Darkest Before Dawn Episode 14
“Go and wash your hands.” Maud’s voice drifted up the stairs. “You could plant carrots under those fingernails.”
“I’ve been on Mr Hobbs’s allotment,” Sidney replied. “You can’t dig without getting a bit of dirt on you.”
Isobel went to the landing and called down. “Up here, Mum.”
“Is everything all right?” Maud asked as she hurried upstairs. “What’s been happening?” She appeared in the bedroom doorway and her mouth dropped open when she saw Tilly sitting in bed with the baby in her arms. “Come and say hello to your grandson, Maud,” Rose said.
Maud sank into a chair and Tilly held out the baby for Rose to pass to her.
“He looks so much like Edward,” she said. “But that little mouth is like yours, Tilly. He’s going to be such a handsome lad.”
“I’ve washed me hands,” Sidney said as he joined them. “Is that a baby?”
“No, it’s a sack of coal,” Rose teased.
Tilly looked at Isobel, expecting her to join in the teasing, but she had a distant look in her eyes.
“Off you go, Sidney,” Maud scolded. “This is no place for a mucky urchin.”
“It’s OK,” Tilly said. “Say hello to your nephew, Sidney. He’s called Peter.”
“Hands?” Maud asked, and when Sidney held out his hands for inspection, Tilly saw they were shaking. He bent over to look at Peter and reached out, pushing his finger into the little fist and looking in wonder as the tiny fingers closed round it. “He ain’t half little,” he said. “It’s like we’ve got Edward back, ain’t it?”
Tilly reached out and ruffled his hair.
His mother and sister were crying. “It’s exactly like that,” she said, touched by his perception.