A Mother's Grace

by Rosie Goodwin

  Grace and Harry nodded enthusiastically as Aunt Gertie settled in the fireside chair to give the piglet a bottle of milk. Grace watched her from the corner of her eye as she ate her pudding and by the time she was done she was already more than a little in love with the tiny creature.

  ‘Might I be allowed to try that one day?’ she asked timidly.

  Aunt Gertie nodded. ‘I don’t see why not. There’s nothing to it really. Once you’ve guided the teat into its mouth it does the rest itself.’

  The meal was rounded off with cups of steaming sweet tea. Harry declared that he was so full he was sure he was going to burst. Surprisingly, neither he nor Grace were tired now and he dared to ask, ‘Is it far to the beach from here?’

  Cerys Llewelyn raised an eyebrow, ‘Not so very far. Why do you ask?’

  Harry blushed to the roots of his hair. ‘Oh … I just wondered, that’s all. I’ve never seen the sea before, you see?’

  ‘Ah, and you would like to see it properly before you go back?’ The woman smiled at him.

  ‘Well … yes, I would rather.’

  ‘Then you must go now before it gets dark. The tide will be coming in and it’s a sight to behold.’ She pointed towards the open door. ‘Go left across the lawn then follow the path through the woods. It will take you down to a cove but don’t linger too long. You don’t want the tide to cut you off.’

  ‘May I go too, Aunt Gertie?’ Grace asked hopefully.

  The woman glanced up. She had finished feeding the piglet and was checking on the wounded hedgehog now.

  ‘I don’t see why not, so long as you don’t go wandering off.’

  They hurried out into the fading light and shot off in the direction they’d been told. They found the path with no trouble and plunged into the wood beneath a thick canopy of trees. It was gloomy in there but they were in such high spirits they barely noticed. The path wound steeply downhill and the further they went the louder the sound of the sea became.

  ‘Your aunt … she’s not what I expected,’ Harry said tactfully.

  Grace giggled. ‘No, she’s quite strange for a lady, isn’t she? Father says she’s eccentric and he doesn’t like her at all, but I do. She wears weird clothes and she makes me laugh. But Mother says she wasn’t always that way. Aunt Gertie was my grandfather’s sister and when she was young she fell in love with and married a very wealthy young man. Mother says they doted on each other and were really happy, but not long after they got married her husband fell from his horse and broke his neck and Aunt Gertie was never the same after that. They had a huge townhouse in a smart part of London and she sold it and moved here, where she’s been ever since. I think all she really cares about now is her animals. It’s sad, isn’t it?’

  Harry nodded in agreement. Eventually, through a gap in the trees ahead of them, they caught a glimpse of the sea. The leaves underfoot gave way to sand and as they emerged from the trees they both stopped and stared in awe at the view in front of them. Far away on the horizon a great red sun was sinking into the sea, washing the waves in scarlet and crimson, and closer to, white-capped waves slapped gently onto the shore. On either side of the cove, the hills rose around them and they felt as if they might be the only two people left alive. Seagulls dipped and dived gracefully into the water as they fished for their supper and Harry suddenly wondered if he had died and gone to heaven.

  ‘Eeh …’ His voice was full of wonder as he stared down at the shells scattered like treasure across the beach. ‘I never imagined it would be like this.’

  Grace giggled as she bent to undo her shoes, then she grabbed his hand and yanked him towards the water. ‘Come on. We can’t go back without having a paddle.’

  He laughed as he too kicked off his shoes. As the water lapped over their toes, they began to splash each other. Harry was usually so serious and quiet that Grace was surprised to see him like this, so clearly enjoying himself. After a time they wandered along collecting shells and stuffing the special ones into their pockets for mementos. Harry spotted a large building high on top of the hill and he pointed to it.

  ‘I wonder what that place is. It’s huge, look.’

  Grace shrugged. ‘I have no idea but no doubt Aunt Gertie will tell us when we get back. It looks like some sort of church to me.’

  They came to a rock pool and Harry watched, fascinated, as a crab moved sideways beneath the water. When they glanced back towards where they had kicked their shoes off, they saw the tide had almost reached them.

  ‘Aunt Gertie did say it came in quickly, didn’t she? We’d better hurry up else our shoes will be washed away.’

