Eddie gave a quick smile. ‘That’s it. Your hands are smaller than mine. Tony tried, but his wrist wasn’t quite strong enough.’
As she squatted down beside the ewe, Anna smiled ruefully. ‘He’s not very happy at me taking his place.’
‘I’ll talk to him later. At the moment I’ve more to think about than Tony having a mardy.’
There was silence between Eddie and Anna as they struggled to help the ewes. The only noise the bleating from thirty or so sheep.
‘There!’ Anna said triumphantly, as the lamb slithered safely from its mother. Swiftly she cleaned its mouth. ‘It’s not breathing, Eddie.’ But without waiting for instruction, Anna bent her head close to the tiny creature and blew into its mouth. After a few attempts she looked up, smiling. ‘It’s fine now.’
‘Well done, lass. Mind you dry it well and don’t forget to see to the navel.’
‘How are you doing?’
‘Not good. I think I could lose this ewe. She’s quite old and, like I thought, it was twins. I’ve got them both and they’re OK, but she’s not cleansing properly.’ He shook his head sadly and ruffled the sheep’s coat. ‘Poor old lass. You’ve given me a lot of healthy lambs, though, in your time, haven’t you?’
‘Mine’s all right. She’s cleansed and I’ve checked her udders. Do you think she’d take one of those lambs?’
Eddie looked doubtful. ‘I’d sooner rear these by the bottle and let her feed her own. One strong lamb’s much better than two weaker ones. Mind you,’ he said, scratching his head thoughtfully, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to cope. I’ve two lambs in the house already and Bertha won’t have owt to do with them. Tony’s been looking after them, but now the snow’s gone he’ll have to go back to school. The lane to Wintersby village isn’t too bad with flood water.’
‘I could take them home with me,’ Anna offered.
In the warm cosiness of the barn, they looked at each other. In the soft glow of the lamplight, Eddie marvelled at the girl’s beauty. Her eyes were dark pools and in the light from the lamp her skin was a golden colour. And, it was not lost on either of them that she had referred to the tumbledown cottage as ‘home’. Tremulously, Anna smiled. ‘I’ve nothing else to do – apart from looking after Maisie – and I could manage to carry them up the ladder.’
‘Well, if you’re sure, it would help if you could take at least one. I’ll bring you bottles and everything you’ll need for feeding.’
He glanced at the ewe near Anna. ‘Tell you what,’ he said, suddenly coming to a decision, ‘Let’s risk it. She’s young and healthy. Let’s try her with one of ’em and then you can feed the other. If we can get hers and one of these twins to suckle, we might trick her into thinking she’s had the pair of them.’
Eddie picked up one of the lambs and passed it over to Anna, who rubbed some of the adoptive mother’s afterbirth fluids over the orphan. She gave it to the ewe to lick first and kept the animal’s own offspring back from her until she had accepted the other lamb.
‘That’s it,’ Eddie murmured, not needing to give advice and amazed, yet again, at the young girl’s knowledge. She’s been brought up on a farm, he thought briefly. She must have been. And she’s been taught well.
It wasn’t until late at night that both lambs were suckling contentedly. Anna stood up and eased her aching limbs. She glanced towards the other pen, an unspoken question on her face. Eddie shook his head. ‘Gone, I’m afraid,’ he said of the ewe and sighed.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. Then she glanced around the barn. ‘If there’s nothing else I can do, Eddie, I’ll be getting back. Maisie must be hungry by now and—’
‘Another minute won’t hurt, love. Here, sit down and have a drink first. There’s a flask of tea I brought out somewhere. Ah, here it is. I reckon we’ve earned this.’
They sat side by side, leaning against a bale of straw, and sipped the warm, sweet tea gratefully.
‘What a night,’ Eddie murmured. ‘I couldn’t have managed without you, lass.’
‘We’ve still lost a ewe, though,’ she said sadly.
‘Aye, but I’d likely have lost more if you hadn’t been here.’ He bit his lip, wanting to ask her about her past, wanting to ask how she knew so much about sheep, but he held back the words, knowing that if he so much as mentioned the subject, she would withdraw into silence.
Anna was sitting watching the newborn lambs, a gentle smile on her face. ‘Isn’t it wonderful—?’ she was beginning when the big door of the barn opened and they looked up to see Bertha standing there.
