The Fleethaven Trilogy (91 page)

Gently he wiped the tears from her face, but could not stem the flow.

His voice was flat and heavy as he said quietly, ‘Yes, my dear. I’ll arrange it for you.’

‘W
hy, Katie love!’ The joy on Beth Eland’s face at seeing her was unmistakable, but then she saw Kate’s solemn face, the anxiety in her eyes. Beth’s hand flew to cover her mouth which formed a silent ‘oh’. Then she reached out and drew Kate into the kitchen.

‘What is it?’

Kate looked into the older woman’s face. Gently, she took hold of her hand and said, ‘Is Rosie here?’

Beth nodded. ‘She – she’s lying down. She gets very tired. She’s only a few weeks to go . . .’

‘Can you fetch her?’

Beth nodded, her eyes anxious, an ill-concealed terror growing in them.

Rosie came into the kitchen, her young face flushed from sleep, her blonde curls tousled, her body swollen with child. She paused in the doorway as she met Kate’s steady gaze. Kate held out her arms to Rosie, and the girl gave a little cry and with surprising swiftness covered the distance between them. They clasped each other, Kate leaning forward over Rosie’s bulge. The girl drew back with a nervous laugh of embarrassment and glanced down at her stomach. ‘Gets in the way a bit, dun’t it?’

‘Sit down, Rosie,’ Kate said, and Beth stood quietly beside her daughter-in-law’s chair. Instinctively, the girl put up her hand and caught hold of Beth’s. Then their eyes met Kate’s.

She took a deep breath, trying to still the sick feeling that was rising in her stomach. ‘You know that Danny was stationed at East Markham and I’m at Suddaby.’

They nodded, their gaze never leaving her face.

‘East Markham has been closed temporarily for concrete runways to be constructed . . .’ She paused again. ‘And Danny’s squadron has been moved to Suddaby.’

Rosie’s face brightened. ‘Oh, how lovely! You’ll be together. I
am
pleased.’

Kate bit her lip. There was not a trace of jealousy in Rosie’s tone. She was genuinely happy to think that Kate and Danny would be together. ‘Isn’t that wonderful, Mother?’ Rosie smiled up at Beth, but the older woman’s gaze never left Kate’s face.

‘Have you seen him, Katie?’ Rosie chattered on brightly, her joy at thinking they had met twisting like a knife in Kate’s heart. She pulled in another deep breath. This was even harder than she had imagined it would be. ‘They arrived two days ago but I only saw him very briefly. I – I didn’t have a chance to talk to him – not properly.’ Here her voice almost quavered. She had wanted so desperately to speak to him, to explain, to make up their quarrel. Now she might never have the chance.

‘That same night all the aircraft from Suddaby and the squadron from East Markham – they – they all had to go on a big operation . . .’

She was going round in circles, avoiding the moment when she must tell them the awful news. And they were waiting so patiently, so trustingly, not firing questions at her or demanding that she hurry up. Yet surely they must realize . . .

‘My two friends are R/T operators and I was allowed to sit in the Control Room and – and watch for the planes to come in. Only – only – oh, Rosie . . .’ Tears filled her eyes and their faces became blurred in front of her. ‘Danny’s aircraft didn’t c-come back.’

There was silence in the room save for the clock ticking and the kettle humming on the hob, and outside a lone seagull cried mournfully. For a long moment the two women stared at Kate, and then Rosie’s face crumpled and she let out a cry that pierced Kate’s heart, for it echoed her own foreboding. She went and knelt before the girl, grasping her hands as they twisted in her lap, while Beth stood by, not moving, as if she had not really taken in the dreadful news.

‘Listen, Rosie, listen. His plane has been posted missing, but that doesn’t mean he’s – he’s dead. He could have baled out. Anything. You mustn’t give up hope. None of us.’ She looked up at Beth in mute appeal for help, but Beth was stunned. Woodenly, she moved to sit in the Windsor chair that had been her husband’s. The husband she had lost so recently. And now perhaps she had lost her son. Beth gripped the wooden arms tightly and stared unseeingly in front of her.

Kate scrambled to her feet. Grannie Harris, next door, she’d fetch her. Then she remembered. Poor Grannie Harris could hardly walk now and spent most of her day in a bed under the kitchen window, so, as she said herself, she could ‘still look out an’ see what’s going on’.

Kate bit her lip. Rosie was rocking backwards and forwards, wailing horribly, a high-pitched noise that went right through Kate.

There was only one person she could fetch to help; her mother, Esther Godfrey.

