8

 

April 1882

Susannah stayed in bed the rest of that day. Neither Jack nor Amy was keen to disturb her, so they both kept away until the evening. When the table was set for dinner and Susannah still had not appeared, Amy asked her father what she should do about Susannah’s meal.

‘Shall I put something on a tray for her?’

‘I suppose you’d better. Yes, take it in to her.’

‘Ah… Pa, I think it might be better if you took it to her. She won’t want to see me.’

‘Well, she’s got to put up with seeing you. I’m not carrying her meals about for her.’ Amy could see that her father was very aware of John’s and Harry’s eyes on him, and she wished she had brought it up before her brothers had come in. Reluctantly she took the tray herself.

‘Excuse me, Susannah, I’ve brought your—’

‘Go away,’ came a muffled voice from the bed.

‘I’ve brought your dinner.’

‘I don’t want it. Take it away.’

‘You might want it later. I’ll just leave it here.’ Amy put the tray on the bedside table.

Susannah’s head emerged from under the sheet, and she reached a hand out to the tray. ‘Take it away or I’ll push it onto the floor.’

‘No, you won’t.’ The voice came from behind Amy. She jumped, and Susannah stared, as Jack entered the room. ‘You’ll sit up properly and eat that, and thank Amy for bringing it to you.’

‘I don’t want it,’ Susannah insisted.

‘You’ve got to eat, Susannah, and you’ve had nothing since breakfast. Now you get that down you.’ He walked past Amy and lifted the tray, then sat on the bed. ‘Come on, sit up.’

Amy waited for Susannah to shout, but instead her stepmother sat up very meekly and took the tray onto her lap. ‘Now thank Amy for bringing it in.’ But Amy was already walking quickly through the doorway. She had no intention of giving Susannah a fresh grudge against her.

Jack lingered in the kitchen with Amy after her brothers had left the room. ‘She says she doesn’t want to get fat,’ he said, frowning. ‘She’s got a bee in her bonnet about those dresses of hers. I hope Edie can talk some sense into her.’

‘So do I,’ Amy agreed.

 

*

 

Edie bustled in the next morning soon after breakfast, with Lizzie and Ernie in tow. There was a gleam in her eye and no trace of her usual vagueness; she was clearly a woman with a mission. ‘Where’s your ma?’ she asked without preliminaries.

‘Still in bed,’ Amy said. ‘I’ll tell her you’re here.’

‘No, don’t worry about that, I know where it is. Don’t you girls disturb us. You can keep an eye on Ernie for me.’ She hurried down the passage.

‘Ma’s all fired up today—she loves anything to do with babies. She’s come to sort Aunt Susannah out,’ Lizzie explained.

‘I know,’ Amy said. ‘It was my idea.’

‘Oh, was it just?’ Lizzie was taken aback.

‘Yes. You’re not the only one who ever gets any ideas, you know.’

‘I never said I was. You’re not usually any good at getting people to do what you want, that’s all.’

Edie came out again after half an hour. ‘Well!’ she said. Amy thought her aunt looked tired out. Edie looked at the girls, chewing her lip as though she was struggling with a decision, then seemed to make up her mind. ‘Go outside and play with Ernie, Lizzie,’ she said. ‘I want to talk to Amy.’

Lizzie looked at her in amazement. ‘Why can’t I stay?’

‘Because you’re too young.’

‘I’m older than her! I’m fifteen, she’s only thirteen.’

‘Don’t argue with me, girl. Just go outside.’ Lizzie was so stunned at her mother’s unusual manner that she went without further argument.

When she had gone, Edie continued. ‘Amy, you’re a bit young for this, but your ma’s going to need your help, so I’d better tell you. She’s going to have a child.’

‘Really, Aunt Edie?’ Amy hoped she looked sufficiently surprised.

‘Yes. I’d say it’ll be around the beginning of August, so she’s got about four months to go yet. She’s keeping well enough, as far as I can tell, but she’s pretty nervy.’

‘I know, Aunt Edie. She gets very upset.’

‘That’s because she’s scared stiff.’

Amy no longer had to pretend surprise. ‘Scared? What of?’

‘Scared of having a child. Now, it’s nothing to be scared of, it’s the most natural thing in the world. She’ll know that after she’s done it once, but for now she’s frightened. I’ve told her a few things about what’ll happen and she’s calmed down a bit, but you’ll have to try not to let her get upset.’

‘What should I do, Aunt Edie?’

‘Don’t let her tire herself out, that’s the main thing, especially now she’s getting big. Most of all don’t let her lift heavy things. Has she had any fainting spells?’

‘I don’t think so. No, I think Pa would have told me if she had.’

