Read Online The Ballymara Road by Nadine Dorries - Free Book Online Page A

paper, leaving only the area on which Rosie had written, and then rolled it between her finger and thumb, over and over, until it was a tight cylinder. She tucked the almost needle-thin paper roll through the stiches in the hem of her baggy calico knickers.
    Aideen grinned to Agnes. ‘The bitches won’t find it there, will they?’ The light of hope sprang gleefully into both girls’ eyes. ‘We do all the laundry, so they will never find it.’
    Rosie felt overwhelmed with tenderness towards both girls. Aideen might be a farm girl with little education, rough around the edges, but she had heart and humanity enough to risk angering Sister Assumpta by caring for Kitty, as best she knew how.
    ‘If it comes to that and you do escape,’ Rosie’s whisper was barely audible so the girls leant in close to catch her words, ‘make sure you leave my address behind, for anyone else who may need it. I have a good kitchen maid at my hospital, Besmina. She has told me a great deal about what goes on here and I want to help, if I can.’
    ‘Besmina!’ Both Aideen and Agnes looked at one another in shocked surprise.
    ‘That’s right. I think she worked in the kitchens here, before her grandmother brought her to me to give her work at the hospital. When I was a district midwife, I delivered Besmina at her grandmother’s house in Dublin.’
    Aideen smiled, knowingly.
    ‘Yes, that’s right, miss. She worked in the kitchens,’ said Aideen slowly.
    The three women now began to help Kitty to her feet. Dehydrated and with a dangerously high temperature, she was mumbling incoherently as though delirious. Rosie knew Kitty could have a febrile fit at any moment. God only knew how she would cope with that, here in this godforsaken place.
    Rosie was eager to get Kitty to hospital. Out in the country, in the rural farms and on the bogs, she had seen girls develop serious infections after giving birth. By the time Rosie reached them, peritonitis had often fatally set in. She would do everything in her power to ensure that did not happen to this child.
    Moving as softly as they could, Aideen and Agnes helped Kitty down the stairs. When they reached the bottom step, Agnes suddenly froze.
    A ghostlike shadow upon the wall announced that the imposing form of Sister Assumpta was gliding silently towards them, the Persian silk runner absorbing the sound of her inescapable approach.
    They were trapped. Motionless, they stood as if turned to stone whilst her shadow turned the corner and enveloped them.
    Her mouth dry with fear and her knees turning to jelly, Agnes clung onto Kitty’s arm, holding her upright in the process.
    She had felt bold, sneaking away to see the midwife, passing on the details of the birth and helping the poor girl. They had guessed by her accent, she must have come from Liverpool and that for some reason she had told no one her story. They had all guessed that Kitty held a secret.
    ‘God knows, don’t we all have our own,’ Aideen had said to Agnes.
    But now, with the wrath of Sister Assumpta bearing down upon them, their boldness fled.
    Jeez, we are mad, thought Aideen. What had seemed like a brave idea only an hour ago now appeared reckless and foolish. They had broken every rule in the Abbey, including having spoken to Rosie and each other. Agnes felt as though she would wet herself in fear at the consequences.
    Sister Assumpta stood before them, not speaking a word, staring first at Rosie and then at both girls.
    ‘And what, may I ask, are you both doing in the main house at this time of day? Why are you not in the laundry?’
    Rigid with terror, neither girl could utter a word of response. Aideen tried, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth in dread.
    ‘ Speak! ’ Even the mice shook at the sound of Sister Assumpta’s anger.
    Neither girl could have responded even if her life had depended upon it. Agnes began to shake.
    ‘Sister Celia!’
    Sister Assumpta’s voice boomed out again, although her lips