow her to come home, but he’d made it clear that she wouldn’t be welcome there. And so she was trapped, and the only thing that kept her from sinking into despair was her determination to one day escape this drudgery.

Constance twirled a strand of hair as she looked out of the small living room window, hoping to see that the coast was clear. She had seen Penny go out earlier, and if her mother Ivy did the same, she could sneak out and go to see Ethel. She knew that Ivy watched her, ready to report to Dora if she left the house for any length of time. She had liked Ivy, was grateful that the woman had stood up for her, but now she felt like a prisoner, with Ivy her jailer.

She hadn’t seen anyone approaching, so jumped when there was a knock on the front door. Constance wondered who it could be as she went to open it, and was surprised to find a young woman with a pram, smiling at her. ‘Err … hello,’ she said tentatively.

‘Hi, my name is Jill – Jill Black – and I live at number nineteen. I’ve seen that you’re having a baby and I wondered if you could make use of these,’ she said, holding out a bag. ‘My baby is eight months old and he’s outgrown them.’

Constance peeped into the bag to see it full of baby clothes and said, ‘Oh, how kind. Please, do come in.’

‘Blinkin’ ’eck, you’re as posh as I’d heard,’ Jill said without malice as she lifted her baby from the pram.

‘I’m afraid it doesn’t seem to go down well round here.’

‘Yeah, I’ve heard some of the old crones giving you a rough time, and it’s another reason for popping along to see you. I thought you could do with seeing a friendly face in Kibble Street.’

‘I certainly could,’ Constance agreed.

‘I should have come to see you before this, but to be honest I feel a bit awkward. You see, a couple of years ago I went out with Albie – not for long though, just until he found another girl.’

‘There’s no need to feel awkward. From what I’ve heard, a lot of girls have been out with Albie.

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