The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Mam never wrote, so Susan was still stuck with us. When I said so she
gave me an odd look. “Your mother’s smart to keep you here, where it’s
safer,” she said. “But I wish she’d answer my letters. I find her silence hard to
understand.”
By the start of November so many children had returned to London that
Jamie’s teacher left too. His class was combined with the other primary class.
His new teacher didn’t think he had the devil in him. She said so. She didn’t
care at all if he wrote with his left hand.
He still wet the bed.
I thought it was mostly habit by now. Susan had a rubber sheet to protect
the mattress, but she was tired of cleaning the regular sheets. I was tired of
waking up to the dampness and the smell. Neither of us said so to Jamie. He
was ashamed, I knew.
Lady Thorton wanted Susan to join the Women’s Volunteer Service, the
WVS. She came to tea and told Susan she needed her help.
“No one needs my help,” Susan said. “Besides, I’m busy taking care of
these children.”
Lady Thorton cut her eyes at me. Jamie was at school, but I’d come in
from the pasture to have tea. It wasn’t one of my days for helping Fred. “This
one doesn’t seem to need much care,” Lady Thorton said.
“You’d be surprised,” Susan said.
I felt cross. I didn’t need her. Plus, she still spent part of each day lying
around, staring at nothing. I said, “It’s not like you have a proper job.”
Susan glared at me. Lady Thorton laughed out loud. Then Lady Thorton
said, gesturing to the sewing machine still set up in the corner of the room,
“We could use you to sew bed jackets for soldiers. All sorts of sewing,
actually.”
Susan shook her head. “You all don’t like me,” she said. “The women in
this village never liked me.”
Lady Thorton pressed her lips together. She set her teacup down. “That’s
not true,” she said.
Susan looked cross. “Don’t be patronizing,” she said. “Becky got along
with your set because of the horses, but that’s all.”
“You never gave anyone a chance,” Lady Thorton said. “Most of the
village came to the funeral.”