But then very slowly he turned, and as she found herself looking up into eyes that still haunted her dreams, the breath caught in her throat and she had to hang on to the door jamb for support.
‘Nick!’
‘Well, aren’t you going to invite me in then?’ he asked, with the same cheeky grin – and without waiting he strode past her and closed the door firmly behind him. A tall, well-muscled and very handsome man stood before her and she had to blink to make herself believe that it was really him.
‘Hello, Pearl.’
It was the second shock she had had in a day and she was rendered temporarily speechless as she gawped up at him.
‘B-but how . . . how did you know where to find me?’ she asked eventually.
‘Ah well, luckily I was docked in Canada recently when I bumped into Susan and Will and we got to talking and . . . the long and the short of it is, they told me what really happened with you and Monty. Eliza had told me that you loved him, which is why I didn’t bother you again. But why didn’t you tell me what had really happened? Didn’t you trust me enough?’
Pearl started to cry softly. ‘How could I tell you that I had been raped and that I was carrying another man’s child?’ she said brokenly. ‘I was too ashamed and too afraid of what you might do if you knew. It seemed kinder to just let you go and forget about me. I was soiled goods and I couldn’t face you.’
‘You little fool! You could never be soiled goods; it wasn’t your fault,’ he scolded her. ‘Although you were right to worry about what I might have done, I admit. I’d have killed Monty with my bare hands if I’d known. As it was, he got his comeuppance anyway. But once I knew the truth, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away, so when I discovered that Mrs Forbes was travelling to England, I got on the boat with her. She told me that she was intending to come and see you and I needed to know how the land lay before I turned up. After all, you might have been about to get married or something!’
Smiling, he reached out to gently stroke a strand of damp hair from her cheek, and at the touch of his hand her heart began to thump so loudly she was sure he would hear it.
‘You can probably guess the rest,’ he went on. ‘I travelled here with Mrs Forbes and she agreed to come and see you first to see if there was still a chance for me. I don’t mind telling you, it was the longest hour I have ever spent, but thankfully when she and Mathilda arrived back at the station just now, she was able to tell me that you were still footloose and fancy-free. You see, I’ve done quite well since the last time I saw you and I’ve got enough saved up for that little smallholding I used to talk about. Of course, I can see that you have your own thriving little shop now and perhaps the thought of being a farmer’s wife doesn’t appeal to you?’
Pearl glanced around at the little business she had built up. It had taken years of hard work and long hours and yet now she realised that it meant nothing compared to what he was offering her. Looking back at him she smiled through her tears. ‘Actually, I’ve always quite fancied living on a farm. But you’d have to make an honest woman of me first!’
‘Oh, I think that could be arranged.’ He grinned and then she was in his arms and as his lips pressed down on hers, her heart swelled with love and she knew she was finally in the place she was meant to be.
Acknowledgements
First of all I would like to say a massive thank you to my lovely editor Sarah Bauer, Katie Lumsden, Eleanor, Kate and all ‘the Rosie team’ at Zaffre who have worked so hard to keep everything on track throughout the awful pandemic. Special thanks also to the designer for the wonderful covers for my new series, and to my amazing agent Sheila Crowley, and my brilliant copyeditor Gillian Holmes. I know it can’t have been easy for any of you having to work from home and we’ve all had to adapt to the changes, but somehow you’ve managed it, so many thanks and well done to you all.
Finally, a huge thank you to my wonderful family and all my lovely readers for all the smashing reviews – love to you all!
About the Author
Rosie Goodwin is the million-copy bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels. She is the first author in the world to be allowed to follow three of Catherine Cookson’s trilogies with her own sequels. Having worked in the social services sector for many years, then fostered a number of children, she is now a full-time novelist. She is one of the top 50 most borrowed authors from UK libraries. Rosie lives in Nuneaton, the setting for many of her books, with her husband and their beloved dogs.
Also by Rosie Goodwin
The Bad Apple
No One’s Girl
Dancing Till Midnight
Tilly Trotter’s Legacy
Moonlight and Ashes
The Mallen Secret
Forsaken
The Sand Dancer
Yesterday’s Shadows
The Boy from Nowhere
A Rose Among Thorns
The Lost Soul
The Ribbon Weaver
A Band of Steel
Whispers
The Misfit
The Empty Cradle
Home Front Girls
A Mother’s Shame
The Soldier’s Daughter
The Mill Girl
The Maid’s Courage
The Claire McMullen Series
Our Little Secret
Crying Shame
Dilly’s Story Series
Dilly’s Sacrifice
Dilly’s Lass
Dilly’s Hope
The Days of the Week Collection
Mothering Sunday
The Little Angel
A Mother’s Grace
The Blessed Child
A Maiden’s Voyage
A Precious Gift
Time to Say Goodbye
The Precious Stones Series
The Winter Promise
Welcome to the world of Rosie Goodwin!