‘Eddie? Where are you? Oh, there you are. What do you mean by keeping Tony up all night?’ At that moment, she became aware that it was not Tony sitting beside Eddie, but the girl. ‘You! What the hell are you doing here?’ She glanced around the barn. ‘And where’s Tony?’
Eddie sighed and struggled to his feet. Wearied by the night’s events, the last thing he needed was a confrontation with Bertha. But there was no way out this time. Flatly, he said, ‘We’ve had two difficult births and Tony couldn’t help so I sent him to fetch Anna.’
‘Oh aye,’ Bertha said sarcastically. ‘Any excuse.’
‘It’s not an excuse, Bertha. It’s the truth. She’s saved me a lamb and possibly a ewe as well, to say nothing of getting this ewe to adopt—’
‘Never mind all that. Where’s Tony?’
‘Looking after Maisie.’
‘Maisie?’ Bertha glanced around the sheep. ‘Which one’s Maisie?’
Eddie almost laughed aloud, but the thought of what was going to come in the next few seconds killed his laughter. ‘Maisie is Anna’s baby.’
For a brief moment Bertha stared at him in disbelief. ‘You – you’ve sent him up there to look after this trollop’s bastard?’
‘Bertha—’ Eddie began, but his wife was in full flow. ‘Well, that takes the biscuit, that does. I’ve heard it all now. I must be the laughing stock of the village. You and your carryings on. For two pins I’d pack me bags and go.’ She wagged her forefinger at Eddie. ‘And take Tony with me. But I’m not going to, ’cos that’s just what you’d like me to do, isn’t it? And then you could set up home with your fancy piece here. Well, you aren’t going to get what you want, ’cos I’m staying put. I’m not going to see my son done out of his rightful inheritance. Oh no!’
‘Bertha, you’ve got it all wrong.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so. I’m not blind. But you’ve a nerve, Eddie Appleyard. Parading your love child for all the world to see as if you’re proud—’
‘The child isn’t his,’ Anna said huskily. ‘What he’s told you is true. He’d never met me before that night he brought me here. Why won’t you believe him?’
Bertha stepped closer and thrust her face close to Anna’s. ‘’Cos I know men. Dirty buggers. Only after one thing.’ She prodded a vicious finger into Anna’s stomach. ‘You ought to know that.’
Even in the half-light, Eddie could see that Anna’s face had turned white.
‘That’s enough, Bertha. There’s no call to say such things to Anna.’
‘I’ve every right. She’s no better than a whore and a marriage-wrecker and, mark my words, if the old customs still survived, I’d have her ran-tan-tanned out of here. Yes, that’s what I’d do, I’d get the whole village up against her.’
‘I’ll go,’ Anna murmured and picked up the lamb.
‘Yes, you go. Get out of my sight and off my boy’s land. The quicker you and your bastard leave the better.’
‘You’d best go on home,’ Eddie said in a low voice. ‘I’ll bring all the paraphernalia you’ll need for feeding.’
As Anna moved away towards the barn door, she could feel the woman’s malevolent gaze following her like a knife in her back. And as she hurried across the yard and up the track, her heart was pounding. We’ll go, she promised herself. As soon as the flood waters have gone and the weather improves, we’ll go.
It wasn’t until she reached the cottage that she bega
n to breathe easily again.
Tony was peering down from the upstairs. ‘What happened?’ he asked eagerly. ‘Is everything all right?’
Huskily, Anna told him, ‘I’m afraid we lost a ewe, but she gave us two healthy lambs. Here.’ She began to climb the ladder, holding up the lamb. ‘Take this one. We managed to get the other ewe, which only had one lamb, to take one of the orphans and I’m going to look after this one.’
Tony took the lamb and held it close. ‘Why?’ he asked and his eyes were belligerent once more. ‘I can look after it. I’ve already got two at home.’
‘That’s just it,’ Anna said reasonably. ‘You’ve got enough to cope with and you’ll be going back to school soon.’
The boy pulled a face but could not argue.
As she stepped off the ladder, the puppy sprang up from his place by the Moses basket, where he had been sleeping, his nose resting on his paws. He galloped across the floor, sliding and tumbling in his anxiety to reach her. He jumped and made little yapping sounds of pleasure.
