The Docklands Girls
Page 29
He took a deep breath as he walked into the room, his emotions in turmoil. How would Belle react when she saw her baby? He paused in the doorway and looked towards the bed where he saw Belle holding a bundle in her arms, looking down at it and he waited to see the expression on her face. She looked up and smiled.
‘Come and meet your daughter, Tom,’ she said.
He walked over, kissed Belle and then looked at his baby. All his hidden emotions came to the surface as he looked at the perfect features of his child and tears streamed down his face. He had so longed for a family and now he was a father. He couldn’t stop crying.
Belle reached out to him and took his hand. ‘It’s going to be alright, Tom, please don’t cry. She looks just like you, isn’t that marvellous?’
‘She’s beautiful and so are you,’ he said and kissed her. ‘What a very lucky man I am.’
‘No, Tom. I’m the lucky one. I know how much you wanted children and I didn’t. But you see, fate has a way of solving everything. Look what I would have missed. How could I not love this baby? I only wish I’d realised it sooner, I’ve missed so much joy.’
He sat on the bed and put his arms around her waist. ‘But look how much more you have to look forward to.’
She looked slyly at him and whispered. ‘I taught the nursing staff a few more swear words than they’d heard before, I’m afraid,’ and she started laughing.
Tom laughed too. ‘Oh Belle, I’m so happy to have you back to your old self. I have missed you!’
‘Now we can go and buy the pram,’ she said.
A few days later he took mother and child home. He’d put up the cradle in their bedroom and laid out some baby clothes in readiness, so thrilled he didn’t know how to contain his happiness.
Belle settled in the living room and lay the baby safely on a chair and sat looking round at the familiar things, pleased to be home. Tom made a pot of tea and brought it in. He picked up the baby as Belle poured the tea into the cups. She watched her husband cooing and talking to his child, saw the joy and contentment of his face and gave a soft smile. He’d be a wonderful father of that she had no doubt.
After the pains of delivery, she had been taken by surprise when the nurse had placed the baby in her arms, and she felt the overwhelming feeling of love as she’d looked at her daughter for the first time. She’d never experience such a feeling before. It was all consuming. How could she have ever doubted herself?
She sat quietly drinking her tea. She thought back over her life on the streets of Southampton, of the years she’d spent as a prostitute, the time she’d left to work in the factory and eventually managing to buy this house and live her dream. Now she had a husband and a child. She felt truly blessed.
During those years she’d made friends with two other women who had all overcome their own problems and they’d all survived: Hildy with her scheming mother was now happily married in America with her family and Cora, her dearest friend, orphaned during the war, having to manage alone, was now happy with Simon and their son – and herself, with Tom, a man she adored and their child. Three strong women who’d overcome so much in their own way. It had been quite a journey and they’d all survived and triumphed.
Looking at her husband and child, she knew that the future ahead wouldn’t be without its problems, but she’d never have to face them alone ever again. She would teach her daughter the difference between right and wrong, to be strong, give her the confidence to stand up to whatever she had to face but with the knowledge that she had parents who would stand by her always because they loved her. That was really all that anyone needed in this world – to be loved. After that you can overcome anything. She should know, she’d been there and survived. Her daughter would never ever have that struggle, she’d make sure of it, and she had vowed that the first moment she looked at her. Now she could relax and be a mother in the true sense of the word and it was her greatest achievement yet. The future was bright.
Acknowledgements
With thanks to my editor, Sophie Robinson and the lovely staff at Allison & Busby.
As always, my love to my daughters, Beverley and Maxine.
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About the Author
June Tate was born in Southampton to a seafaring family before the Second World War. She trained as a hairdresser and spent several years working on cruise ships including the Queen Mary and then the Mauretania, meeting Hollywood actors and VIPs on her travels. After her marriage she lived in Sussex and Hampshire before moving to Estoril in Portugal. Now a widow, she has returned to Sussex and has two adult daughters. She was the chair of the West Sussex Writers for three years and has held writing courses in Italy, Greece and Winchester University.
By June Tate
The Reluctant Sinner
Born to Dance
Brides of War
The Docklands Girls
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
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First published in 2016.
This ebook edition first published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2016.
Copyright © 2016 by JUNE TATE
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-7490-2056-9