The less Emmy said about that the better. “I’m not sure.”
Julia was thoughtful as she chewed, almost as if fitting something together in her head. “Mum’s going to be cross with you.”
Emmy rose from the chair and reached for the electric bill that was among the other pieces of opened mail on the kitchen counter. She pulled the bill out and brought the empty envelope and a pen back to the table.
“At first, yes, she will probably be cross with me,” Emmy said as she sat back down. “I’m going to write her a note. When she gets home, you can make sure she sees it. All right?”
Julia nodded but the doubt in her eyes was alarming. Emmy had always been able to sway Julia her way, on just about everything. But at that moment Julia looked thoroughly unconvinced that Emmy was on the doorstep of her dreams.
“You’ll make sure Mum sees it, right?” Emmy said, this time with more force.
Julia nodded slowly, a hundred little thoughts behindher unreadable expression. The nod wasn’t good enough for Emmy.
“Promise me you’ll give it to her,” Emmy pressed.
“I promise,” Julia replied, without so much as a second’s hesitation.
Emmy could not spend the time to figure out what Julia was thinking. Her sister looked tired. Perhaps that was all her strange behavior was, the result of too little sleep the night before.
“I’ll write the note real quick and then I’ll get you tucked onto the sofa to wait for Mum, okay?”
“Okay.”
Emmy uncapped the pen and turned the envelope over to its back side.
Mum—
I had to come back to London to take care of something that matters a great deal to me. Julia insisted on coming with me. I had no plans to bring her and I am sorry if it makes you angry that I did. She misses you. Have no fear about taking her back to Thistle House if you want to. Mrs. Havelock is a very kind woman and Julia likes it there.
I don’t know exactly when I will see you again. Please know that I am doing exactly what you said I should do. You said wishing something doesn’t make it come true. Doing it does.
Someday I hope you will be proud of me.
Emmy
She set the envelope against a teacup on the counter. Then she reached for Julia’s plate and set it to soak with the other dirty dishes. When Emmy turned back to her sister, she offered Julia her hand and she took it.
They walked into the sitting room. Emmy arranged the pillows. Julia crawled up onto the cushions and lay down at once. The missed hours of sleep and the long morning of travel had caught up with her.
Emmy smoothed Julia’s hair away from her face, suddenly grieved that she wasn’t sure when she would see her sister again. After the war, certainly, but how long would that be? If Mr. Dabney and his wife planned to evacuate her to the countryside, perhaps she could convince them to take Julia as well. But... Thistle House was such a lovely place and Julia had been so happy there. She didn’t know the Dabneys at all. Emmy had no idea what to expect from them as foster parents. Indeed, she didn’t care. She would suffer through any kind of parenting to be able to learn what Mr. Dabney could teach her.
No, the best place for Julia for as long as the war lasted was with Charlotte.
Emmy bent to kiss her forehead. Julia was already on the edge of sleep.
“Mum will be home in no time.”
“Okay,” Julia whispered.
“Don’t open the door to anyone unless you hear Thea come home, okay? Stay right here on the sofa.”
“Mmm.”
Emmy stood and her sister did not move. “I love you, Jewels.”
But Julia was asleep.
Now that Emmy could concentrate solely on herself, she realized how disheveled she probably looked. She went into Mum’s room to borrow a dress that she hoped her mother wouldn’t miss. She found one near the back, a red jersey knit patterned in tiny geometric designs and three-quarter sleeves. Mum had not worn it in a long while. As Emmy slipped out of her wrinkled dress to puton the fresh one, she figured out why. It was a bit snug, even on her. But it was ten times better than what she had been wearing, and definitely a woman’s dress. She smoothed her hair in her mother’s mirror, using one of Mum’s hair combs to tame her curls. Then she took her wrinkled dress, folded it, and went into Julia’s and her room and laid it on her bed. Back in the front room, Emmy gave her sleeping sister one last peck on her forehead. Then she retrieved her satchel from where she had stowed it by the front door and left the flat, putting the key back under the mat where she had found it.
