A Season of Secrets by Margaret Pemberton Read Free Book Online Page B

through history. The most terrible war ever known is at
an end. Years of unimaginable struggle, bloodshed and sacrifice are over. There will be no more grieving war widows and war-orphaned children. Today . . .’ her voice surged with pride,
‘today, we are a Christian nation seeing the dawning of a brave new world!’
    She turned to Blanche and, in an action so unexpected both Thea and Olivia were never to forget it, the two women hugged each other tightly, tears of relief and joy streaming down their
cheeks.
    Aware that such momentous news could, with luck, mean no further lessons for the rest of the day, Thea pushed her chair away from her desk. ‘Do the officers and the nursing staff know the
war is over, Mama? If they don’t, can I go and tell them?’
    Laughing through her tears, Blanche broke away from Miss Cumberbatch’s embrace. ‘They already know, darling. Listen!’
    By now the sound of jubilation was spreading through the house like wildfire.
    ‘Then can I go and tell Hal, Mama?’ Thea’s voice was urgent. ‘I do so want to be the first to tell someone.’
    ‘And me, too, Mama.’ Olivia was also now on her feet. ‘I want to tell Carrie. And what about Mr Crosby and Charlie? Will they know yet? Can I tell them?’
    Another sound merged with that of a score of convalescing men roaring out ‘Rule, Britannia!’ at the top of their lungs. Blanche ran across to the window and flung it open, letting in
the distant sound of Outhwaite’s church bells as they rang out peal after glorious peal.
    ‘I think everyone knows by now, darlings,’ she said, still laughing, so happy she thought she was going to burst with it. ‘But as it is such an extraordinary, historic,
wonderful moment, I’m sure Miss Cumberbatch will let you off lessons for the rest of the day.’
    Miss Cumberbatch, who as a staunch Methodist was eager to hurry to the little Methodist chapel in Outhwaite’s High Street in order to give thanks to her Maker for her country’s
deliverance from evil, gave an affirming nod of her head.
    Gleefully Thea and Olivia scampered from the room. ‘I’m going to find Hal,’ Thea said as they raced upstairs to their bedroom for hats and coats. ‘You go and tell Jim and
Charlie.’
    ‘But they’ll already know! How could they not know? The singing and cheering the officers are making can probably be heard as far away as Richmond!’
    ‘Doesn’t matter.’ Still running, they skirted around two housemaids who, with piles of clean linen in their arms, were dancing a jig and singing the national anthem.
‘It’s the being the first to share in the news with them that matters now.’
    Once in the bedroom, Olivia hurled herself into a coat and crammed a beret on her head. It was a Monday, so Thea would be heading to the village school in order to find Hal – and if she
found Hal in the school playground, it meant that, of the two of them, she would not only be the first to share the news with Hal, but she would also be the first to share the news with Carrie.
    Without waiting for Thea, who was still hooking up the buttons on her winter boots, Olivia ran from the room. It was too bad that she wouldn’t see Carrie before Thea did, but she would
have the kudos of being the first of the two of them where Jim and Charlie were concerned.
    The entire west wing of Gorton had been converted into wards and sitting rooms for convalescing soldiers, and as Olivia shot past the double doors of the main sitting room she could hear, above
the singing and cheering, the sound of champagne corks popping. It was a sound that hadn’t been heard at Gorton since before the start of the war, and that it should be heard now would, she
knew, have been her mother’s idea.
    Once outside the house the sound of Outhwaite’s church bells was clearer than ever. Olivia paused, breathless from running, wondering who she should seek out first. She knew where Charlie
would be, because for the last month or so he had