A Second Chance (29 page)

Lizzie pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve
and handed it to Beth. ‘Blow your nose, girl, we don’t want to hear
you sniffing like that. Now, let’s see this on you.’ She took the
brooch and pinned it to the front of Beth’s dress. ‘Doesn’t that
look nice?’

Beth looked at Amy, Maisie and Lizzie all
smiling encouragingly at her, and again she seemed on the point of
smiling herself. Then she caught her father’s eye, and looked away
quickly. ‘Thank you for the lovely present, Aunt Amy.’ She turned a
pleading face to her mother. ‘Can I go now, Ma?’

Lizzie made a noise of irritation. ‘All
right. Go and do some tidying up in the parlour, I’ll call you in a
bit to come and help me get lunch on. Maisie, you go with her, I
want to talk to Aunt Amy.’

Frank watched the girls go. ‘She can’t stand
the sight of me,’ he said morosely.

‘It’s not that,’ said Amy. ‘She thinks you
can’t bear the sight of her. No, I know that’s not true,’ she said,
forestalling the protest she saw on his lips. ‘But it’s how Beth
feels. Don’t forget, I know a bit about what this is like for a
girl.’

‘I’m only thinking of her, you know,’ Frank
said, the pain clear in his voice. ‘I just want the best for
her.’

‘Of course you do. We all want the best for
them.’ Amy could see that Frank was about to go outside; she
quickly gathered her thoughts and spoke again. ‘Frank, I know
Dave’s not the sort of boy you were thinking of for Beth. He hasn’t
got a lot of money, and our place isn’t very flash—it’s not nearly
as nice as yours.’

‘I’m not too worried about that,’ Frank said
unconvincingly.

‘I’m sure you could have found someone
better off than Dave, especially for a lovely girl like Beth. But I
don’t think you’d ever have found anyone who cares more about her
than he does. He loves her, Frank. That counts for something,
doesn’t it?’

Frank opened his mouth to reply, but closed
it again without speaking. He gave a helpless shrug, and went
outside.

*

Frank had not had a good night’s sleep for
what felt like months, and there was no sign that he was to be
allowed one in the near future. His daughter was wretchedly
unhappy, and this had somehow become his fault. His sons were
increasingly wary of him. He had found himself shouting at Danny
for knocking over a bag of oats; the boys were not used to hearing
their father’s voice raised in anger even when they had done
something to deserve it, let alone for a simple accident. Whenever
he was unwise enough to let Lizzie catch his eye, her expression
ranged between reproachful and exasperated.

He sat in the kitchen, listening to the hum
of conversation around him and trying to rouse the energy to decide
what to do next. Even putting his thoughts in order seemed to take
a huge effort.

Amy was there, as she had been every morning
since she had come home. She would share morning tea with the
family, then stay on for a short time afterwards, talking with
Lizzie. Frank was not part of those discussions, but it was not
hard to guess their main subject.

‘You going to be here a while yet, Amy?’ he
asked when there was a lull in the conversation.

Amy looked over at him and smiled. Hers was
the only reliably friendly face there seemed to have been in his
house since this whole business had started. Before she had the
chance to speak, Lizzie answered for her.

‘Yes, she is. We might do a spot of baking
before she goes home.’

‘That’s good,’ said Frank. ‘I just wondered,
because I’m going out for a bit. I’ll give you a lift home after
that if you don’t mind waiting.’

He saw a knowing look exchanged between the
two women. ‘Thank you, Frank,’ said Amy. ‘I don’t mind
waiting.’

*

Frank tethered his horse to the fence and
walked up to David’s back door, to see David himself standing in
the entrance, a half-eaten biscuit clutched in one hand. He filled
the entire doorway, even having to stoop slightly to avoid hitting
his head.

‘Hello, Uncle Frank.’ He eyed Frank in
evident surprise.

They stood looking at one another for a
moment, then Frank said, ‘Can I come in, then?’

