Page 107 of The Secrets of the Tea Garden
‘There was a Belgian couple dead in a shelter in a back yard – the warden wouldn’t let me go and look – but he came out carrying an infant – covered in dust but alive ...’
‘Alive?’ Adela gasped.
‘Yes, and unharmed.’
‘Was it a boy?’ Adela asked, her ears drumming.
‘He was,’ Tilly answered. ‘I remember taking him back to the relief centre and worrying about what would happen to him without his parents – and thinking that the rest of his family might be in Belgium and wouldn’t be able to look after him. It stuck in my mind that he was Belgian.’
Adela grabbed on to Tilly, trembling. ‘You held my baby?’
Tilly clutched Adela. ‘I must have done.’
‘What happened to him?’ Adela demanded. ‘Can you remember? Please try!’
Tilly’s eyes filled with pity. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know.’
Adela was seized by fresh hope. ‘Can you find out? There must be records. He must have gone somewhere.’
‘Adela!’ Josey chided. ‘We don’t even know if it was your boy. They can’t have been the only Belgians living in Heaton.’
‘I know it’s him,’ said Adela.
‘Don’t put yourself through any more upset—’
‘Please, Tilly,’ Adela urged, ignoring Josey’s appeal, ‘can you try and find out?’
Tilly gave Josey a helpless look.
‘Tilly,’ Adela pleaded, ‘you’ve held my baby boy in your arms. You must know how my arms ache for him! I can’t live without knowing whether it was him.’
Tilly pulled Adela into a hug. ‘I’ll try, dear girl. But don’t get your hopes up.’
Josey gave a sigh of disapproval and walked out of the room.
