Free Promise Made by Linda Sole Page B

wasn’t his fault that it all went so wrong. You mustn’t ever think that we blame him, Mary.’
    â€˜No, it wasn’t his fault.’ Mary raised her head. Her cheeks were wet with tears but she was making an effort to control them. ‘It wasn’t his fault that the war came and he got in such a muddle with all the regulations, but he blamed himself.’ She fished for a handkerchief in the pocket of her serviceable coat and blew her nose hard. ‘What do I do now? I suppose we need the doctor and . . .’ Words failed her. She looked at her sister-in-law, clearly at a loss. ‘What am I going to tell the boys?’
    â€˜Leave that until the morning,’ Emily suggested. ‘Would you like me to telephone for the doctor? I’ll ring Frances too and ask her to contact Daniel. Alice’s father isn’t on the telephone but Marcus will go along the street and tell him. Unless you want to do it yourself?’
    â€˜I would rather you did it,’ Mary said. ‘I’m going to put clean sheets on the bed, because they will lay him there for the moment, won’t they?’
    â€˜Yes, I expect so. Until we can make the arrangements for the undertaker to come. Do you want Henry to stay here or be taken to a chapel of rest?’
    â€˜He stays here until the last,’ Mary said. ‘He would come back and haunt me if I sent him away. Excuse me, I must make sure we’re tidy before anyone comes.’
    Emily watched as her sister-in-law hurried away. She knew that Mary was merely making an excuse to tidy up, but she needed to be busy, because she wasn’t ready to face what had happened.
    Emily bent down to kiss Henry’s cold cheek. ‘Poor old love,’ she whispered. ‘I am so sorry, Henry. So sorry, my dear.’
    She touched his head once more and then walked out into the hall to make the necessary phone calls. She must telephone the doctor first, but the police would also have to be informed because Henry had died suddenly. It was all so sad and she wasn’t sure that Mary would get her wish and keep Henry at home until the last. There might have to be an inquest into his death, because it had happened so quickly.
    She decided to phone Frances first, because she needed Daniel to be here. Emily had coped with this situation so often at the convalescent home, but this time it was different. This time it was her brother and she wanted to sit down and weep, but she had to be strong for Mary’s sake.
    â€˜I wish you weren’t leaving immediately,’ Frances said as they walked out of church together some days later. ‘It is all so horrible. Mary is wandering about as if she doesn’t know what time of day it is and I keep thinking of Henry dying alone . . .’
    â€˜Don’t love, there’s nothing you can do to change things.’ Emily gave her a hug. Frances was tearful, fishing for her handkerchief. ‘Yes, I know. It is awful, but it was his choice, Frances. He didn’t want to come to the hotel with us that evening, and he insisted that Mary went alone. I’m just glad that Robert was with Alice’s parents, and that Henry’s boys were staying with friends.’
    â€˜That is what I mean. He was completely alone. It must be terrible to die all alone . . .’ Frances shuddered and dabbed at her eyes. ‘Poor old Henry – except that he wasn’t so very old. He wasn’t even forty, Emily. He just seemed to be old, perhaps because he was ill or the worry of the farm was too much for him. I loved him. He didn’t deserve to go that way.’
    â€˜Yes, I loved Henry too,’ Emily agreed, feeling her throat tighten. ‘Apparently, it was his heart, and he knew that he might not have much time left. He had been to see Dr Merton, but he’d kept it from all of us, just carried on as he always did. I suppose the fact that he had visited the doctor