‘Do you want me to lose my job? I won’t hear you moaning when I give you and William a ha’penny each for a barley sugar, next time we are at the shops. Now, you can both go and tell him. The frogspawn will still be there tomorrow. Besides, it’s a bit too early for it yet.’ Lucy looked at her brother as he pulled a face, then she filled up the kettle from the shared water pump with the yard, just outside the kitchen door. ‘Go on, get the bread. William’s coming down the stairs and if he wakens Susie and our Bert I’ll not have time for either of you, and you’ll be going to school with nothing in your bellies and no snap tins for your dinner under your arms.’
Nathan got up and went to the pantry, scowling at his younger brother as he placed the loaf of bread on the table in front of Lucy.
‘Where’s Mam?’ William looked up at his older sister and then noticed the dark mood his brother was in.
‘She’s not well, and instead Miss Bossy Boots here is running the house. The sooner we get to school, the better.’ Nathan picked up his slice of bread with butter and dripping adorning it and bit into it. ‘Just get me a drink of milk, our Lucy. I’ll not wait on the kettle boiling, and then I’ve more time to do what you want me to. Our Will here will have the same. Won’t you? Then we can get away.’ Nathan winked at his younger brother as Lucy made them jam sandwiches for their snap tins to take to school.
‘But I like—’ William started to say, only for his brother to kick him under the table to shut him up.
‘Alright then. Here, drink it all, mind. I’m not having that prim Miss Procter saying that you were sent to school unfed and unwatered. You’ve both washed this morning, haven’t you? I’m not sending you to school mucky, either.’ Lucy looked at both brothers as they quickly ate their bread and dripping, followed by a glass of milk, before both grabbed their now-full snap tins and headed out of the kitchen door. ‘You’ll not forget to go to Black Moss, will you?’ Lucy yelled after both brothers.
‘Nah! We’ll go,’ Nathan yelled back, pulling his younger brother with him as they ran across the flay-pit yard as fast as their legs would carry them.
‘What are we going all the way up to Black Moss for?’ William asked his brother.
‘We’re not. Miss Bossy Boots can think again. We are off to meet Stanley Hodgson, like we agreed yesterday, and bugger our Lucy! Frogspawn’s far more important than trailing up to Black Moss.’ Nathan grinned as he and his younger brother passed the turnoff for Black Moss Farm, with no intention of giving Lucy’s message to Adam Brooksbank.
‘Are you alright, Mam?’ Lucy picked baby Bert out of his cot and stopped him crying, which had wakened her mother from an uneasy sleep. She looked at how pale her mother was; her greying hair, unbrushed and tangled around her on the pillow, made her look older than usual.
‘I’ll be fine, now don’t you fret. I just need a day in bed, and then I’ll be up and going in the morning. You’ll manage all the jobs, won’t you? There’s no need to bake any bread, as I made plenty yesterday. And you’ll find some cooked ox tongue in the pantry for your father’s dinner. That’ll do him, and I know you’ll feed the children and see to them alright.’ Dorothy looked at her daughter, with her youngest balanced on her hip, and noted the concern on her face.
‘I’ll be fine, Mam, as long as you are alright. Can I bring you anything? Do you need a drink or something to eat?’ Lucy juggled baby Bert as he started to whine yet again. He was hungry, and his nappy was full and in need of her attention.
‘No, you’ve enough on. Leave me to sleep, and then I’ll be up and going again in the morning. Will Adam Brooksbank be alright with you missing a day? He’ll wonder where you are at,’ Dorothy said, nearly in a whisper, as she closed her eyes.
‘Nathan went to tell him before school that I’d not be with him today, so don’t worry on his part. He’ll understand.’ Lucy stood in the doorway and watched her mother drop off to sleep, then she gently closed the door behind her and gave her attention to her youngest brother, who wailed loudly as she carried him downstairs into the kitchen and the warmth of the fire. Once in front of the fire, with a full belly of bread porridge inside him and a clean nappy on, Bert was content to crawl and stand on unsteady legs around the kitchen table, as his sister Susie sat up at the table and ate her breakfast. Susie was unconcerned that it was Lucy seeing to her needs and not her mother, and she watched Lucy fill the copper boiler in the corner of the kitchen with water, ready to wash the soiled bedclothes from her mother’s bed.
Lucy picked up the soiled bedding and dropped it all into the almost-boiling copper, adding soda crystals to the wash to get rid of any stains, before she turned her attention back to her two young siblings. This was not the kind of life she wanted – beholden to bringing up squabbling children all her life, washing and cleaning, with no thanks for the long days of toil. If she was to marry, she had to be careful not to become pregnant, although she knew it would take more than good luck not to, as children were an inevitable part of a marriage.
She sighed and thought about Adam Brooksbank. There was something about him; although
