A Spell of Snow (4 page)

    
Ruby entered the
room and gave me a look of disdain. Even after three days she hadn’t been able
to forgive me for what she saw as my ingratitude, which made things a bit
awkward considering we had to share a bed. ‘Mam wants you, our Edward, and
Tilly, Mam says you’re to help me change the sheets.’

    
I followed her
upstairs without complaint and we stripped the beds in silence, but eventually
I could stand it no longer. ‘Look, Ruby, we’re the same age and we’re really
not that different. Can’t we be friends?’

    
She didn’t answer
at first, but then she dropped the blanket she was holding and stared at me.
‘What I don’t get is why you’re making cow-eyes at our Edward. You’ll be gone
soon, back to your lah-di-dah house with your lah-di-dah telephone and your
posh school. So why are you bothering with a farm boy? Edward’s been happy
enough seeing Beryl Partridge up to now, but with you around she doesn’t stand
a chance.’

    
‘He’s got a
girlfriend?’ I asked in surprise.

    
‘Not a
girlfriend
,’
Ruby snorted. ‘He’s just… well, she lives at the next farm and Edward likes her
well enough. I was hoping he and she would… but there’s no chance now you’ve
got your claws into him.’

    
‘I haven’t got my
claws into him,’ I protested. ‘I just like him. There’s nothing wrong with us
being friends.’

    
‘If you think the
way you act around him is just being friends you must be blind. Even Mam’s
worried – why’d you think she wanted you to come and help me?’

    
I fought back a
sudden desire to cry. All we’d done was talk, but Ruby seemed to have made up
her mind and there was no sign of her attitude changing. It was mortifying to
think that Edie might feel the same. So far she’d been kindness itself towards
me.

    
When I came out of
the privy later that afternoon to what seemed to be a perpetually frozen world,
I found Edward lurking around the nearby outhouses.

    
‘Shouldn’t you be
indoors?’ I asked him, noting that he seemed a bit agitated.

    
‘I needed to get
out. Let’s take a walk, shall we?’

    
‘But…’

    
‘Come on, let’s
get away from the house. I want to talk to you in private.’

    
‘You shouldn’t
walk far. I know you’re still in a lot of pain,’ I protested.

    
‘Never mind that,’
he said through gritted teeth, and led the way past the sheep pen and halfway
up the nearby hill.

    
‘Slow down,’ I
said. ‘We must be far enough away by now.’

    
He sighed and
stopped suddenly, staring out over the undulating white landscape, his lips
forming an unusual angry line.

    
‘Did your mam say
something to you?’ I asked.

    
He nodded. ‘She
said we were getting too close and I shouldn’t get ideas above my station.’

    
‘Above your
station? How’d you mean?’

    
His laugh was
without humour. ‘You’re a class or two above a simple farm boy.’

    
‘But I’m not!
I’m…’ I stopped. I’d been about to say I was an ordinary girl, but that wasn’t
true, not here. ‘Anyway, you’re not a simple farm boy,’ I amended.

    
He turned to look
at me. ‘It’s all I’m ever going to be. A farmer. It’s in my blood and it’s what
I want to do.’

    
‘I know that,’ I
said, moving closer to him. ‘I don’t care about that.’

    
He took my hand in
his. It was the first time we’d touched since the night I’d rescued him, and
again I felt that quiver of recognition. ‘So you don’t think you’re above me?’
he asked.

    
‘Of course not!
Why would I? I know Ruby thinks I’m bad for you, too.’ I sighed. ‘Well, maybe
they’re both right. I’ll be gone soon, back home, and you can forget all about
me.’ Even as I said it I realized the thought was unbearable.

    
His grip on my
hand tightened. ‘I’ll never forget about you. Anyway, you’ll only be in Nimbury
– I’ll come and visit you.’

    
‘What about… Beryl
Partridge?’

    
He looked down at
the ground a little awkwardly. ‘We’ve been out to dances a few times. There’s
nothing serious going on.’

