The Sweetheart Locket by Jen Gilroy

Author:Jen Gilroy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orion

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Maggie

London, February 1943

Although everything else was different, snowdrops still came out in London’s parks and gardens. To Maggie, the white blossoms were a symbol of hope, not only after the long, dark days of winter, but also during these endless, dark days of war.

Sitting on a bench in Russell Square Gardens, her favourite place in the city that had become her adopted home, weak sunlight filtered through the bare tree branches as she folded her sister’s letter and tucked it into her handbag. Her family seemed increasingly remote, people she loved but didn’t truly know. And they didn’t know her, either. These days, Marc was the only person she could talk to about anything important and she hadn’t seen or heard from him in over a fortnight.

When they were both free, they’d got into the habit of meeting here on Saturday afternoons to go for a walk or, if the weather was bad, the cinema or theatre, usually ending up at a Lyons Corner House for tea afterwards. She enjoyed his company and, although neither of them had mentioned that kiss, it was still there between them, an undercurrent in what had become a friendship she cherished.

She checked her wristwatch. He was ten minutes late.

Marc was never late. Fear prickled, constant and familiar in wartime. The work colleague she’d said goodbye to on a Friday evening who’d been killed when the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb later that night and wiped out a block of terraced houses and nearby shelter. The newspaper seller near the office who’d disappeared a few days before Christmas. They and other casualties were an unending tally of loss and despair, as well as a reminder that in this topsy-turvy world nothing was certain or familiar.

‘Maggie.’

‘Hello.’ Her voice rasped and she cleared her throat.

‘I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.’ Marc’s expression was rueful. ‘Mama needed my help longer than I expected.’

‘It’s fine. I’m glad to see you and Tessy, too.’ She rubbed the top of the dog’s head and the Dachshund wriggled in pleasure.

‘Mama’s packing.’ Marc sat on the bench beside her. ‘She’s lived in that flat since 1933, but now she and Tessy are leaving London to stay with a friend in Hertfordshire. Mama says she’s had enough here.’

‘That’s understandable.’ The war was hard enough when you were young, but if you were older, the worry and nights of interrupted sleep must be much worse. ‘You’ll miss her, though.’

‘Yes, but I’m also glad she’s going because I’ll no longer have to feel guilty she’s on her own so much. When I left Cambridge, I only planned to live with Mama temporarily but even with Tessy, Mama’s lonely. I encouraged her to go to her friend’s because I didn’t know what else to do.’ His expression was bleak. ‘Walk with me?’

‘Of course.’ Maggie got to her feet. Despite the sunshine, it was still winter and the day was cold. ‘How was your trip?’

‘The usual.’ His mouth twisted.

Which meant Maggie shouldn’t ask where he’d gone or what he’d done.

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.