Rachel Norris wants to forge a new life and career. And she wants to forget her past.
When Rachel qualifies as nurse, she does so because she wants to help others and make a difference. But she is also running from a past life that must stay hidden forever.
Completing her training, Rachel moves to London but misses home desperately, so when she hears about an opportunity to train as a district nurse in a village near Rochdale, she seizes the opportunity, even though it will take her closer to the trouble she left behind. She knows nothing about Eastby End and she is shocked to find it a little more than a slum. It's clear she will need to work hard and keep her wits about her to win the trust of the villagers.
Joss Townley has been reluctantly working in his father's factory but is dismayed at the conditions the workers endure. When his father dies, he sells up immediately to begin travelling but is called home by his mother in an emergency - in order to save the family's fortune he must take on a house in a place called Eastby End. He has no idea what he has bought, and is appalled to see his new neighbours' misery and anger. A meeting with the mayor, Walter Crossley, gives him direction and focus for the first time in his life, and brings him into contact with Rachel.
Can they both survive life in Eastby End? Or will it be the making of them?
Readers love Anna Jacobs! 'Amazing' - 5 STARS
'Thank you, Anna, for the pleasure you give in all your books' - 5 STARS
'A real page turner, I can't wait to read the next one' - 5 STARS
'Another triumph for Anna Jacobs' - 5 STARS
'BRILLIANT READ' - 5 STARS
Have you discovered all of Anna Jacobs' wonderful series? For a heartwarming and emotional saga set in a Lancashire valley, try the BIRCH END series: A DAUGHTER'S JOURNEY A WIDOW'S COURAGE A WOMAN'S PROMISE
Release date:
May 9, 2024
Publisher:
Hodder & Stoughton
Print pages:
368
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When he saw the girl sitting on the reservoir wall, Dr George Nolan stopped abruptly. He’d just sat by the bedside of a dying woman and had stayed at the house a little longer afterwards to try to comfort her family.
Feeling the need for some fresh air and peace, he’d decided to walk home the long way round by the reservoir, and enjoy the last of the daylight glinting on the water.
Something was wrong here, though. He could tell by the way the girl was sitting hunched up and radiating misery, because he’d seen that look before. He couldn’t simply walk past and leave her to it, so he changed direction, left the footpath and began moving across the grass towards her.
When she saw him coming she looked panic-stricken and tried to jump off the wall, clearly intending to run away, but she stumbled and fell.
She didn’t even try to get up but lay there, facing away from him. He could tell she was weeping by the way her shoulders were heaving and he ran the last few yards.
He stopped where she could look up and see him and held out one hand, not grabbing or even rushing her. ‘Let me help you up.’
She made no attempt to take his hand but after one quick glance at him she turned away, sobbing loudly now, sounding so desperate his heart ached for her. He’d definitely been right to stop and check what was wrong.
He waited but when she didn’t move, he bent and pulled her gently to her feet, taking hold of her arm. ‘It’s getting cold. Let’s go back to my house and talk. My wife is waiting for me there, so you’ll be quite safe. She’ll make us a hot drink, then you can tell us what’s wrong.’
The lass didn’t answer, just stared at him as if she didn’t understand the words. He was a tall man and she was quite tall too, coming up to his shoulders. Then she looked sideways again towards the water, before turning back towards him.
He saw the moment she realised who he was and tried once again to pull away but he kept a firm hold of her arm. He wasn’t going to let go of her, didn’t want another unhappy soul to leave this life needlessly by jumping into the town’s reservoir, not if he could prevent it.
‘Yes, I can see you know who I am: Dr Nolan,’ he said in a calm voice. ‘And whatever it is that’s upsetting you, I’m sure my wife and I will be able to help you.’
‘No one can help me now.’ She smeared away tears with her free hand but more followed.
‘You can let us try, at least.’
She looked up at him so doubtfully he still kept a firm hold of that slender childlike arm.
‘Come along. I’m hungry and I need a cup of tea. You look cold so I’m sure you’ll welcome a warm drink too.’