‘Good. She admitted to me she’d kept lacing herself up pretty tight as long as she could bear to, I thought that might have made her prone to faints. Now, what else? She mustn’t go out any more, I’ve told her that. She grizzled about it a bit, but I think she sees the sense in it. I want you to tell your pa I said she’s to stay home, he’s the only one who can make her if she decides to be uppish.’

‘Aunt Edie, will I have to help her when… when the baby comes?’ Amy blurted out.

‘Look at that serious face of yours!’ Edie said with a laugh. ‘Bless you, child, of course you won’t—you’ll be kept well out of the way. No, she’ll have a nurse out from town to stay for a week or two. I’ll pop over too if she wants me. There, now you look happier.’

‘I do want to help Susannah. She seems so unhappy sometimes.’

‘She’ll be all right once the baby’s come. That’ll take her mind off her troubles. That’s a while away yet, though, and she’s got one more problem, Amy.’

‘What’s that?’

‘She’s nothing to wear. That’s why she hasn’t got out of bed since yesterday morning, but she can’t stay in bed till August. She should have got something organised before, she’s been a bit silly about it.’

‘She didn’t want to stop wearing her pretty dresses.’

‘I told her they’ll still be hanging in the wardrobe next year and she can wear them then. But she needs something to wear now.’

‘I could make her something, but she doesn’t want me to. She got really upset when I offered.’

‘She won’t go crook at you now, she knows she’s got to put up with not looking flash for a while. You talk to her about it this morning. Now what’s wrong, child?’

‘I don’t want to talk to her about it. I’m scared, Aunt Edie.’

‘What have you got to be scared of?’

‘You didn’t see the way Susannah acted when I offered before. She screamed and screamed. She even threw a plate at me.’

‘Did she, indeed?’ Edie looked shocked. ‘What did your pa say to that?’

‘He was pretty unhappy. He worries about her when she gets in a state like that.’

‘Unhappy? She’s a lucky woman to have an easy-going husband like your pa. Not every man would put up with that nonsense, even if she is with child.’ She looked closely at Amy. ‘You’ve had quite a time of it, haven’t you?’

Amy shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’

‘Right.’ Edie rose from her chair. ‘You come with me.’ Amy found herself being hurried along the passage and into the bedroom, where Susannah was sitting up in bed.

‘Now, Susannah,’ Edie said briskly. ‘You know what we were talking about before—you need something else to wear. This child’s handy with her needle, she can sort something out for you. Isn’t that right, Amy?’

‘If you want me to, Ma.’ Amy was glad of Edie’s solid presence beside her.

‘Of course she wants you to. Don’t you, Susannah?’

Susannah looked from Edie to Amy, then at the wall. ‘All right,’ she said in a small voice.

‘That’s the girl, now you’re being sensible. You tell Amy what you’d like and she can come into town with me tomorrow to buy what she needs. You’d better make a couple, Amy, that should do her.’

‘Do I have to stay in bed till that’s done?’ Susannah asked.

Amy was amazed at how docile Susannah had become. It gave her the confidence to suggest, ‘I could let one of your other dresses out.’

She cringed a little, waiting for Susannah to shout at her, but under Edie’s watchful gaze Susannah just said, ‘If you want to. Take that one, if you like.’ She pointed to the yellow dress, which was lying across a chair.

Amy picked it up and was relieved to see that it had deep seams; she guessed that the sharp-eyed Mrs Nichol had noticed Susannah’s state. ‘Oh, yes, I can easily let this one out. I’ll do it right now, then you can wear it this morning if you want.’

‘Now, aren’t you lucky to have a good little daughter like Amy?’ Edie said. That, Amy thought, was asking too much of Susannah even at her most docile. She took the dress out of the room before Edie decided to press the point.

 

*

 

Amy went into Ruatane the next day with her Aunt and Uncle, and of course Lizzie came too. Edie helped Amy choose material that as nearly as possible matched what Susannah had asked for: ‘She said it had to be dark,’ Amy reported, ‘and with little stripes if we can get it, and the stripes have to go up and down, not sideways.’

They chose a navy blue woollen fabric with fine black stripes, and a plain dark green mousseline de laine. Amy was grateful for Edie’s advice on how much to buy; to her it seemed a vast amount for each dress.

‘Would you help me cut it out, please, Aunt Edie?’ Amy asked. ‘I don’t quite know what sort of… well, shape to make the dresses.’

‘No shape at all, that’s the most important thing,’ Edie said. She glanced at Lizzie, who affected a profound lack of interest in their discussion. ‘Yes, you come home with us now and I’ll get you started.’

