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Aye love, it is, she said Is that a problem? Ivy smiled thinly

Of course it is, she whispered, it's a big probleain

Nonsense, said Ellie, tutting, you're still young yet, and she smiled Ivy didn't smile back but looked up at Ellie

No, she said You knohat the doctor told me, she said The tomen looked at each other, and Ivy didn't need to renancies had been difficult,sickness and pain, that each birth had been harder, longer, and erous than the one before, that the arrival of her long-awaited daughter, the source of such happiness, had nearly killed her and Tessa both

Aye, said Ellie, quietly Aye, I know love The singing faded away next door There was a bu John Ivy looked up, startled, relaxing again when she heard hih Ellie smiled at her It never stops, does it? she said, and Ivy smiled back

No, no it doesn't, she said Ellie took the oven gloves fro scones on to a blue-and-white dinner plate She passed Ivy a handkerchief fro, she said, and Ivy took it and dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose

I' if it's worth it at all, you know? she said, as Ellie stood at the sink wiping down a baking tray I just don't knohy I bother, she said You near kill yourself bringing the them up, and all for what? They cut loose first chance they find, and they're gone, eh? she said, nodding her head in the direction of the other roo, she said, her voice brittle with the tense sha There's people can fix these things, aren't there? She grasped the handkerchief between her thu the cord into a knot Ellie turned to look at her, and heard a noise fro in the open doorway, looking at the tomen

Uncle Ja reluctant to come any closer Ellie walked briskly across to him with the plate of scones

There you go, she said, see how he goes on with these, eh? Hamish took the plate, and Ellie shut the door behind hi back to Ivy with her eyes wide and fearful as the scones were greeted with a cheer in the room next door

56 Ration books, Union cards, Co-op dividend stamps, 1930s and 1940s

Well and you know our mother's not very well at all Not at all Donald's voice was calm and measured as it cao on Aye, Donald said The doctors have told us not to expect her back out of the hospital They've said it'll probably be months at the most, he said

David wondered what he was supposed to say, what he was supposed to feel I' like this, when the card from Donald had been forwarded on to him from the museum - Please telephone as soon as is convenient, it said siain

We thought you'd want to know, Donald said, Ros and ht Eleanor would want to know, he said He coughed again Excuse me, he said

He asked Eleanor if she wanted to go there, if she wanted to see her ht away But what did Donald say? she asked, and he told her again Herleft, they elcoo up and visit if they wished

What do you think he means by welcome? she said