Anna smiled down at him and fondled him, but her attention was on Tony as she watched him cuddling the newborn lamb. ‘They’re still your lambs,’ she said softly, ‘not mine.’
He shrugged and tried to say with grown-up common sense, ‘They’ll be going for slaughter as soon as they’re old enough anyway.’ But there was a tremble in his voice that the young boy could not hide. ‘Dad always tells me I shouldn’t treat them like pets. We’re farmers.’
‘That’s right. Rip’s your pet, but—’
‘Not really. He’s a working dog.’ He nodded towards Buster, still jumping and barking excitedly. ‘He’s growing, isn’t he?’
Anna nodded. ‘Yes, and he’ll be a working dog too, but it doesn’t mean I can’t fuss him now and then.’
‘You’ll have to start training him soon, then,’ the boy said, knowledgeably.
‘I already have.’
Tony’s eyes widened. ‘You have? You know about training sheepdogs?’
Suddenly, the wariness was back in Anna’s face and she turned away from him. ‘A bit,’ she said shortly and then deliberately changed the subject. ‘Now, we’d better get somewhere sorted out for this little chap to sleep. Let’s go and look in the other room.’
They inspected the other upper room together, but both declared it far too cold and draughty for the young lamb.
‘We’ll all stay in here,’ Anna declared. ‘And keep each other warm.’
The weather improved at last, the flood waters drained away and Pat Jessop was able to cycle from the village to see Anna. She came up the lane and rode boldly through the farmyard. Leaving her bicycle propped against the barn wall, she took her bag and climbed the track to the top of the rise and down the other side to the cottage.
‘I’d like you to see the doctor. Maisie ought to be checked over and you certainly should be.’
‘We’re all right—’ Anna began at once, but Pat interrupted firmly. ‘I wouldn’t be doing my job properly, love, if I didn’t insist. Now, do you want to go into town or have him come here?’
Her eyes wide with fear, the young girl looked around her, as if casting about for some way to escape. ‘I—’
‘Look,’ Pat said gently. ‘Why not let Eddie take you into town next market day? You’ve got to register the child anyway. You must do that. It’s the law.’
‘I – I know, but—’
‘I’ll come with you, if you like.’ Pat chuckled. ‘I’d quite like a ride in Eddie’s old pony and trap again. It wouldn’t be the first time.’ Her tone grew wistful. ‘Mind you, it was a different pony in those days.’ Then she became businesslike once more. ‘I’ll speak to Eddie, and if it’s a nice day next Wednesday we’ll all go. I’ll make an appointment at the doctor’s for you and we’ll go and see the registrar too.’
There was no getting out of it. When Pat Jessop was in her most persuasive mood, there was no arguing with her.
Anna sighed. ‘All right then.’
Pat beamed. ‘Good. I shall look forward to our little jaunt. And now I must go. See you next week.’
Pat was already late for her rounds that morning. The cycle ride out to Cackle Hill Farm would put another hour on her routine, but she was not ready to leave yet. There was someone else she wanted to see first.
Pat knocked on the back door of the farmhouse, summoning her most forbidding expression. It was not an easy thing for the district nurse to do, for she was a buxom, pleasant-faced young woman with a ready smile and a teasing, jovial manner. Her long blonde curls were tucked up neatly beneath her cap and the navy blue uniform gave an impression of a severity that was not really part of her nature, though she could, when necessary – as she had been that morning – be firm and persuasive with her patients.
‘Oh, it’s you,’ Bertha said unnecessarily when she opened the door.
‘Yes, it’s me, Bertha. Can I have a word?’
‘What about?’
‘Oh things,’ Pat said airily evasive. ‘How about a cup of tea? I’m parched. It’s a long ride out here.’
‘It’s not a cafe. I haven’t time to be making tea.’
‘Oh come on, Bertha, there’s a dear. Surely, we’ve known one another long enough—’
‘Oh aye, we know enough about each other not to need cosy chats over my kitchen table.’
But seeing that the nurse was not to be budged, Bertha turned away, muttering, ‘Oh, come in then, if you must.’
Pat stepped into the warm kitchen, drew off her gloves and held her hands out to the roaring fire in the range. How different was this kitchen to the meagre surroundings in the little white cottage over the hill. Yet Pat could feel that there was already far more love in the tumbledown haven near the woods than there ever would be in this house.
