Warm Pearls and Paper Cranes: The Only Way Forward is Love by E.V. Bancroft

Author:E.V. Bancroft [Bancroft, E.V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Butterworth Books
Published: 2021-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Staffordshire, September 1954

At her father’s wake, held at her mother’s Georgian townhouse, Maud couldn’t help remembering the services for her elder brothers. The whole world had moved on and it seemed they had never existed, except in her heart. Whilst everyone else had closed the flaps of skin and healed, she still had an open wound, raw and sensitive. Ethel Porter, who had been so sweet on Bill, seemed to have moved on quickly as she was married, with a baby on the way, judging by the way she was cradling her stomach.

Violet was nearly twenty-one. She’d been so shy and quiet before the service, with no hint of the little boisterous girl she once was, leaping into Maud’s arms. Instead, Vi had held out her hand to shake Maud’s, very politely, as though they were strangers. Which they were. Maud had ignored her hand and drawn her into a warm hug. Jack and Joe were both married now. Jack, the eldest twin by twenty-five minutes and now the new baronet, was lording it as the head of the family. He’d followed their father into banking and Joe had moved to London as a stockbroker, but Maud never met up with either of them.

“So, Maud,” Jack said, as he helped himself to some salmon paste sandwiches being brought around for the guests, “are you still doing bookkeeping in London?”

She was sure this was his way of trying to put her down. He must know that she’d moved on from that, but maybe Mother never spoke about her or what she was doing. That was certainly a possibility. She stood straighter, her head high. “No. I’ve qualified as a chartered accountant. I came in the top ten in my exams across the country.” A little pride seeped into her tone, but she’d managed it with a lot of help and exam practise from Bea.

His eyes widened. “Really? Given your haphazard education, I’m surprised you were even allowed to do it.”

“You’d be surprised what a woman can do if she’s given the opportunity. Take Vi, for example, I know Mother expects Vi to look after her now Father has passed, but I’m sure you could do the role just as well, especially now you’ve moved into Heaston Hall.”

Jack gave just the briefest of nods, perhaps conscious that if titles passed down the female line too, it would now be Maud’s home and title. He smoothed down his hair, which already seemed to be thinning on the top.

“It’s so run down after the Yanks abused it during the war years, it will cost a fortune to return to its former glory. Besides, Elsie and I are planning to have a family soon.”

He flashed her a self-satisfied smile of superiority. Maud couldn’t believe her little brother had become this arrogant young man. The heat of anger caused the faint hairs on the back of her neck to rise. “Shouldn’t Vi be given the opportunity to do what she wants?”

Vi sidled up to Maud and tucked her arm in Maud’s elbow.

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