Daughter of Dark River Farm

by Terri Nixon

  ‘She’ll need watching,’ I said doubtfully. ‘You won’t get much done.’

  ‘I’ll come and keep her company,’ Will said. ‘I can’t do any heavy lifting, so I can make myself useful keeping her out from under your feet.’

  ‘I comin’ too, Mister Arsh?’

  ‘Aye, you’re comin’ too,’ Archie said, and bumped her gently with his shoulder. ‘You can make sure Mister William behaves himself, and doesnae try to do too much.’

  Evie looked relieved; looking after Amy was about the most she would allow Will to do, after the scare at Oaklands. ‘As long as you don’t try to lift her,’ she cautioned.

  ‘No worries on that score,’ he said with a little grin at Amy. ‘I might have to ask her to carry me though. Do you think you could do that, Amy?’

  She looked up at him, frowning, her little mouth pursed. Then she sighed and shook her head. ‘I not carryin’ grown-ups. Too big. Mister Arsh carry Mister William.’

  ‘It’s all right; I’ll walk,’ Will laughed, and ruffled her hair. He gestured to where Archie was shouldering one of Harry’s scythes. ‘Mister Arsh has quite enough to carry.’

  And so Archie’s new little shadow had gone with him, Frances and Will, out to the far fields, where the last of the long summer grasses were awaiting harvesting for silage. I’d watched them, feeling a little pang of loneliness once they’d gone from sight, but Lizzy had quickly dispelled it by drawing me into a conversation about the two girls from Blackpool. Then, to my disgust, she had called on Jessie to go with me to collect them.

  ‘You two will have to get along eventually,’ she said. I wasn’t so sure, particularly as my thoughts kept returning to yesterday’s idea; perhaps I would be gone from here in a matter of days. A fresh twist of doubt gripped me, but I had no time to give it much thought now. Tonight would be quieter, and I would have the chance talk it over with Archie.

  ‘I wish Frances wouldn’t insist on us going in pairs,’ Jessie said crossly, as she came into the kitchen.

  ‘It’s because of what happened with Belinda,’ Lizzy reminded her, but Jessie shook her head.

  ‘No, it’s not. It’s because of those conchies! She’s worried they might see us alone in the trap, and try to steal it and escape. Shirkers.’

  ‘Don’t call them that,’ Lizzy said mildly. ‘They’re working hard, just as we are.’

  ‘Some of them are. The ones in the quarries, and the farms,’ Jessie said, ‘but not the ones out there smashing rocks and building walls nobody needs.’

  I’d heard enough; it was still unsettling to hear my vague notions being spoken aloud, but with such venom. ‘Do belt up, and let’s go,’ I said. ‘The girls will be waiting.’

  ‘Where are they staying?’ It was the first thing Jessie had said, during the whole drive, and while the silence had bothered me, it was still better than the rather wearing snappishness of my enforced companion.

  I pointed. ‘That’s where I dropped Helen last night. The Plume of Feathers.’

  ‘Looks expensive.’

  ‘They can afford it. Even when there’s a war on.’ I realised they could probably afford it better now than ever, with people desperately borrowing, and, from what Archie said, paying back so much more. I didn’t like to think how they were finding the money.

  ‘I still don’t even know who they are,’ she said. ‘No-one’s bothered to tell me.’

  ‘And you haven’t bothered to ask.’

  She gave me a steady look, and chose the high road. ‘So who are they?’

  ‘Some friends. From Blackpool.’

  ‘And you just happened to bump into them last night?’

  ‘Why is that difficult to believe?’

  ‘Just seems…odd that they should be here.’

  I turned back to the road to hide the faint blush I could feel heating my face. More lies, but of all people I might have confessed my poor behaviour to, Jessie was the last. ‘Not that odd,’ I said. ‘Their father’s working down there.’ I gestured to the road that led down to the Work Centre.

  Immediately I knew I’d made a mistake; the perceived sins of the father would almost certainly be visited upon the daughters at some point. I sighed, and turned the trap towards the inn where I’d bid farewell to Helen last night. I wondered if Louise would ever offer her father the same understanding her younger sister had, but remembered her eager question about Frank, and realised she still, unbelievably, held a romantic view of a soldier’s life. She would be unlikely to be sympathetic to an objector’s viewpoint.

