A Mother Forever by Elaine Everest (free children's online books txt) 📕

her. She just needed to push it to the surface more. Approaching Stella’s house, Ruby’s thoughts turned to Maureen Gilbert, who she hoped would be a regular visitor to Irene. Ruby would then get to have lots of cuddles with her delightful toddler, Alan.

Ruby noticed the curtains move as they opened the gate. Ah, she thought, at least someone is home and can see we are about to knock on the door. She smiled at Pat as she handed the little girl the plate of food. Her daughter had so much wanted to hand over the gift herself.

It was Wilf who opened the door, a glum look on his face. ‘I’m sorry, love; if it’s Stella you wanted to see, she’s having a lie down at the moment. The news about Derek was just too much for her. I’m not feeling that great myself, so I’m sorry if I don’t ask you both in. We’ve only just heard,’ he said, shaking his head in sorrow.

Ruby didn’t understand what he meant. Pat, oblivious to what was being said, held out the plate of food. ‘I’ve come to show you my dress. I was a bridesmaid for George, and he sent some wedding cake for you,’ she beamed up at the man she thought of as a grandfather.

‘You look as pretty as a picture, and Stella will be sad to have missed seeing you,’ he said as he took the plate.

‘I can come back and show her another day,’ she smiled. ‘Irene said I can keep the dress.’

Ruby stroked her daughter’s head. ‘I tell you what, why don’t you take my key and go back over home and start to draw a picture of the wedding? You can give it to Stella when she feels better,’ she said, and watched as her delighted daughter skipped back across the road. ‘Wilf, this must have been sudden. I spotted you both sitting at the back of the church earlier.’

Wilf nodded his head. ‘We did want to see your George get married, but under the circumstances and the way Stella feels about things, she didn’t feel up to socializing. The letter was lying on the doormat when we got home.’

‘Letter? Would the army not have sent a telegram?’

‘They only do that when the person has died. Our Derek has sustained terrible injuries, and he’s not expected to survive. He was the only one of the lads in his trench not to be killed outright.’

Ruby felt an icy fear grip her heart. She reached out to steady herself against the wall of the house. She knew that Eddie and Derek had been sticking together like glue; Eddie always mentioned Derek, and a chap called Ernie Minchin they both knew from working in the brickfields not a mile down the road from where she stood at that moment. ‘Was there any word of Eddie?’ she asked.

‘Eddie? You ask about Eddie?’ Stella screamed as she pushed Wilf to one side, doing her utmost to get to Ruby. Her hair was dishevelled and her face streaked with tears. In her hands she gripped a letter screwed into a ball that she waved at Ruby. ‘You make a song and dance of it with my son, and you still want to know about your husband? I’ve never known such a selfish cow. For your information, your Eddie died thinking you were carrying on with anyone who would look twice at you. I made sure of that,’ she spat. ‘Not content with ruining your own marriage, now you’ve talked my Frank into joining up. Isn’t it bad enough that I’ve lost two sons without you sending the third to his death?’

Wilf took Stella’s arm and guided her back inside before going to close the door. He gave Ruby a vacant look, more concerned about his wife than Ruby’s protestations.

‘But it’s not what it seems . . . we haven’t . . . I don’t understand . . .’ she cried, unable to make sense of Stella’s words, or make herself understood.

‘You should take yourself back home. If Pat wants to come over to see us, she’s more than welcome, but it’s best you stay away. Stella doesn’t even want to see Derek. She can’t bear to think of him with terrible injuries, and wants to remember him as he was before the war. I can’t leave her to go and see him, so in a way I feel very much as she does at the moment. You may not be totally to blame, but it would be best for you to stay away.’

Ruby refused to be beaten when she’d done nothing wrong. Even though in her head the words ‘your Eddie died’ kept screaming out, she refused to accept them. Surely she would feel it in her heart if he was gone? Wouldn’t someone write to her – unless Eddie had forgotten to make her his next of kin? She took a deep breath and tried to think clearly. Nothing should change until she knew more about her husband.

She knew Derek should not be alone, and out of respect for Frank, who was now serving with the Ambulance Corps, she couldn’t let the lad die without anyone there. Not only that, but he might also know something about Eddie – and she needed to find out how her husband had died. ‘Where have they taken Derek?’ she demanded.

‘He’s been taken to some place called Queen’s Hospital in Sidcup; it’s where they take soldiers who . . . who . . .’ Tears fell from Wilf’s eyes as he trailed off and turned away, closing the door in her face.

Back indoors, Ruby checked to make sure Pat was all right and sat down at the kitchen table. Resting her head in her hands, she forced herself to think carefully about what had happened.

She desperately needed to talk things through with someone. Her first choice would have been George, but it was unfair to do such a thing on the day of his wedding – besides, he was going away to the country with his bride for a long weekend before