Page 85 of The Midnight Secret

‘Ah, Mhairi,’ Christina smiled, straightening up. ‘I’m just about to make some scones. Will y’ have one?’

David grinned. ‘Aye. I told her already.’

‘Good! We need to feed that baby up,’ Christina smiled, rubbing Mhairi’s arm affectionately as she passed her and went into the kitchen. They followed, David kicking off his boots as his mother poured batter onto the cooking plate. The drop scones sizzled as she reached for the pile of post left on the table and sifted through the envelopes.

‘Oh, look! A letter from Flora!’ she exclaimed delightedly. They could all recognize the handwriting immediately.

‘What does she say?’ David asked impatiently as his mother tore it open and excitedly began to read.

But Christina rapidly paled, the joy fading from her eyes as she went.

A faint burning smell came from the stove. The scones only took a matter of moments to cook – but Christina was oblivious as she looked up at them with a stricken expression.

‘What is it?’ David asked, seeing his mother’s distress. ‘What does she say?’

‘She says...I canna believe it...’ Christina’s voice was pale and thin as she glanced at the sheet of paper again. ‘...She says Lorna is dead.’

The words ricocheted around the room as Christina staggered to the chair.

‘That can’t be,’ Mhairi whispered, feeling the world tilt beneath her own feet. She hated the woman for what she had done to Flora, but she also couldn’t deny the nurse had always done everything in her power to help Mhairi and her baby.

‘But what happened to her?’ David asked.

His mother looked back at him with haunted eyes. ‘...She killed herself.’

They all recoiled. David spun on his heel, clutching his jaw and rubbing it hard. ‘...When? Why?’

Christina looked again at the letter. ‘Flora says she and James found them both in Quebec, with the baby. They were detained at Immigration. Lorna had fallen ill with typhus on the crossing.’

‘Typhus!’ Mhairi echoed. It had done for many an islander in years past.

‘They confronted Mary first, appealing to her better nature—’

‘Whatbetter nature?’ David scoffed.

‘...But Mary said they have no proof the baby is theirs. All official paperwork has her down as the mother...’ Christina looked over, aghast, at Mhairi. ‘Is that true?’

Mhairi blinked. She hadn’t kept up with the ‘technicalities’ of the plan beyond helping Flora through the birth. She had scarcely been able to get herself through as it was, grieving her own dead baby and leaving Donald. ‘It must be.’

Christina looked away, staring into space, her chest heaving with pain. Just when she thought the situation couldn’t become worse, it did.

‘Ma?’ David prompted, restless to know more.

Christina looked back at the letter. ‘Flora says she confronted Lorna about what she’d done instead. She says Lorna had the decency not to lie about it...and that...she agreed to hand the baby back to them when she was due to be released from quarantine, three days later.’ She pressed a hand to her mouth as she stared down at the words. ‘...Her body was found in her room that morning. She’d stolen some pills from the infirmary.’

Mhairi pressed her eyes shut at the thought of it.

‘I can’t believe she would do that to herself,’ David mumbled.

But Mhairi could. She knew what it was to live with shame, but this had been of another order. Lorna couldn’t live with the guilt of what she’d done. She’d done a terrible thing, but it didn’t mean she had been a terrible woman.

She looked at Flora’s mother, so helpless in a kitchen thousands of miles away. ‘...Does that mean Mary’s still got the baby?’ Mhairi asked her.

Christina nodded. ‘Aye. And with Lorna dead, it’s her word against Flora’s that the baby is hers. My girl has no proof to say otherwise.’

David’s hands balled into furious fists. ‘So what’s she going to do next? She can’t just give up. Mary can’t be allowed to get away with this!’ he said angrily. ‘Surely James can do something? He’s a rich man. They can buy anything! Babies. Justice.’

Christina’s eyes tracked over the page. ‘Mary’s being deported back. She wasn’t allowed through without Lorna to provide for them financially...Flora and James will be on the boat too. Oh, they’re coming home!’

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