He set off walking and to his relief she moved with him. Then she stopped abruptly, dragging back with her whole body, trying to surprise him and get away. But he’d been expecting this and didn’t let go of her. She was young, alone and clearly in desperate need of help. He couldn’t risk letting her run away .
‘I don’t think you’re one of my patients, are you?’ he asked.
‘No. So you should let me go.’
‘I can’t. You need help and I’m a doctor, so it doesn’t matter whether you’re one of my regular patients or not. My wife and I will do our best to help you, I promise.’ He tugged her forward again and this time, after another doubtful glance sideways, she started to stumble along beside him and kept moving.
‘You’ll like my wife. She’s called Jenny,’ he said quietly. After that he didn’t try to chat or ask her any more questions, merely continued moving briskly along, still holding her arm tightly.
When his wife opened the door, he said, ‘I found this lass near the reservoir. She’s extremely upset.’ He let go and gave the girl a slight push towards Jenny.
‘Aw, you poor thing. Come in and I’ll make us all a nice cup of cocoa.’
‘I don’t . . . I can’t . . . ’
Jenny had a firm hold of the lass now. ‘What’s your name, love?’
She stopped struggling, hesitated then gave in. ‘Cathy.’
He’d seen his wife do this before when he brought home someone who was troubled: put an arm round their shoulders, wrap them up in a soothing stream of words and get them to sit down with her. She would have made a wonderful mother had fate been kinder to them, he was sure.
‘Take your coat off, George, and hang up our visitor’s coat too while you’re at it.’ She edged Cathy’s coat off quickly before the girl seemed to realise what she was doing, then led her into the morning room, which had a fire blazing cheerfully in the grate.
‘Make yourself comfortable, dear. I’ll bring you some cocoa in two ticks of a wag’s tail.’ Jenny bustled out.
The girl stared at the fire and George saw her give in, sighing and holding her hands out to its warmth. He stayed as much in the background as he could.
Jenny wasn’t long coming back with a tray containing three mugs of cocoa and a plate of biscuits. She handed out the mugs and gestured to a chair next to the fire. ‘Why don’t you sit there, love?’
The girl sat down, clutching her mug in a way that said she needed the warmth as much as a drink.
‘Have a taste,’ Jenny urged after a while. ‘Tell me if you’d like more sugar.’
Cathy took a sip, then another. She finished the cocoa so quickly George felt sure she’d been both hungry and thirsty. He tipped his own untouched cocoa into her mug and Jenny gave him an approving nod as she pushed the plate of biscuits closer.
Jenny gestured again to the plate, their guest seemed to relax a little further and took a biscuit.
His wife pulled her chair closer and waited till their young visitor had finished a second biscuit, then said, ‘Tell us what’s wrong, Cathy.’
‘You won’t want to speak to me if I do.’
They both stared at her then exchanged knowing glances. Easy to guess what this was about. They’d seen girls in this condition before.
‘Go on. Try us,’ George said.
‘I’m expecting a baby.’ She looked from one to the other.
‘On purpose? Or did you love someone who’s let you down?’ Jenny asked.
‘No!’ She shuddered. ‘I could never love a man like him.’
‘Tell us what happened.’
Her story came out in a series of short jerks. ‘A friend of my father. Mr Pershore. He grabbed me. Forced me. It hurt. Afterwards he pushed me away, said I’d been asking for it. Said I’d been flaunting my beauty at him. He threatened to kill me if I told anyone what he’d done.’
‘And did you?’
‘No. I didn’t dare. He’s Dad’s best friend.’
‘Then later you found out you were expecting,’ Jenny guessed.
She nodded and two more of those fat tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘My mother realised what was wrong a few weeks later when I didn’t get my monthly and was sick in the morning. I told her how it had happened but she didn’t believe me. Nor did my father. They believed him.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘They said they were sending me to St Monica’s, that home for wayward girls. Everyone knows it’s like a prison there and they cane the girls regularly, so I ran away.’
‘How old are you?’
‘Thirteen, fourteen next month.’
‘Where were you going when I found you?’ George asked.
‘I’ve nowhere to go so I was going to throw myself in the reservoir.’ She began sobbing again, hiding her face in her hands, her whole body shaking with anguish.
