Page 88 of The Secrets of the Tea Garden

‘Thanks.’ Adela smiled. ‘We were wondering if you could put us in touch with MrsSinger – with Lily. The minister said you’d know her address.’

‘Well, I’m sure she’d like a letter from an old friend,’ MrsKelly agreed. ‘My memory’s like a sieve but I’ve got it written down. I’ll bring it for you next Sunday.’

With a warning look from Lexy, Adela hid her frustration. ‘That’s canny of you, MrsKelly,’ said Lexy. ‘We’ll see you next week.’

It was early June before Adela got the address for Lily Singer. Afterwards Lexy said, ‘Does that mean I divn’t have to gan to church again? That preacher could put me to sleep standing up.’

‘I really appreciated you coming – but you can have a lie-in from now on,’ Adela said.

‘So are you going to write to her?’ Lexy asked.

‘No, I’m going to go over and visit her.’

Lexy shook her head. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. You can’t just turn up on her doorstep.’

‘If I write she will just palm me off with the usual reply that she can’t tell me where John Wesley is.’

‘And what if she never knew where he was sent?’ Lexy asked.

‘Then I won’t be any worse off than I am now,’ said Adela. ‘At least if I can look her in the eye, I’ll be able to tell if she knows something.’

Lexy scrutinised her. ‘And are you going to tell Sam why you’re waltzing off to Durham?’

Adela felt a familiar pang of guilt over Sam. ‘I don’t think so. Not until I have something worth telling him. He’ll only get annoyed at me. I don’t think he really wants me to find my son at all.’

‘Well, maybe’s he’s right,’ Lexy said bluntly. ‘You should be looking to start your own family together. That’s the best way to get over losing the bairn.’

Adela gave her a bleak look. ‘That’s the problem – I can’t.’ She tried to put her deepest feelings into words. ‘It’s like I would be betraying John Wesley by having another baby.’

‘Don’t be daft!’

‘I know it sounds selfish of me – Sam longs for a child – but once we have one then I’m admitting that I’ve given up on my boy. And I just can’t bring myself to do that.’

‘Stop being so hard on yersel’, hinny,’ Lexy said with a pitying look. ‘You did what any young lass would have done in your position.’

Adela’s look was full of sorrow. ‘I can’t help it. And I won’t ever forgive myself if I don’t find out what’s happened to my boy.’

‘Then you must let Sam know how you feel,’ said Lexy. ‘’Cause he’s going around with the look of a dog that’s been kicked.’

Adela winced. ‘I just need to meet this MrsSinger and find out what happened – then I’ll be able to put it behind me.’

Lexy gave her a look of disbelief which left Adela feeling hollow inside. She didn’t want to hurt the people she loved the most but she had to find out about John Wesley or she would go out of her mind.

After Adela had time to think it through, she realised it would be better to write to MrsSinger first rather than risk travelling to Durham to find she wasn’t at home. She wrote a vague letter saying that she had recently joined the church and wished to meet so she could talk to Lily about her work with the adoption society. Lily Singer wrote back inviting her to visit on her next day off.

On the following Saturday afternoon, Adela arranged for Josey to cover for her at the café. She chose that day knowing that Sam was being hired by a local newspaper to take pictures of people at the annual races and would be out all day. Only Lexy and Josey knew where she was going.

That morning, Sam was in a good mood with his day of photography ahead.

‘What do you want to do for your birthday next week?’ he asked. ‘Would you like to go to the pictures? There’s a Ronald Colman film on at the Gaumont.’

She was touched that he had given it some thought and felt a guilty pang that she was going behind his back to see MrsSinger.

‘That would be lovely,’ she agreed.

‘Good,’ he said with a smile – that familiar dimpled smile that used to make her stomach do flips.

She almost confessed there and then about tracking down the woman from the adoption society but didn’t want to wipe the cherished smile from his handsome face. She would explain everything to him when they had time alone on her birthday.