What was it Danny had said, she thought wryly as she ran back towards Brumbys’ Farm, her feet flying across the turf. ‘They never speak to one another, but when there’s trouble, real trouble, they come together.’ Well, Kate thought, there was ‘real trouble’ now right enough.

‘Of course I’ll come at once,’ Esther said without hesitation and only paused to issue instructions to her husband.

‘I’ll manage the milking, Esther love, you go,’ Jonathan said calmly.

‘Poor Beth,’ Esther murmured as she hurried along the lane beside Kate. ‘To lose her husband
and
her son so close together, to say nothing of . . .’

‘We don’t know he’s dead yet, Mam. That’s what I’m trying to get them to believe.’

Her mother eyes were sharp as she looked into Kate’s face. ‘Do
you
believe it?’

‘I’ve got to,’ Kate muttered, ‘else I’ll go out me head an’ all.’

They couldn’t stop Rosie crying. They tried everything – comforting her, talking to her, hugging her, even, in the end, Esther being quite firm with her. But to no avail. She sat rocking, her arms around her bulging stomach, sobbing at first, then wailing loudly and then leaning back exhausted against the back of the chair, the tears just pouring silently down her cheeks.

Where they failed with Rosie, Esther succeeded with Beth. For a couple of hours she had sat in the chair on the opposite side of the range, gripping the arms until her knuckles showed white, staring ahead of her at nothing in particular.

At last, Esther, after trying soothing words of sympathy which didn’t work, stood in front of Beth. Her feet set apart, hands on hips, Esther Godfrey went into action.

‘Now look here, Beth Eland, this ain’t no good. You’ve lost a good man, I know that, and you’re worried sick about young Danny. But as Kate says, we’ve got to hope for him yet. Now you mun think on yar grand-bairn. Ya’ve got to help us with Rosie . . .’ Esther stood a moment watching Beth for any sign of a response. There was none.

Kate saw her mother glance across at her, raising her shoulders in a gesture of helplessness. ‘I’m sorry, Katie,’ she murmured. ‘There’s nothing for it. There’s one way to bring her out of it, but it’s – it’s a bit brutal.’

Kate watched Beth for a moment. The woman was in a kind of trance. ‘Do whatever you have to, Mam.’

Esther took a deep breath and leaned forwards, her face close to Beth’s. ‘It’s yar grand-bairn, Beth – yours and
Matthew’s
!’

Kate winced. Her mother had not been underestimating her own harsh tactics, but when Kate saw Beth blink and begin to focus her eyes upon Esther towering over her, she knew her mother had been right.

Now Beth’s hands loosened their panic-stricken grip on the chair and she reached towards Esther, who clasped her hands and chafed them between her own. ‘That’s it, Beth. Come on, lass.’

Kate stifled a half-hysterical giggle. To hear her mother call Beth Eland ‘lass’ was comical and yet, she thought, perhaps they do still see each other as girls. Girls who might, once upon a time, have been friends.

‘Oh, Esther.’ Beth spoke for the first time since Kate had broken the news to them. ‘How am I to bear it?’

Esther just patted her hand, unable, for once, to think of anything to say.

Kate’s attention swivelled suddenly back to Rosie as the girl gave a gasp that was nothing to do with weeping. Rosie was bending over and clutching her stomach. ‘Oh – it hurts!’

‘Mam . . .’ Kate began, but already Esther had turned from Beth back to Rosie.

‘Where, lass?’

‘Here.’ Rosie smoothed her hands round her abdomen and down her groin. ‘It’s all right,’ she sniffled, ‘it’s going off now.’

Esther watched her for a moment as the girl relaxed, sat up again and leaned back in the chair. Then Esther glanced back at Beth. ‘Is everything ready?’ she asked quietly.

Kate watched as Beth’s eyes widened, but understanding immediately, the woman nodded. ‘In the other room . . .’ She nodded to the door leading out of the kitchen to the only other downstairs room in the cottage. ‘Rosie sleeps in there. We—’ She hesitated and then corrected herself. ‘I – sleep in the little room upstairs.’ So fresh was Beth’s widowhood that she still sometimes forgot.

‘Kate – run and tell yar dad to fetch either the doctor or the midwife. It dun’t matter which, but I want one of ’em to take a look at her. She’s had a bad shock and with all this crying, she could be going into labour. I aren’t as practised as Grannie Harris – I could use a little advice.’

Kate was off and running, and, having delivered her breathless message, was soon sprinting back towards the row of cottages at the Point.

Esther had got Rosie into the other room and had made her lie on the bed by the time Kate arrived back, just in time to hear the girl give another scream, her eyes wide with fear.

