Eva and the Hidden Diary by Judi Curtin Read Free Book Online

weren’t allowed to think about. It was almost as if they were a bad dream that was best forgotten.’
    ‘And Daisy?’ I asked.
    ‘She was a dear girl and I missed her terribly,’ said Rose. ‘In those days, America might as well have been on another planet.’
    For a second I could see past the wrinkled old lady, to the sad young girl Rose had once been.
    What must have it been like for her to haveher friend leave so suddenly like that?
    How awful must it have been not to be able to talk about her?
    ‘Daisy and I wrote to each other at first,’ said Rose. ‘She told me all about her new life in America. It seemed exciting – but always tinged with sadness. I could tell that she was very lonely. Her great-aunt meant well, but she didn’t understand young girls. She thought that Daisy should just move on and forget all about her old life.’
    ‘She was expected to act like none of it ever happened?’ said Kate angrily. ‘She was expected to forget her mum, and her dad, and you and Seacove? How could she possibly do that?’
    Rose sighed. ‘It sounds harsh, I know. Anyway, after her daddy died, Daisy stopped writing. I waited and waited, but there was no word from her. My letters came back to me unopened. I don’t know what happened to my friend, or where she went.’
    I could feel tears coming to my eyes, but they embarrassed me. I’d never met Daisy or her mum and dad. Why did I care so much about what had happened to them?
    Then I saw that Kate’s eyes were damp too, and that made me feel a small bit better.
    While I was struggling to think of something to say, the nurse came back into the room.
    ‘All happy here?’ he said brightly, not seeming to notice that the three of us were holding soggy tissues and had blotchy faces and red eyes.
    ‘Never better,’ I said, trying to smile.
    Then I remembered the diary. I took it from my pocket.
    ‘Daisy’s diary,’ said Rose, recognising it immediately. She stroked the leather cover with shaky fingers. ‘That diary was so precious to her.’
    I held it towards her. I really didn’t want to part with it, but Rose had more right to it than I did.
    ‘If you like you can …’ I began, but Rose cut me off.
    ‘No thank you, dear’ she said. ‘I don’t need Daisy’s diary. Memories are enough for me.’
    I felt relieved as I put the diary back in my pocket.
    Then Kate remembered the tin on her knee.
    ‘Chocolate buns,’ she said. ‘Martha made them specially for you.’
    ‘Martha’s famous chocolate buns,’ said Rose. ‘One of life’s little pleasures.’
    When we left, Rose was eating a chocolate bun, and gazing at the photo of her old friend. She was smiling, and that made me feel a small bit better. This was turning out to be a very sad story, and I was glad that giving Rose the photo of her old friend had helped a bit.
    Neither Kate nor I spoke a word all the way home.

Chapter Nine
    N ext morning I called over for Kate. ‘Come inside,’ she said. ‘Zoe’s making a cake.’
    ‘What’s the occasion?’ I asked.
    ‘There isn’t one. Zoe just likes making cakes.’
    She looked around her and then whispered. ‘Zoe makes the most amazing cakes ever, but I can’t let Martha hear me saying that. She might be jealous.’
    ‘But Martha makes great cakes too. Her chocolate buns are almost famous.’
    ‘I know,’ whispered Kate. ‘Martha’s cakes are delicious, but Zoe’s are a step beyond that. They’re totally delicious, and they
look
amazingtoo. Zoe’s cakes look like they belong in a really fancy bakery in Paris or somewhere.’
    By then we were in the kitchen. Zoe poured us each a big glass of home-made lemonade and then went back to decorating her cake. She rolled out some pale green icing and then used a cutter to make heaps of tiny green leaf shapes. She used little dabs of icing to stick these onto the top of a perfectly smooth round cake.
    ‘That is totally amazing, Zoe,’ I said. ‘Kate’s right, you’re a genius