The Bells of Bournville Green
Page 40
Pat had come to visit Greta in hospital as soon as she heard that the baby was safely born, and had been quite emotional at the sight of him.
‘Sorry, Pat,’ Greta said, feeling badly for her. ‘It must be hard for you.’
‘No,’ Pat said, wiping her eyes and smiling sweetly. ‘It’s just lovely. He’s a beautiful babby, Gret. Well done you!’
Greta kept to herself the obvious remark that perhaps Pat could have a baby of her own if she’d get on and marry Andrew, who had asked her several times already. But Pat seemed intent on having the longest engagement in history and was not to be hurried.
‘I expect I’ll get round to it one day,’ she sometimes said. ‘I’m all right as I am for now though.’
As Greta and David lay snug in the warm, there was a tap at the door.
‘I couldn’t keep her away any longer!’ Edie said, as Francesca launched herself enthusiastically into the room to kiss her baby brother. She took her role as big sister very seriously. ‘Would you two like a cup of tea?’
‘Oh yes, please!’ Greta said fervently. Breast-feeding certainly gave her a thirst.
Edie returned a little later with a tray, just as little Anatoli was waking.
‘Stay and drink it with us won’t you?’ David said, smiling as he handed the baby, screaming in hungry outrage, to Greta for his feed.
Edie settled on the chair, watching the baby and smiling. Francesca watched, awed by the volume of the screaming.
‘He’s got a big voice,’ she remarked.
‘You wait,’ Greta told her. ‘He’ll be bigger than you one day!’
She took the little boy to her breast and the room went quiet again. David laid his hand on her thigh under the bedclothes, as if for comfort, and she looked round at Edie, her hair loose, girlish though she was a grandmother, at her little daughter and her husband, and thought that whatever else life might bring, today, here in this room, she had everything she ever wanted.
The Bells of Bournville Green
ANNIE MURRAY was born in Berkshire and read English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first ‘Birmingham’ novel, Birmingham Rose, hit The Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written eleven other successful novels, including, most recently, Where Earth Meets Sky. Annie Murray has four children and lives in Reading.
ALSO BY ANNIE MURRRAY
Birmingham Rose
Birmingham Friends
Birmingham Blitz
Orphan of Angel Street
Poppy Day
The Narrowboat Girl
Chocolate Girls
Water Gypsies
Miss Purdy’s Class
Family of Women
Where Earth Meets Sky
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to the following for their help in my research for this book: Sarah Foden and her colleagues at the Cadbury archive and especially to Cadbury girls Marjorie Hill, Valerie Fletcher and her husband Brian and Pat Harrison, all of whom were so generous with their time and conversation.
For those who would like to find out more about my books and writing, you are warmly welcome to visit my website, at: www.anniemurray.co.uk
First published 2008 by Pan Books
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Table of Contents
Title page
Author biography
Contents
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Part Two
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Part Three
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Part Four
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Part Five
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Copyright page