They couldn’t hide their anger. ‘We believe you. And we’re not angry at you but at him,’ Jenny assured her.
‘How does he get away with it?’ George asked his wife. When he turned back to the girl, he had to speak loudly to get her attention. ‘Cathy! Cathy!’
She cowered away, clearly expecting to be hit.
He spoke firmly and loudly, ‘We do believe you, Cathy. And no one here is going to hurt you.’
She stared first at him then at Jenny and her words were barely a whisper of sound. ‘You believe me? Really?’
‘Yes. It’s not the first time that man has behaved like this, you see. As a doctor I hear about such things. And we can definitely help you,’ he added.
‘How? You can’t take the baby away.’ She stared down at her stomach with loathing. ‘I don’t want it.’
‘Others will want it, though. There are people who can’t have babies themselves and are longing for children.’ He didn’t say that he and his wife had that problem too. They’d helped place other unwanted children for adoption but hadn’t done it for themselves because it wouldn’t look good to take a child from the same community, especially one whose real mother was still living nearby.
Jenny joined in. ‘We’ll look after you till you’ve had the baby, then you can either keep it yourself or let a childless couple adopt it and love it.’
‘You will?’ Then she sagged. ‘My parents will stop you. They want me to suffer. They keep saying it’s all my fault and I should be punished.’
‘We won’t let them lock you away at St Monica’s,’ Dr Nolan promised. ‘That so-called home is a disgrace.’
There was a brief silence then Jenny gestured with one hand. ‘Look round you. What do you see?’
‘Boxes. And no ornaments anywhere. Are you packing to move house?’
‘Yes. We’re leaving this village. And if you want to come with us, we can hide you till we leave then take you with us.’
‘Would that be all right with you, Cathy?’ the doctor asked. ‘We’ll treat you kindly, I promise.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘We’re moving to Rochdale and would be happy to take you to live with us till the baby is born.’
He and his wife would help Cathy work out the best solution when she was calmer and had learned to trust them. For the moment they were doing what they should have done with Pershore’s previous victim, a girl who’d killed herself. He didn’t need to ask his wife to know that she too would want to get this poor child safely away from the man.
The following morning Jenny woke Cathy early and asked her to give the doctor her jacket and shoes so that he could leave them at the side of the reservoir.
He harnessed the pony himself and drove off in his trap. No one would think twice about where he might be going. People would simply assume he was off to visit a sick person. It felt strange to be doing this but he was saving lives, which was what mattered most to him.
When he came back, Cathy was looking so anxious he patted her shoulder. ‘You’ll be safe now. People will assume you’ve committed suicide, whether they discover a body or not.’
‘What’s going to happen to me, though? Later, I mean.’
‘We’ll think about your future after we’ve moved. Once we’re away from here, you can stay with us and help Jenny in the house for a few months. After you’ve had the baby we’ll help you build a new future.’
She gave him one of her wide-eyed stares and considered this for a few moments then nodded. ‘Thank you. I just – I can’t thank you enough. I’ll work very hard, I promise you.’
He was beginning to realise that Cathy was an intelligent young woman and he was looking forward to getting to know her better. Surely he and his wife would be able to set her life back on a good path once she’d had the baby?
After that Jenny took the girl upstairs to the spare bedroom with instructions to stay there while the Nolans finished their packing, because outsiders would be coming and going all day, picking up the things they’d sold or were giving away.
They gave her books to read and fed her nourishing meals. Gradually she calmed down and got some colour back in her cheeks.
‘I wish I could stay with you for ever,’ she said two evenings later. ‘You never shout at one another or scold me.’
‘We prefer to live peacefully and besides, we enjoy each other’s company,’ the doctor said.
His wife patted her hand. ‘We’ll help you after the baby is born, Cathy, I promise you. But I won’t pretend it’s possible for you to stay with us afterwards.’ She sighed and added, ‘There will be others needing help, you see. The way girls are treated in these circumstances, as if they’re the only person involved, disgusts us both, so George and I do our best to help them when we can.’
