Ruth finds it very hard to concentrate on her tutorials. These are final year students so her main job is to ensure that they finish their dissertations and to reassure them that, one day, they will have a graduation ceremony. She sympathises. It抯 hard writing a dissertation at the best of times but, when you can抰 get to a library and you抮e stuck at home in your childhood bedroom with no support from lecturers or fellow students, the task must seem monumental. Ruth gives all the help she can, whilst glancing at her phone to see if she抯 had a text from Judy.
When she抯 pressed 憀eave meeting?for the last time, she thinks about Eileen Gribbon. She didn抰 appear for Ruth抯 last lecture. Is Eileen still in the empty halls of residence or has she gone back to the home where she doesn抰 feel welcome? She texts Fiona, who is Eileen抯 personal tutor.
慖 was just about to message,?texts Fiona. 慐ileen hasn抰 turned up to the last two tutorials. I抦 a bit worried.?
Me too, thinks Ruth. She texts David and asks if he抯 seen anything of Joe McMahon.
慛o,?replies David, with what seems like breezy unconcern. 慖 think he抯 dropped out.?
慍ontact him,?Ruth texts back. 慉SAP.?She doesn抰 add 憄lease? That抣l teach him, she thinks. The truth is that David probably won抰 even notice.
Her phone pings. Nelson. Cathbad in ICU. Tubes. Doesn抰 sound good. Ruth抯 heart sinks. She texts a quick Thinking of you xxx to Judy. What can she do to take her mind off her magical friend reduced to a body on an intensive care bed? Kate is absorbed in her cat saga, watched intently by Flint. Ruth goes to the window. Still no sign of Zoe although Ruth thinks that she hears faint meowing from Derek. Ruth gets out the yellow file marked 慔ouse? There are the photographs, the dray, the copy of the title deeds and the printout of the newspaper article.
Big-hearted Foster Mum Dies
Tributes have been paid to Dot Barton, of 2 New Road, Saltmarsh, who died of cancer at the age of 68. As well as being mother to two sons, John and Matthew, and grandmother of three, Dot also fostered more than a hundred children. 慜ur door was always open,?says Dot抯 husband, Alf （70）。 慏ot was so kind,?says Alma McLaughlin （21）， who was fostered as a teenager. 慡he really made a difference to my life.?Dot抯 funeral will be held at St Peter抯 Church, Gaywood, on Wednesday 17th June.
Ruth googles Alma McLaughlin and, at almost her first try, finds her on Facebook. She抯 the right age, early seventies, based in Cornwall and, by the looks of it, living an active paddle-boarding, scuba-diving existence. Ruth messages Alma and, a few minutes later, gets a reply. That抯 one of the only good things about lockdown. People are glued to their computers and have little else to do besides replying to random strangers. Yes, says Alma, she was fostered by Dot for a year in 1964 when she was fifteen. Her home life hadn抰 been easy but Dot ?and Alf ?had made all the difference. She has very happy memories of the cottage.
慖 know this is going to sound strange,?types Ruth, 慴ut does the name Dawn Stainton mean anything to you??
The answer comes back almost immediately. 慪es! She was Dot抯 foster child too. But she was only a baby then. About a year old. She was living with Dot until she got a permanent adoption. Sweet little thing.?
慏o you know anything about Dawn抯 birth parents??asks Ruth, typing so quickly that she almost misses out the apostrophe. She doesn抰 though; some things are still sacred.
慖 think I overheard once that her mother was young and unmarried. The usual thing. You didn抰 keep your baby if you were an unmarried mother in the sixties. Makes you feel sad, doesn抰 it??
It certainly does, thinks Ruth.
Chapter 33
She crawls to the door. 慙et me out,?she says.
His voice is soft, almost kind. 慣here抯 no way out.?
A plate is pushed through the grille. She reaches up to take it. Another two biscuits and half an apple.
慦e don抰 want you putting on weight,?comes the voice.