  They skittered back up the beach and after retrieving their footwear they went to sit in the shelter of the trees to brush the sand from their feet and put their shoes on again. Grace was so happy she wished this day would never end.

  ‘I could sit here all night and watch the sea,’ Harry admitted. ‘But we’d best make our way back. It’s getting dark now and we don’t want to get lost in the woods.’

  It was much darker in the shelter of the trees now and Grace was a little nervous as she glanced to either side of her. They had gone some way when a dog fox suddenly barked and she reached out and clutched Harry’s hand.

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Oh, just some animal or other,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll probably be more scared of you than you are of him. But let’s get a move on, eh? Time is running on.’ In truth, he was almost as afraid as she was. Harry had grown up in towns and cities and had never known country life, although after today, he knew that he’d like to.

  At last they saw the lights shining from the kitchen window of Beehive Cottage and hurried towards it. Harry’s legs were paining him now and he would be glad to rest but he knew that he would remember the short time he had spent on the beach for the rest of his life; it had been magical.

  Mrs Llewelyn had mugs of hot milky cocoa and a plateful of home-made biscuits ready for them and despite the fact they’d already had an enormous meal, both Harry and Grace tucked into them.

  ‘Now then, boyo. I’m afraid it will have to be a very early start for you tomorrow if you’re to catch the train back to the Midlands.’ As she spoke Mrs Llewelyn piled yet more biscuits onto the plate in front of them. ‘So, when you’re done here I’ll show you where you’re to sleep and you’d best say your goodbyes to Grace this evening. There will be no point in getting her up in the morning to see you off.’

  Harry nodded, wishing that he didn’t have to go back.

  Aunt Gertie had joined them to give the piglet yet another bottle and Grace asked curiously, ‘How often do you have to feed it?’

  ‘At least every two hours till it gets a little bigger and stronger.’

  ‘Hmm, an’ she feeds it all through the night as well!’ Mrs Llewelyn shook her head. ‘She’s slept in the chair by the fire ever since it came. I keep telling her it’s too much for her, but will she listen?’

  ‘I’m fit as a fiddle,’ Aunt Gertie protested. ‘Stop fussing, woman. I’ll tell you when it’s time to put me out to grass. I’m only in my early fifties, only a couple years older than you! I might be getting on but I’m not in me dotage yet!’

  Grace and Harry exchanged an amused glance as Mrs Llewelyn ushered them towards the door.

  ‘Goodnight, Aunt,’ Grace said.

  ‘Goodnight, Mrs, er … and thanks fer puttin’ me up,’ Harry added.

  Gertrude smiled at him. ‘No problem at all. When you get back tell Madeline that I’ll let her know when Grace is coming back so that you can come and fetch her home. Perhaps you could come early and sneak a couple of days’ holiday for yourself at the same time?’

  Harry’s face lit up at the thought, as he followed Mrs Llewelyn and Grace upstairs.

  ‘This will be your room, boyo.’ Mrs Llewelyn flung a door open and Harry glanced around. It was too dark to see much from the open window but he could hear the waves crashing on the shore beyond the woods.
>
  ‘Goodbye, Harry, and thanks for bringing me. Give my love to everyone at home, won’t you?’ Grace felt tears prick at the back of her eyes.

  ‘O’ course I will. Bye fer now, Miss Grace.’

  Leaving Harry to settle in, Mrs Llewelyn moved on to another room a little further along the landing.

  By the light of the oil lamp, Grace could see it was a very pretty room, although the wallpaper, which was covered in tiny pink rosebuds, was a little faded.

  ‘This was your mother’s room when she was a girl and she used to come to stay,’ Mrs Llewelyn informed her.

  ‘Really?’ Grace smiled. Then she remembered something. ‘Mrs Llewelyn, what is that large building perched high on the edge of the cliff that you can see from the cove?’

  ‘Oh, that’ll be the convent.’

  ‘Really? Do nuns still live there?’ Grace was intrigued.

  Mrs Llewelyn was in the process of turning the bed back. ‘They most certainly do. They open their chapel to the villagers for Sunday morning worship if ever you wish to go.’