Keep reading for more from Rosie Goodwin, to discover a recipe that features in this novel and to find out more about Rosie Goodwin’s next book . . .
We’d also like to welcome you to Memory Lane, a place to discuss the very best saga stories from authors you know and love with other readers, plus get recommendations for new books we think you’ll enjoy. Read on and join our club!
www.MemoryLane.Club
/MemoryLaneClub
Dear Reader,
Well, spring will be knocking on the door soon and it can’t come quickly enough for me! It’s seemed to be a very long winter with the lockdowns, etc, but let’s hope things will soon begin to return to some sort of normality.
And here it is, the second in my Precious Stones series, An Orphan’s Journey! I do hope you’ll come to love Pearl as I did while I was writing about her. The idea for this one came when I read about a woman called Annie MacPherson who started to ship orphans abroad in the 1860s. Can you imagine how long and harsh the journey overseas must have taken back then? During research I discovered that many of the children fell ill on the way and sometimes didn’t even reach their destinations or the new lives they were promised. Then even if they did survive, life in a new country wasn’t always what they’d hoped it would be, poor little mites. Many of them entered a life of service and were treated even more badly than they had been in the orphanages and the workhouses they’d been taken from, and I’ll admit to shedding more than a few tears while I was reading about them. My imagination just ran riot and hence An Orphan’s Journey was born. I can’t wait for you all to read it, and isn’t the cover just lovely? Hats off to the designer for doing such a grand job during lockdown. We’ve all had to slightly alter the way we work over the last few months, especially the team who have had to work from home, but everyone at Zaffre has managed to keep everything on target, so well done to them too.
I’m now busily working on getting the next book ready for later in the year and in that one you’ll meet Ruby (the book’s title is yet to be decided). Meanwhile, I shall very much look forward to hearing what you think of this one. An
author’s life can be very lonely, especially as almost all of my events, book signings, talks, etc, had to be cancelled for almost the whole year. I’m shut away in my office with my imaginary characters most of the time, so I really look forward to these and a chance to get to meet my readers, but fingers crossed that sometime in the not too distant future things will improve and this awful pandemic will be brought under control.
For now, your messages are always something I love reading. I’m longing to being able to get out and potter in the garden again soon and I’m also greatly looking forward to a very exciting event as we have a new baby due to join our family next month. I can hardly wait to meet them and I’ll tell you all about it in the next book.
You can keep up with all that is happening to me and the other authors on the Memory Lane Facebook page and newsletter. If you haven’t already joined, please do, as there are also some lovely competitions and gifts to be won.
Meantime, I hope you all stay well and safe and I look forward to hearing from you all.
Much love,
Rosie xx
Roast Pork Dinner
A dinner of pork and vegetables is the first meal Pearl serves in the Forbeses’ household, in chapter thirteen.
You will need:
1 leg of pork
8 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
6 carrots, peeled and cut in half
4 turnips, peeled and cut into wedges
4 parsnips, peeled and cut in half
1 cabbage
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
500ml stock or water
Salt and pepper, to season
Method:
1. Lightly score the pork, then rub salt and pepper into its score lines. Place on a baking tray, cover with foil, and leave to roast at 180°C for 1 hour (or 25 minutes per 500g, depending on the weight).
2. Meanwhile, peel and chop the potatoes. Boil them for 25 minutes, until soft. Separate into two bowls of equal sizes, then pour the contents of one bowl into a roasting tin, add oil and roast for 45 minutes. Mash the other bowl of potatoes until smooth, then keep warm under the grill.
3. Peel and chop the carrots, turnips and parsnips, and boil them for 20 minutes, until softened. Cut the cabbage into chunks, leaving the end in place to hold it together. Add this to the pot of carrots, turnips and parsnips, and boil for another 15 minutes.
4. Then, 30 minutes being serving, remove the tin foil from the pork to allow the skin to crisp. When it is ready and the juices run clear, drain the juices into a saucepan and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
5. Heat the juices from the meat in a saucepan, then add 500ml stock or water. Mix the flour with cold water in a cup to make a thin paste, then add gradually to the saucepan, stirring as the gravy thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve all together. Enjoy!
An Orphan’s Journey is the second book in Rosie Goodwin’s Precious Stones series – if you enjoyed it, why not try the first in the series, The Winter Promise?