  The girls were waiting on the little path that led from the inn’s front door up through the garden and onto the moor. Louise greeted us both warily, but Helen seemed more relaxed today, and was happy to link her arm through mine as I led them back to the trap. I helped them in, and introduced Jessie, who was polite but nothing more, and I raised my eyes to the sky and gave thanks we wouldn’t have to drive past the prison.

  The drive back was a surprisingly good one. Jessie gladly swapped places with Helen, and when I’d circled Pippin in the road and handed the younger girl the reins, she smiled, proudly telling the already walking Pippin to ‘walk on’. It was refreshing and pleasant to be sitting next to such a cheerful girl, and we talked all the way back to the farm.

  When we came to a stop in the yard I couldn’t help straining my gaze to reach across the fields, in the direction Archie had taken. Helen saw, and smiled. ‘Will he be joining us for lunch?’

  ‘No,’ I said with real regret. ‘He’ll be out there all day. But Amy will be back soon. Will’s looking after her.’

  ‘And where’s Evie?’ Helen looked around with interest, and I saw her nose wrinkling at the smell I never really noticed any more. I smiled, remembering how strong it had seemed when Evie had brought me here for the first time.

  ‘I think she and Belinda are doing the rooms,’ I said. ‘Come inside and wait there; she won’t be long.’

  ‘I’ll do the trap then, shall I?’ Jessie called, and I didn’t like her tone.

  ‘I’ll help you in a minute! There’s no need to be like that.’

  She shook her head, softening. ‘No, sorry. You have guests. It’s all right. Really.’

  Once again, as I left her, I wondered whether I liked her at all, but was soon too busy settling Louise and Helen into the sitting room to waste time thinking about it. We heard Evie and Belinda come back downstairs and go into the kitchen, and I leaned out into the hall. ‘Evie! Can you come here a moment, please?’

  Both sisters put their teacups down and sat up, and a minute later Evie’s head popped around the door. ‘What is it, Skittles? I’m just…’ Her eyes widened as she saw Louise. ‘Oh!’

  At the same time Louise caught her breath, and said, ‘It’s you!’

  I blinked. ‘You know each other?’ I was reminded of the night Nathan had arrived, but this time the surprise was a happy one on both sides.

  Louise stood up, her face creased into a smile of delight, the first one I’d seen from the more sombre of the two girls. ‘I never introduced myself back then, did I? I’m Louise McKrevie. And of course you know Helen.’

  Evie looked as stunned as I felt. ‘McKrevie?’

  ‘Aye. We were only staying with our grandfather in Blackpool the last time we met, but now we live with him.’

  ‘McKrevie,’ Evie murmured. ‘Then you’re…’ She looked past me, out to where Amy had spent the morning, and I gave a tight, urgent shake of my head, and she stopped. ‘You’re a long way from home,’ she finished instead.

  ‘Where did you and Evie meet?’ I asked Helen.

  ‘In Blackpool. A few years ago, before the war. There was an anti-suffrage rally in a playhouse there, and Louise took me along to protest it.’

  ‘There was a fire,’ Evie put in. ‘Only a small one, but it caused a real panic.’

  ‘The people were more frightening than the fire,’ Helen said. ‘Louise hurt her arm in the rush to get out. I lost sight of her, and climbed up
on the stage to see over the crowd. Then something hit me on the head and I fell over, and someone else pulled the scenery down. I was too frightened to move, so I crouched down and waited ’til someone came for me. And someone did.’ She gave Evie a look of gratitude, and Evie smiled back.

  ‘He’s my husband now,’ she said. ‘You’ll see him soon.’

  ‘I heard he was hurt,’ Helen said, and Louise looked stricken; this was evidently the first she’d heard of it.

  ‘He was wounded at Arras,’ Evie explained. ‘He’s getting better though. Soon be good as new.’

  ‘I’m so glad.’ Helen looked around the kitchen. ‘This seems like a nice place to convalesce in.’ She turned to me again. ‘Who is she, then? Amy, I mean. Is she yours?’

  ‘No. That man you saw us with, in the park, that’s her father.’

  ‘So she’s your niece?’

