Page 70 of The Midnight Secret

‘You heard me. Put it right. Give back my baby.’ Flora held her nerve as she got down to the bones of the confrontation. Lorna surely had no idea of Mary’s win over them the other night: the burden of proof over morality was always going to have been Mary’s play. But James had been right – the nurse did have a shred of conscience. ‘James is here with me, in Quebec. He wanted to go straight to the police, but I’ve held him off. I asked him to let me speak to you first and give you a chance,’ she lied. ‘I know you’re decent at heart, Lorna. And I...I can understand your motives, even if I can’t forgive them. But if you give me back my child, I’m prepared to part ways without further recrimination. I’m sure you can see it’s better to bend than to break. I don’t want to see you and Mary jailed for this.’ She saw the fear come into Lorna’s eyes. ‘You’ve made it all the way here – you can still build a life together. No one needs to know about any of it. I won’t tell them. I give you my word.’

Lorna was breathing heavily as the words rebounded in her head:police,jail,build a life...‘But Mary,’ she breathed, her head beginning to shake side to side. ‘She won’t—’

‘I know. Which is why you won’t tell her. Not till after it’s done,’ Flora said calmly. ‘You and I know things were...chaotic in those final weeks back home. You weren’t thinking straight, you were panicking...But you’ve had time to think in here and you know now that what you did was wrong. You can’t outrun justice and y’ know what will happen to you if we go to the authorities. You’ve a clear choice: lose thebaby or lose everything. The two of you would never see each other again, they’d make sure of that. They’d make examples of you both. I know you understand it. But Mary? She’s...Well, we both know it’s hard to hold a conger by the tail.’

Flora saw the tears streaming down Lorna’s face and held her tongue. She forced herself to hold back and wait, knowing her arrows had hit their mark. Her heart was pounding. Lorna was due to be released from here in three days.

Finally, Lorna nodded. ‘I’ll do it.’

‘You won’t tell her?’

‘...No.’

‘Because it’s no secret if three know it,’ Flora warned.

‘I won’t tell her,’ Lorna murmured.

Flora felt her breath catch at the sweet, private victory. ‘Then I’ll tell James to hold off from his visit to the police. We’ll be waiting for you three days from now, when you’re all released from the Immigration Hall. There’s a door to the trains beside the money exchange. Meet me outside there.’

‘Right there?’ Lorna looked panicked. ‘Can’t y’ at least—?’

‘No.’ Flora cut her off. ‘It has to be there. I won’t risk you disappearing on us again. Your word is no good any more. You have to find a way to bring the baby out to me there, without Mary seeing, or we’ll bring in the police.’

Lorna swallowed, then nodded. ‘...Aye.’

‘Good,’ Flora said, getting up. ‘Then we’re agreed.’

She stared down at the woman who had taken everything from her, wondering why it was she couldn’t feel contempt, only pity. ‘Three more days, Lorna, and then this nightmare will be over. For all of us.’

Chapter Nineteen

EFFIE

5 January 1931

Lochaline

‘There was no sorrel but I found some nettles,’ Effie called through from the small porch, gently patting her thigh to beckon Slipper and Socks to her side. She walked into the kitchen where Jayne was standing by the stove, the two dogs trotting by her heels. ‘Will that do?’

‘Aye,’ Jayne smiled, taking the bunches from her. ‘We’ll make a chef of you yet.’

‘I hardly think so,’ Effie scoffed, sitting up on the counter beside her and drumming her bare heels against the cupboards. ‘I’m better at the hunting than the gathering.’

‘Talking of gatherings,’ David said, looking up from his spot at the table where he was reading the paper. ‘I was thinking of entering for the Lochaber Gathering in July.’

‘Doing what?’ Effie scoffed. ‘And don’t say tossing the caber, becauseI’dhave a better chance in that than you!’

‘You never give over with your boasting, do you?’ he tutted.‘You might be strong for your size, Effie, but you’re tiny and relative to me you’re a pipsqueak, so don’t push it.’

‘I’ll arm-wrestle you and we can find out,’ she challenged, her eyes gleaming.

‘Fine!’ he shrugged, unbuttoning his shirt-cuff as she jumped off the counter and sat opposite him on the bench, arm already flexed. The puppies settled themselves by her feet.

Jayne tutted, grinning at their antics as they began to wrestle. ‘You didn’t say what you were going to enter in at the Gathering, David.’

‘Thanks to Effie, butting in—’ he said, as his arm suddenly went down.

‘I win!’ Effie cried.

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