Ellen braced herself to go back into the house. Things had gone too far. Ted would have to tell his mother to go, whatever else happened. Her nerves wouldn’t take any more. He had to find her somewhere else to live. Anything as long as it meant Hannah left Henshaw Street.
With her thumb on the latch Ellen listened at the door. There were no sounds. With a bit of luck her mother-in-law had gone to her bedroom.
She ran her hands over the front of her pinny, pulling the frills straight. Tucking her blond hair behind her ears she lifted her chin, pushed the door open and went in, crossing her arms.
Hannah was lying on the floor, her eyes open and blank. It seemed to Ellen they were fixed on her. Other than letting her arms drop, Ellen didn’t move. The sudden whooshing sound in her ears blocked out all but one thought. She’d killed Ted’s mother.
Just as quickly, the noise went and she heard the dripping of the scullery tap, simmering water murmuring in the Ascot above the sink, the clock softly ticking, a bluebottle that droned and patted on the window.
Acid bile rose in Ellen’s mouth and she swallowed. Skirting around the body on tiptoe as though the movement would bring life back into the shapeless mound sprawled in front of the armchair, she ran upstairs. In the children’s room William was still asleep. Ellen leant over him watching the way his breath quivered his lower lip and lifted his chest under his pyjamas. She felt her own body taking in air to match the same rhythmic movement and it calmed her. He murmured but didn’t wake when she lifted him and held him close, his skin warmly damp against her neck. The nearness comforted her. Creeping downstairs she avoided looking at the body, moving swiftly out of the kitchen and through the yard, leaving the back door and gate open. Her need to be with Ted became more urgent with each step.
Skidding on the cobbles in her slippers she ran to the top of the alleyway. She stopped and looked along Greenacre Street. The quivering that took over her whole body was unexpected. Her back to the end house wall, she slid to the ground with William in her lap.
And then she acknowledged the emotion that flooded through her.
It was relief.