David had clearly exhausted his arguments. He stood and waited for Frank to speak.
‘I only want what’s best for her,’ Frank said at last. ‘I want her to be happy. That’s why I’ve been trying to figure out what’s the right thing to do. It seems to me there isn’t a right thing any more, not with what you’ve done. So I’ve got to pick the best choice of what’s left to me.’ He paused, putting his thoughts in some kind of order. ‘Beth thinks she wants to marry you. Maybe that’s the best choice. I don’t know. But what with the baby and all, it doesn’t seem like I’ve got a lot of options.’ He shook his head in defeat. ‘I’ll let you have a go at making her happy. It’s beyond me.’
David took hold of Frank’s hand and pumped it vigorously. ‘Thank you, Uncle Frank! I will, I’ll really look after her.’
Frank let his hand be shaken briefly, then retrieved it and pointed a warning finger at David. ‘I’ll tell you this right from the start, boy—if you ever raise a hand to Beth, I’ll fetch her straight back home, husband or no husband. And you’ll never get near her again.’
David looked completely bewildered. Frank saw realisation gradually dawn. ‘You think I’d hit Beth? I’d never do that! I’d never want to hurt her.’ His expression grew wounded. ‘It’s because of Pa, isn’t it? Pa used to knock Ma around, so you think I’d do the same to Beth.’
‘I didn’t say that,’ Frank said, fully aware it was exactly what he had been thinking. ‘I just want my daughter properly looked after. I’d say the same to anyone who came asking for her.’
David looked away. ‘I bet you didn’t say that to Richard,’ he said in a low voice.
Frank found himself unable to answer. They walked back to the house in an uncomfortable silence.
*
Beth had joined Lizzie, Maisie and Amy in the kitchen when Frank walked in followed by David. Her eyes went straight to David’s, clearly trying to guess what had happened from what she read there, but it was Frank who spoke first.
‘Well, I’ve said yes.’
He was promptly rewarded when Beth rushed at him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest. ‘Thank you, Pa.’ She raised her face to show eyes bright with happiness and unshed tears. Lizzie beamed at him, and Amy smiled her gratitude as she slipped her arm through David’s. For a brief few moments, Frank basked in the warmth of their approval.
‘We’d better get on with sorting out this wedding, then,’ said Lizzie. ‘We’ll have to see how soon we can have it.’ She glanced at David, and at the sight of his serious expression her smile slipped. ‘Cheer up, Dave!’ she said, stabbing at his arm with her finger to punctuate her remark. ‘Anyone would think we were planning your funeral, not your wedding!’
‘Sorry,’ David muttered.
‘How about you two go out on the verandah for a bit while we decide what needs doing?’ Lizzie said. ‘Now you’re properly engaged and all, you’ll want to see more of each other.’
Beth and David went readily enough, leaving Amy and Lizzie to talk of licences and banns and such matters, while Frank sat and listened. They had only been gone a few minutes when the back door opened and Rosie and Kate erupted into the room, eager to talk about their day at school and demanding cuddles from anyone who looked likely to sit still for a few minutes.
Lizzie let them prattle away while they had their milk and biscuits, then she shooed them from the room. ‘Get changed out of your school clothes, then you’ve got jobs to do. There’s the parlour to dust—and you’ve got piano practice, Rosie. Aunt Lily’s coming down tomorrow.’
Rosie pulled a face. ‘Where’s Beth?’ she asked, obviously trying to put off both work and piano practice.
‘Out on the verandah with Dave. They’re having a talk. And don’t you go—Rosie!’ Lizzie called after the retreating child.
‘I just want to say hello to Dave,’ Rosie called back.
Frank was not surprised when Beth and David came back into the kitchen a few moments later; Rosie’s noisy presence must have quickly put a stop to any tender moments. David still looked serious, and was as reluctant to meet Frank’s gaze as Frank was his.
But Beth looked straight at her father. The fear and unhappiness he had become used to seeing in her face had gone, replaced by stern reproach. It was clear that David had reported Frank’s words to her, with their implied slur against David’s character, and equally clear Beth did not approve of what her father had said. Frank had never seen Beth look so much like her mother.
