Far From Home by Anne Bennett

Author:Anne Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

After Nick and David returned, Kate made a decision to see more of her sister and be more of a support to her, and so after Mass on Sunday, Sally came back to the flat and they ate breakfast together. Kate felt immeasurably sorry for her, being separated from Phil for so long, and she had seen the longing in her eyes when she told her about the few days that she and David had spent together. ‘You are so lucky,’ Sally said. ‘Sometimes it’s hard to conjure up Phil’s face at all. Course,’ she went on, ‘I can say none of this in front of Ruby, because it would probably upset her. Honest to God, Kate, everything seems to upset her just now.’

‘She’s probably worried sick about Phil – bound to be, I’d say.’

‘I’m worried sick about Phil too,’ Sally said. ‘I think about him nearly every minute of the day and I have like a knot of fear that stays inside me all the time.’

‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘I feel like that too.’

‘And it does no good going on about it all the time,’ Sally said. ‘But Ruby …’

Her voice tailed off and Kate felt her heart turn over in sympathy. ‘Do you find her hard going?’ she said. ‘Because you could come back to live with me again if you want to. God knows when David will make it home again. He’s warned us it may be ages and you could always bunk on the settee if he does manage to get any leave. It will only be for a day or two at the most.’

‘No, thanks all the same,’ Sally said. ‘I think Ruby might go out of her mind altogether if I left her now, though Phoebe Jenkins is very good, and she and Ruby get on well.’

‘Phoebe Jenkins?’

‘Yeah, she lives next door,’ Sally said. ‘She was left with seven children when her husband was killed in the Great War and then she lost two daughters to influenza in 1919, so she can really appreciate what Ruby is going through now. Course she rattles round in the house now, like Ruby did before I moved in. She says that before the war the family were always on about her moving to some smaller place, but she’s like Ruby and never wants to move because, as they both say, their memories are all wrapped up in that house.’

‘I can see that though, can’t you?’

‘Oh, yes, I can see that all right,’ Sally said. ‘And I think when you have lost people dear to you, then maybe you need to hold on to something permanent, like a house where you were so happy once.’

‘So, you and Ruby are staying put?’

‘You bet we are,’ Sally said. ‘Waiting till Phil comes home again.’

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