  ‘Oh, I’d love to,’ Grace declared as Mrs Llewelyn passed her a nightdress.

  Grace snuggled down in the bed with the breeze from the open window gently blowing the curtains. She could hear the waves on the beach and somewhere an owl was hooting. Grace smiled into the darkness. She felt safe here. There was no chance of her father coming into her room and perching on the side of the bed. It was funny, she thought, how not so long ago she had actually enjoyed all the attention he showered on her, but now his attention was beginning to feel a little suffocating. He even resented the time she spent at Sunday school. The only saving grace was that he still went off on his weekend jaunts to wherever it was he went. She and her mother had stopped asking him where it might be some long time ago, for he always evaded answering them and, truthfully, neither of them much cared. The house was always so much lighter without his presence. And now she had at least a whole month here with Auntie Gertie to do as she pleased. It was a shame Harry couldn’t have stayed with her, though. On their walk that evening he had said more than she had ever heard him say in her life. It was as if he was a different person. Perhaps it was the fresh air, she mused. She decided she would get up early to see him off and yawned as she wondered what she might do the next day.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next morning Grace woke to another beautiful day and the sound of the birds singing in the trees outside. Something was rustling in the thatch above her and she lay disorientated for a second until she remembered where she was. Then, with a big grin, she hopped out of bed and dressed without even taking the trouble to wash. She had no idea what time it was but with a bit of luck she would catch Harry before he left.

  She thumped down the stairs in a most unladylike manner – after all, her father wasn’t there to scold her – and burst into the kitchen to find Mrs Llewelyn standing at the stove stirring something in a large pan. Aunt Gertie was in her usual seat feeding the piglet and a young girl who looked to be about her own age was sitting at the kitchen table eating a large bowl of porridge.

  She gave Grace a shy smile before lowering her eyes and turning her attention to the food in front of her.

  ‘Ah, here you are, pet.’ Aunt Gertie grinned as she laid the piglet back in his box and carried the empty bottle to the sink. ‘I was beginning to think we’d need a crowbar to get you out of bed.’

  ‘Why? Is it very late? Have I missed Harry leaving?’

  ‘It’s almost ten o’clock,’ Aunt Gertie informed her. ‘And Harry left ages ago. I should think he’s been on the train for at least a couple of hours now.’

  ‘Oh!’ Grace glanced towards the girl sitting at the table again, trying hard not to show her disappointment.

  ‘This is my granddaughter, Myfanwy,’ Mrs Llewelyn told her with a proud smile in the girl’s direction. ‘She lives in Pwllheli with her parents but she spends a fair amount of time here with me and her taid.’ When Grace looked slightly confused she explained. ‘Taid would probably be grandfather to you and I am her nain. Show some manners and say hello now, our Myfanwy.’

  ‘Hello,’ Myfanwy said quietly and as Grace nodded to her she felt quite envious. Myfanwy was easily the prettiest girl she had ever seen. Her hair was as black as coal and hung down her back in a silken sheet and her eyes were the colour of bluebells. She had a heart-shaped face, a rosebud mouth and dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. Even though she was sitting down, Grace judged that she would be much taller than she was. Suddenly she felt very plain and dumpy.

  ‘You and our Myfanwy are the same age all but for a couple of months,’ Mrs Llewelyn went on as she spooned porridge into another dish. ‘I thought you might be able to entertain each other while you’re here. But now come and get some of this down you.’

  ‘I’d be fat as anything if it was left up to my nain,’ Myfanwy whispered as Grace sat at the table with her and Grace noticed that she had the same accent as her grandparents. But at least the ice was broken now and the girl seemed friendly enough.

  ‘Myfanwy knows her way about,’ Mrs Llewelyn informed Grace as she spooned a large dollop of honey collected from the beehives that Aunt Gertie kept at the bottom of her garden into her bowl. ‘So she’ll be able to show you about so’s you don’t go getting lost.’

  Grace nodded. She had never really been allowed to spend time with anyone close to her own age, apart from Libby when she was at school and she liked the idea of possibly making a real friend.

  ‘I’ll show you all around Beehive Cottage first, there’s lots of animals for you to meet,’ Myfanwy volunteered.