It was no use for Lizzie and Amy to attempt to carry on a serious conversation with Rosie and Kate running out to the kitchen whenever they could think of an excuse. Amy rose to leave soon after David had come back into the room. There was an awkward moment when David seemed about to offer to shake hands with Frank, then pulled back.
Amy kissed Beth goodbye, and Beth turned to David. She paused for a moment, then stood on tiptoe, pulled his face down to hers and kissed him on the lips.
‘Beth!’ Lizzie said, visibly shocked. ‘You don’t go doing that in front of everyone! You can just keep that sort of thing for when you’re in private.’
‘I just wanted to say goodbye to my fiancé,’ Beth said, unabashed, though David was blushing and Amy was trying in vain to hide a smile.
Rosie and Kate, who had managed to be in the kitchen in time to witness the kiss, were staring wide-eyed at Beth when the door closed behind Amy and David. ‘Well, you two, we’ve got a bit of news,’ Lizzie told the little girls. ‘We’re going to have a wedding. Beth and Dave are getting married, and you can be bridesmaids again.’
‘Can I have a new dress?’ Rosie asked promptly.
‘No, you can’t,’ said Lizzie. ‘We’ll use the ones from Maudie’s wedding, and we’ll cut Beth’s down for you. Kate can have your old one, and Maisie can wear the same dress she did last time.’
If they were going to start on about dresses, Frank thought, it was time to make himself scarce. He remembered all too well the months leading up to Maudie’s wedding, when the house had seemed full of pink satin and tempers had been strained. He glanced over at Lizzie, and saw her eyes light up as a thought struck her.
‘You can wear my old wedding dress,’ she told Beth.
Frank recalled Maudie’s response to the same suggestion. Before Beth had a chance to answer, he spoke.
‘She can have a new dress for it—she can have all the same stuff Maudie had. I won’t have anyone saying I did more for Maudie than I will for Beth.’
‘Frank, that’s all very well,’ said Lizzie. ‘But we won’t have as much time as we had for Maudie’s. We can’t be sending away to Auckland and all that.’
‘It’s all right, Ma,’ Beth said. ‘I’d rather wear your dress than have a new one. It’s like you’re saying you’re happy that I’m going to marry Dave.’
‘Of course I’m happy about it. There’s no reason I wouldn’t be.’ Lizzie and Beth both turned to Frank and gave him a look that spoke volumes.
14
My darling Sarah, Amy wrote. At last I have some proper news I can tell you. There’s to be a wedding! Dave and Beth are getting married. It’s all been quite a surprise to everyone, but with the two of them spending so much time together while I was staying with you, they got to thinking they’d like to be married. That’s why Davie wrote wanting me to come home, because there was so much to be done in a hurry. They wanted to get married straight away once it was decided.
It’s only going to be a very small wedding, because they’re neither of them ones for a big fuss. Just family and special friends, so of course you’re invited. I’ll understand if you can’t come, I know you’ve a lot on with your business and everything. But I thought I’d write as soon as it was settled, because I knew you’d want to know about everything that’s happened.
As much of what had happened as Amy felt able to put in a letter, at any rate. She tucked the invitation, written in Lizzie’s most careful handwriting, into the envelope w
ith her letter, ready to be sent off when she next went into town.
Sarah’s reply came the following week, and included a note addressed to David. David opened it with a certain amount of trepidation when Amy passed it to him.
‘I suppose she’s telling me off.’
‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Amy said, smiling at his expression. ‘What does she say?’ she prompted when she had given him a few moments to read the note.
‘ “Dear Dave,” ’ he read aloud, ‘ “Marriage seems a rather extreme step to have taken in order to get Amy away from me.” See? I told you she’d tell me off.’
‘She’s just teasing, Davie.’