As they passed the Kelly farm Amy could see a short slash of freshly-turned dark earth running through the green of one of the roadside paddocks. When she looked more closely she noticed Ben and Frank working away with shovels, slowly extending the new drain. Lizzie nudged Amy as they drew level with the two men. ‘Watch this,’ she whispered. ‘Look, Ma, there’s Frank and Ben,’ she said in a normal voice. ‘Don’t you think Frank looks a bit thin?’

Edie tut-tutted. ‘Poor boy, yes, he does a bit. I don’t suppose they eat very well.’

‘What do you think of that drain they’re digging, Pa?’ Lizzie asked. ‘It doesn’t look quite like the ones you do.’

‘Hopeless,’ Arthur agreed, glancing at Frank and Ben working. ‘That’ll cave in as soon as the rain gets heavy. It’s not even very straight.’

‘You know, Pa,’ Lizzie said, sounding very thoughtful, ‘I just happened to be talking to Frank after church last Sunday, and he was saying how much he’s always admired you—especially the way you run the farm.’

‘Was he, indeed?’ Arthur looked over his shoulder at Frank with more interest. Amy thought back to the previous Sunday; she was quite sure Lizzie had managed no more than a brief exchange of ‘hellos’ with Frank.

‘Oh, yes, he was saying how he wished he had someone like you to ask for advice about things to do with the farm. He was just a boy, really, when his father died, and Ben doesn’t even talk much to Frank.’

Arthur gave a snort. ‘Ben doesn’t know anything about running a farm—you can see that by looking at the two of them working.’

‘No,’ Lizzie said with a sigh. ‘It’s a shame, Frank would really like to do things properly, but he hasn’t got anyone to ask. He doesn’t even get much to eat, so I suppose he’s tired half the time.’ Amy thought that was stretching things a bit far, but Arthur and Edie both looked thoughtful. Lizzie nudged Amy again, and both girls waited eagerly for Lizzie’s efforts to bear fruit.

‘Perhaps I should drop in and visit Frank some time, point out a few things to him,’ Arthur said, and Lizzie shut her eyes in frustration. Amy had to smother a giggle; Arthur visiting Frank might well give Frank some useful advice he didn’t even know he needed, but it would not be much use to Lizzie.

‘That’s a good idea, Pa,’ Lizzie said. ‘I just wonder, though… you know how unfriendly Ben is, maybe he might be a bit funny about it.’

‘Humph! I won’t bother, then.’

‘No, I see why you can’t. Poor Frank, what a pity—I know he’d love to talk to you. And he’s so thin,’ Lizzie added, somewhat irrelevantly in Amy’s opinion.

Edie stirred in her seat as an idea slowly penetrated her mind. ‘Perhaps you should ask Frank to come over for lunch some time, Arthur.’ Lizzie raised her eyes heavenwards in silent gratitude. She held her breath for a moment to see if her father would react in the right way.

‘That’s not a bad idea. It’s only neighbourly to give the lad a bit of advice if he’s got the sense to want it. All right, I’ll drop in next time I’m passing and ask him over.’ Lizzie was too much of an artist to spoil things by making any indication of approval, but she smiled triumphantly at Amy.

Edie helped Amy cut out the blue material into what looked like a small tent, then they bundled up both lots of fabric together and Amy started back home.

Lizzie walked with her to the boundary, and as soon as they were out of earshot Amy said, ‘You must have had a very quick talk with Frank last Sunday, Lizzie, for him to say all that about your father—I only heard him say hello.’

‘He asked how I was, as well. Frank’s very quiet, you know that. He would have said that about Pa if he wasn’t so shy.’

Amy reflected, not for the first time, that Lizzie had her own very individual attitude to the truth. ‘I hope you’ll invite me over as well when Frank comes? I’m looking forward to seeing him have this useful little chat with your father.’

‘Ahh. You don’t really want to come, do you?’

Amy saw to her astonishment that Lizzie actually seemed a little embarrassed. ‘I won’t if you don’t want me to—it’s a bit hard for me to get away at meal times, anyway. Don’t you want me there?’

‘I wouldn’t exactly put it like that, but… well, no, not really.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I don’t want Frank to take any notice of anyone else—this lunch is going to be important. Much more important than when we went to his house.’

‘He’ll have to take notice of Uncle Arthur when he gets all this advice. Anyway, I don’t think Frank would pay any attention to me with you there.’

‘That depends whether he does more listening or looking. I can take care of the listening all right, but when it comes to looking… well, I’m never going to look like you, am I?’ Lizzie touched Amy’s dark curls admiringly.

‘Don’t talk silly, Lizzie.’

‘It’s true. It doesn’t worry me, I’d just rather not shove it in Frank’s face until he’s got the message a bit better.’

‘Unless he’s very slow, Lizzie, that’s not going to take long.’