1850. When Opal Sharp finds herself and her younger siblings suddenly orphaned and destitute, she thinks things can get no worse. But soon three of them – including Opal – are struck down with the illness that took their father, and her brother Charlie is forced to make an impossible decision. Unable to afford a doctor, he knows the younger children will not survive. So, unbeknownst to Opal, Charlie takes their younger siblings to the workhouse. When she finds out, Opal is heartbroken.
Charlie starts taking risks to try to support what’s left of the Sharp family and earn Opal’s forgiveness, but he takes it too far and finds himself in trouble with the law. Soon, he is sent on a convict ship to Australia.
As poor Opal is forced to say goodbye to the final member of her family, she makes a promise to reunite them all one day. Will she ever see her family again?
The Days of the Week Collection
If you enjoyed An Orphan’s Journey, you’ll love Rosie Goodwin’s Days of the Week collection, inspired by the Victorian ‘Days of the Week’ rhyme.
Turn over to find out more . . .
Mothering Sunday
The child born on the Sabbath Day, Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
1884, Nuneaton.
Fourteen-year-old Sunday has grown up in the cruelty of the Nuneaton workhouse. When she finally strikes out on her own, she is determined to return for those she left behind, and to find the long-lost mother who gave her away. But she’s about to discover that the brutal world of the workhouse will not let her go without a fight.
The Little Angel
Monday’s child is fair of face.
1896, Nuneaton.
Left on the doorstep of Treetops Children’s Home, young Kitty captures the heart of her guardian, Sunday Branning, and grows into a beguiling and favoured young girl – until she is summoned to live with her birth mother. In London, nothing is what it seems, and her old home begins to feel very far away. If Kitty is to have any chance of happiness, this little angel must protect herself from devils in disguise . . . and before it’s too late.
A Mother’s Grace
Tuesday’s child is full of grace.
1910, Nuneaton.
When her father’s threatening behaviour grows worse, pious young Grace Kettle escapes her home to train to be a nun. But when she meets the dashing and devout Father Luke, her world is turned upside down. She is driven to make a scandalous choice – one she may well spend the rest of her days seeking forgiveness for.
The Blessed Child
Wednesday’s child is full of woe.
1864, Nuneaton.
After Nessie Carson’s mother is brutally murdered and her father abandons them, Nessie knows she will do anything to keep her family safe. As her fragile young brother’s health deteriorates and she attracts the attention of her lecherous landlord, soon Nessie finds herself in the darkest of times. But there is light and the promise of happiness if only she is brave enough to fight for it.
A Maiden’s Voyage
Thursday’s child has far to go.
1912, London.
Eighteen-year-old maid Flora Butler has her life turned upside-down when her mistress’s father dies in a tragic accident. Her mistress is forced to move to New York to live with her aunt until she comes of age, and begs Flora to go with her. Flora has never left the country before, and now faces a difficult decision – give up her position, or leave her family behind. Soon, Flora and her mistress head for Southampton to board the RMS Titanic.
A Precious Gift
Friday’s child is loving and giving.
1911, Nuneaton.
When Holly Farthing’s overbearing grandfather tries to force her to marry a widower twice her age, she flees to London, bringing her best friend and maid, Ivy, with her. In the big smoke, Holly begins nurse training in the local hospital. There she meets the dashing Doctor Parkin, everything Holly has ever dreamt of. But soon, she discovers some shocking news that means they can never be together, and her life is suddenly thrown into turmoil. Supporting the war effort, she heads to France and throws herself into volunteering on the front line . . .
Time to Say Goodbye
Saturday’s child works hard for their living.
1935, Nuneaton.
Kathy has grown up at Treetops home for children, where Sunday and Tom Branning have always cared for her as one of their own. With her foster sister Livvy at her side, and a future as a nurse ahead of her, she could wish for nothing more. But when Tom dies suddenly in a riding accident, life at Treetops will never be the same again. As their financial difficulties mount, will the women of Treetops be forced to leave their home?
Victorian Tales from Memory Lane
Discover new stories from the best saga authors
Available now
Introducing the place for story lovers – a welcoming home for all readers who love heartwarming tales of wartime, family and romance. Join us to discuss your favourite stories wit
h other readers, plus get book recommendations, book giveaways and behind-the-scenes writing moments from your favourite authors.
www.MemoryLane.Club
/MemoryLaneClub
First published in the UK in 2021 by Zaffre
This ebook edition published in 2021 by
ZAFFRE
An imprint of Bonnier Books UK
80–81 Wimpole St, London W1G 9RE
Owned by Bonnier Books
Sveavägen 56, Stockholm, Sweden
Copyright © Rosie Goodwin, 2021
Cover design by Jenny Richards
Cover artwork © Larry Rostant
The moral right of Rosie Goodwin to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
An Orphan's Journey Page 38
