‘The more I hear about the Baxters, the more I think that I’ve got bad neighbours, although so far they’ve not done anything to me.’ Adam stood next to Lucy and looked back at the sheep he’d bought.
‘I know that the Baxters are a bad lot. Nobody has the time of day for them. And have you bought some sheep?’ Lucy enquired.
‘Aye, I’ve bought forty ewes, all in lamb. The lad I’ve bought them from is only selling them because the Baxters have put up his rent and he can’t afford to keep them and pay the rent,’ Adam growled. ‘It was never like this when my father farmed. Everyone helped everybody else.’
‘It hasn’t altered – everyone does usually help out. It’s just that family. I’d be thankful they have left you alone up to now. The youngest lad is a right bad lot. Archie doesn’t have a good word for him.’ Lucy looked at the worry on Adam’s face.
‘I think my problems will come when I put my stock up on the moor. There’s been none until now, but soon my flock of forty – and what lambs they produce – will tempt the Baxters, and then the fun will begin. But I’ll be ready for them; they’ll not get one over on me so quickly.’ Adam sighed. ‘Now, have you spent up? And what did you treat yourself to?’
‘Coffee – I bought enough coffee for two drinks. I’ve never drunk it before, and I was curious about the taste of the roasted beans; they smelled so good while I waited to be served in the grocer’s.’ Lucy smiled.
‘Of all the things you could have bought! You’ll either like it or hate it. I want to see your face when you try it,’ Adam laughed.
‘I’ll pretend to like it, even if I don’t.’ Lucy grinned. ‘And I’ve got you some change.’ She handed Adam the change from her pocket and looked at his face.
‘You are a fair lass – you’ll always keep me on my toes.’ Adam looked at her. ‘Now, let’s be away home; in style this time. Madam, your donkey-cart awaits.’ Adam pretended to bow, before making his way through the crowds of farmers and drovers, with Lucy following behind him. She would enjoy every minute of the journey back home, and couldn’t wait to tell her mother that she had been shopping in Keighley with Adam Brooksbank.
16
Lucy could still hear her mother’s words ringing in her ears, as she looked out the kitchen window at Black Moss. ‘Don’t you be getting too close to that Adam Brooksbank. Remember your position and don’t let him ever touch you, because that’s what he’ll expect, if you encourage him.’ She wished in the end that she had never mentioned how much she had enjoyed her time with him on her visit to Keighley, or had partly confessed that she admired him. ‘These men take advantage of their maids. You’ll mean nothing to him and then, before you know it, you’ll be coming home with a baby in your arms and he’ll deny everything,’ Dorothy had gone on to lecture.
But she was wrong about Adam Brooksbank. He’d never shown her any sexual urges and it was the briefest of flirtations when he spoke to her. Lucy, on the other hand, would have welcomed more attention, and only wished that she could stop looking at Adam and feeling as if her heart was going to burst, if she didn’t tell him the way she felt about him.
She watched Adam now as he waved to the lad who was herding his newly bought flock into the farmyard, and smiled, knowing how excited he was at putting his own flock of Rough Fell sheep onto the moorland. He’d been looking forward to receiving them, and she knew that with the arrival of the sheep his work as a farmer really started, because all the sheep were in lamb and would demand his attention over the coming weeks. Lucy wiped her hands quickly on her apron and walked out of the farmhouse, after seeing a lamb under the arm of the lad who was delivering the flock.
‘Our first lamb at Black Moss. He’s a bit of a surprise.’ Adam picked up the small, tightly curled woolly creature from Reggie, while its mother bleated her worry that her baby was being harmed.
‘He’s lovely.’ Lucy petted the bleating lamb’s head and smiled at it as it struggled, trying to escape Adam’s arms.
‘He wriggles, does the little devil. The sooner he gets to where he’s going, the better. And he’s peed down my jacket.’ Adam held the lamb tightly and groaned.
‘He’s christened you as his new owner.’ Reggie laughed as he turned round and, with his walking stick, switched the flock up through the farmyard via the pasture gate, with his sheepdog nipping at the stray sheep when told to do so, by Reggie’s instructions.
‘Well, he can keep it to himself. I’m not impressed. Although we will keep this one and his mother in the back paddock, as he’s a bit on the small side. Just until he builds up his strength, then he can join the rest of the flock on the high ground. So he’s won my attention already.’ Adam laughed and followed Reggie through the farmyard gate, holding the lamb up by its front legs for its mother to smell, and following it into the paddock, instead of going with the rest of the flock up the steep hillside and onto the moor.
Lucy followed Adam
