First Love, Last Love by Katie Flynn

Author:Katie Flynn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 0099573954
Publisher: Arrow
Published: 2012-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

14

THE KITCHEN WAS full of scented steam and the windows ran so that the autumn sunshine seemed to waver as it came through the glass. Sybil and her mother were making bramble jelly whilst Chris prepared the jars, dipping them in boiling water and then standing them on the top of the range to dry out. Now, she put down the final jar and looked approvingly round the kitchen.

It was the culmination of a week of hard work. Dora had been picking almost every day and the girls had helped whenever they were not working, for blackberry wine and bramble jelly were two of Dora’s staples and since Georgie was home on leave in a few days and Henry would follow in a few weeks it behoved the Creams to gather the berries whilst they were at their best, fat and full of juice and sweetness, and Chris, in her capacity as lodger, had been glad to help.

‘Dad will want to take some wine back with him,’ Dora had said contentedly to Sybil the previous day, as they strained the cooked berries and gathered the juice. ‘It’s ever so popular on the ship, he’s said so several times. And that reminds me, I must make some parkin. Did you say your mother could spare me some medium oatmeal, Chris dear?’

‘She said she would,’ Chris said. ‘I reminded Toddy to go in and ask for it, but you know what blokes are like – he may forget and if so I’ll go home at the weekend and get it myself.’

‘I’ll go with you,’ Sybil put in. She was leaning over the range stirring the big saucepan, her face pink and damp from the steam, her hair curling in little wet tendrils about her face. ‘But we’ll have to give your Mum some of the parkin, that’s only fair.’

‘She can have some and welcome. But I do want to make it, because it’s Georgie’s favourite.’ Dora poured the boiling jelly in a thin and steady stream from pan to jar. ‘Here’s another one, Chris – can you put it on the windowsill, love, out of harm’s way?’

‘Sure.’ Chris glanced at the grandmother clock in the corner. Toddy had said he would come over on the five-thirty bus, which meant he could be here in about an hour. ‘How much longer is all this going to take? It’s like a Turkish bath in here!’

‘If you want to go and change, for goodness sake go,’ Dora said at once. ‘Just so long as you don’t mind a cold tea – I thought bread and jam.’

‘I don’t really need tea, thanks,’ Chris said. ‘Toddy said we’d get fish and chips after the flicks.’

‘Lucky thing,’ Sybil said enviously. ‘Wish Ralph was on leave too. He doesn’t get long enough as a rule to come all the way here, but it’s nice when he does.’

‘Umm hmm,’ Chris said guardedly. She had her suspicions about her brother but she could not possibly tell Sybil how she felt. Several

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