Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [164]
‘Some of the mail was so badly soaked the envelopes are unreadable or missing,’ Theo said. ‘There were lots of disappointed people today, but you’re a lucky one.’
Beth tore it open, unable to wait till later. ‘My dear Beth and Sam,’ she read. ‘There isn’t any way to give you this terrible news, except straight out.’
A cold shudder ran down Beth’s spine, but she had to read on.
So please forgive my bluntness when I tell you our precious little Molly died of pneumonia, ten days ago on 7 March. She had a bad chesty cold in February and despite everything we and the doctor did, all the medicine and care, it turned to pneumonia. She died in her sleep while I was sitting with her.
Edward and I are bereft. We loved her so much, and everything is so bleak and cold without her. But my heart goes out to you and Sam so far away too, for we know this will be a tremendous shock to you as it has been for everyone who loved her. Please believe we did everything we could for her. Her funeral was a week after her death on the 14th, a beautiful moving service at St Brides… Edward, Mrs Bruce, Cook and Kathleen all send their condolences, and we sincerely hope this letter will find its way to you. We always read everything in the papers about the Klondike, wondering if you got there safely. You are in our thoughts and prayers, please come to see us when you return to England. And Edward and I wish to thank you for all the past joy you gave us by leaving Molly in our care. She may have only had just four short years with us, but they have been the happiest times we’ve known.
Thinking of you at this saddest of times
Ruth Langworthy
‘What is it, Beth?’ Theo asked, shocked by her stricken face.
‘Molly’s dead,’ she replied in hushed, anguished tones, looking at him beseechingly. ‘She died of pneumonia.’
Chapter Thirty-one
‘I know it’s terribly sad to hear of a child dying, Beth, but you’ve got to pull yourself together,’ Theo said, a sharp undercurrent to his voice.
‘She wasn’t just any child, she was my sister,’ Beth retorted, breaking into fresh tears. ‘First Sam, now Molly. I’ve got no one left.’
A week had passed since she received the shattering letter. Theo had been kind and comforting then, yet the day after, Independence Day, he left her crying in the tent and joined everyone else in Dawson for the celebrations.
Jack came back to the tent in the early evening, having run into Theo in a saloon and realized he’d left her all alone.
‘I expect he just doesn’t know what more he can say to comfort you,’ he said in Theo’s defence. ‘I don’t either, Beth, I just knew you shouldn’t be alone.’
‘Why is it that you know that and he doesn’t?’ she asked Jack bitterly. ‘It wasn’t your baby I lost, it was his. He promised me up on the Chilkoot Pass that he loved me and wanted to get married; he knows how hard Sam’s death hit me, so surely if he really loved me he could put himself in my shoes now and understand?’
‘Oh, Beth, you’ve had so much sadness.’ Jack sighed and sat down beside her, holding her. ‘Right from when you first told me about Molly on the ship, I could see how low you felt about leaving her behind. But you did do the right thing for her. Look at all the hardships we all had in New York. You wouldn’t have wanted to put her through that?’
‘But I keep thinking if she’d been with me she wouldn’t have died.’
Jack stroked her hair back from her face and mopped her eyes. ‘She would’ve been even more likely to have caught something nasty. At least she had four happy years, in a loving, caring home. It’s tragic that she died, a terrible thing, and all I can offer you is a shoulder to cry on.’
He listened patiently as she sobbed out all her sadness, for Molly, Sam’s death and losing her baby and being told she’d never have another. ‘It’s like I’m jinxed,’ she said. ‘What have I ever done that was so bad I had to have all this thrown at me?’
Jack couldn’t find an answer to that, but he stayed all evening and held her, letting her spill out all her grief. When it grew darker, thousands of fireworks were let off and