You Promised

Chapter Fifteen

I am sitting in my kitchen with my family, eating breakfast. John eventually stumbles in and plonks himself down on his chair, in front of me. His hair is a mess and his eyes look sleepy.
    I smile at him. 'Sleep well?'
    He grunts his response and starts gulping down his breakfast. I watch him, repulsed as he gobbles down everything on his plate in a matter of seconds.  He leaps to his feet and starts to charge from the room.
    'Oh no you don't!' Says my mother loudly. 'Come and give your mother a big kiss.'
    I cover my mouth with my hand, but even then, the strangled choke of laughter escapes and John narrows his eyes at me. My mother presents her cheek and John sighs. I purse my lips to keep them shut. He winces and pecks her quickly on the cheek. She smiles contentedly. He grimaces at me then leaves the room.
    'You are a cruel woman.' My father informs her.
     She smirks and replies, 'I carried him for nine months and gave birth to him....'
     'Mother, not this again!' I groan and my father laughs out loud. My mother sniffs and walks to get the teapot and pours tea for the three of us. I cut myself some homemade bread and layer the marmalade on it.
     As I tuck in, my brother resurfaces at the smell of tea. He sits down, as far away from mother as he can manage to be.  I shake my head.
     At this point in the conversation I switch out and kiss both of my parents on the cheek to avoid hassle. I skip up the stairs and prepare myself to go out. As I go out the door, I'm handed a letter by my father.
    'From the frontline.' He tells me smiling. I rip it open. It's from Adam.

    My dearest Ami,
        I really miss both England and you. We spend days marching from trench to trench, attack after attack. I don't think that we have advanced more than one kilometre in the last month. I honestly feel desperately sorry for the men who don't have someone like you waiting for them at home. You are what keeps me going here.
    Yesterday, our trench flooded. We were knee-deep in muddy slush. The strangest thing I've seen so far was a rat the size of my old cat, Florrie. You'd think that I'd be used to it here, but that was the biggest one I've seen so far.
   Thank you for your letters. It's nice coming back to base and getting word from you. It's a small piece of heaven in this desolate landscape. I even dreamt about you last night, smiling at me with paint on your face. Do you remember when we painted your room last summer?
     I love you.
    Your Adam.
     xxx

I exhale with relief. My father raises an eyebrow and I assure him that Adam is ok.
    'Well, you had better get ready for mass. And tell your brother to get ready too.' He tells me as he vanishes into the library. I look down on the doormat. On the floor is another letter. Father must have missed it. I lean down to it. It's addressed to my mother. The script is familiar, but I cannot say whom it's from. I stroll into the kitchen and flip it onto the table in front of my mother. She looks at it wordlessly. She doesn't touch it. She just leaves it on the table.
   'Mother?' I ask, somewhat concerned now.
   'J-J-J-Jenny.' She stammers. 'Its from Jenny.' She looks up at me, I reach for it and she snatches it up. She rips it open, in much the same way that I opened Adams letter. She scans it. She slowly puts it down when she is finished. She looks at me. 'Your sister Jenny is coming home.'
    My jaw drops. 'What?' I say eventually. 'Where has she been?'
    My mother takes a deep breath then says 'She's in America. She went on the...Titanic.'
    I just stare at her. 'The Titanic? How did she get on the Titanic?'
    She takes another deep breath. 'The father of her child brought her.'
    'She is married?' I say hopefully, but dubiously.
     Mother shakes her head.