A Daughter's Secret by Maggie Hope

Author:Maggie Hope [Hope, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473579743
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

‘Do you want to live with Aunt Patsy in Shildon?’ Cath asked as she sat in a corner of the visitors’ room with her sister.

Annie didn’t speak, simply nodded her head. She rarely spoke these days. In any case, Cath knew Annie hadn’t forgiven her for not coming home the night it happened.

‘If you’re sure,’ said Cath. ‘I’ll come and see you as often as I can, you know that.’

Just then Patsy and Jim came into the room and Annie’s face showed a little animation for the first time as she turned to them. Patsy had brought a bag of liquorice allsorts and an Enid Blyton book, a new one, not a library book but one for Annie to keep. She didn’t say anything to Cath, simply nodded hello and gave Annie all her attention. Jim had a copy of the Empire News with him and he settled down on a chair and began to read.

‘I’ll go now,’ said Cath. ‘See you soon.’ Annie nodded. In the doorway, Cath turned to wave but neither Annie nor Aunty Patsy was watching.

Oh well, Cath thought as she sat on the bus for Bishop Auckland, it was better all round. But she would miss her little sister. Just as she had missed Timmy and still did, even though it was all those years ago that Mam had given him away.

The bus ran down Durham Road and up past the bishop’s castle to the marketplace. The town-hall clock struck four as Cath alighted from the bus. Brian was waiting for her; a tall figure leaning against the bus stop, his dark hair that was cut in the new longer fashion in a vee at the back lifting in the slight breeze. They had been dating lately, something Cath had drifted into rather than planned.

‘All right then?’ he asked, smiling down at her, and suddenly she did feel happier. Happy enough to smile back at him and allow him to take her hand and walk down Newgate Street with him. They passed other couples and sometimes groups of lads eyeing up the groups of girls walking by on the other side, giggling when a boy wolf-whistled. The girl being whistled at would walk by with a deadpan face and her nose in the air but her cheeks would be pink. Newgate Street might be the main shopping street in the town but on Sundays it belonged to the young, those now called teenagers.

Afterwards they would meet up in Rossi’s ice-cream parlour, and this was where Brian and Cath headed for now. They found an empty booth at the back and Brian ordered coffee. They sat opposite each other, oblivious of the others now piling into the shop.

‘How was Annie?’ asked Brian.

‘She’s fine, she’s coming out next week. She’s going to live with Aunty Patsy in Shildon.’

Brian nodded. It was for the best. Some people in the two mining villages blamed the Raines for what had happened. There was poor simple Ronnie in a locked ward at Winterton and not likely to get out for years, if at all.

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