‘Maybe,’ David said, clearly unconvinced. He looked back at the letter. ‘ “But I wish you every happiness, and congratulate you on your excellent choice of bride. I’m sorry that I won’t be able to attend your wedding.” ’
Another piece of paper was tucked into Sarah’s note; Amy watched as David unfolded it. He stared at it in puzzlement, then his eyes widened. ‘She’s sent me some money. Ma, she’s sent me fifty pounds!’
‘Fifty pounds!’ Amy echoed. ‘That’s nice, isn’t it? That’ll be a real help to you.’
David held the cheque out in front of him, looking as if he were afraid it might bite at his fingers. ‘I don’t know if I can take this. I mean, I don’t really know her that well, and it’s a heck of a lot of money. It doesn’t seem right to take it off her.’
Amy studied his anxious face. David, she knew, could have little idea of the life Sarah led in Auckland, or the funds she had at her disposal. ‘I think you should. I think Sarah would be quite hurt if you sent it back.’
‘But fifty pounds? I wouldn’t want her to go short from giving it to me.’
‘I know it’s a lot to you and me, but it’s different for Sarah. Honestly it is, Davie. If you’d seen her house and everything you’d know.’
‘Why’s she sent me that much? It’s not as if she’s family or anything.’
How much simpler it would have been if she could tell him the truth. And how much more complicated. ‘Sarah’s a good friend, and she’s been very good to me. She wants to do something nice for you—she likes you really, you know.’ She placed a hand on David’s arm. ‘You’d be able to buy some nice things for Beth with the money.’
‘I suppose I would,’ David said thoughtfully, and Amy could see that the matter was settled.
*
Susannah had not been enthusiastic when Thomas had first suggested they get a house cow. It was only after he had assured her that he would take entire responsibility for looking after the animal that she had reluctantly agreed. Frank had given him a Jersey who was past her most productive years, a steady old matron who had adapted to her new home with every appearance of contentment. Thomas had fenced off part of their long backyard, and had built Blossom a byre.
The twice-daily milkings were the happiest part of Thomas’s day. For a brief few minutes he would crouch on a stool in the shelter of the byre, leaning his head against Blossom’s warm flank; his nostrils full of the scent of cow, his hands working at the task he had been familiar with almost since he could walk, hearing the swish of milk into the bucket and Blossom chewing her cud. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine himself back on the farm; could almost believe that he might open them to see his father smiling over at him.
And then if it were morning he would go inside and put on a suit, and a shirt with a stiff, uncomfortable collar, and prepare himself for another day spent within the brick walls of the bank; or if it were evening, he would go in for his dinner, and hope to find his mother in one of her easier moods.
September had brought mild days, but a chill came with the evenings. Thomas was relieved to enter the kitchen and feel the warmth of the stove. When his mother had dished up their meal and taken her seat, Thomas noticed an open envelope beside her plate, a sheet of pink notepaper jutting from it.
‘Who’s that from?’ he asked idly.
‘Your Aunt Constance. She says our mother’s ill. Constance doesn’t expect her to recover.’ She said it without any great show of concern, but Thomas knew she was sometimes inclined to pretend an indifference she did not feel. On another occasion, she might appear far more agitated than she actually was. Reading his mother’s moods was never a simple matter, for all the care he took over it.
‘Are you going up to see her?’ Thomas asked.
‘Of course not. How could I possibly leave you?’
‘I’ll be all right if you have to—I could have my meals at the hotel.’
‘No, it’s simply not to be thought of—not when I’ve no idea how long I might have to stay there. My place is here, looking after you.’
It was clear to Thomas that, for whatever reason, his mother had no desire to go to Auckland and see her family. He did not mind being used as her excuse. ‘Well, if you need to go up later—you know, if she does pass away—I can take my holiday and go up with you, if it’s not for too long.’
She gave him a smile of genuine warmth. ‘Thank you, Thomas. I’d be far easier in my mind if you were to come with me.’ She frowned as a thought struck her. ‘Though if it’s before the wedding, we can’t possibly go. It would be rude of me not to attend Beth’s wedding, especially with your being best man for David.’
‘I suppose not.’ Thomas smiled pensively. ‘Funny to think of Dave getting married. I keep thinking he’s still a little kid.’