‘But if I can’t stay with you, how shall I be able to live . . . afterwards?’
‘We’ll help you find a job and somewhere to live. We’d never simply turn you out on the street, I promise you.’
The girl let out a huge sigh of relief and dabbed at her eyes. ‘I’m so grateful.’
A few minutes later she said suddenly, ‘I want to be exactly like you two when I grow up.’
Jenny smiled. ‘No. Be like yourself, but try to do good in the world.’
‘I shall. I give you my word that I shall try my hardest to live a good, worthwhile life and help others.’
‘That’s all anyone can do. I’ve never met anyone yet who’s perfect, though. Just do the best you can.’
When the pantechnicon drew up outside the doctor’s house on her third morning waking up there, Cathy went and hid in the roof space as they’d planned, sitting or sometimes lying down on a wooden platform that had been placed across the rafters to store the empty trunks and suitcases.
The removalists were from Rochdale and they arrived at the doctor’s house by seven o’clock and started stacking the furniture and other goods in their van . Once the house had been cleared they set off for Rochdale with the Nolans’ possessions, travelling slowly to give the horses plenty of rests.
As Dr Nolan and his wife had explained to Cathy, he was going to take over a medical practice in that town from an elderly friend who wanted to retire to the seaside at St Anne’s.
‘Rochdale is close enough to drive ourselves there in our pony trap once we’ve tidied up the empty house, and we shall no doubt overtake our furniture on the way,’ the doctor said. ‘You can hide under a blanket in the back of our trap among the final bits and pieces till we’re well clear of this village then you can join us on the front seat.’
‘You’ll have to hide again when we pass our removalists,’ Mrs Nolan said. ‘We’ll leave a space for that on the cart.’
Once they’d set off and Cathy had come out of hiding, Jenny said, ‘There’s something else we need to do before we get to Rochdale and that’s change your name. How about turning Cathy into Rachel and Wallace into Norris? How does Rachel Norris sound to you?’
‘I like it. Can I really do that? Change my name?’
‘Why not? Who’s going to call the new doctor a liar when he introduces you?’
‘But won’t my parents come after you to get me back?’
‘I doubt it. How will they know that you’ve left with us? Even the two removal men won’t see you.’
2
When ‘Rachel Norris’ had been with the Nolans for about a month, they sat down with her one afternoon to ‘discuss something important’.
‘We’ve noticed that you don’t even like to talk about your child,’ the doctor began.
She scowled down at her stomach. ‘No. I’m sorry, but I don’t.’
‘And I don’t think you’re going to change your mind about keeping it.’
She shuddered visibly, then looked from him to his wife, guessing she’d be disappointing them, but couldn’t lie to them. ‘I’m sure I shan’t.’
‘So perhaps we should discuss your future and make some plans, then. You see, Jenny and I would like to adopt your baby and it won’t matter to us whether it’s a girl or a boy.’
That was the last thing Rachel had expected to hear.
‘Would you allow us to do that?’
She didn’t have to think about it. ‘Oh, yes, definitely. You’re so kind you’d make ideal parents and give the child a happy life, I’m sure.’ She hesitated then added, ‘What’s more, I’d not feel guilty if I knew it was in your care.’
‘If you change your mind once it’s born we wouldn’t insist on keeping the child.’
‘I shan’t do that.’
He studied her face. ‘No, that’s what we both thought or we’d not have spoken yet. So may we offer you a suggestion for how we do this? It’d make everything easier . . . afterwards . . . if the child were thought to be ours.’
They kept surprising her . ‘Tell me how we do that,’ she said.
‘If you wear clothes and padding that make you look fatter but not as if you’re expecting and my wife gradually pads out her clothes into the right shape to look as if she’s the one expecting, then you could have the baby at home here and it would seem to everyone else to be ours.’
‘Would you like to think about it for a while?’ Jenny asked.
‘No. I don’t need to. I definitely don’t want to keep that man’s child.’
‘Then we’ll find a scrubbing woman but apart from that you and I can manage the housework on our own for the next few months. Is that all right with you, Rachel?’
‘Yes. Fine.’