‘Oh – it hurts. I dun’t want it, if it’s going to hurt like this.’

‘There’s not a lot ya can do about it now, lass. Ya can’t leave it in there for ever,’ Esther said briskly, but not unkindly. She turned to look at Kate hovering uncertainly in the doorway. ‘Wash yar hands well, Kate, and come and help, will ya? Beth, get the kettle going. I could use a cup ‘o tea, if nothing else.’

Kate hesitated for a fraction of a second, recoiling at the irony of the situation. She had hated Rosie for marrying Danny and now here she was being forced to help her bring his child into the world. Really, she thought, scrubbing her hands under the pump over the sink, life isn’t fair!

When she went back into the bedroom, Rosie was rolling from side to side on the bed, clutching her stomach and squealing.

Kate went to stand beside her, feeling helpless and inadequate.

‘Let’s get her clothes off and get her into her nightdress before the doc or the nurse comes,’ Esther said.

‘No – leave me alone,’ Rosie said petulantly. ‘I want Danny!’ and she began wailing again.

Gradually, by alternately coaxing and being firm with her, Esther and Kate got her undressed.

‘Mam, the bed’s all wet.’

‘Oh heck, ’er waters have broken. Go an’ tell Beth . . .’

But at that moment Beth opened the door. ‘Esther, Jonathan’s here. He says the doctor’s out on his rounds and the nurse is with a woman and can’t leave her for about an hour . . .’

‘Well, someone’ll have to come, ’er waters have broken.’

Beth disappeared for a moment and they heard the deep rumble of Jonathan’s voice, the outer door open and close, and Beth came back into the room, her worried eyes going immediately to the girl still writhing in agony on the bed.

‘He – he’s gone back to town to get someone to come.’

Kate saw the look that passed between her mother and Beth – a long look of shared memories from which Kate was excluded. ‘Least it’s not snowing this time,’ Esther murmured, and the two women smiled a little sadly at each other.

‘I don’t want it!’ Rosie was screaming. ‘I don’t
want
it!’

Kate, still standing beside the bed, bent over her. Something inside her snapped. “Course you want it. It’s Danny’s baby. Don’t you dare say you don’t want Danny’s baby, Rosie Eland!’ she yelled back at Rosie, while out the corner of her eye she saw her mother nodding her approval.

‘That’s it, lass, get her good and mad, then she might do a bit o’ work.’

Rosie’s screams were stilled in shock. She gazed up at Kate with big round eyes, her lips parted in a gasp of surprise.

‘That’s better,’ Esther encouraged. ‘Now, just try to calm down a bit, lass, and do as I tell you. Mebbe I bain’t a midwife, but I’ve brought plenty of calves and piglets into the world. A babby can’t be that different. Prop her up against the pillows, spread your legs open, Rosie. That’s it – now ya forming, lass.’

‘Oh – oh!’ Rosie gasped, and held out her hand to Kate. ‘Katie – it – hurts!’

‘It’s all right, Rosie,’ Kate said gently now. ‘Hang on to me, grip as hard as you like if it helps, but do what me mam tells you. Please, Rosie, for – for Danny.’

Rosie pressed her lips together and nodded. ‘I’ll try, Katie.’

‘Next time you feel a pain swelling, Rosie, try a little push,’ Esther said.

Rosie nodded. ‘Oh, it’s – starting again.’

‘Push, Rosie.’

Gripping Kate’s hand, Rosie pushed, and Kate found herself straining too.

Together they were going to bring Danny’s child into the world.

‘I
wish that midwife would come,’ Esther murmured. ‘The head’s born, so the rest won’t be long.’

‘Oh – oh,’ squeaked Rosie as pain engulfed her once more.

‘Push, push,’ said Kate and her mother in unison.

‘I –
am
! Ooh . . .’

‘There!’ Esther was triumphant, as if she had done it all herself. ‘Beth, quick, come and see! Rosie, lass, you have a son.’

Rosie was weeping with relief now and Kate found that tears were coursing down her own face as she cradled Rosie’s head against her and wiped the strands of blonde hair, wet with sweat, from her forehead.

It was at that moment that the midwife walked through the door.

‘Oh Kate, I’m all mixed up. I don’t know whether I’m happy or – or sad.’

Rosie was sitting up in bed now, propped against pillows with her son in her arms, flushed and triumphant, yet her eyes still filled with ready tears.

‘Be happy, Rosie. It’s what Danny would want,’ Kate said softly, and touched the soft wispy black hair on the baby’s head tenderly.