Free The year of the virgins by 1906-1998 Catherine Cookson

He now looked at Daniel, and Daniel replied simply, 'You're welcome to stay, at any time. I'll leave it to you.'
    Flo now emerged from the corridor, followed by Winifred, who passed them all as if they were invisible

    and walked out of the house and took her seat in the car waiting in the drive; and as she settled herself she tucked the skirt of her coat under her calf as if preventing it from coming in contact with her husband's leg.
    Daniel averted his eyes from the broken railings as they went through the gate into the road, and he did not utter a word until they were nearing the hospital. Then, as if he were whispering to someone, he said, 'Don't you give us a show of hysterics in here this morning, because if you do I'll go one better: there's a simple cure for hysterics, you know.'
    She gave him no immediate answer; in fact, not until he had pulled into a line of cars in the hospital forecourt did she speak, and then, her hand on the door, she said grimly, 'I'll see my day with you. Oh yes, I will.' To which, he replied, 'We'll see our day with each other, and pray God it will be soon.'
    As she marched towards the hospital door, he turned to where the others were getting out of their car, and together they entered the reception area to hear Winifred proclaiming in no small voice: T want to see Doctor Richardson,' and the receptionist answering, 'I'm sorry, but Mr Richardson's operating at the moment, but if you take a seat in the waiting-room, I'll ask another doctor to attend to you.'
    Daniel was standing at the desk now, and he cut in on what his wife was about to say by asking, 'Can you tell us which ward my son is in? You wouldn't have been here earlier; he was operated on. Coulson is the name.'
    'Yes, yes' - the receptionist nodded at him - T know, but as I've said, if you would take a seat in the waiting-room, I'll get someone to attend to you.'
    'Thank you.'

    He turned away, followed by Joe, Flo and Harvey, although Winifred remained standing at the desk for a full minute before following them.
    The waiting-room was busier than when they had left it earlier that morning; there were now at least a dozen people present, so that only three seats were vacant. What was more, two small children were scampering after each other around the tables.
    After one glance, Winifred went back into the corridor and, after a quick exchange of glances between Daniel and Joe, the latter followed her.
    Harvey now led Flo to a seat and sat down beside her, while Daniel stood near the door, and they each became aware of the silence that had fallen on the room. A white woman with a black man. And what a black man! And both dressed up to the nines, not like those mixed couples you might find in Bog's End who had to brave the community, these two were brazen. In some such way did the atmosphere emanate from the adults who, with the exception of a youth and a man, were all women.
    But they had hardly been seated a few minutes when the door was pushed open and Joe said, 'Dad,' then beckoned towards Flo and Harvey. And there they were, all in the corridor again, standing before a young doctor who was saying, 'Mr Richardson would like to see you. He'll be free in about half an hour. In the meantime you may see the patient, but only for a moment or so. In any case, Mr Coulson has not yet recovered consciousness. It will be some time before he does. If you will come this way. And . . . and just two at a time, please.'
    He led them along a corridor, then another, and into a passageway leading to a ward where there was a great deal of activity and the clatter of dishes on a food trolley being

    wheeled from the ward. The young doctor stopped outside a door. Then nodding first to Daniel, then to Winifred, he gently pushed the door open and they went inside.
    Slowly Daniel walked up by one side of the bed and looked down on his son, who might have already been dead, so drained was he of colour. There was a tube inserted into one nostril, there