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Half an hour later the piles had grown. It was difficult to judge whether something was important or not without reading it. Opening the third drawer, she saw a pack of letters tied with string. Untying the bow, only two envelopes were open, they appeared personal. She checked to see if Mitch was around. Silence.Well he did ask me to help, didn’t he?she thought.It’s not snooping, as such. She pulled the letter out of the already opened envelope and turned it over in her hands. The paper shook as soon as she saw the signature’
Forever in my heart,Ivy.
Holly put her hand to her mouth. Taking the pile of letters over to Sid’s chair, she sat down, and began to read.
Dear Sid,
I hated seeing you upset today. I wanted to explain but I could not find the words. Father intercepted the letters you sent me from France. I found them under my parents’ bed some weeks after I married. I opened the first letter, Sid, to make sure they were from you. I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. When I did not hear from you, I thought you had moved on. I had no knowledge of your accident. It was a year of no word from you.
Bill is kindly and we get on well. He comforted me. I’ve not read the remaining letters, I left them sealed, so you would know that I never received them. I want to prove to you that I did not know you were waiting for me. I was led to believe you had gone on National Service and decided to stay. If I’d known you’d become ill, I would have come to you. I’d never have moved on if I’d known you still loved me. You will always be my true love. But now I am married and expecting a child it would not be right.
I should have trusted your love. My regret will be eternal, as will be my love for you.
Please forgive me, my darling Sid.
Forever in my heart. Ivy.
Holly heard a door bang in the distance and slipped the letter back into its envelope, and scooted back to the bureaux and deposited them at the very back of the unit.
‘Have you found it yet?’ Mitch asked.
Holly shook her head.
‘Are you okay? I can always apply for a copy of the birth certificate.’
‘No, no. Let’s get on with it.’ Holly’s hands were clammy and shaking. She was finding it hard to cope with the fact, that her great-grandfather had been deceitful and her family had lied to her.
It only took another five minutes of hunting to find the birth certificate.
Mitch waved it above his head. ‘Yes.’
At this point Holly’s mobile rang. It was George – there were a couple of questions he had, so she bade Mitch farewell and went back to the nursery, her mind was so full she didn’t even register that Trixy was following her home.
It was a long afternoon,looking at alternative materials, boundary walls and water pipes. But whilst Holly had lots to concentrate on, an image of Ivy’s letter to Sid kept popping into her mind. Later, back at the caravan, she called Jaz.
‘It’s all ancient history, chick.’
‘‘I’d always been told by Mum that Sid had some sort of obsession with Granny Ivy, not that she’d reciprocated. Like he was a stalker. I feel lost, my whole family lied to me.’
‘Hey, you don’t know that. Granted your great-grandad knew and Ivy but your own Grandad and Mum may have been none the wiser.’
‘And I’ll never find out.’
‘Does it matter, hun? You’ve got so much else to worry about.’
‘Yes, it does matter. All I have left of my family are my memories of them; their history. They are a part of me, of who I am. I’d like the facts to be correct.’
‘What I heard was that your gran and Sid were an item. He went away and when he got back, Ivy had run off with your grandad, got pregnant and had to get married.’
‘Where did you hear that?’
‘It’s common knowledge, hun.’
‘Great – and you never mentioned this before?’
‘You’ve always shut me up when I tried to.’
Holly realised that was true. ‘For good reason. Village gossip is usually a load of rubbish.’
