The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,52

Dora thought, as she watched Alf pick up the carving knife. All day the house had been filled with tempting aromas, and now the table groaned with a feast of chicken, stuffing, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots and Brussels sprouts. It was a far cry from the poor food she was used to at the nurses’ home, all greasy grey stews, bullet hard potatoes and burnt porridge.

It was a far cry from the kind of Christmases they’d had after her father died, too. Dora could still remember how bleak it had been, with barely any money for coal on the fire or food on the table, let alone presents. Her mum had done her best for her kids, working all the hours she could and going without herself to provide for them. She kept a cheerful smile painted on for her family, but at night, after they had gone to bed, Dora had often heard her crying through the paper-thin wall that separated them.

It was a different story now. Dora looked around at her brothers and sisters all crowded around the small table, their faces lit up with anticipation, and at her mother, smiling as she served the dinner to her family. She was in her element, radiantly happy to have all her kids around her. Even Dora’s elder brother Peter, just twenty and newly married, was there with his young wife Lily. She looked around shyly, not used to such a big, noisy gathering. She had been brought up in an orphanage, and had no family of her own.

‘This is for you.’ Alf’s eyes met Dora’s as he passed her plate down the table to her, shattering her moment of happiness. Just being in the same room as him made her skin crawl. She wished she could scream out, tell everyone what a monster he was. But as Alf knew only too well, she could never admit her shame to anyone, or destroy her family’s happiness.

The sound of the Rileys’ front door crashing shut made the windows rattle. Everyone jumped. ‘Sounds like June’s going out for another session,’ Nanna Winnie said, helping herself to sprouts.

Rose shook her head pityingly. ‘What those poor boys have to put up with. It’s terrible, it really is.’

Dora saw the thoughtful look on her mother’s face, and knew what was coming next. Everyone else knew it, too.

‘No, Rose,’ Alf said. ‘We’re not taking in any waifs and strays.’

‘They’re not strays. They’re our neighbours.’ Rose looked at her husband pleadingly.

‘As if we’ve got room for visitors,’ Nanna grumbled. ‘The house is like the Black Hole of Calcutta as it is.’

‘I’m not sitting here stuffing my face while those boys are next door starving, Mum,’ Rose said, putting down her knife and fork. ‘Sorry, but it wouldn’t feel right. I know what it feels like to go hungry, and I wouldn’t want to see anyone else’s kids go through it. We’ll find room for them somewhere. Dora, go and fetch them in.’

She climbed the broken fence and knocked on the Rileys’ back door, almost certain it was a fool’s errand. If Nick was reluctant to accept a couple of mince pies, he certainly wasn’t going to come and have Christmas dinner with them!

He opened the door a crack and scowled out at her. ‘What do you want?’

Nothing, if you’re going to talk to me like that, she thought. But she suppressed her irritation. ‘Mum says to invite you in for your dinner.’

‘We don’t need no charity.’

Dora looked at his stubborn face. She couldn’t really blame him for his pride, she was guilty enough of it herself.

‘It’s not charity,’ she said. ‘It’s just families helping each other out like we always have. But you please yourself,’ she shrugged. ‘If you want to go hungry because of your pride, then that’s your business. But I don’t think it’s fair to make your brother go without, just because you can’t accept a bit of kindness from a neighbour.’

As she turned to go, Nick suddenly said, ‘Wait.’

She looked back at him. His dark features were gathered in a frown, as if he was wrestling with his inner feelings. ‘We’ll come,’ he said finally. ‘For Danny’s sake.’

Don’t do us any favours, will you? Dora felt like saying. But she bit her tongue, knowing the door was likely to be slammed in her face if she did.

The Riley boys came into the kitchen warily, looking around them as if they’d arrived in a foreign country.

‘Don’t just stand there, boys. Come and have something