Without Luck, Thered Be No Happiness
How could you let him take you, you silly girl! Whos going to want you now, dragging a child on your hip? And how do you think youll look after it? Dont count on any help from me! I raised you myself, you know, and Im not about to start carrying your burden as well! Get out of my house, take your things, and dont let me see you again!
Mary listened to her aunts shouts with her gaze fixed firmly on the floorboards. Whatever feeble hope shed clung tothat Aunt Vera might let her stay, at least until she found a jobcrumbled on the spot.
If only Mum were still alive she thought, fighting back tears. Shed never known her father, and as for her motherwell, shed been run over at a zebra crossing by a drunk driver fifteen years ago. The authorities had almost bundled Mary off to foster care, but then a distant cousin of her mother had swooped inhousing and a perfectly respectable salary ticking all the right boxes for guardianship.
They lived at the quiet end of a sleepy market town in the South of England, where the summers were crisp and the winters thoroughly soggy. Mary was never hungry, always had clean, patched clothes, and from an early age learned the fine art of hard grafttheres always something to be scrubbed, swept, or fed in a house with a garden and animals. Perhaps shed missed her mothers love, but honestly, who hadnt?
She was an able student. After college, shed gone on to study education at a university near home. Her student years flew by, and now, degree in hand, shed returned to her hometownthis time, with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Go. Now. Dont let me catch sight of you again!
But, Auntie Vera, at least
Ive spoken!
Mary grabbed her battered suitcase and stepped into the sticky midday heat. How had it come to this? Humiliated, unwanted, not to mention quite obviously expectantshed owned up to the pregnancy; lying about it seemed pointless.
She needed a roof over her head, and fast. She trudged along, head bowed, lost in her trials, when a jolly voice called out to her from a garden nearby.
Fancy a cup of tea, love?
A sturdy woman, somewhere in her fifties, peered over the fence with twinkling eyes.
Come on in, if youre friendly, she beckoned, passing Mary a great cold mug of tea. Mary plonked herself down on the bench and gulped gratefully.
Mind if I stay a bit? Its hotter than a bakers oven out here
No bother, duck. Where are you from then? Big bag youve got there
Ive just finished at university, looking for a teaching job. Nowhere to live yet. Do you know anyone letting a room out?
The womanher name was Rubylooked Mary up and down. Respectably turned out, but tired and with worry under her eyes.
You can have my spare room. I wont ask much, just pay your way properly. If youre content with that, Ill show you the room.
Grateful for the company (and maybe a little extra rent in this out-of-the-way place), Ruby led her to a small room looking out over the apple trees. Bed, ancient wardrobe, tablethe essentials.
Over the next few days, Mary made herself at home and lent a hand around the house. By evening, she and Ruby were perched under the wisteria, sipping tea and swapping stories about lifes surprises.
The pregnancy was going smoothly enough. Mary had confided her tale: Tom, her boyfriend from universityonly son of fabulously well-off professorshad bolted at the first whiff of trouble. Hed left enough money behind to see her through, mind you. Mary figured shed need every penny.
You did right not taking it out on the child, Ruby muttered. No sense blaming the innocent. Youll see, children bring joy you didnt think possible.
In February, Marys pains started up. Ruby whisked her to the hospital, and Mary delivered a bouncing baby boyHenry. On her ward, word spread about a baby girl whod been abandoned by her mum just after giving birth.
Anyone willing to feed her? Shes ever so little, the nurse asked.
Mary gathered the tiny bundle into her armsa snow-white scrap of a girl.
Ill call you Daisy, she whispered.
When Captain George Harrison, the baby girls father, turned up, everything changed. On Marys discharge day, a car decked out with blue and pink balloons was waiting outside. The army man helped her inside, then handed over two parcelsone blue, one pink.
The whole town chattered for months about the wedding that soon followed. Captain Harrison, completely charmed by Marys kindness, had asked her to be his wife. With Henry in one arm and Daisynow legally adoptedin the other, Mary stepped into her new life.
Who would have thought an unbearably warm summers day and a mug of tea would turn everything around? Thats life for youalways penning twists you didnt see coming.
