The Kew Gardens Girls at War by Posy Lovell

Author:Posy Lovell [Lovell, Posy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Daisy suspected it was just sheer bloody-mindedness that got her through the next few hours. She ignored the aching in her legs and the cramps in her stomach, slapped on a smile and kept going. Fortunately, she and Beth had rehearsed their Christmas dinner routine so many times that it went like clockwork, the audience that had gathered—far bigger than normal because the cameras were attracting attention—asked useful and interesting questions and she found she could just follow Beth’s lead.

When it came to the individual interviews, Beth saw that Daisy was flagging and so she took charge. Jonathan didn’t seem sorry. Beth pulled him aside and Daisy saw her speak into his ear. She assumed she was telling him about Rex and asking him not to speak to her individually, and she thought she’d never been so grateful to have Beth as her friend. Jonathan nodded thoughtfully, then whisked Beth away to talk about the allotment. One of the cameramen gestured to Ivy that she would be needed, too, and Daisy fled to the sanctuary of the Anderson shelter for some private time.

She slumped down into one of the deck chairs and took some deep breaths. She was feeling very odd now. Her legs were aching so much and her stomach was agony. “Oh no,” she whispered. “Oh no, not now.”

She was shaking with fear and the pain was getting worse. Quite quickly she discovered that sitting down made it more severe. She needed to be upright. She stood up on legs that were very wobbly and, taking another deep gulp of air, she hung on to the back of the chair as pain gripped her again. She wanted to call out for Beth, or for her mother, but she couldn’t catch her breath. She was crying now—silent tears, because she couldn’t seem to make a sound. Oh heavens, there was the pain again. It was coming regularly now, squeezing and tightening across her abdomen.

There was no doubting what this was, she thought with shock and something close to terror. No doubting whatsoever.

“Oh bloody Nora,” she whispered. “Oh Lord.”

The pain gripped her again, and she breathed deeply, in through her nose and out through her mouth. She thought she’d never missed Rex as much as she did at that very moment. Why did he have to die? Why was this happening?

“I don’t want this,” she muttered under her breath as the pain subsided again. “I don’t want any of this.” If someone came to her now and offered her the choice of dying and going to be with Rex, or being here, feeling the way she did now, with this awful pain, she knew which decision she’d make.

And then the door to the shelter opened and a figure appeared, framed in the doorway with the light behind shining like a halo. Almost delirious with fright and pain, Daisy thought wildly for a moment that this was an angel come to take her away to be with Rex and she was glad.

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