made it a very companionable one. But everything had changed for them when she had unexpectedly become pregnant with Emily. She had been surprised but overjoyed, Matt had been shocked at first. But his precious daughter had won him over from the very moment he had held her in his arms and her tiny hand had hooked itself around his little finger.
She looked over at Matt, trying to read him as he continued to accompany her around the gallery, asking her questions about the pictures, but seeming distracted.
Before she left the museum, Sophie returned to the photo that had intrigued her so much and took a quick picture of the woman in it. She wondered if her grandmother would recognise her.
Making her way out into the damp streets that were now aglow with blue twilight, she walked beside Matt in silence.
‘Would you like to get some dinner?’ she asked, just to make conversation.
He grimaced. ‘You know, normally I would, Soph. I really do need to get back to work.’
‘In the evening? Aren’t most of the markets closed now?’
‘Yeah, they are, but I do need to check in on a few things. I ran out and left them all in the middle of something. Let’s have a rain check on that.’
He kissed her on the cheek as he hailed a taxi. Sophie sighed. Maybe her gran would be up for a visit after all. She called her and heard the familiar voice of the sweetest woman in the world.
‘Hey, Gran, it’s me. I was wondering if you were up for a visit?’
Bessy sounded delighted at the idea, and Sophie hung up and made her way to the Tube. It was about thirty minutes from the Imperial War Museum to Hackney, where her gran lived, which gave her plenty of time to contemplate how remarkable this photo was as she stared at it on her phone. Once again, Sophie felt the familiar waves of nostalgia and grief wash over her. If it hadn’t been the 1940s it could be a photo of her mother, Alice, or maybe even a future picture of her daughter, if Emily’d had the chance to live longer.
2
Arriving at Bessy’s comfortable apartment in Hackney, Sophie was once again amazed to see how the area had evolved over the last few years. Once a little run-down and known for its violence and crime, the East End was undoubtedly making its way up in the world.
‘Hello, love.’ Her gran’s beaming face greeted her at the door, and the smell of something wonderful cooking embraced her as she stepped inside. Her grandmother hugged her as tightly as she always did until Sophie had to remind her she couldn’t breathe. Bessy chuckled. ‘It’s because you’re so skinny. If you weren’t so thin, you’d be capable of being hugged.’ She shuffled down the hall as she continued to chat to Sophie over her shoulder. ‘No man wants a woman too skinny.’
‘I already have a boyfriend, Gran. Matt, remember?’ Sophie responded defensively.
Her gran eyed her questioningly as she entered the kitchen. ‘Isn’t it about time you two settled down?’
This was a conversation she frequently had with her grandmother in one form or another. A woman who’d been married just after her eighteenth birthday found it hard to understand why her granddaughter was still unwed, especially considering Sophie and Matt had had a child together.
Sophie hastily changed the subject. ‘Something smells amazing.’
Gran nodded, moving to the stove and retrieving her oven gloves. ‘I’ve got a bit of dinner warming for you, in case you were hungry.’
‘Oh, I’m fine, Gran, you shouldn’t have gone to any trouble.’ Sophie was about to continue to protest when the older woman put her hand in the air, signifying the conversation was over and Sophie would be eating a plate of shepherd’s pie, the source of the delectable aroma that permeated the whole kitchen, whether she liked it or not.
Sophie made her way to the table and into one of her gran’s 1970s’ chrome and yellow faux-leather dining chairs, which featured in so many great memories from growing up. It felt like her heart sighed with a feeling of being home. Sophie had often visited the estate in Cornwall that her extended family still owned. But, much to the chagrin of her grandfather’s family, when he had died, her grandma had moved back to the place she grew up, and Sophie’s mum, a single mother, had come back too, bringing Sophie with her.