The Lost Sister by Kathleen McGurl (i can read book club .TXT) 📕

but once his energy levels returned and his blood counts improved further, he would be allowed to return.

The chain of house-buyers was a short one, with first-time buyers at the bottom, then Harriet’s buyers, and she was buying an empty property. Everyone wanted to move quickly, so the whole process didn’t take as long as Harriet had feared. Contracts were exchanged, completion dates were set, she booked a removals company and within a couple of weeks of Jerome’s return home from hospital, all systems were go. Charlie, bless him, took a day off work so that he could care for Jerome while Sally was with Harriet, helping with the move.

‘So glad to have you here today, love,’ Harriet told her, when Sally appeared in the early morning before the removals company turned up, armed with a flask of coffee and a paper bag of chocolate croissants.

‘You’re very welcome. I brought coffee in case your kettle was already packed.’

Harriet smiled. Typical of Sally to be so organised and think things through.

The removals company had come the day before to pack almost everything into boxes, leaving the minimum to do today. It had been stressful seeing her rooms dismantled but Harriet knew it was a step forward that needed to be taken. She’d put her most precious belongings in her car so they’d be safe no matter what. All her unwanted furniture had already been disposed of – plenty of delighted young couples setting up their first homes had collected the items she’d free-cycled.

Sally and Harriet managed a quiet cup of coffee before the removal van turned up. Sally updated Harriet on the latest news about Jerome. She smiled, as she reported that he seemed better by the day, and his latest blood tests were looking good. ‘Honestly, whoever that donor was I want to hug them,’ she said.

‘Did you never hear back from Dr Windletter on that?’ Harriet asked.

‘He forwarded my letter of thanks and photo of Jerome to the person, but it’s up to them if they want to get in touch or not.’ Sally shrugged. ‘If it was me I think I’d want to meet the child whose life I’d saved but I suppose everyone’s different. I’m just grateful they agreed.’

The doorbell rang then – the removals company had arrived. Four hefty fellows trooped in, leaving a large van parked outside. They got straight to work, shifting the boxes and furniture out of rooms and packing it tightly into the van. Harriet and Sally hurried to clear up their coffee things, and then began cleaning rooms as the men emptied them. Harriet found she was kept too busy to think about what was happening. She’d imagined feeling emotional on moving day, but there simply wasn’t time. And Sally’s presence helped. She was so down-to-earth and practical, and the morning flew by. At last as they were hoovering the last room, the removals company foreman came to say the van was packed, and they were off for a lunch break, and would meet Harriet at the new property around three o’clock to unload.

The van left; Harriet and Sally finished up and loaded the vacuum cleaner into Harriet’s car, and did a final check around the house. It was strange to see the rooms empty, dents in carpet all that remained to show where furniture had stood for decades, rectangles on the walls like ghosts of the pictures that had hung there.

‘Well, Mum. This is it,’ Sally said, slipping an arm around Harriet’s shoulder as they stood at the door of Harriet’s old bedroom. It didn’t look like the room she’d shared with John for so many years – not without its furniture and clutter.

‘Yes, this is it.’ Harriet pulled out a tissue to dab at her eyes. ‘I think we’ve done everything. Best go and drop the keys off at the estate agent then. The new family will be wanting to get in.’ Mr and Mrs Cannon, and their three children. She wondered how long it would be before they put a trampoline in the garden, as she recalled they’d promised one of their kids.

She shoved the tissue into her pocket and went downstairs, grabbing her handbag from a peg by the door. Sally followed her out, and Harriet locked the door for the last time, standing back for a moment to look at it, the view overlaid in her mind with a memory of unlocking it for the first time, on the day she and John had moved in. Sally had been a baby at the time, and Davina not yet born. It was their first proper house, with a garden and a garage and an attic – they’d lived in a flat before. Harriet had known they would stay in the house for many years – it had felt like theirs from the very first moment she’d seen it. She realised now that her buyers, the Cannons, had had a similar reaction when they’d viewed the house. She knew they would be as happy in it as she and John had been.

Even so, saying goodbye to the house was difficult, at this final moment. She would probably never set foot inside it again. She put a hand on the door, sighed, and then walked down the garden path to her car. Sally was standing by her own car. Their plan was to have a quick lunch at a nearby café and then get to the new house before the van. Sally would go and order the lunches while Harriet dropped off the keys and picked up the keys to the new place. She’d received the call from her solicitor confirming that the money transfers had all taken place successfully so there were no last-minute hitches.

After lunch, Sally went home and sent Charlie to help Harriet in her place. ‘You’ll probably need to shift furniture into place,’ she’d said, ‘and he’ll be better able to do it.’ Harriet was quietly pleased by this change of plan – she knew