Water Under The Bridge by Susan Sallis

Author:Susan Sallis [Sallis, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

1940

When the row started – before it started really – Holly left the house and walked down the garden to the double row of beans. It was a glorious morning and Mum had managed to get some ham off coupons so they were going to have a salad for lunch. Holly had found the old picnic table at the back of the shed and set it up on the lawn and Mum had washed the lettuce and wrapped it in a tea towel on the clothes line to drain.

‘As soon as Dad gets back from town,’ she said, scrubbing radishes at the sink, ‘we’ll dish up the potatoes and sprinkle on this parsley and they can cool while we have your punch.’

Holly had made a concoction of blackcurrant jam and fresh greengages and it had been standing on the cold slab in the pantry overnight. Ever since they’d left Kildie at Gran’s they had all been working at making Dad’s embarkation leave really special. And, as Mum had said at breakfast time, ‘Once you’ve seen Marcus Villiers, you’ll be able to forget the whole sordid business.’

Holly had not been tempted to ask questions. It had been obvious from Kildie’s highly emotional state, that something dreadful had happened at Hill House. And though they had left the whole problem with Gran, Aunt Lizzie’s letter which arrived with the first post had not been reassuring.

‘. . . I can’t do much as I am feeling so ill myself. And Kildie will not stop crying. Unless you want poor Ma to be ill herself, I think you should try to talk some sense into Marcus. After all, he is her husband . . .’

Mum had looked at Dad and said, ‘She’s right, Jim. If he’s not going to go out to Dymock and fetch her back like he did last time, then perhaps he’s feeling guilty. Perhaps he needs a bit of reassurance. We’ve only heard Kildie’s side, when all’s said and done.’

Holly knew how Mum felt; she wasn’t really unsympathetic. She simply wanted everything sorted out quickly so that Dad could go to Canada with a quiet mind.

And when Dad left for Gloucester, pedalling across the Green just as he’d always done, Holly too felt a sense of relief. Once Kildie was back with her huaband, Holly herself could go and stay with Gran and be there for when Charlie finished his square-bashing and came home for his first leave.

So the two of them started to get the picnic ready. It was like a party. They changed into fresh cotton frocks and Mum looked out a big sun hat. She put it on and danced around the grass. ‘We’re celebrating, Hol!’ she carolled, her golden hair flying.

‘What are we celebrating?’ Holly loved it when her mother ‘went mad’.

‘We’re celebrating a return to the status quo!’

Dorothy stumbled against one of the garden chairs and clutched it and Holly called, ‘here he is – here’s Dad!’

And soon after that, as she carried the parsley

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.