Legacy of Greyladies Read Online Free PDF Page B

found to complain about.
    ‘I wish to apologise to you. If you thought I was … um, denigrating your husband and the great sacrifice he made, that was definitely not my intention.’
    ‘Ah. Well. That’s all right, then.’ She went into the kitchen and closed the door on them. When she took her plate out of the pantry, she also got out her book.
    It was bliss to eat a meal alone. She took as long as she decently could over it, sure they wouldn’t miss her company.
    By the time she returned to the sitting room, Donald was growing tired and had decided to go to bed early ‘just this once’.
    Olivia made sure Cecily could manage to help him andsought her own bed, smiling as she put on her nightgown and picked up her book again. Meeting Mrs Simmons and her group of ladies would be something to look forward to.
    And if Donald or Cecily asked what the meetings were about, she’d say … She thought for a moment and chuckled aloud. She’d say the meetings were for women who’d lost someone close and wanted to pray together.
     
    On Wednesday after work, Olivia got ready to visit the vicar’s wife again. She felt happy to be going out but tried to hide that since she was supposed to be praying for her late husband.
    Donald swung into the kitchen on his crutches and scowled at the plate she was about to wrap in a tea towel. ‘I don’t know why you’re going to this thing today.’
    ‘Because I want to.’
    ‘And why you need to stay for tea afterwards is beyond me. Don’t those women have families to look after? A few private prayers should be more than enough to mourn the departed. This public parading of grief is unnecessary.’
    She glared at him. ‘Has it occurred to you that women who have lost their husbands can get lonely? They go for the company as much as anything, and there’s nothing wrong with that.’
    ‘Some people may need that, but you have Cecily to keep you company. When I return to my posting, you’ll have to take her with you to the meetings, because she’ll be lonely.’
    ‘I don’t have to do anything at your order, Donald.’
    He went red in the face and seemed to puff up a little, like an angry rooster. ‘I never thought you’d be so ungrateful for the shelter of my roof.’
    ‘Well, I never thought you’d expect me to stay and look after your wife for the duration of the war, and what’s more, I won’t do it.’
    She picked up her plate, saw that someone had pinched a scone, leaving a gap at one side – no need to guess who had done that – so took another scone off the plate of four she’d left for her cousins’ tea.
    ‘Hoy! You said those were for our tea.’
    ‘Well, you took a scone from my plate, so you’ve already had one of yours. And how would it look for me to go there with a half-empty plate? As if we couldn’t afford to contribute our share, that’s what.’
    ‘Oh, there’s no talking to you.’
    ‘No, there isn’t. And certainly not in that tone of voice.’
    She left via the back door, banging it good and hard behind her.
    She’d tried to excuse his grumpiness by telling herself he must be in pain, but really, other people coped with pain without taking it out on the people they were living with. He’d even made poor Cecily cry this morning.
     
    Olivia heard laughter as she knocked on the door of the vicarage and her heart lifted.
    Mrs Simmons’ elderly maid opened the door. ‘Do come in, Mrs Harbury. I’ll take your plate into the dining room, shall I?’ A whistling sound came from the kitchen and she swung round. ‘There goes the kettle! Could you please hang your coat and hat up, and join the other ladies?’ She hurried through a door at the back of the hall.
    Olivia went into the sitting room, pausing in the doorway to get her bearings. To her relief, and in one case her surprise,several women she knew by sight from the shop were there.
    The vicar’s wife beckoned her over. ‘You all know Mrs Harbury by sight, I think?’ She named each of