A Second Chance (25 page)

‘I’d like that—if you’re not too busy.’

‘When I can’t get away, you can take one of
the maids. And if
they’re
both busy, you could always take
young Walter. I’m sure he’d be only too pleased to get out of
working in the garden to squire you around town.’

‘I don’t want—’ Amy began, but Sarah held up
a warning hand.

‘Let there be no talk of being a
nuisance
. The function of my staff is to keep the household
running smoothly, and to make my life comfortable. I won’t be
comfortable unless you’re happy. So by looking after you they’re
only doing their job.

‘You’ll be safe enough at public events,
like the theatre,’ she went on. ‘I’ll be sure not to leave you
alone at such functions.’ She smiled at Amy. ‘If I’m to make good
his promises, I believe I owe you a few outings yet. As for private
functions like dinner parties, I’ll ask for a guest list before we
accept.’

‘Can you do that?’ Amy asked in
surprise.

‘Oh, yes. It’s not something I’ve made a
habit of, but I believe I do have the social status to make such a
request. Don’t look so shocked, dear.’

‘It just doesn’t seem quite… polite.’

Sarah gripped her hand. ‘Believe me, Amy,
when it comes to protecting you I’m prepared to take measures a
good deal more drastic than requiring a guest list.’

*

David went out to meet Beth when she arrived
at the farm on the day they had agreed must be their deadline. One
look at her face told him there had been no last-minute release.
‘We’d better go and tell them, then,’ he said.

‘Now?’ Beth said nervously.

‘We said we’d do it today. No sense putting
it off, Beth. We’ll only get more worried if we sit around thinking
about it. Come on, let’s go right now.’

‘Couldn’t we have a cup of tea first?’ She
rested a hand on his arm and looked up into his face, a plea in her
eyes. ‘I think I’d feel more up to it if we did.’

‘Well… all right, then,’ David relented.
‘Just a quick one, though. Let’s just tether Jess here, that’ll
save time later.’

They walked towards the house, arms around
each other’s waists. ‘I’m glad of the excuse to put it off,
myself,’ David said. ‘I can’t say I’m in a rush to tell Uncle Frank
about all this.’

‘It’s all right for you, Pa never gets wild
about anything. But Ma’ll… well, I don’t know what she’ll do. But I
know it’ll be awful.’

‘I don’t know, he might get a bit wild,’
David said doubtfully, but Beth shook her head.

‘No, I’m sure he won’t. You don’t need to
worry about that.’

The tea was made and drunk rather more
quickly than Beth had hoped, and they set off down the road, riding
side by side. She would have preferred to keep their horses to a
walk, but David insisted on cantering much of the way. All too
soon, they had drawn up to the fence in front of the house.

They dismounted, and tethered their horses.
‘Pa’ll be looking at the new calves,’ Beth said. ‘Yes, there he is
over by that shed.’ She pointed out the direction. ‘I suppose I’ve
got to go and see Ma, then.’

Shielded from view by the horses’ bodies,
they squeezed hands briefly, then went their separate ways.

Beth found Maisie alone in the kitchen.
Directed by her, she went through to her parents’ room. Her mother
had just dressed Benjy, and was encouraging the little boy to take
a few steps, holding tightly to his chubby hands so that there was
no risk of a fall.

Lizzie looked up at Beth in surprise. ‘What
are you doing back so soon, love? Did you forget something?’

Beth took a deep breath. ‘No. I need to talk
to you, Ma.’

‘Mmm? What about?’ Lizzie scooped Benjy up
on to her hip and looked questioningly at Beth.

‘I…’ Beth looked down at the floor, then
around the room. Her father had left one of his belts lying across
the back of a chair. Beth’s eyes fell on it; she looked away
quickly. David was right: best to get it over with.

‘It’s… it was… I—we—didn’t mean to, it just
sort of happened…’

‘Whatever are you on about, girl?’ her
mother said, halfway between amusement and irritation. ‘What’s
happened? Did you break something of Aunt Amy’s? Is that it?’

‘No… I…’ Beth gulped down the sob that was
tightening her throat. ‘I haven’t had my bleeding for ages now—I’ve
missed two times. It hasn’t come since Dave and I started… I’m
really, really sorry, Ma. I think… I think I’m going to have a
baby.’

