‘Good afternoon. I see I’ve got visitors.’ Adam smiled and shoved his spade into the earth of the garden and brushed his hands on the side of his breeches.
‘Yes, I hope we’ve not disturbed you. Susie was anxious to see your chickens, and Will wonders if you could tell him if you have any likely spots for frogspawn or tadpoles in a stream or pond near you?’ Lucy looked at her employer. He was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and was partly showing his chest as he walked towards them. She couldn’t help but think that, with his black collar-length hair and muscled body, he could pass for a much younger man – a very attractive man.
‘I can oblige with both.’ Adam tussled Will’s hair. ‘Frogspawn can be found just down there, in that gully, if I remember rightly. There’s a small wet spot down by those rushes, and I’m sure it will still have frogs breeding there. Your jam jar will soon be filled, if you are lucky. But I hope that you’ll free the tadpoles, once they’ve grown too large for your jar, else you’ll end up with one large tadpole, as they are carnivorous and eat one another, you know.’ Adam smiled at his visitors.
‘Can I go, Lucy? I can’t wait to show Nathan, if I get my jam jar full – he’ll be so jealous. He’s been looking for some for weeks.’ Will looked up at his sister, seeking her permission, before thanking Adam.
‘Yes, but take care you don’t fall into any water, else you’ll be wet until you get home. Go on. Susie and I will stay here until you get back and will look at the chickens, which is what we really came for.’ Lucy watched as her brother ran down the length of the field, his jam jar down by his side in readiness for his catch.
‘And you, young lady, would like to look at my chickens, I believe?’ Adam bent down on his knees and looked at Susie. ‘They are growing fast. I’ve only had them a few days and already they are walking around the pen and worrying their mother to death. Just like your mother worries about you, I bet.’
Susie pulled a face and retorted, ‘My Mam never worries about me, but Lucy says I’m nothing but a pest and a worry. She’s always moaning at me.’
‘Does she now. Well, you come with me and we will give her five minutes free of worry as we look at the chickens. Then I see that you’ve brought a basket full of pace eggs. We will have to see whose eggs crack first, when we roll them down the hill in the back field when your brother returns.’ Adam held out his hand for four-year-old Susie to take, which she did without a minute’s hesitation.
Lucy watched from the garden wall as Adam and Susie walked across the farmyard to where the hen and her chicks were living in the newly made coop. She smiled as she listened to the conversation between her employer and her young sister, and to the giggles and laughter as Adam placed one of the few-days-old chicks in Susie’s hands.
‘Lucy! Lucy, come and look. Come and see: I’m holding this baby chick. It’s so fluffy and it’s crying for its mummy.’ Susie turned with a big smile on her face, holding desperately onto the fluffy chick while its poor, distraught mother clucked about and tried to control her brood, in the hope that she would not be losing another one to the hands of the child.
‘It is lovely, darling, but its mother would really like it back with her. She’s full of panic for her baby – she thinks you’ve pinched it.’ Lucy walked over to where Adam and Susie stood. ‘Let’s put it back with its mother, and perhaps Mr Brooksbank will let you feed them with some meal, and then you can watch them eat.’ Lucy took the chick from Susie’s hands and stroked the chirping bird, as Adam opened the coop’s lid. ‘There, we will put it back with its mother, where it belongs.’ Lucy bent down next to Adam and placed the little chick back with its brothers and sisters and its mother. As she stood up she nearly brushed cheeks with Adam, and she caught her breath and looked into his eyes.
Adam, noticing her blush, closed the lid quickly and turned to talk to Susie. ‘Come with me and we will get some cornmeal for their dinner and feed them, like your sister Lucy says, until your brother returns. They may only be small, but they are always hungry.’ He took Susie’s hand and walked across the yard, leaving Lucy looking out across the valley.
Her heart was beating fast and she could feel the colour rising in her cheeks. How stupid she was to feel this way about her employer. He was a good few years older than her, and he’d never shown an ounce of interest in her, and yet here she was looking at him and going weak at the knees, when they touched briefly. It wasn’t right. He was the master of Black Moss and she was just the lass from the flay-pits. She shouldn’t even be thinking that way, and couldn’t understand what had come over her.
Lucy lay in her bed, with her young sister fast asleep by her side. She had enjoyed one of the best afternoons that she could ever remember.
Susie had loved the attention that Adam Brooksbank had shown her, and Will had been bragging all evening about his catch of tadpoles, making his older brother mad and envious of his