For a brief moment she wondered if Bertha was right. Was there an affair going on between Eddie and the girl? Perhaps the child was his. But then she dismissed her fanciful notions as being just that. She had seen them together and whilst there was no doubting Eddie’s concern for Anna’s welfare, it seemed to be no more than that.
But who knew what the future might bring? For a moment she felt a pang of sympathy for Bertha, who was at this moment banging cups and saucers onto the table with bad grace.
‘This is very kind of you, Bertha. It’s cold riding about the countryside on that bike in this weather.’ But Pat’s words were only greeted with a belligerent glare.
When the tea was ready, they sat down together on opposite sides of the table.
‘What is it you want, then? Come to talk me round about that little slut up yonder?’ Bertha jerked her head in the direction the cottage lay. ‘’Cos if you have, you’re wasting your time.’
‘Not really, Bertha,’ Pat said, taking a sip of tea and then placing her cup carefully onto its saucer. She looked up and held Bertha’s gaze. ‘I just wondered what you know about her.’
Bertha shrugged her fat shoulders. ‘Nowt. Nor do I want to.’
‘Why not?’ Pat’s question was direct and pointed.
‘Why d’ya think?’
Pat leant ever so slightly towards her. ‘I don’t know, Bertha. That’s why I’m asking you.’
Bertha clattered her own cup into its saucer. ‘It’s obvious, ain’t it? She’s Eddie’s bit on the side. He’s got her into trouble and she’s coming knocking at his door. And him being the soft fool he is—’
Pat was shaking her head, unable to believe the tirade of abuse coming out of Bertha’s mouth. ‘Bertha, your Eddie’s not like that.’
‘How do you know?’ Bertha’s retort was like a whiplash. ‘Men are all the same. Only after one thing. And even when they’ve got it on tap at home, it’s never enough.’ Her small mouth twisted into a bitter sneer.
Pat was appalled at what she was hearing. Eddie’s home life must be far worse than she had imagined. Whether or not Eddie had looked for comfort elsewhere, Pat couldn’t be sure, but she knew one thing now.
; If he had, she wouldn’t blame him.
She stood up, unwilling to listen a moment longer to Bertha’s twisted logic. The whole village had known for years that Bertha’s father had been a ‘ladies’ man’. Pat had grown up hearing the gossip, witnessing the men’s nudges and winks and the women ‘tut-tutting’ in sympathy with his poor wife. But what she hadn’t realized was the terrible effect her father’s philandering had had on the young Bertha.
‘Do you know something, Bertha? I feel sorry for you. Really I do. But you’re a fool. You’ve got a good man in Eddie Appleyard. There’s never been a hint of gossip about him and other women that I’ve heard. And, believe me, in my job I’d hear it. I carry a lot of secrets for folks round here. And that’s what they’ll always remain. Secrets. But I’m telling you now, Bertha, Eddie’s a good man and I believe him. He felt sorry for that lass and tried to help her.’ She leant towards Bertha to emphasize her point. ‘And that’s all.’
Bertha heaved herself to her feet. ‘Get out of my kitchen, Pat Jessop. You’re another of his fancy women. Oh, don’t think I don’t know that you an’ him went together afore you found yourself a better catch. And now your husband’s dead, you’re trying to worm your way back in with Eddie. Well, you won’t get the farm. I’ll tell you that. I’m his wife and all this’ – she waved her arms to encompass the house and all the land that lay around it – ‘will one day belong to my son.’ She jabbed her finger into her own chest. ‘My son.’
Pat shook her head. ‘Oh Bertha,’ she said sadly, ‘is that all poor Eddie is to you? A good catch?’
Bertha’s eyes narrowed. ‘I told you, get out of my kitchen, Pat Jessop.’
Pat pedalled away from the farm with a heavy heart. Poor Eddie, she was thinking. Poor, poor Eddie. And that poor lass, too, for she was sure that Bertha Appleyard was just biding her time and that one day, when the opportunity came, she would cause that poor lass a whole barrowload of trouble.
Fourteen
‘I don’t want to go. I don’t see why I have to go.’ Anna’s face was mutinous. ‘The baby’s fine. You’ve said so yourself. And so am I. We don’t need a doctor.’
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