A Strong Hand to Hold. Anne Bennett

knew Linda was depressed; Matron had warned her about it. She decided to get straight to the point.

      ‘Linda,’ she said. ‘When you’re well enough to leave hospital, would you like to move into my house?’

      Linda’s eyes opened very wide. ‘Your house!’ she repeated. ‘Live with you, you mean?’

      ‘That’s right,’ Jenny said.

      The other girl’s eyes shone. ‘You mean it, really and truly?’

      ‘I do.’

      ‘That would be great.’

      ‘It won’t be for some time, you know,’ Jenny said.

      ‘I know, I don’t care. I was worrying about where I was going to live,’ Linda said. She studied Jenny for a minute or two and then said, ‘What about your mom?’

      ‘What about her?’

      ‘Won’t she mind me coming to live with you?’

      ‘No, of course not.’

      Linda was lying back on the pillows watching Jenny, and she suddenly said, ‘She will though, won’t she? Your mom ain’t happy about it, I can tell.’

      Jenny opened her mouth to voice another denial, when Linda suddenly said, ‘I know when you’re lying. Your eyes dart about all over the place.’

      Jenny laughed and said, ‘All right then. My mother isn’t all that keen, to tell the truth. But she’ll come round.’

      ‘I don’t care if she doesn’t,’ Linda said. ‘If I had to choose anyone to live with, it would be you, and as long as you’re happy about it, that’s all I’m bothered about.’

      And Jenny put her arms around Linda and gave her a hug. She knew all the rows with Norah were worth it, to give Linda something to smile about at last.

      The news of where the orphaned Linda Lennox would live when she was finally released from hospital, soon filtered through the estate. Many thought that Norah O’Leary might be a stuck-up cow and her mother too, but their hearts were obviously in the right place to open up their home for a child. Jenny never told the true story, but let people believe the decision was one her mother had made.

      To Dr Sanders, who knew the type of women Jenny’s mother and grandmother were, it seemed out of character for them to offer an orphan a home, especially a tough cookie like Linda Lennox. He was worried about the whole situation, and knowing they’d have no privacy in Jenny’s house to talk, he waited for her in the car park one evening as she left the hospital. He made the excuse he’d been visiting a patient and Jenny was certainly glad to see him. The winter’s day was raw and cold and inclined to be foggy. Her feet throbbed and she had no wish to stand at a freezing tram stop for hours on end.

      She slipped gratefully into the car and with an impish grin said, ‘We’ll have to stop meeting like this.’

      ‘If you say so,’ Dr Sanders said in the same vein. ‘I could always let you out now, if you’re worried about your reputation.’

      ‘Don’t you dare,’ Jenny cried. ‘It’s lovely to be chauffeured home like this.’

      ‘Then sit back, enjoy it and shut up.’

      ‘Yes, sir!’

      The doctor drove in silence down the darkened city streets for a moment or two. He’d noticed the exhausted pallor of Jenny’s skin as she sat beside him, and guessed it was the trek to the hospital wearing her out. But he knew Jenny well enough now to know it would do no good to mention it. Instead he said, ‘Are you looking forward to Linda coming to live with you?’

      ‘How do you know about it?’ Jenny asked. ‘I’ve never mentioned it and it’s only just been decided.’

      ‘Jenny, I work on the estate,’ he reminded her. ‘The story is on everyone’s lips.’

      ‘Well,’ said Jenny, recognizing the truth of his words, ‘the answer to your question is yes and no. Yes, I’m looking forward to having Linda’s future settled, and she’s happier than she’s been for a long time.’

      ‘But?’ prompted the doctor.

      ‘It’s my mother and grandmother,’ Jenny burst out. ‘They’re so against the child.’ She chewed her thumbnail anxiously and then went on, ‘Between them, they’ve given me hell for years. I’d hate them to do the same to Linda. I mean, I won’t always be there to protect her.’

      ‘Then, is it wise of you to offer her a home at all?’ Dr Sanders asked.

      ‘Maybe not. But what’s the alternative?’ Jenny asked. ‘A children’s home? Indifferent foster-parents? At least I do care for her and she cares for me. And she’ll have all the rest of the family.’

      ‘But your mother …?’

      ‘Mother and Grandmother refuse to discuss it,’ Jenny said.

      ‘What if they refuse to have her at all?’ Dr Sanders suggested gently.

      ‘Oh God. That would really break Linda’s heart,’ Jenny said, and added after a second or two, ‘but Mother won’t do that.’

      ‘How can you be so sure?’

      ‘Because if she did that, I’d leave home and she knows it.’

      ‘Where would you go?’

      ‘I’d join the WAAFs,’ Jenny shrugged. ‘I wanted to right at the start of the war, but all the family said it was my duty to stay and look after Mother. If she said Linda definitely couldn’t come, I’d be off.’