The World Over

Letters in the Past

Chapter Nine

            Letters in the Past

Edith’s POV

“Edith my love, will you pass us some potatoes,” The cook, Mrs Chatterton asked me kindly. The cook was such a lovely woman, she was so kind and nice, nothing compared to Mrs Patterson, she was just plain sour.

Everything about William’s house was lovely, the staff had a laugh and we didn’t have to walk on egg shells around those upstairs. Mistress Cunningham hardly ever smiled, but I hardly ever saw her with me working in the kitchen. William came down sometimes and none of the staff seemed fazed, compared to when Lord Cunningham did. Everyone was mumbling at how this was there space. Weird lot, but so much livelier.

The cook sang a lot, but my favourite has to be:

Land of Hope and Glory

Mother of the free,

How shall thee extol thee,

Who are born of thee?

I sang along with her sometimes, but due to the fact that I am a terrible singer, it was very rare.

One morning, we were cooking breakfast when the delivery boy knocked on the back door. I answered it and to my surprise, he had an envelope for me. I was so excited that as soon as I gave him a halfpenny, I sat down at the table and opened it. Inside were a few pieces of paper and a photograph. I picked up the first letter and opened it out. It was from the orphanage:

Edith,

            On your fourteenth birthday, we were told to give these items to you, however, you are no longer living with us and so we thought fit that we should give them to you now.

Mrs Cartwright

I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion, fourteenth birthday? Items? How come I have never heard of these before and I was allowed the letter from before? That doesn’t seem right. I opened them up and placed them all on the table, there were two letters and a photograph. I picked up the first letter.

Edith,

            I hope you are settling in at the orphanage, we have just heard about the tragic news of your Aunt and Uncle, we are grieving for them ourselves.

The war is moving along nicely and we should have secured victory by the end of the year, which is hopeful. I know you are probably too young to read this, but hopefully one of the women at the orphanage could read it to you.

This time next year, your father and I hope to have you in our arms again, your father was injured, but by the time you receive this letter he should have fully recovered.

We both love you a lot

Mother x

A tear dropped onto the page and I wiped the rest away from my face. “Are you okay honey?” Mrs Chatterton asked and I nodded my head and pointed towards the letter. I had always resented them for leaving me, but they still cared and they had to go. Why had I been so selfish?

After I recovered, with help from Mrs Chatterton, I picked up the second letter.

Edith,

          I hope you are doing well, I am sorry for the long time since the last letters, but we were captured by the Dutch and taken captive for months.

We are currently living in Paris at the moment, and your father and I have had twins, I know it’s a lot to get your head around, but we needed to get them settled, so here we are now. They are eight years old now called Harriet and Peter, they are lively and happy and they cannot wait to meet their big sister.

We hope to come and find you soon and then we can once again be a family again, please forgive us, I know we do not deserve it. We are saving up enough money to get us over there to Southampton and then we shall be together.

We all love you.

Mother x

The date on the letter told me that she sent it four months ago, which means they could have turned up at the orphanage with me not being there. Oh, I hope not, I could not think about them abandoning me again, it would hurt so much.

I folded the letters up; following the creases already made and placed them in the pocket on the front of my uniform. My eyes landed on the photo and I picked it up carefully, examining the black and white aged photo of a woman, man and a baby. It must be I and my parents. After wiping the new batch of tears away, I placed it in the pocket with the letters and stood up.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked and I nodded my head,

“Yes, thank you.” I told her before straightening my back.

“Do you want to go and take a breath outside? You could pick up some veg from the town while you’re there?” She asked me softly and I nodded my head.

“Yeah, please.” I told her and she gave me five shillings. I grabbed the wicker basket and made my way out of the door. William was coming up the path when I walked out of gate. “Morning.” I greeted.

“Morning, where are you going?”

“Erm…just to the market for some veg.” I replied, holding the basket in front of me.

“Okay, may I join you?”

I nodded my head; it would be nice for some company. We chatted animatedly about the circus and other various subjects comfortably as we walked down the lane. I bought the correct veg and turned around back to him. He was looking at me warmly, a look I had never seen him give before, not even to Miss Charlotte.

“Is that it?” He asked after a few moments of staring into my eyes lovingly. I nodded my head, unable to form any words, when the tears started falling, they were either tears of happiness or sadness, I just didn’t know but they wouldn’t stop. He bent down to my level and looked into my eyes whilst wiping them away and I stood back immediately, embarrassed.

“Sorry.” I mumbled.

He smiled at me, “Don’t worry, can I take you somewhere?” He asked and I nodded my head. He took me down this road and I recognised it as the street when my aunt and uncle lived, St Thomas’ Road. We wandered past their house, number five and I just froze on the spot, not knowing what to do. “Are you okay Edith?” William asked concerned.

“Can we go in there?” I asked, pointing towards it with hope. He looked confused as he glanced at the back-to-back red brick house that had the windows boarded up, making it look depressed and shabby.

“I do not know if it will be safe Edith.”

“It was my aunt and uncle’s house.” I told him and he sighed a little before taking hold of my hand and taking us up the path and into the house. We walked through the unlocked door and the dust and smell hit us immediately, making me cough heavily.

My eyes searched the parlour room and I saw a body on the floor. William must have seen it first and he ran to it immediately to reveal a man and a child huddled up. I gasped and peeled the hood from the man and sighed a little in happiness that it wasn’t my father or mother.

“They are dead.” He told me, a sad look on his face.

“Oh my, I never thought there would be people in here. They must have caught a disease.” I spoke. “The girl is so young as well.” I wept.

He brought me into his arms and rocked me quietly; I welcomed it as I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him towards me. After a few bittersweet moments, he pulled my head away and brought his lips to my softly, taking me by surprise. Shivers radiated all over my body as he pulled me away from his lips. “Sorry.” He told me, a light blush tinted on his cheeks.