together. That was why this place was familiar, it was just down the street from where she’d found Abigail. She suddenly remembered the day she’d come to look for the orphanage. That same day she’d met her.
And somebody here knew her. ‘I’m sorry,’ said Lizzie. ‘You’re sure you know her?’
‘Like I said, she’s my granddaughter’s friend. They used to play together all the time. Would you like to see her? She’s down at my house today.’
Abigail’s face lit up.
‘Yes. We would love to see her,’ said Lizzie, a little bewildered. ‘Do you live close by?’
‘Just down the street, love.’
The two women started to walk side by side as Abigail skipped ahead of them.
‘Do you know what happened to the family that lived in that house?’ Lizzie enquired, pointing towards the bomb site.
‘Of course, that was my daughter’s house. Living with me now, they are, all of them, just down the street.’
Lizzie froze with the understanding of what she was saying. There was a chance that her own daughter wasn’t dead.
Her voice became hoarse with emotion as she asked her next question. ‘What’s your granddaughter’s name?’
‘Annie, Annie is Abigail’s friend,’ she answered, oblivious to the impact her words were having on Lizzie. ‘Didn’t she tell you about her?’
Lizzie shook her head. ‘Abigail hasn’t spoken since the night her home was destroyed. We didn’t know who she was or where she was from.’
‘Oh, the poor little mite. How awful for her, and she has already been through so much. She lost both her parents in an accident, you know, when she was tiny, and she has been living with her grandmother. When I heard Maureen was dead, I just assumed the worst for Abigail. It will be good for her to come down to my house. I’ll put the kettle on. She can play with Annie for a while. My husband Fred is home at the moment and I’ve got all the kids over there. Annie and the two boys, her two brothers. Their mum is working in the aircraft factory and their dad’s away fighting.’
Lizzie followed the woman blindly down the road, trying to comprehend all of this. Abigail had no family left. But she and this woman’s granddaughter were friends? And the granddaughter might be her own Annie. If she hadn’t had Abigail with her, this woman might have never even stopped to talk.
The little house at the end of the road was teeming with life. As they went inside, two boys rushed past them running out into the garden, playing a game of war, shooting at one another as they went, and Abigail rushed ahead and ran into the front room.
She’d obviously been here before. Lizzie’s heart stopped in her throat; she was going to meet her daughter for the first time. How would it feel? Her hands started to tremble as she turned the corner of the hallway and caught her breath. Sitting on the floor colouring was a little girl with wild red hair like her birth mother’s, and when she looked up, she was the spitting image of Fiona. Tears brimmed in Lizzie’s eyes and her heart was wrenched in two as she looked at her daughter for the first time.
‘Hello,’ whispered Lizzie, her voice cracking with the emotion.
‘Hello,’ the young girl responded then beamed. She was missing a front tooth. ‘Thank you for bringing Abigail over! I haven’t seen her since my birthday, that was ages ago.’
Six months, three weeks and four days ago to be exact, thought Lizzie to herself. There wasn’t a day she hadn’t counted, though she didn’t say it. She just nodded, unable to say anything.
Annie jumped to her feet. ‘Come on, Abigail, let’s go and play.’ She sounded like a Londoner. That had momentarily surprised Lizzie. She’d looked so much like Fiona, she’d expected her to sound Scottish, but of course, she wouldn’t. Taking Abigail’s hand, Annie pulled her outside to play in the garden. Lizzie watched the gleeful pair disappear as she joined Annie’s grandmother in the kitchen.
‘She seems like a happy little girl, your granddaughter.’
‘Our Annie, oh, she is. She’s an absolute joy. Her father dotes on her, he does. She can wrap him right around her little finger, and don’t you be fooled about her being the smallest. She keeps her brothers in order as well. They couldn’t have children of their own, you see, they are all adopted, but you’d never know it, they are such a happy family.’
Lizzie watched through the window, fighting back the