‘Thank you. It’s an incredible gift you’re giving us and we can’t put into words how grateful we are. When it’s all over we’ll help you to find a way to earn a living, and you can always turn to us if you need other help in the future.’
It proved easier than they’d expected to keep up the deception because it simply never occurred to anyone to question that Mrs Nolan was expecting and she claimed tiredness and fear of losing another child as a reason for not going out much.
Rachel continued in good health, helping out with the housework and also sometimes now his wife wasn’t available in the doctor’s surgery which adjoined the side of the house. As the doctor had expected, her young body showed few signs that she was even expecting a child, though from the end of the seventh month she did look a little fatter and he had to find another helper.
She had found the work with his patients so interesting she missed it and asked his permission to read some of his medical books.
It was Mrs Nolan who knitted baby clothes and sewed little garments, looking as luminously happy as if she were really expecting a child.
One day when she was nearing her time, the doctor asked Rachel into his surgery and his wife joined them. ‘Am I imagining it or have you enjoyed assisting me to treat the patients and learning about how human bodies function?’
‘Yes, I do enjoy it. It’s not only interesting but truly worthwhile work. And it’s different every day. I shouldn’t think you ever get bored.’
‘I’m too busy to be bored.’ He smiled. She had proved to be extremely intelligent. ‘So how would you like to train as a nurse? Train properly, I mean, in a hospital. You could do that in Bristol. They’ve been leading the country there in providing proper training for nurses. Once you’d qualified you’d never lack for employment, believe me. Think about it.’
Rachel stared at him in surprise then, as his suggestion sank in, she leaned forward eagerly. ‘I don’t need to consider it. I’d absolutely love to train as a nurse.’
George exchanged smiles with his wife, then turned back to her. ‘Once you’ve recovered from the birth, we can help you find a place on a course in Bristol to do your training. Your timing for the baby will fit in well with the next new course starting.’
Jenny said, ‘You’ll need to pretend to be older than your actual age to do this, though, or else you’ll have to wait another three years to start. Fortunately your recent experiences have given you an air of maturity and a better understanding of life than most girls have at fourteen. If you say you’ve just turned eighteen, I doubt there will be a single person who doesn’t believe you.’
Rachel nodded. She had been so lucky to have been helped by the Nolans. And they’d make excellent parents for the baby, which had taken away her worries about giving it away.
Three weeks later she bore the child. The birth had been easy, they told her. It didn’t feel easy to her but there you were. It was necessary to expel the infant from your body and you did what you had to, putting up with the pain.
‘It’s a girl,’ Jenny exclaimed.
‘Is it? Do you mind?’
‘Of course we don’t. We’re very happy with any child, whether it’s a boy or a girl.’
A few weeks later Dr Nolan took Rachel to an interview at the hospital in Bristol. Nobody queried her claim to be eighteen and the doctor gave her a good recommendation.
The following week she heard that she’d been accepted for the next course and could live in the nurses’ hostel while she did her training. She couldn’t wait to pack her bags and leave but tried to hide that. She’d miss the Nolans but she wouldn’t miss seeing the child. Little Julia’s presence was a constant reminder of that wicked man and she still had nightmares about him .
When Rachel finished her training as a nurse two years later, she had no difficulty finding a job in another hospital, this time in London. She learned a lot there but grew increasingly annoyed by the arrogance of some doctors towards both nurses and female patients.
After a year she moved to assist a kind elderly GP working with poorer families from his own surgery. But even here she found herself hemmed in by people’s low expectations of what women were capable of. Male patients in particular could be highly suspicious of her ability to help treat them.
At least there was more general acceptance these days of the need for nurses to be properly trained, but women were making slow progress towards true acceptance of their skills when they actually went out to work.
If she’d had a rich family, she’d have wanted to train as a doctor, something women were starting to do. But she was always aware of the need to support herself and to have some money put by ‘for a rainy day’, so she didn’t mention that to anyone.
