The Victory Garden_A Novel by Rhys Bowen

Author:Rhys Bowen [Bowen, Rhys]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-12T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

When Emily arrived back at the farm and was carrying her suitcase upstairs, Miss Foster-Blake appeared in the hallway below her. “A word with you, please, Miss Bryce, when you have deposited your things.”

Emily’s heart lurched. What could she have done wrong? She was back in good time. She had had permission to go. She deposited her suitcase under the bunk, hung her mackintosh and hat on the peg and stuck the hairpins back in her hair before going downstairs.

Miss Foster-Blake was sitting at her desk in the little room that served as her office. She motioned Emily to pull up a chair. “You had a pleasant visit home, I take it?”

“A little strained, if you want to know,” Emily replied. “My parents still make it clear that they do not approve of my disobeying them.”

“So what will happen when this assignment concludes?” Miss Foster-Blake asked. “Will you return home and be the dutiful daughter?”

“I . . . I’m not sure yet,” Emily replied. “I am not sure what I am going to do.”

“I know, Emily,” the woman said quietly.

Emily looked up in horror.

“Alice told me,” she went on, “and before you blame Alice, it was I who confronted her and wheedled the truth out of her. I suspected, you see. I’ve seen girls in your condition before. Those early morning rushes to the lavatory. That time you fainted.”

Emily sat silent.

“I want you to know that I am not judging you. God knows you loved the young man. He intended to marry you. And so many young women have found themselves in your condition. I only want to help, Emily.”

Emily looked up in surprise. The tone was so unlike the brisk sergeant-major demeanour she associated with Miss Foster-Blake. “I don’t know what to do,” she said.

“Did you tell your parents?”

“Fortunately no. They were talking about a girl of our acquaintance who finds herself in a similar condition, and their vitriol about her made it quite clear how my news would be received. They’d never forgive me.”

“So what do you propose to do?”

“I have no idea.” She stared down at her hands. “Absolutely no idea.”

“Then maybe I can help,” Miss Foster-Blake said. “I have a friend who is on the board of governors of a home for girls like you. It’s in Somerset, in the hills, away from everywhere. And it’s run by nuns. You can keep working here as long as we are in operation and then go there until the child is born.”

“And what happens to my baby?” Emily asked.

“The nuns will find a suitable adoptive family for it. You can return home and nobody will ever know.”

“But you don’t understand,” Emily said. “I am not going to give up my baby. I loved Robbie Kerr, and this child will be all I have left of him. I don’t care what it takes or what I have to do, but I am not going to give it up.”

“But, my dear, please think logically. You have your whole life ahead of you.

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