Sophie was staying at the farmhouse being spoiled by Rachel and regularly visited by Daphne, Sarah and Bertie. Ryan was in London making arrangements for accommodation during his year’s teacher training course, which threatened to be concentrated and very hard.
Gareth had stayed, having sent money to his partners in France, and had promised to help with the sale of animals and other stock. He and Daphne worked together and spent a lot of time discussing his new life in France. For Sophie the preparations to sell the animals for slaughter was upsetting and she pleaded to be allowed back home to Badgers Brook long before it all began.
There was little news about Owen, who was staying in Somerset, lodging in a guest-house alone, and filled with hatred towards the Treweather family. Having learned of his indifferent parentage had hardened him. Tommy had tried to stop the charges but fraud was a serious offence and it was impossible. He wrote letters to Owen promising him a home when everything was over, but although Owen read them he then tore them up. He didn’t owe the Treweathers anything. He didn’t know if he was even entitled to the same name.
Ryan was on his way home for a final visit before starting college. He knew this was his last chance to let Sophie know about her surviving grandmother. Telling Sophie that Grandmother Morgan had lived when the rest of her family had died the night of the rocket attack had not been as easy as he’d thought it would be and the longer he avoided it the worse it had become. He should have walked in that first time and said, ‘Guess who I’ve found,’ but she was so easily upset and the words hadn’t come.
Weeks had passed since he had found Victoria Morgan and learned of her close relationship to Sophie, but he was still trying to decide on the best way of breaking the news. What a fool he’d been to wait so long. The weeks between hadn’t made it any easier.
On the train journey down, he considered a dozen ways of breaking the remarkable news and discarded them all. His fear was that as well as the happiness at finding her grandmother, Sophie would once again be filled with remorse for not finding her earlier. She would be ashamed of her cowardice at not going back to see the ruined house and face the row of graves to say her last goodbyes.
Now, with Victoria Morgan having been very patient, accepting his plea for her to wait, he had no more time to dither. He’d taken too long and now she was threatening to come without warning and face the girl. He had to act.
When he went again to his parents’ farm, Sophie greeted him with joy. Their reunion was wonderful, their love for each other no longer a secret. She was relaxed and happy, and he could see the outgoing girl Daphne had described, blossoming once again. So he was fearful of sending her back into guilt and unhappiness.
‘I’d like you to come up to London with me this weekend, Friday till Sunday,’ he suggested after they had eaten and the room was quiet. ’We can leave straight after school and you’ll be back for Monday morning.’
‘But won’t you be busy? You still have some work to do before starting college,’ she said. ‘In fact, you ought not to have come home today.’
‘There’s a place I want to see and I want you to go with me.’
‘Tell me.’
Instead, he said, ‘It’s odd how the war is still affecting people. I read in the paper a while ago that after all these years a man appeared after his family had been told he’d been killed. The poor wife had remarried, had a child, and I can only begin to imagine how she must have felt, having shared her life with two men whom she loved. Strange things happened then, didn’t they?’
‘What has that to do with us going to London? There’s nothing there for me, you know that.’
‘I want you to visit the graves and talk to some of the neighbours, see what you can learn about what happened.’ He held her close and went on, ‘Darling girl, if you can get everything clear, go back and face it, then you’ll stop blaming yourself. I want you to feel free of all that. I want us to have a future in which you’ll be happy.’
‘I’ll never be free.’
‘I suppose that’s how that poor woman who married twice in all innocence felt, but she dealt with it.’
‘But there’s nothing there for me to “deal with”. What’s the point of talking to neighbours? Anyway, I doubt there’ll be any who remember me after all this time.’
‘What if there is someone there, someone who you can talk to and who’ll help you?’
She pushed him away, stood up with her hands on her hips and demanded, ‘Ryan, stop creeping around the edges of what you have to say and just say it!’
So after all his planning, his intention of turning the conversation gently around, the fine words he intended to use, he just said it. He stood up and held her tightly and said, ‘Your grandmother Morgan is alive and I know where we can find her.’
He felt the shock of it hit her: she started to fall and would have collapsed on the floor if he hadn’t held her.
‘You must be wrong,’ she murmured.
‘I’m sorry, darling. I was so clumsy. I tried to break it to you gently but there wasn’t anything I could say to make it less of a shock. She is longing to meet you. She believed you had died during those last fearful months too.’
He made her a hot drink and added plenty of sugar. His mother wouldn’t mind such extravagance this once.
‘What will she think of me not going back to find her?’
As he had feared she was immediately blaming herself.
‘She understands you not going back. So far as you knew you’d lost them all that night. Why would you expect to find her alive? She’s a wonderful lady and she’s been so kind to wait, allowing me to tell you before I take you to see her.’
‘Can we go tomorrow?’
‘By the first train,’ he promised. He held her for a long while but she didn’t say any more and he allowed her the silence. He guessed that tomorrow the talk would be plentiful. As he helped her to her room that night she suddenly asked, ‘How did she survive?’