  How many more lies had I told? They were swarming out of the woodwork like beetles. This was awful, no matter what Archie said. ‘No, he’s not my brother. The girl’s mother has fallen on very hard times, up in London, and Frank was worried for his daughter’s safety. But you saw his difficulties?’ I tapped at my own left arm, and she nodded. ‘I told him I’d try and find a good home for his daughter, until he could afford to take her away somewhere to start a new life.’

  ‘Then who is he to you? You took a lot of trouble over helping him.’

  ‘He’s…’ I found a connection that would please her. ‘He’s Will’s friend, actually. Will used to be his apprentice, before the war.’

  ‘It’s lovely to see you, of course,’ Evie said, curiosity getting the better of her, ‘but we’re quite a distance from Blackpool. How on earth did you come to be here?’

  I wondered if the girls would hesitate to tell her about their father, especially knowing about Will, but although Louise remained tight-lipped, Helen seemed to draw herself up a little as she told Evie about her father. I watched closely, curious to see Evie’s reaction, but although her jaw tensed slightly she accepted the explanation with an understanding nod, and Helen relaxed again.

  I joined in then, with the same vague tale I’d told Jessie, about seeing Helen near the Work Centre. ‘We got talking about Amy, and I invited them to visit the farm and see how she’s settling in.’

  ‘I’m glad you did,’ Evie said, clearly relieved to have moved on from the subject of conscientious objectors, and I decided her feelings were probably much like my own; knowing it was wrong to condemn, accepting the difficult choices those men had had to make, yet finding it hard to sympathetically compare their suffering with what we’d witnessed at the Front. I was still struggling with it.

  Looking out of the window for a distraction, I was relieved to see the outline of a man and child coming across the field, and excused myself to meet them.

  ‘How has she been?’ I called.

  ‘Kept me well and truly in check,’ Will grinned. ‘Took Archie at his word and wouldn’t let me lift a finger.’

  Amy looked behind her. ‘Mister Arsh?’

  ‘He’ll be home soon,’ I assured her. ‘But I’ve got some visitors who are very much looking forward to seeing you again. Would you like to come and say good afternoon?’

  She nodded, her hand going immediately to her spoon. Now she was coming to know us she was mostly content to leave the now-tarnished silver hanging on its ribbon, but as soon as she felt uneasy about anything, there it was in her hand again. She clutched it now, and gave me her other hand, allowing me to lead her into the house.

  Will recognised Louise immediately but only realised who Helen was in relation to her; Helen had been only twelve when she’d been injured in the fire and now she was a young woman. She looked at Will with wide eyes and an expression of awe, and her eyes clouded as she saw him wince whenever he moved too quickly, but although Evie noticed, she didn’t comment. Her own gaze lifted to her husband and stayed on him with affection and pride, roving over his beloved face and form, making me ache for the sight of Archie again.

  It was a much happier group that sat down to lunch. Even Jessie had lost that pinched, suspicious look and was amusing Amy, allowing me to talk to the others without interruption. Evie and Louise had entered into a lively discussion about women’s suffrage, and Lizzy turned to me.

  ‘Will you and Archie be coming down to the cottage tonight? We’re having a little get-together.’

  ‘I hadn’t heard about it,’ I said, my heart sinking. Tonight would be our last night. Archie was due to leave tomorrow afternoon.

  Thankfully Lizzy read the dismay on my face and understood. ‘No matter. I wouldn’t really expect you to. Frances, Evie and Will are popping down, since it’s Ma’s birthday. But I’ll tell her you send your regards.’

  That left Amy, Jessie, Nathan, Belinda, Archie and me. Belinda would more than likely be hanging over Nathan while he painted, Jessie would be in her room, Amy would be asleep by eight o’clock…

  I smiled.

  When the meal was over Will offered to take Amy back out to the field, but I shook my head. ‘Helen and Louise would like to spend some time with her, I think.’

  Jessie’s head came up sharply, and her gaze snapped from me to the girls, and then to Amy. ‘Why?’

  ‘Well, because…she’s a sweet child, and besides, it will do Amy good to see new people.’

  She considered this, and eventually nodded, and I had the annoyed feeling she was giving her permission. I was just biting back a retort when Frances came in, red-faced and sweating, and nodded to the visitors before turning to Belinda.

