by Annie Murray
‘Also you’re a doctor and you and your wife are caring for children who would otherwise be destitute?’
‘I’m sure that also helps,’ he agreed.
‘And you have made an old woman from England very happy with your Orfanotrofio Diana,’ she told them, slightly self-mocking.
‘Old, my foot,’ Rose interrupted.
Looking at the two of them and what they were creating here, Catherine knew she had before her a strong couple. She was longing to tell Ronald about them already. It was all so right. So improbable at first sight, but so entirely right.
‘I must toast your future,’ she said, raising her glass of the inky red wine. ‘Here’s to the Orfanotrofio Diana – and to you both, with all my heart.’
They raised their glasses.
It was a time of night that Rose always loved, and on this night it was particularly special. When her husband was asleep, his hands resting softly against the curve of her back, she slipped off the huge, lumpy bed and went to sit for a while by the window. She opened the shutters a crack so that she could just see the half-moon casting its light on the trees behind the house.
She was excited and stirred up by all the news from England, and at the same time had a sense of enormous joy in her life. She was becoming certain that she would have another piece of news to tell first Paulo and then Catherine this week: that soon she would be adding another child to the household, a real brother or sister for Hilda after all this time.
She sat for some time with no clear thoughts in her head, just fragments of the day passing through. Then she went quietly out of the room and through the upper floor of the house, looking in on all the children who lived here in their care. Every bed was full tonight with Catherine sleeping at the end of the corridor.
Finally she climbed back into bed beside Falcone’s warm body. Impossible as she knew it to be, she fancied as she lay down that she could feel the child moving inside her.
Birmingham Rose
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 thirteen other successful novels, including, most recently, A Hopscotch Summer and Soldier Girl. Annie Murray has four children and lives in Reading.
ALSO BY ANNIE MURRAY
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
The Bells of Bournville Green
A Hopscotch Summer
Soldier Girl
For John
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With special thanks to: Carl Chinn, Tom Golding, Barbara Martin, Pat Oakes, Betty O’Brien, A. M. O’Meara, George and Jackie Summers and Eric Taylor.
First published 1995 by Pan Books
This edition published 2010 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2010 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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ISBN 978-0-330-53467-3 PDF
ISBN 978-0-330-53466-6 EPUB
Copyright © Annie Murray 1995
The right of Annie Murray to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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