Eve swept the hearth and laid new wood in the grate. Harry would need to be fed soon. She would empty the rubbish, gather her bucket, shovel, and mat, change out of her sooty apron, and feed him. She pulled the packet from the bin to add to her ash bucket—then stopped.
What if she went to America in Audrey’s place?
Absurd.
Yet the idea tugged at her like a dog with a bone and wouldn’t let go. Why not take Audrey’s place and start all over in America? Eve sat on the arm of the chair to think it through.
She and Audrey were the same height and weight, the same age. Robert’s parents had never met their daughter-in-law. Could they tell from a black-and-white photograph that Eve’s hair was a different color? She could easily mimic Audrey’s aristocratic manners and speech. She’d lived with her long enough to know everything about her. Their sons, Harry and Bobby, were the same age.
Eve brushed her sooty fingerprints off the packet. Could she get away with it? The more she pondered the idea, the less absurd it seemed. She had masqueraded as one of the gentry on her date at the Savoy with Alfie and had pulled it off.
The documents felt heavy in her hands. It wasn’t as if she would be stealing them. Audrey had thrown them away. And while it was true that Eve would be deceiving Robert’s parents, she would only need to pretend she was Audrey until she got a new start in America. Once she was on her feet, Eve could make her own way. Who would ever know the difference?
Louis would. If he came to the Barretts’ home to visit Audrey and found Eve instead—but no. Louis couldn’t give away Eve’s secret without destroying his marriage.
Eve took the letter Audrey had written to the Barretts and slipped it in with the other documents. She tucked the packet beneath her arm and gathered up her cleaning supplies. Harry was fussing, so she hurried down the servants’ stairs to the basement. She put the bucket in the scullery, washed her hands, untied her apron, then sat on a stool to nurse him, the packet on her lap beneath his diapered bottom.
Eve would need to read through the materials carefully to make sure she had everything she needed to take Audrey’s place. But what a perfect opportunity this would be for her son. How she longed to find a better life for him. If she had to start all over again, why not do it in America? There was nothing for her here, no loved ones to leave behind. Audrey had decided to live the rest of her life at Wellingford Hall as the lady of the manor. The last thing Eve wanted was to be stuck here as her servant. This was no place for her son to grow up.
Harry finished nursing and looked up at her. She would do it. She would go to Tidworth Army Camp as Audrey Barrett. If they believed her, she would sail to America with the other war brides. Eve knew where Audrey kept her identification papers and Bobby’s birth certificate. It would be easy to add them to the packet with the other documents. She lifted Harry to her shoulder to burp him and pulled the cover letter from the packet. They had two days to pack their things and report to the camp. Harry deserved a better life. He deserved to grow up in the sunshine, far away from Wellingford’s scullery.
“Harry and I are leaving on the train Friday morning,” she told Audrey when she brought up her supper tray that evening. “It’s time for us to move out and be on our own.”
“You’re leaving? Why?”
Eve thought of all the answers she could give. How Audrey no longer talked of them being sisters or of them being together no matter what. How Eve was Audrey’s servant, a life she didn’t want. How neither of them respected the decisions the other one had made. Instead Eve shrugged and said, “Because it’s time, Audrey. We both know it.”
“Where will you go? What will you do?”
“I’m pursuing a few possibilities. Harry and I will make our way somehow. I don’t want to be stuck here in the past. Mum worked hard so I wouldn’t have to be a servant all my life, and I’m not going to let her down. I want a better life for Harry.”
“Do you have a forwarding address? How will I reach you?”
“I’ll write once we’re settled. Listen, I’ll always be grateful to you for giving Harry and me a place to stay. Thank you for that.”
“I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither do I.”
Eve knew she’d made the right decision when Audrey didn’t try to talk her out of it or beg her to stay. But the pain that knowledge caused was like a knife in her heart. They were both dry-eyed as they hugged goodbye at the train station on Friday. They had already shed enough tears for a lifetime.