‘Well, he is very young to be married,’ said Susannah. Neither of them said aloud what Thomas was sure they were both thinking: David was five years younger than Thomas. ‘Though he does have his own farm, which puts a different complexion on things.’ Her lips compressed for a moment. ‘Of course, you should have had your own farm, too, or at least a fair share of it, if your father had done the right—’
‘Don’t start that, Mother,’ Thomas interrupted. ‘Pa did the best he could. He did right by us all.’ Not allowing any criticism of his father was the one thing Thomas was prepared to be firm with his mother over, and she had learned to respect his feelings on the matter.
‘I’m only thinking of you, I’m sure. Though I must say I’m glad to have got you and George away from that place. Of course George had to go and find himself an even dirtier job than being a farmer, working with all that nasty cargo the way he does.’
‘George is doing all right.’ Thomas was unsure if their mother had any inkling of George’s living arrangements, which had yet to involve marriage, but even without that detail George’s situation was another subject that could become tedious. He changed it. ‘I didn’t really think of Dave asking me to be his best man. Nice that he did, though.’
‘And who else should he ask?’ Susannah said, gazing proudly at him. ‘You’re almost his closest relation. I’m so pleased you’re to be part of it—it should be a most pleasant occasion. I’ve ordered a new dress specially.’ She looked away, and spoke in a carefully casual tone. ‘They’re both very young, but people on farms seem to marry at that sort of age. There’s no need for someone in your position to rush into things.’
‘I’m not rushing into anything,’ said Thomas. There was not much risk of his doing so. It would mean finding a girl who not only wanted to marry him, but was also willing to share a household with his mother. If such a girl existed, he had yet to meet her.
*
Using the bridesmaids’ dresses from Maudie’s wedding had seemed a good way to save time, but altering two of them to fit Rosie and Kate had turned out to be more difficult than expected. Lizzie announced that Rosie had grown suddenly. She made it sound as if Rosie had done it on purpose; Rosie took it as a personal insult, and hard words had been said. Maudie suspected that her mother had cut more off Beth’s old dress than she should have when cutting it down, and was reluctant to admit her mistake. However it had happened, the dress altered for Rosie had dangerously narrow seams, and she had been sternly warned not to grow any more before the wedding. Kate paid the price
by having to wear a dress that had been so cautiously altered as to be baggy on her; the five-year-old might not have noticed, but Rosie had helpfully pointed out the dress’s shortcomings.
So tempers were frayed as the female members of the household crammed into the kitchen, pink satin dresses draped across every available surface. Maudie watched the proceedings, wavering between amused tolerance and aloof superiority. Really, the very idea of trying to organise a wedding in a few weeks! She remembered with satisfaction the months that had gone into preparing for her own day of triumph. Of course that had been completely different. Hers had been a proper wedding.
She flicked a crumb from Lucy’s pretty dress, newly arrived in a package ordered from Auckland. ‘Lucy’s talking ever so well. She’s very forward for her age.’
‘Maisie, see if you can do something about the hem on Kate’s dress,’ said Lizzie. ‘It’s sagging down in the middle. Yes, Lucy’s coming on all right,’ she added absently. ‘Up a bit more, Maisie.’
‘She’s saying whole words one after another,’ Maudie said more loudly. ‘Show Grandma, Lucy. Say, “I want a bikkie”.’
Lucy obliged with a burst of sound that to Maudie was clear proof. ‘See?’ she said triumphantly. ‘A whole sentence, just like that.’
‘All kids do that,’ said Lizzie. ‘You were just the same at her age. I probably thought it was talking, too. I know it seems a marvel to you, but it’s just noises. Pass me those pins, Beth.’
‘It’s not just noises! It’s proper talking. Richard agrees with me.’
‘Richard can’t be bothered arguing over it.’ Lizzie paused in her work to hand Lucy a biscuit and plant a kiss on the top of her head. ‘She’s a good little thing, and she’ll talk soon enough. Now, just keep her out of the way so we can get on with this stuff. You know we haven’t got time to waste with a lot of nonsense.’
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