EstherIt took a few days for Esther to settle on a name for the child, but finally she did and, when she said it out loud for the first time, it seemed perfect. The baby was on Isobel’s knee when she announced it; the three of them were alone. Esther had pushed the infant into Isobel’s arms, brushing aside her sister’s protests. Isobel did not seem to want to handle the baby, and Esther wondered if her sister was scared of the child’s fragility.
Not that the baby was fragile when she was emptying her breasts. Esther’s chest was cracked and sore from constant feeding, so much so that Isobel tore up an old towel and dunked the strips in cold water. Esther lay back against her pillows or sat in the armchair that Jack had dragged in from the kitchen, icy wet pieces of towel over her n*****s,