‘Believe it or not she went out to buy fish and chips.’
She laughed, then a moment later the giggles changed to tears and he held her until they stopped.
Victoria Morgan was on the telephone. It was an extravagance but she had been used to having the convenience of one when she owned the shop and had one installed in her new flat. When she picked it up that evening and heard Ryan telling her Sophie would be there the following day, she thought it was worth a thousand times more than it cost her. She longed to talk to her but agreed that they should see each other and break the long parting with hugs and kisses rather than through a mechanical voice on the phone.
She didn’t sleep, imagining all they would say, and at seven the next morning went for a walk, cleaned the flat, then bought what food she could find, preparing for the most remarkable meeting of her life. Two people brought back from the permanence of death.
Ryan took Sophie straight from the station to the churchyard and led her to where well-tended graves bore the names of her brother and sister and her parents. Nearby were her grandfather, Auntie Maggie and Uncle Albert.
A smartly dressed woman approached.
‘Nana!’ Sophie sobbed. ‘I didn’t really believe it!’ They stared at each other through tear-filled eyes before running to hold each other as though never to let go. Smiling, Ryan sat on an ancient grave and waited.
The talk went on and it was a long time before Ryan was included. He led them from the churchyard to a café, where they wasted food by allowing it to go cold while they talked and laughed. They walked round the shops seeing nothing but each other. Another café and still they talked, while he sat listening with happiness almost as great as theirs.
When Sophie explained that Ryan was the son of a farmer, Victoria looked surprised.
‘I would never have imagined you living on a farm,’ she said. ‘You used to be too soft-hearted to cope with all that.’
‘She still is,’ Ryan said. ‘Our life together won’t include cows and sheep. A dog maybe? Or a cat?’ He reached out and held Sophie’s hand. ‘In fact, now my parents are selling up, she needn’t go there again.’
‘But I’d like Nana to see the place, and she must come to Badgers Brook. In fact, I don’t want to lose sight of her for a moment.’
Ryan finally led them to where Victoria now lived, and Sophie saw that the small bedroom contained an open, partly packed suitcase.
‘I thought you would like to take Nana back with you tomorrow,’ Ryan said. ‘I have to search for accommodation. A friend has given me a few addresses. I’ll come in the morning to take you to the station then I’ll phone you at the farm later.’
Their parting was sorrow mixed with excitement. Her eyes were dark with love as she kissed him goodbye. ‘Thank you for finding her for me.’
‘She’s a wonderful lady,’ he said. ‘Almost as wonderful as you.’
Tommy was prowling around the house and Rachel knew he was worried about Owen. ‘When will he be coming home?’ she asked.
‘Never. He hates us for keeping the secret he was entitled to know, and for setting the police on him when he stole from us.’
‘But we can hardly be blamed for that – he stole a lot of money. How does that make him angry at us?’
‘We shouldn’t have involved the police. I owed him something. Whatever his true status, he’s been a part of the family since before he was five years old. If I’d been kinder to him, offered him a share of the farm, treated him like a son, he’d never have done it. So yes, he can blame me.’
They had both written and promised him a home, talked about the land on which he could build a house, but there were no replies. Rachel gave him news about Sarah, who, now he had been charged and the facts were known, was surprisingly sympathetic. Even Bertie made a drawing and asked that it be sent to him. Nothing produced a response.
Money had been deposited for a lawyer to defend him and they offered to give evidence of extenuating circumstances, but the solicitor wasn’t hopeful. A crime had been committed and Owen would have to take the consequences.
Sarah was the only person Owen wrote to. It was very brief, just a thank you for her letter and Bertie’s picture. He said he appreciated them both, as he felt very much alone. Sarah took it to show Rachel and Tommy. It added to their growing sense of shame.
‘We took the boy in and gave him a home, but we shouldn’t have done it. Doing something half hearted is not much better than not doing it at all,’ Tommy said.
‘I didn’t look upon it like that. He wanted a home and a family and we gave them to him. We couldn’t be expected to love him like our own.’
‘He deserved better than we gave him.’
‘We’ll make it up to him. Come on, Tommy, stop beating yourself. When this is all over we’ll make a new beginning.’
‘If he’ll let us.’
Victoria loved Badgers Brook. ‘I hoped that you’d be living in a place you’d be happy to leave,’ she said. ‘I thought you’d come back with me, at least for a while, but how can you leave a beautiful home like this?’
‘I have a job, too, Nana. I work in the local school.’
‘Can I stay here for a while then? I hate the thought of going back to my flat so many miles away from you.’
‘Please stay. Then I’ll visit you at half term. We won’t wait long between visits.’
‘Ryan will be in London more or less permanently for a year, won’t he?’
‘I’ll want to see him, too,’ she admitted.
After introducing her grandmother to Kitty and Bob, then Stella, Colin and Betty, they booked a taxi and went to the farm.
