The Runaway Orphans by Pam Weaver

Author:Pam Weaver [Weaver, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-04-25T12:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

Back out on the street, Rene slipped her arm through Norah’s. ‘You all right?’

Norah could only nod. Speaking would reduce her to tears and she knew it.

‘Let’s go to Mitchell’s for a piece of cake,’ said Rene. ‘My treat.’

For once, Norah was grateful for the suggestion. She didn’t want to go home. She couldn’t bear the thought of explaining everything to Mrs Kirkwood and watching her gloat. Not yet. Mitchell’s Bakery and tea shop was almost opposite the new town hall in Chapel Road. It had a reputation for good food and was popular with the townspeople. Most customers aimed for a window seat but Rene picked a table near the back and by a pillar. Here, she and Norah had a little much needed privacy in a public place. When the waitress came, she ordered tea for two and the cake stand.

‘I don’t understand how all this happened,’ Norah said brokenly. ‘I mean, what is so threatening about a visit to a school?’

‘I think there can only be one explanation,’ said Rene. ‘You clearly stepped on Ffox-Webster’s toes somehow and this is his revenge.’

‘Now who’s been reading too many mystery novels?’ said Norah, shaking out the napkin and laying it on her lap.

The tea arrived and the two women made their choice of cake.

‘Just think about it, darling,’ said Rene, slicing into her piece of Worthing Wonder cake with mock cream, ‘who else could have complained about you? Certainly not Mrs Harrison. It can only be Ffox-Webster.’

‘I agree,’ said Norah, ‘but why tell them all that stuff about the present he brought me?’

‘Because he’s obviously a vindictive bastard,’ said Rene, her mouth full of cake.

‘I don’t want to think ill of him,’ said Norah, ‘but I’ve always had this gut feeling there’s something terribly wrong about the whole situation. Nothing I can put my finger on, but he gives me the creeps.’

Rene reached over the table and squeezed her hand. ‘Is there nothing we can do? Perhaps get Mrs Harrison to write to the agency for you? I’m sure she’d do it.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, Rene,’ she said, taking a bite of her honey cake. ‘I don’t want to give up on adoption but I just can’t think straight right now.’

‘You need time to lick your wounds,’ said Rene. They ate in silence and although the cherry Madeira she’d chosen looked delicious, to Norah it tasted like sawdust. Rene said softly, ‘Why not take a couple of days off and go to Mum’s?’

‘I can’t leave Jim,’ Norah protested.

‘Jim will be fine,’ said Rene. ‘His mother can look after him, can’t she? Go on. It’s the perfect time and Mum would love to see you; I know she would.’

The next day, Mrs Kirkwood had her apron on before Norah even left the house. She had been up with the lark and Jim, who normally only wanted a boiled egg, had enjoyed a fry-up breakfast before he biked off to the station. Norah looked a little less stained but she was still very pale.

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