Bells of Bournville Green by Annie Murray

Author:Annie Murray [Murray, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447206477
Amazon: 1447206479
Publisher: Pan Publishing
Published: 2012-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Four

The first day she went back to work, she caught up with Pat in Linden Road.

‘Hey!’ She tapped Pat’s shoulder.

‘Greta!’ Pat pulled her urgently aside. ‘Where the hell’ve you been? They said you were off sick but no one seemed to know anything: I’ve been worried half to death about you! I went round to your Mom’s and she said she didn’t know where you were either, and neither did Trev. There’s not much I haven’t been imagining!’

‘I’m all right . . . It’s not what you think . . .’ Greta felt bad, seeing the worry in Pat’s face. She should have let her know what had happened. After all, Pat was having a miserable time of it too, getting used to living in her bedsit all alone and creeping home to see her Mom and Josie when Mr Floyd was out.

‘But are you . . .?’

Greta nodded, finding her eyes suddenly full of tears. She kept finding herself crying these days.

‘Yes. And Trevor’s gone off with Marleen. I’m not living with him any more . . .’

Pat’s mouth opened in shock. ‘God, Gret – he never told me that.’

‘No, I don’t s’pose he did.’

They walked slowly downhill, towards the Friends’ Meeting House on the Green.

‘Oh, Greta – that’s awful. What’re you going to do?’

‘I’m living with Edie and Anatoli. And I’m having the baby. I couldn’t go through what you did . . .’

Pat turned to her, wide-eyed. ‘Well, you are married . . . Sort of, anyhow . . .’ She lowered her voice even more. ‘D’you want it, Gret?’

‘No.’ Greta walked on, thinking about it. ‘Yes. I don’t know. At first I was horrified, but then, when I’d thought about it, I started to feel different. I’ve never wanted children, not really. But I started to think about it inside me and . . . Well, it’s just him, or her, and me now against the world . . .’

She smiled sadly, and hearing her words, Pat burst into tears. ‘Oh, Gret!’

Greta pulled her in close to the entrance to the Meeting House, away from other Cadbury workers who were passing, and put her arm round her. Words spilled out, full of raw emotion, that Pat had obviously needed to say for a long time.

‘I never let myself feel anything like that!’ she sobbed. ‘I was so frightened and Ian never for a moment let me think I might have the baby. He told me I had to get rid of it. I feel so terrible – like a murderer. I killed my own baby – and my father’s never going to let me forget it!’

Greta felt terrible for her. All she could do was try her best to be comforting.

‘You just did what you had to do, that’s all,’ she said, rubbing Pat’s back. ‘Your Dad’ll come to terms with it in the end. It wasn’t your fault. If Ian had really loved you he would have been behind you and he’d never have forced you into something like that.

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