  Grace nodded eagerly and as soon as they’d finished their porridge, they left via the back door.

  ‘Be back for some lunch now,’ Mrs Llewelyn’s voice floated after them and Myfanwy gave a cheeky grin.

  Grace was quite shocked to see just how big it was at the back of the cottage. There was an orchard where the branches on the trees dipped beneath the weight of apples and pears, a pigsty where an enormous sow snuffled in the dirt as ten chubby piglets chased after her, and there were chickens, ducks and a rather feisty goose who chased them territorially.

  ‘That’s Esmeralda,’ Myfanwy informed Grace. ‘She thinks she’s a dog and tries to see everyone off.’ The tour continued and at one point they saw Aunt Gertie marching purposely towards the woods with a rifle slung beneath her arm. Today she was dressed in men’s corduroy breeches and yet another flannel shirt that flapped about as she walked. Her feet were encased in heavy black boots and her hair was scraped back with a ribbon at the base of her neck. From a distance it would have been very easy to take her for a man.

  ‘Where do you suppose Aunt Gertie is going?’ Grace asked musingly.

  Myfanwy chuckled. ‘Off to shoot some rabbits in the woods no doubt.’ She tossed her long black hair across her shoulder. ‘We’re overrun with them here, so she doesn’t mind shooting them because they can be eaten. My nain makes a wonderful rabbit stew, so she does. But she’ll never kill an animal just for the sake of it. I think Gertie likes animals more than people.’

  ‘Does she ever … you know … dress normally?’

  Myfanwy shook her head. ‘Well, I’ve never seen her in a skirt, if that’s what you mean. My taid usually gets all the provisions from Pwllheli but even when she’s away from the cottage, she still dresses as you see her now. Lots of people hereabouts think she’s strange but she isn’t. She just doesn’t care much for conven … convenshi … Well, she don’t care what folks think, that’s what me mam says anyway.’

  ‘Hmm.’ They were wandering in the direction of the beach now and Grace asked, ‘And what does your father do? For a job, I mean.’

  ‘Me dad is a fisherman,’ Myfanwy told her proudly. ‘He owns his own boat and has a crew that work for him. It’s a good living in the summer but me mam worries something terrible when he’s out at sea in the winter. Storms can blow up from nowhere and me mam has spent many a long night up on t
he cliffs watching for a sign of his boat returning home. We respect the sea around here, see? It can be brutal, so it can, and has claimed many fishermen’s lives. That’s why me mam and dad always go to chapel to say a prayer afore he sails.’

  ‘And do you have any brothers or sisters?’ Grace asked then.

  ‘Just the one brother, Dylan, he’s two years older than me. There were two more, both girls, but they died of scarlet fever just after I was born. Me mam said I was very lucky that I didn’t get it too.’ She glanced at Grace in her pretty clothes and asked curiously, ‘What does your dad do?’

  ‘He’s a judge.’

  ‘A judge! What, in a court of law?’

  Grace nodded as she kicked at a stone. It was something that her father considered extremely unladylike and she would never have done it in his presence but she was just discovering that she could get away with things here.

  ‘Yes, and I don’t think he’s very popular around where we live,’ Grace confided. ‘I overheard Mrs Batley and Mabel, our staff, talking one day and they said that he’s known as “the hanging judge” because he’s so stern and he gives criminals who are brought before him very heavy sentences.’

  Myfanwy’s pretty blue eyes stretched wide. ‘And is he strict with you?’

  ‘Not really …’ Grace paused as she chose her words carefully. ‘But he likes me to do what he says and he doesn’t like me to have friends. When he’s at home I have to spend my time with him.’

  ‘I see.’ Myfanwy didn’t think that Grace’s father sounded very nice at all. ‘And what is your mam like?’

  Grace’s face broke into a smile. ‘Oh, she is lovely. But she’s an invalid and can’t get about too easily. Aunt Gertie is really her aunt and my great-aunt. She was my grandfather’s younger sister and Mother says they were very close until my grandfather died. I never knew him because he died before I was born.’

  ‘That’s sad,’ Myfanwy commented, then as they glimpsed the sea through the trees she giggled. ‘Last one to reach the waves is a rotten egg.’ And she was off running with her glorious black hair flying behind her.