by Katie King
All the children looked as pleased as punch.
‘They certainly did absolutely everything that they should have done,’ added James as he squeezed round the curtains. ‘In fact, they couldn’t have done more.’
June and Mabel asked Peggy how she was feeling.
‘Happy. And sore,’ she replied, ‘but I can’t say any more as Gracie will be going through it for herself soon, and I don’t want to worry her.’
Gracie snorted, as if to say, As if!
Peggy reached for Mabel’s hand, saying, ‘I must thank you especially for coming as it’s been a quite terrible day for you.’
‘Life goes on, Peggy, and so seein’ you with this beautiful wee girl is the very best tonic I could possibly have,’ said Mabel.
Roger put his arm around his wife and pulled her close to him, saying something about births and deaths all being part of the rich tapestry of life.
‘Auntie, can I tell you something?’ said Connie. ‘We went in to see Angela just now even though it’s very late, as the doctor said we could as she was awake and we’d been waiting forever to see you. Do you know what Angela said? It was the first thing she’s said that anyone can understand! She said to us, could she have Jessie’s sixer as she’s keen on a game of conkers! She must have heard Jessie show off about his sixer when we first went to see her and remembered it all this time.’
‘Yes,’ said Roger, ‘that little fighter looks as if she’s well and truly on the mend.’
What good news, they all agreed, although Jessie chipped in to say he had told Angela no way could she have his sixer! Which made Peggy and her visitors laugh.
Then James positioned the lamp a little closer and everyone leant in slightly one after another so that they could have a closer peek at the baby’s face.
James found himself staring at Peggy’s face instead of the baby’s, but she was so enraptured by her baby she didn’t give him a second look, and then he heard the sound of the bell used to let the medical staff know a doctor was needed and so he had to leave them all to it.
From deep within her cosy swaddling blanket, Peggy’s little girl stared up at her mother with a wise expression that seemed to say that she knew Peggy already, and that Peggy was exactly the mother she wanted to have.
Peggy looked around at everyone gathered around her hospital bed.
She had made good friends in Harrogate, she could see, and so had Connie and Jessie.
Evacuation had had its ups and its downs, but right at this very moment, there was nowhere else in the whole wide world that she would rather be.
Peggy said, ‘I’m sorry, Connie and Jessie, that you can’t be at home with Barbara and Ted, and that they won’t be with you here this Christmas, but hopefully having a new cousin who is going to look up to you two, and love you with all her heart, is going to mean that this is quite a special Christmas after all.’
Jessie and Connie gave a good show of making the best of a bad job.
Connie said loyally, ‘If we can’t be with Mummy and Daddy, then of course we want to be with you and our new cousin.’
Jessie nodded in agreement.
Tommy stood close to his parents, and Gracie put a hand on Larry’s shoulder so that he wouldn’t feel too alone.
There was a silence that felt rich and full of love, and nobody felt they had to rush to say anything. It was a special, significant silence, one that felt enriching and fortifying.
A peal of church bells told everyone it was midnight, and therefore was now Christmas Day.
‘Merry Christmas, everyone,’ said Peggy, as she looked down at the baby lying contented and peaceful in her arms, and she gave a slow smile of satisfaction.
‘I’ve got it. The baby’s name. Holly! I think she should be called Holly,’ Peggy said, and everyone laughed as Holly’s eyes flickered open as if she agreed wholeheartedly that this was a very good name indeed.
Copyright
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2017
Copyright © Katie King 2017
Katie King asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Ebook Edition © October 2017 ISBN: 9780008257552
