First Friends by Marcia Willett Read Free Book Online Page B

come and stay with you when you get back home—if you want me to!’
    â€˜Oh, Mummy! You know I will! I’m sorry that they’re here. It was Mark’s fault. You know I’d much rather have had you with me.’
    â€˜Of course I know that.’ Elizabeth Beauchamp held her daughter’s hand tightly. ‘But we must allow them their moment. After all, Mark is their only child and this is their first grandchild—grandchildren, I should have said. I’m an old hand, remember, although it’s our first set of twins. Apparently, Mr Webster had a twin brother. Fancy there being two of them! His poor old mum!’ They chuckled guiltily. ‘Well, I suppose we must think of going soon.’
    Kate’s father had already left the ward, being constitutionally unable to survive for more than thirty minutes without a cigarette. The sight of all these lactating women and roaring babies had thrown him off his stroke and he had had to hurry out quite five minutes before his usual expiry time.
    â€˜Oh, Mummy.’ Quite suddenly Kate felt that she simply couldn’t manage to go on being brave if her mother was going to leave. The loneliness of those long months of pregnancy and the sheer terror of the thought of coping alone with two new babies was unbearable. She looked at her mother’s beloved, worn, tired face and fear overwhelmed her. Elizabeth Beauchamp had a heart condition and Kate realised at that moment what it would mean to have to face life without this strong comforting love at her back. The tears she held back on other occasions, and especially in this last week, welled up and her chin shook. ‘Oh, Mummy!’
    Elizabeth gathered her close, ignoring the side glances of the other women in the ward. ‘Brace up, my darling. You can do it. Mark will be back soon.’ She wondered, as she had wondered before, why her warm-hearted, impulsive, sensitive daughter should have fallen in love with such a cold, undemonstrative and selfish young man. Should she have made more of her reservations? Kate had been so swept up in the romantic world of balls and parties and dashing young men in striking uniforms. ‘He’s the strong silent type,’ she had insisted when her mother had tentatively voiced her anxieties, but meeting Mark’s father had underlined Elizabeth’s fears. Her arms tightened around Kateand she sent up a little prayer. After all, Mark was very young and struggling with a new and exacting career. She sighed.
    Misunderstanding the sigh, Kate straightened herself and tried to smile at her mother. ‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I’m perfectly all right really and you mustn’t worry about me. Come and stay when I’m back at the flat.’ Not ‘home,’ her mother noticed. ‘We’ll have a lovely time. Tell Daddy to drive carefully.’
    â€˜I will. And we’ll certainly come. Or, if you prefer, when Mark goes off again we’ll drive up and pick you and the twins up and take you down to Cornwall.’
    â€˜Oh, yes please!’ Kate’s eyes shone. ‘I’d love to come home. Just for a week or two.’
    Noticing the ‘home,’ Elizabeth kissed her and stood up. ‘That’s settled then, you’ve only got to say the word. Now, look what we’ve brought you.’
    She nodded to the window by Kate’s bed. Outside, on the gravel, flirting with Kate’s father and making him laugh, was Cass. Kate looked from Cass and back to her mother in amazement. ‘But how super! I’ve longed to see her but she can’t struggle about on buses in her condition. How will she get back?’
    â€˜Don’t worry. We picked her up this morning and brought her with us. She’s been sitting out there on a bench in the sun. Daddy’s arranged, and paid for, a taxi to take her home. We didn’t want to leave you on your own. I’m sure you’ll both have plenty to