  ‘You can go out and help finish up this afternoon,’ she said. ‘You’ve got younger bones.’ Belinda looked as if she was about to argue, then Frances went on, ‘And you can fetch Nathan down to help, too. He’s been stuck away up there painting most of the morning. Sinful, in this weather.’

  Miraculously the protest didn’t happen, and Frances rolled her eyes and tried to hide a smile, before wiping her right hand on her trousers and holding it out to Louise. ‘Very nice to meet you both, misses. I hope you’re enjoying your visit.’

  ‘Oh, we are,’ Louise said. ‘I’m afraid we’re not dressed to look around your lovely farm, but what we’ve seen has been terribly interesting.’

  ‘How long are you staying in Princetown?’

  ‘We leave tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Well, it’s been nice to meet you.’ Frances shook their hands again. ‘Kitty, why don’t you show them the creamery? Let them see we’re not all muck and chickens.’

  ‘And rats,’ Jessie said, as soon as Frances had left the room.

  ‘Rats?’ Louise looked horrified, and even Helen frowned.

  I shot a glare in Jessie’s direction, then forced a smile at Louise. ‘Don’t mind Jessie. That’s just what she calls the hens.’

  I was startled to see Jessie’s mouth twitch in a grin. ‘We have small brown hens here, with long tails,’ she said, and winked at me. While I was annoyed with her for throwing a light on an unsavoury aspect of farm life, I couldn’t help feeling my smile becoming more natural as I remembered that first day, when we’d worked so well together in the barn.

  I gave a brief shake of my head, turning back to the McKrevie girls. ‘She’s just being silly. Come on, I’ll show you the creamery.’

  Louise glanced at her sister. ‘That would be lovely. But we’d just like to have a little look around outside first, alone, if that’s not too rude?’

  ‘Not at all,’ I said. ‘We’ve rather launched you into everything, haven’t we? You’ve not had a moment’s peace. I’ll wait for you here, and Amy and I will clean up the lunch things.’

  Later, as they followed Amy and me out to the little add-on that lay alongside the parlour, I thought they seemed a little uncertain about something, but let them continue exchanging glances and nods, each one silently urging the other to be the first to speak. Amy climbed onto the stool where she often sat to watch Frances churn the butter, and, unable to bear it an
y longer I turned to face the two sisters.

  ‘What is it? You clearly have something to say.’

  They looked at each other again, and I sighed, but before I could say anything more Louise spoke. ‘We love Dark River Farm. We really think it’s a wonderful place, but…’ another glance ‘…we wonder if it’s right for Amy?’

  I looked at them, stunned. ‘What on earth do you mean? Don’t listen to anything Jessie says. In all honesty yes, there are bound to be a few rats where there’s animal feed, but really, there are hardly any. Amy has the best of everything here, including attention—’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Helen said hurriedly. ‘We can see that. But she’s a young lady, Kitty. She shouldn’t be, well, we feel she shouldn’t be working in the fields.’

  ‘Working in the…’ I gave an incredulous laugh. ‘She wanted to be with Archie, that’s all! She and Will would have been playing, not working.’

  ‘All the same.’

  There was a tense silence, and the atmosphere in the dairy, always cool, now dropped several more degrees. My voice was tight when I spoke again. ‘And what would be your solution to this problem?’

  ‘We think…that is, we’re sure we would be able to convince Grandfather to take her, after all.’

  ‘No.’

  They looked at one another, frankly astonished. ‘But it’s what you wanted! Amy would have the best of everything. She’d be raised as a lady, and no-one would ever have to know about her…unfortunate start in life. Don’t you want that for her?’

  My heart lurched as I thought about my own family’s rejection. But this wasn’t the same. ‘Her father was actually relieved when your grandfather turned us away,’ I said, my voice matching the chilly air. ‘He may not be able to give her everything just now, but he’s made plans to come and get her when he can.’ I struggled for a more polite tone. ‘But thank you for your kind offer.’

  ‘Please, Kitty, we didn’t mean to upset you.’

  My rising frustration was reflected in my voice, echoing off the rough stone walls. ‘I would have been so grateful if you had accepted Amy when we came to you! If you’d offered her a home then and there, or even asked for time to think about it, you might have her now. But it’s too late. She’s settled here, and she’s staying here.’