‘He’s a home bird is our Jack, but Susan must want her own place, doesn’t she?’
Aaron lowered his voice. ‘Don’t know if she does. She’ll be tied if she’s to cook and clean, won’t she? She’s got plenty o’ time now for gadding about cos your ma does everything; allus has done since they were first married.’
‘But Da, that’s ten years ago! Why does she expect Ma to do everything?’
He shrugged. ‘Dunno. She’s lost the bairn; did your ma write and tell you? A lad it was; never drew breath. The midwife blamed her, she blames the midwife. Anyway, now that she’s up and about, she and Jack are going to have a look round ’house. It’s got about two acres so they could keep some hens and pigs and a couple o’ goats to keep ’grass down, grow some veg.’
‘And do the girls want to go? Is it only Louisa who doesn’t?’ she asked quietly.
‘Molly might stay wi’ us. Your ma wants her to.’ He dropped his voice further. ‘She’s bothered that she’ll be neglected otherwise and I’m inclined to agree wi’ her. And it’s true that she might be going to school. Schoolmistress and ’headmaster are in discussion about it.’
Jenny nodded but didn’t comment. She’d speak to her mother privately about Molly so that Peggy was under no illusion about the girl’s education, or lack of it.
‘I’ve got a new friend.’ Molly leaned over towards Jenny, breathing heavily into her ear.
‘He’s my friend as well!’ Surprisingly for Louisa, her comment sounded like a complaint. ‘I met him first, Molly, before you did.’
‘Yes, but he’s my special friend now,’ Molly insisted, ‘cos he’s teaching me to read Alice in Wonderland.’
‘Is he? Who is this clever person?’ Jenny turned back to the little girls again.
They both began to speak at once and Jenny said, ‘Whoa, whoa! Louisa, you can tell me; you’ve had a turn already, Molly.’ She saw Molly’s lips turn down but ignored it; the child was too used to getting her own way with her sisters.
‘He’s called Robin Jackson,’ Louisa told her. ‘And I met him at ’Sun Inn in Hedon on Hiring Day and he had some dinner with us and then came home to play. And he’s staying with us,’ she said in one long breath. ‘And he’s started at school as well ’n’ that’s why Molly wants to go too, but she won’t be able to sit with him cos ’boys sit at ’back of ’class.’
Molly started to wail that it wasn’t fair and Jenny reminded herself that this was why she didn’t want children of her own. Not because they might be born with a frailty such as Molly’s, but because she valued her freedom, which she recognzed as being totally selfish in many people’s eyes.
‘Stop that now, Molly,’ she said firmly. ‘If you’re grown up enough to go to school, you also have to be obedient and do whatever the teacher tells you. Do you understand?’
‘Yes,’ Molly muttered reluctantly. ‘But I can see him at playtime.’
‘Why is he at our house? Your house, I mean,’ she added quickly. ‘Where are his parents?’
‘Gran said we hadn’t to say,’ Louisa said before Molly could speak. ‘Gran’s going to tell you herself.’
Jenny looked at her father and he answered in a low voice. ‘We don’t know. His mother seems to have abandoned him, but you know your ma, she’s intent on keeping him safe until she turns up again. She’s tekken a liking to ’lad.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Jenny was beginning to wish she hadn’t come. ‘She can’t just keep him. She’ll have to report the situation to the authorities.’
‘She’s done that and they’ve put posters up, but there’s been no response. His ma seems to have vanished. Odd thing is that ’little lad doesn’t seem to mind. He says she’ll turn up sooner or later.’
‘Has she done this before, then? Gone off and left him? She needs locking up if she has. That’s child neglect.’ Jenny wrapped her scarf more closely round her neck and pulled her hat over her ears. ‘Ooh, but it’s cold,’ she muttered. ‘I hope Ma has a good fire.’ They’d turned down the long road to Paull and the wind hit them with full force as it blew off the estuary. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the two children had huddled beneath a blanket.
‘Aye, she has. We’ve plenty o’ logs, coal and kindling. We’re well prepared for winter. Spades and salt at ’ready.’
‘Have you been fishing, Da? Or is it too cold?’
‘I’ve had a couple o’ Sat’days wi ’lads. Enjoyed them; went out last night, caught sea trout and shrimps. We’ll probably have them for dinner today.’
‘Yum yum,’ she said, and the little girls laughed behind them.
The house was as cosy as Jenny expected it to be. A fiery red blaze in the range, a simmering cauldron of fisherman’s soup hanging from a hook over it and a good smell of roast beef coming from the oven. She thought how fortunate they were in their comfortable home compared with some of the children’s families that she knew.
Laura and Molly ran upstairs to find their slippers while Peggy put her arms out to greet her daughter.
‘Oh, Ma, there’s no better smell than the one in your kitchen,’ Jenny said, giving her mother a hug. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been so long in coming.’
‘Well, I hope it’s us you come to see and not just a good dinner,’ her mother joked. ‘It was summer when you were last here.’
‘I know.’ Jenny divested herself of her outdoor clothing. ‘There’s always so much to do at weekends, but I should