Her leg was still painful, otherwise she would have walked her through the wood and shown her where the badgers lived. ‘But next time we’ll walk through the paths and animal tracks and you’ll see why I love it here so much.’
As Sophie had phoned the farm earlier, Rachel was ready with the table filled with home-made food. Daphne was there helping Tommy and Gareth sort out items for the farm sale, and she greeted Nana with delight.
Sophie rested her aching ankle while her friends showed their visitor around.
‘I’m so grateful to Ryan for finding her for me. I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been by not going back.’
‘Oh, we all do stupid things sometimes, dear. Like the way we were with poor Owen.’
‘Ryan wishes he and Gareth had handled things differently. They were outraged at the way he was stealing from you and did what their anger told them was right. But Owen will be back. You’re still his only family.’
School kept Sophie away from Badgers Brook most of each day, but Victoria filled her days happily by wandering around the area, getting to know Sophie’s friends, most of whom were amazed at the unlikely reunion.
One day she was sitting outside the Ship and Compass, sheltered from the wind and enjoying some late sun, when Betty came out and invited her inside.
‘Your granddaughter hasn’t been here long, but we love her,’ Betty said. ‘I hope you aren’t going to take her away from us?’
‘I don’t want to part with her for a moment more than I have to, but neither do I want to intrude on her life. I did think that, as Ryan will be in London for a year, she might like to stay with me. Then when they come back, perhaps I’ll come back with them. D’you think I could make a life for myself here?’
‘Cwm Derw is a friendly place. And we love newcomers bringing in a breath of fresh air. Yes. I’m sure you’d settle perfectly well.’
‘As long as Sophie is happy about it. I won’t come if there’s a chance of spoiling anything.’
‘What did you do before you retired?’ Betty asked.
‘I ran a small grocery shop. Victory Stores,’ she added with a smile. ‘I made a lot of jams and pickles.’
‘So does your Sophie! Wouldn’t it be perfect if she reopened the business. Any chance?’
‘I think I’ve a few years of work left in me, but I can’t see her wanting to. Her life is here.’
Ed came in and went straight to the biscuit barrel. ‘This all you’ve got?’ he asked with a grin after he was introduced to Victoria. ‘My sister used to look after me, but now I’ve got Elsie she doesn’t bother.’
‘Ed’s wife runs the bed and breakfast near the post office,’ Betty explained. ‘In fact, they run it together.’
‘That must be interesting.’
‘Hard work,’ Ed replied, helping himself to a cup of tea.
Betty stood up and apologized. ‘I have to get the bar ready to open up. The regulars will soon be banging the door down,’ she explained.
‘And I must get to the school. I’m taking Sophie and a young man called Bertie for lunch in the café.’
After Victoria had returned to London, Sophie felt a change in the house she had called home. It was when she returned from school on Monday. The fire refused to draw, the usual warmth gone from her favourite room overlooking the garden. Nowhere in the house could she feel its welcome. She was puzzled but said nothing to anyone; they would think her crazy to imagine that a house could have moods.
Geoff came to bring her a kitchen mat she had ordered and he stayed for a cup of tea. He looked around the living room, its view of the garden now hidden by the dark evening. It was comfortable as always but there was something missing and he couldn’t define the difference.
‘Is everything all right?’ he asked. ‘No problems with the house?’
She stared at him. ‘Everything’s fine, I think. But I don’t feel—’ she stopped. How could she say what she felt without appearing stupid?
‘The house changes towards people sometimes,’ Geoff said. ‘It welcomes a new tenant, then, when it’s time for that person to move on, it seems to change its mood, to be telling them to go. As though it knows now is the right time to move on.’
‘Perhaps that’s what it’s telling me.’
‘Ryan and your Nana both being in London, perhaps?’
‘I want to be there with them but I’ve just started working in the school.’
‘And you can give them notice. You could leave at Christmas, perhaps?’
‘It’s what I’ve been thinking, Geoff.’
‘Everything seems to be coming to an end,’ she told Daphne that evening. ‘Ryan leaving, Nana back in London, Owen beginning to talk to Sarah and softening towards Bertie. The Treweathers are leaving the farm and Gareth is settling down in France.’
‘And you?’
‘I want to go back to London, just while Ryan is there. Then I want to come back and persuade Nana to come here too.’
‘You’re going to London on Friday, discuss it with them both.’
‘Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – four more days,’ she sighed as she counted on her slender fingers. ‘I can’t bear it, it seems for ever.’
Daphne was helping Betty that evening and while she was there the phone rang. She was smiling as she replaced the receiver.
‘Can you spare me for a moment to fetch Sophie?’ she asked, and Betty willingly agreed.
‘Why do I have to come to the Ship?’ Sophie asked. ‘I have to cut some cards for school tomorrow.’
‘Stop asking questions and complaining,’ Daphne said. She pushed her friend impatiently into Betty’s back room and into the arms of Ryan. Behind him stood Nana, wearing a wide and happy smile.
‘Please, come back with us, we can’t cope on our own,’ he said as she ran into waiting arms.