‘Is this madness?’ I said.
‘Complete madness,’ Harry agreed. ‘But strangely it makes total sense.’
‘You’re absolutely sure you want to get married?’
‘Absolutely sure.’
‘Because there’s something I need to tell you and I’m worried you might change your mind.’
Harry frowned. ‘Will I need a drink?’
‘Possibly.’ But then I shook my head. ‘But let me tell you first. I’ve been stewing over it for ages and I want to get it over with.’
For the first time, Harry’s smile faltered. We sat down on the bench where I’d been waiting for him and I tried to think of the right words to say.
‘Nelly died,’ I said.
‘I’m so sorry about that. She was a lovely woman. I know that’s why you’re going to Ireland.’
I shook my head. ‘You don’t know all of it.’
‘Tell me.’
I looked into his sweet face and then down at my knees, and I spoke in a rush. ‘Nelly was dying and she was in so much pain. So much, Harry. It was awful. It was going to be long and agonising.’ I took a shuddering breath. ‘She asked me to help her, to help her go quicker. And I did. I gave her morphine so she’d just fall asleep and not wake up.’
Harry was quiet. I braced myself, but he didn’t speak for ages. I shot him a glance but he was looking up to the ceiling where pigeons darted in and out of the smoke.
‘Do you want to find the police station?’ I said eventually in a small, scared voice.
Harry looked at me, finally. ‘What for?’
‘To tell them what I did.’
He looked at me with his brows furrowed. ‘What you did, Elsie, was really brave.’
‘It was illegal.’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe. But it wasn’t wrong.’ He reached out and stroked my cheek with his thumb. ‘She was suffering and you stopped it.’
‘I can’t ever tell anyone what I did.’
‘No,’ he agreed. ‘We’ll keep that to ourselves.’
‘I thought you wouldn’t understand, because of the seagull.’
He grinned at me. ‘I think I do understand because of the seagull.’
Weak with relief I leaned against him, and he kissed my temple.
‘Right then,’ he said, checking his watch. ‘I’ve got four hours until I need to be back on the train so I thought maybe we could go and find a pub, and then this afternoon if you’re not busy, we could go and get married. What do you reckon?’
I laughed. ‘I reckon that sounds like a plan.’
Chapter 42
Stephanie
Six weeks later