    
‘But Ruby thinks
there is.’

    
He smiled.
‘Beryl’s one of Ruby’s best friends.’

    
‘Ah. So she wants
you two to get together.’

    
Edward nodded.
‘And of course she’s a farmer’s daughter.’

    
‘So she fits in,
you mean.’

    
‘You fit in as far
as I’m concerned. I mean, it’s obvious your life isn’t like ours, but you do
know your stuff, about horses and livestock.’

    
‘Edward…’ I began,
and then stopped. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to say. I moved even closer
to him, and our lips touched. The kiss had a sweet inevitability to it, but we
pulled apart sharply when Ben’s voice said from close by, ‘Get inside, Edward,
you’re not well enough to be out here. And Tilly, come on, we’ve got work to
do.’

    
‘Da…’ Edward
protested.

    
‘Go on with you,
get inside. Your Mam’s worried you’ll catch pneumonia or something.’

    
Edward sighed and
gave my hand a squeeze before letting go and heading back down the hill.

    
‘I’m… we weren’t…’
I stammered as I followed Ben to the cart.

    
Ben turned to look
at me. ‘I know you don’t mean any harm, love, but you’re not right for our
Edward. He needs someone steady, someone like himself, someone of his own
class.’

    
‘But –’

    
‘Come on now, we
need to get on so we’re finished by sunset. And I think the weather’s on the
change, so we should be able to get you home soon.’

    
I went through the
motions, helping out with the sheep again, but inside I felt thoroughly
miserable. I hadn’t intended to fall for Edward, or get him to fall for me. It
had just happened.

    
Back at the house
that evening the atmosphere had become awkward, with Ruby casting poisonous
glances my way, Edward stewing at my side, and Edie and Ben being carefully
polite. If it hadn’t been for Tom and Vera, who seemed oblivious of any
problem, the evening meal would have passed almost in silence.

    
That night, forced
to sleep once again in the same bed as the girl who now seemed to hate me, I
wept silently into the pillow. It would be a relief to leave now, except for
Edward. Rain drummed on the roof, as the thaw began.

    
Despite the rain,
it became clear over breakfast that I stood no chance of escaping just yet.

    
‘That much snow
will take a while to thaw,’ Ben pronounced. ‘What’s more, there’ll be floods to
follow, mark my words.’

    
‘I can’t help
worrying about your poor auntie,’ Edie added. ‘All these days with no news of
you.’

    
I nodded,
wondering just how much Auntie Cheryl would be missing me. Now that I’d had
time to think about it I was wondering whether she’d really had a choice about
taking me in. After all, if you’re told your long lost niece is now a
motherless orphan what do you do? I blushed with shame as I remembered the last
words I’d flung at her. Edie, misinterpreting my discomfort, patted my arm.
‘Oh, don’t you fret now, dearie. Ben’ll get you back to the bus stop as soon as
it’s safe.’

    
I nodded, keeping
my head low. What if Auntie Cheryl decided she’d had enough – would she pass
the buck back to social services? I could end up fostered out, or even in a
group home. I’d had my fill of that in Australia in the first couple of months
after my mum’s death.
Why
had I been such an idiot?

    
I spent the
morning mucking out the horses, and I was quite happy about it, too, especially
as the weather was warmer. The routine of it was pleasantly familiar, and the
solitude gave me an opportunity to think about how I could make things better
with my auntie, as long as I was going to get back to her.

    
Did I want to get
back? Yes, very much so, I realized with a jolt. I was a fish out of water
here, always afraid to put my foot in it and unsure of the rigid rules everyone
seemed to live by. But what about Edward? We’d known one another for only five
days but he was already firmly in my heart. It wasn’t a blinding flash of
lightning like I’d always imagined; it was more that he just belonged there, as
if he’d always been a part of me. I was puzzling over this revelation when the
stable door creaked open.

    
‘Tilly?’ Edward
whispered.

    
‘Over here,’ I
called back quietly, putting down my shovel and wiping my damp forehead with
the back of my hand.