It amused her that during the eighteen months she spent working for the GP, she’d turned down three proposals of marriage from young men who would be regarded as highly eligible by most people. One of them was even a doctor himself. They were pleasant enough but there wasn’t one of them she’d want to spend the rest of her life with, let alone give up nursing to become what she thought of as a resident housekeeper and brood mare.
She still kept in touch with the Nolans, mostly by writing to them. She had visited them a couple of times, but the sight of her daughter, now a small child, running round the house and garden, still brought back unhappy memories and even nightmares.
Then one day when she was visiting the Nolans, she went into town to do some shopping and saw Pershore coming towards her. Worse still, he saw her. He stopped dead, gave one of his horrible, gloating smiles and pointed his forefinger at her.
She hid in a shop doorway, trying to stay out of sight and yet be able to peep along the street. It was definitely him! What on earth was that horrible man doing here?
Even now, after all this time, her heart began pounding with fear at the mere sight of him. She had never forgotten what he’d done, still had the occasional nightmare.
He was moving towards her now, so she darted back inside. She knew the shopkeeper slightly and asked her if she could go out at the back, explaining that a man she didn’t like was following her and she was afraid of him.
The woman, a comfortable motherly person, peeped out and then put the lock on the shop door. ‘I’ve seen that man round here before. He’s started visiting a newcomer to town, and I don’t like either of them, the way they look at women.’
‘I’m terrified of him.’
‘Well, you go out the back way. I’ll make sure he doesn’t follow you. This way.’
‘Thank you.’
Rachel used the back lanes behind shops to get back to the Nolans’ house, running most of the way.
‘What’s wrong?’ Mrs Nolan said at once.
When Rachel told her, she frowned. ‘He surely can’t have come here because he found out about you knowing us?’
‘The shopkeeper said he has a friend who’s moved here.’
‘Oh dear! You’d better stay in the house till it’s time to leave.’
And, Rachel thought, she’d not come here for a good while. If his presence here was by sheer chance, then she’d been very unlucky.
It was Mrs Nolan who suggested she become a district nurse, a new area of employment for women. She’d need to do a short training course on top of her original training, but she loved learning so didn’t mind that.
The independence of that work and the contact with people who might desperately need her help appealed to her greatly. Her own life had been saved by Dr Nolan and his wife and apart from finding people’s physical and health needs fascinating, she wanted to help others in her turn, not just by working at the behest of a male doctor who didn’t always understand what his female patients were going through in their lives.
‘What would I have to study? I’m a reasonably experienced nurse now, after all. I don’t want to go back to being treated as a rather stupid child as I was sometimes in Bristol.’
Jenny Nolan took out a leaflet and handed it to her. ‘Read this and think about it.’
Rachel read it quickly. Training for district nurses apparently covered a wide range of subjects, some of them likely to be unfamiliar to those with experience mainly in hospital nursing. These included sanitary reform, health education for patients, ventilation, water supply, diet, the feeding and care of newborn infants and young children, infectious diseases, and sexual health.
She looked up. ‘My goodness! What a lot of new things there will be to learn about.’
‘Does that put you off?’
‘No, of course not. I’d enjoy it.’
‘We noticed when you lived with us that you have a hungry mind. I’ve been talking to a friend and they’re setting up district nursing services in various towns and cities across the country. The ignorance of some poorer people even about their own health is often apparently dreadful and regularly leads to unnecessarily early deaths. With better knowledge people can make simple changes in their way of living to improve their own and their families’ health at little extra cost. My friend said if she’d been younger she might have tried doing that sort of nursing herself.’
‘I’d love to try it. I can always go back to hospital nursing if I don’t enjoy the work, after all.’
Mrs Nolan hesitated then asked, ‘You don’t think you’d ever want to marry?’
‘No. Definitely not. I’ve been asked a couple of times, but I didn’t want to give up nursing. I’d go mad with boredom doing housework all day.’
‘Then I’ll pay any extra expenses you encounter and give you a living wage while you’re doing this course.’
‘I can’t ask you to do that, Jenny.’
‘You didn’t ask. I’d be happy to do it. You’ve given me the thing I wanted most in life, as well as your ongoing friendship, which I value greatly. Besides, my husband and I can easily afford to give . . .
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