Free The Rainbow Years by Rita Bradshaw Page A

brick wall at the end of the yard, even the sight of newly fallen snow when it glittered like diamond dust - but since the incident with Eva in the summer she hadn’t felt the inexpressible emotion welling up until it filled every part of her. Until now. She caught hold of Kitty’s hand, her voice shy as she said, ‘I love you, Aunt Kitty.’
     
    ‘And I love you, hinny.’
     
    ‘I wish ...’
     
    ‘What?’
     
    ‘Oh, nothing.’ How could she say she wished Aunt Kitty was her real aunty and that she lived with her and Mr and Mrs Price in their little house in Deptford Road? Kitty might tell Mrs Price and she might let on to Gran and then her gran would be upset. Her gran thought the world of Uncle Ronald. But when she was with Kitty and her mam and da she felt . . . normal. They liked her. Just as she was they liked her. ‘I just wish it could be Saturday every day of the week, that’s all.’
     
    They stood with arms linked until the tram came. The journey was just a few minutes and when they alighted, Kitty said, ‘We’ll go in and see your gran first, shall we? And then Mam before we go to Binns.’
     
    Amy nodded. Much as she liked Kitty’s mother, she couldn’t wait to see her grandma. Every Saturday when she had to leave her for another week she had a physical ache in her chest that didn’t go away all the rest of the evening.
     
    Muriel’s eyes were fixed on the door when Amy and Kitty entered the front room. The four walls had enclosed her world since the stroke twelve years before. Although she had recovered her speech after a while, her heart had been severely affected. From the time she had left the infirmary she had remained virtually bedridden, moving only from the single bed which had been brought downstairs from Bess’s room to the large leather-covered commode which also served as a chair for any visitors. She knew her neighbours and friends pitied her and she could understand it - most folk in her condition would find life a trial. What they could never understand because she could never tell them was that the last twelve years had been the happiest of her life in some ways. Of course she still grieved for Bess, there wasn’t a day went by when she didn’t have a little tear, but each day since she’d come home from the hospital had been an extension of the two nine-month periods when Wilbur hadn’t touched her. Then it had been because she was carrying a child, now it was the fact that he found any sort of illness repulsive. If only she could have had Amy living with her she would have been the happiest woman alive, but it was a comfort to know her Ronald was bringing up the lass with his bairns. Young folk needed other young folk.
     
    ‘Hello, me bairn.’ Muriel held out her arms and Amy ran to the bed and kissed her grandmother before perching beside her while Kitty seated herself in the leather chair.
     
    ‘Has he gone?’ Kitty asked quietly.
     
    ‘Oh aye, over twenty minutes ago.’ Muriel smiled at them both. ‘It’s just the three of us.’
     
    Amy wriggled her contentment. When she was with her grandma like this she often wished she could stay nestled into her side for ever. ‘Look what Aunt Kitty gave me.’ She had been pulling off her coat and scarf as she spoke and now lifted up the little cross which was lying in the hollow of her throat. And then, because she knew it would please her grandmother, she added,‘And Uncle Ronald gave me a whole shilling for my birthday to spend however I like.’
     
    ‘Fancy.’ Muriel smiled at the light of her life. ‘Well, I’ve got somethin’ for you an’ all now you’re all grown up an’ about to leave school.’ She didn’t dwell on this. She knew the lass had wanted to go to the secondary school, bright as a button Amy was, but she could understand Ronald and May’s reasoning that if their lads had had to leave at fourteen and work, it was only right that Amy should. Mind, Ronald’s bairns didn’t have as