    
Edward sighed.
‘This is ridiculous,’ he said. ‘Having to sneak out and meet you in secret. I
don’t know what Mam and Da are thinking.’

    
‘I’m not right for
you, they say.’

    
‘I think I’m old
enough to judge who’s right for me,’ he said firmly.

    
I smiled. ‘At the
grand old age of eighteen.’

    
‘So we’re young,
but Mam and Da were married when he was eighteen and she was seventeen, so they
can’t talk.’

    
‘Married?’ I
almost choked. ‘Well, I don’t plan to get married for a long time yet.’

    
‘Not even to me?’
he said softly.

    
I leant against
his undamaged right side and he put his arm around me.

    
‘I don’t know how
this happened,’ I whispered. ‘It’s like I’ve always known you, like I’ve just
met you again after years apart.’

    
He pulled me
closer and we kissed again. When we separated he said, ‘So don’t you think we
should stay together, if we both feel the same way?’

    
I sighed. ‘I have
to go home. My auntie… my life. I have to –’

    
I broke off as the
stable door opened sharply and light flooded in. Ben’s form loomed up.

    
‘Da,
please
.
You don’t need to follow me everywhere,’ Edward said in an uncharacteristically
angry tone.

    
‘I wasn’t, as it
turns out,’ Ben said equably. ‘I’m here to tell Tilly I think we can get her
back to town tomorrow. Old Joe Meikin was just round and he says the roads are
clearing faster than we thought. Oh, and dinner’s ready.’

    
‘Blast it!’ Edward
said when his father left without further comment. ‘Look, I’ll come and visit
you in Nimbury, I promise.’

    
We headed back to
the house hand in hand. After all, we had nothing to lose. I was afraid I’d
never see Edward again after tomorrow, and it weighed heavily on my heart.

    
After a dinner
that I only picked at, I headed up to the perpetually freezing bedroom with a
piece of paper I’d begged from Vera. I wanted to leave Edward something personal
to remember me by, but I’d never been too good with words, only with pictures.
I chewed at the pencil in my hand and then drew a scene from our time together:
a horse on a snowy hillside, a cluster of sheep eating from a bale of hay and
two small human figures close together in a pose of affection.

    
Footsteps
clattered up the stairs and I hid the paper quickly under my pillow.

    
‘What’re you doing
up here?’ Ruby said, her tone sharp, as it always was with me.

    
‘I just wanted to
be on my own for a bit,’ I said.

    
‘Well you can come
and help me – the privy needs a good clean, Mam says.’

    
I hesitated for a
moment, which was all she needed. ‘What, too hoity-toity for a bit of cleaning?
Think yourself lucky you don’t have a lifetime of scrubbing ahead of you, unlike
some.
’

    
‘You really do
like to rub it in, don’t you?’ I said, irritated.

    
She smiled,
obviously pleased to have got a reaction from me, and led the way downstairs.

    
It was hardly how
I’d have liked to spend my last afternoon with the family, and it seemed to me
that Ruby took a perverse pleasure in ensuring it was as unpleasant as
possible.

    
When the privy
couldn’t have possibly been any cleaner, and I couldn’t be more tired of Ruby’s
attitude, I managed to escape back to the bedroom. It would probably be my last
chance to be alone before I left. I took out the drawing again and added a few
more details. Then I thought for a minute and wrote at the bottom of the paper:
I have known you all my life.

    
I didn’t get
another chance to speak to Edward alone that evening. Edie had made me a
special farewell tea, including a delicious sponge cake with strawberry jam and
butter cream, and everyone but Ruby tried to make my last night an enjoyable
one. Edward and I were unable to exchange more than looks, and I wondered how I
was going to pass the picture to him without causing comment.

    
I was slow to wake
the following morning, and kept my eyes closed as Ruby and Vera got dressed,
and when Vera trotted downstairs, but I opened them smartly when Ruby said, in
a sly tone, ‘What’s this then?’ and pulled my picture from under the pillow.