The Mother and Baby Home by Sheila Everett

Author:Sheila Everett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction

She passed the letter to Nan at the breakfast table. ‘I don’t mind showing this to you, Nan, because it’s not a love letter,’ she said flatly. ‘I don’t know what to think of it.’

‘Nor do I,’ Nan said, as she slotted the letter back into the envelope. ‘I’ve had a letter too, Sunny. I have received official permission to transform the old Mother and Baby Home into a day nursery for babies and toddlers whose mothers have decided to return to work. We will care for up to six young children each weekday.’

This had been Serena’s idea. She could be involved as a trained nurse, and Zosia would have playmates when she got bigger. Nan, of course, would be Matron.

‘I think it’s a great idea,’ Sunny said, though she wished she had been involved in the discussion. Before the family upstairs arrived, she thought, it was just Nan and me, and so much has changed. Serena and Jan seem to think of Nan as a mother figure, but I suppose it’s hard for them to accept that the baby Serena gave up is grown up now.

‘You had issues to deal with and that’s why I thought it best not to worry you about all the changes. We’ve a lot to do here to get everything up and running by September, and there’ll be an inspection by the authorities before we can go ahead. Jan has offered to contribute financially. He would like to install a lift.’

‘I could help get it all ready,’ Sunny offered. Chrissie was still away, Rodney was not home very often, and it was no fun, she thought, going out on her own.

‘You could decorate the playroom with nursery rhyme murals,’ Nan suggested. This was the large room overlooking the front garden, the same size as the sitting room downstairs. The playroom was adjacent to what had been the night nursery in the old days. Now, it would be a quiet place with cots for young babies.

‘Like Rex Whistler in the Tate Gallery? I’m not that good yet, you know!’ However, Sunny was smiling at the thought.

‘Before you ask, I might not look like Whistler’s Mother, but I don’t mind posing as Old Mother Hubbard. You could paint me on that big cupboard, where we will store the toys and books for the children,’ Nan said.

‘I’m getting ideas already,’ Sunny said dreamily. ‘I know Miss Brooke will approve, and advise me, too.’

Nan gave her a hug. ‘You are still number one with me, you know,’ she said. ‘Maybe Alec isn’t “Mr Right”, as they say? “Mr Right” never came along for me,’ she said, sounding wistful.

‘He still could, Nan!’ But Alec is the only one for me, she thought to herself. Am I the only one for him, I wonder?

*

Nan’s sixtieth birthday was coming up in July, and Sunny had been thinking of a special present for her. She needed to have a private word with Mr Rowland about it. When Patsy went out to get

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