Her mother’s mouth dropped open. For a
moment she stared at Beth in shock, lost for words. Beth had
expected that, and she fully expected to see the shock rapidly
succeeded by anger. She cringed, waiting to see what form her
mother’s wrath would take, and wondering just how painful it would
be.

Lizzie reached out blindly, and grasped at
the bedpost. She sat down heavily on the bed, easing Benjy onto her
lap as she did. She gave her head a small shake, as if to clear her
thoughts.

‘Well,’ she said at last, ‘I never thought
of that happening. I see now I should have, now it’s staring me in
the face. Ah well, no sense going on about it. We’d better see how
quickly we can get you two married.’ She looked at Beth in
surprise. ‘What are you doing, standing there with your mouth open?
Of course you’re getting married!’

‘I know, we really want to. It’s just…’ Beth
hesitated, studying her mother’s expression to assure herself of
the astonishing fact that she seemed in no danger of being
punished. ‘Aren’t you wild or anything? I thought you’d give me a
hiding.’

‘Where’s the sense in that? It’s not as if
it’d make any difference now. Anyway, we need to take things
carefully with you having a baby on the way. I’m not saying I
wouldn’t have given you a good one, mind you, if I’d caught on
before things had gone that far. No, it’s my fault as much as
anyone’s, leaving you two alone all that time and never thinking
anything of it. I thought you and Dave were like brother and
sister.’ She frowned. ‘Hmm, you’re cousins, come to that. Still,
that can’t be helped now. And it’s only second cousins, that
doesn’t really count.

‘Now,’ she went on briskly, ‘Don’t you
breathe a word about this to your father. I’ll need to go carefully
there, it’s going to take him a bit of getting used to. I’ll have a
think about the best way to tell him.’

‘Dave’s telling him now. He came down with
me.’

Lizzie gave a start. ‘What? Telling him on
his own? You silly girl! What were you thinking of?’ She rose and
hurried from the room, down the passage and through the kitchen
(stopping only to thrust Benjy into the arms of a startled Maisie),
and out of the house, Beth following in her wake.

*

‘
Dave! Nice to see you here,’
Frank said when he saw David approaching. ‘How’s calving going at
your place?’

‘Pretty good. I’m getting quite a few
heifers. Beth’s been helping me decide which ones to keep.’

‘Well, you couldn’t have anyone better—I
tell her she knows more about calves than I do. She’s got a real
way with animals. You want to have a look at this lot?’ He waved a
hand to indicate the calves in the paddock.

‘Um, maybe a bit later. Uncle Frank, can I
have a talk with you?’

There was something in his tone that made
Frank look more closely at him. He saw David cast an uncomfortable
look around at the boys, who were watching with mild curiosity. So
it was something David wanted to speak to him about in private.

Frank was touched that David should come to
him for advice, and glad to try and help, if something was
troubling him. It was quite a responsibility for a boy of eighteen
to be running a farm on his own. And with Charlie as his father,
Frank knew that David had not had the easiest of childhoods.

‘Let’s take a stroll up there,’ Frank
suggested, pointing to a paddock just above the house. ‘I’ve got a
few calves in there, too. No need for you boys to come,’ he added.
‘I’ll just show the calves to Dave, then it’ll be just about
morning tea time.

‘Now,’ he said when they were far enough
away from the boys to be sure of some privacy, ‘what’s on your
mind, Dave?’

‘I… I want to…’ David began, then trailed
off. He looked at Frank, and quickly looked away.

Something really must be troubling the poor
lad, Frank thought. Whatever it was, David was embarrassed about
it. ‘Is it anything to do with money?’ Frank prompted. ‘I know it’s
not always easy keeping that sort of thing straight. I don’t mind
telling you I got in a muddle that way myself once—when I was a
fair bit older than you are, too, so I had a lot less excuse.’

‘No, it’s nothing like that,’ David said,
still looking at the ground.

‘No? What is it, then? Come on, Dave, don’t
be shy about asking. We’re family, right? If it’s anything I can
help you with, I’m only too happy to.’

David raised his eyes, and Frank thought he
looked a little less anxious. ‘I do want to ask you for something,
Uncle Frank. Something really big.’

He looked so earnest that Frank had to make
an effort not to smile. ‘Really big, eh? Well, we’ll see what we
can do. What is it, then?’

