An Orphan's Wish by Lizzie Page

Author:Lizzie Page [Page, Lizzie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781837907113
Published: 2023-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

38

Later that afternoon Clara had another visitor, and this time it was Mrs Mount. Last year Mrs Mount had been about to adopt Frank, Trevor and Gladys when her husband left her, and the adoption had fallen through. Clara was fond of her and they had stayed in sporadic contact. She didn’t know anything about the floods or that Ivor had been missing and, as they sat down for tea, Clara decided not to tell her. The near-tragedy had dominated Clara’s every thought for the past two weeks, naturally, but the idea of not talking about it for a couple of hours was rather refreshing.

One of the first things Mrs Mount said when she walked into the home was, ‘I’m over Monty,’ (her errant husband), which inevitably made Clara think that perhaps she wasn’t.

Mrs Mount was as beautiful as ever, but she was more relaxed now, which made her – in Clara’s eyes anyway – even more compelling to look at. She carried herself so finely, her clothes were all fitted and modern. She was also wearing a beret, which made Clara wonder how she would look if she wore one. (Ridiculous, probably.)

Stella did not jump on Mrs Mount’s lap but she did walk around the legs of the chair, as though she were another one impressed by Mrs Mount’s fine porcelain skin.

The contrast between them was great and Clara couldn’t help but feel bedraggled. She had been deliberately avoiding the mirrors but, when she did catch sight of herself, she thought it was amazing how quickly she had deteriorated. In less than ten days, virtually everything about her had started to look haunted. And this morning she had found not one pair of stockings that didn’t have a ladder in them.

‘Did you hear that he is engaged?’ Mrs Mount said dramatically, as if she had rehearsed it. ‘And I couldn’t give a fig about it.’

Another one engaged. Clara felt another weird, and childish, prickle of envy. It was not as though she thought she was the first one or the only one – it was just – everyone seemed to be doing it these days.

‘I didn’t think Miss Cooper wanted to settle down,’ Clara said, naming the woman she assumed Mr Mount was engaged to.

Mrs Mount froze. ‘How do you know who she is?’

Clara had forgotten she hadn’t told Mrs Mount about the connection. Miss Cooper was Clara’s previous childcare officer – the one before Miss Webb.

‘I just worked it out,’ she said cautiously. She thought of Miss Cooper, who she liked, who had helped with Maureen’s troubles, who had assisted her with lots of things. She hoped Mrs Mount wouldn’t be too angry with her.

‘Tart,’ said Mrs Mount acidly. ‘She’s welcome to him.’

This would make the guest list awkward too. Mrs Horton said Miss Cooper should be invited. ‘After everything she did!’ But Clara felt Mrs Mount should take precedence. They had become friends.

Ideally, she’d have them both there, but she couldn’t be sure now that they wouldn’t wrestle each other to the floor.

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