He saw David take a deep breath before
speaking. ‘I want to marry Beth.’

It was all Frank could do not to laugh out
loud. He managed to turn his snort of amusement into a cough. ‘I
can’t say I expected that!’ he said, unable to keep the smile out
of his voice.

‘Now, Dave,’ he went on, trying to give the
appearance of taking the outrageous suggestion seriously, ‘I
suppose it’s not so surprising, with you spending all this time
together lately, and her more or less keeping house for you. And
the two of you have always been good mates, right from when you
were little kids. But you’re both much too young to be thinking
about getting married—you especially.’

‘We really want to get married,’ David said,
looking more earnest than ever.

‘Well, I’ll tell you what,’ Frank said
easily, ‘maybe in two or three years, if you still think that’s
what you want, we might have a talk about it then.’ It was a
painless enough offer to make. David and Beth had been playing
house together, and that had put this silly notion into their
heads. Frank was quite sure they would have all but forgotten it
long before two years had passed. And in the meantime, he would see
what he could do to help David improve that farm of his, so that
when the boy was at a reasonable age to think about getting
married, he might be in a position to ask a girl and hope to be
accepted. Frank was fond of David, and he hoped it would be a nice
girl, who would make him happy. But it would not be one of Frank’s
daughters. He was comfortably sure of that.

‘No!’ David said, startling Frank out of his
reverie. ‘No, Uncle Frank, we need to get married right now—really
soon, anyway. You have to let me marry Beth. You
have
to.’

All amusement drained out of Frank as he
looked at David’s wild-eyed stare. His eyes narrowed. ‘What do you
mean, I have to let you?’ he said slowly. ‘You got something to
tell me, boy? What’s been going on? Eh?’

‘I’m really, really sorry.’ David looked on
the verge of tears, but there was no room in Frank for sympathy.
Not with the rage that was flooding through him.

‘What have you done to my daughter?’ he
growled.

‘She’s… Beth’s going to have a baby.’

Almost before he knew what he was doing,
Frank had launched himself at David. He grabbed him by the shirt
and swung his fist.

If they had not been on sloping ground, with
David standing somewhat below him, Frank would have had little
chance of reaching higher than David’s chest. But the punch slammed
into his face, knocking his head to one side. When Frank let go of
his shirt front he took a step backwards, and raised his hands in a
feeble effort to defend himself, but Frank’s next punch got through
as easily as the first. Blood began running from David’s nose. He
made no attempt to fight back or to escape. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’
he said helplessly, then closed his eyes against the sight of the
fist once again coming at his face.

Frank heard Lizzie’s voice, loud enough to
carry easily. ‘Frank!’ she called. ‘Don’t you kill that boy, he’s
got to marry Beth!’

He turned aside from David to see Lizzie
hurrying towards him, moving faster than she had in years. ‘He’s
bloody not!’ he shouted back.

‘
Davie!’ Beth screamed at the
sight of blood trickling down his face. She made to rush at him,
but Lizzie caught her by the arm and took a firm hold.

Frank saw David take a step towards Beth.
‘You stay away from her! You get off my farm right now, and don’t
you ever set foot on it again. If I see you coming here trying to
hang around my daughter, I’ll knock your bloody head off. Go on,
get out.’

David cast a helpless look in Beth’s
direction and walked slowly to where he had left his horse
tethered, looking over his shoulder as he went. ‘Stay here,’ Lizzie
told Beth. She lifted her skirts and scurried off after David.

‘Lizzie!’ Frank called. ‘Don’t you go near
him!’ Lizzie ignored him. ‘Lizzie!’ he shouted. ‘Are you listening
to me?’

‘I’ll just be a minute,’ Lizzie called back.
She reached David and talked rapidly for a few moments, while Frank
fumed. After a quick glance at Beth, who was sobbing, he could not
bring himself to meet her eyes. Instead he glared at the back of
Lizzie’s head, which seemed to him to have a particularly defiant
tilt to it.

Beth stood where her mother had left her.
She watched Lizzie talking to David, then allowed herself to be led
back towards the house. ‘Davie’s got blood all over his face!’ she
wailed.

‘He’ll be all right,’ Lizzie said briskly.
‘It’s just a bleeding nose. I’m sure he got a lot worse from his
father.’