‘Yes,’ David said cautiously. He stepped
back into the kitchen, making space for Frank to enter.

‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ he asked when
the silence had lasted long enough to become awkward.

‘No thanks.’ Frank studied David, towering
over him in the small room. What had possessed him to take on this
young giant? He was uncomfortably aware that he had only emerged
unscathed from the encounter because David had made no attempt to
defend himself. Lizzie claimed she had seen David bend down to make
it easier for Frank to reach him, but Frank felt that was going too
far.

‘How much do you make off this place, Dave?’
he asked abruptly.

‘Um… I’ve been writing up accounts,’ David
said, a tiny spark of pride in the accomplishment discernible in
his voice. ‘You want to see them?’

‘All right,’ Frank said, impressed despite
himself. A guilty memory nudged at him, reminding him that he had
been close to ten years older than David was before he had started
keeping proper accounts.

David shoved what remained of his biscuit
into his mouth and went through to the parlour, and from there to
his room. Frank followed without being invited. He looked around at
the stark little parlour while he waited for David to return.

The walls and floor were bare wood, a faded
rag rug the most colourful thing in the room. There was an ancient
sofa and two mismatched chairs that he suspected might have been in
the cottage even before Charlie had moved into it. An upturned
wooden crate served as a side table. The room was spotlessly clean,
and crocheted covers disguised some of the places where stuffing
showed through the arms of the furniture, but there was little of
comfort and nothing of luxury here.

‘You ever think about doing this place up?’
Frank asked when David emerged from his room with a large accounts
book.

David looked startled at the notion. No,’ he
said simply. He carried the accounts book through to the kitchen
and spread it out on the table for Frank’s inspection.

Frank took the chair David held out for him.
He flicked back a few pages to the beginning of the book while
David sat down beside him. The early entries were in a neat writing
that looked to be a woman’s.

‘Ma showed me how to write them up,’ David
said. ‘She used to help Grandpa with his.’

Amy’s writing was soon replaced by a
clumsier hand that was clearly David’s. Frank scanned the columns
and found the entries for David’s cream cheques. The figures he had
so painstakingly entered were pathetically low.

Another hand had written in the last few
columns. David saw Frank’s eyes go to them. ‘Beth did those. I was
having trouble getting it all to add up properly, but we figured it
out together.’ He turned to the back of the book, where a different
set of columns had been ruled. ‘She showed me how to write all this
stuff about the cows, too, see? I’ve been writing it all down, what
cow had which calf and all. Beth says maybe I can improve the herd.
And you said… you said I could borrow your bull this year.’

‘I suppose I did,’ Frank said, mildly
surprised. It could only have been a few months since he had made
the offer, but it felt like something from the distant past, when
life had been a good deal simpler.

David chewed at his lip, obviously working
up the courage to say something. ‘How’s Beth?’ he asked.

‘Miserable,’ Frank said. ‘She cries all the
time, as far as I can tell. Not that I see much of her.’ He studied
David’s anxious face, and felt himself torn between resentment and
dimly remembered fondness for the boy. Resentment was currently the
stronger emotion, but stronger still was the memory of Beth’s
unhappy face. He shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to clear his
thoughts. If only he weren’t so desperately tired, perhaps he would
be able to think straight.

‘Listen, Dave. You came barging in the other
day, telling me I had to let you marry Beth. A man doesn’t like to
be told what he has to do with his own daughter. How about you come
down tomorrow afternoon and ask me properly—
ask
, I said,
mind—and then… well, we’ll see.’

He saw David’s eyes light up. The boy leaned
forward eagerly, hands resting on his knees. Large, strong hands
they were. The thought of those hands daring to touch his daughter
sent a fresh wave of resentment through Frank. He lifted his gaze
back to David’s face and was struck by how much it resembled his
mother’s. Instead of reassuring him, the sweetness of David’s
expression irritated Frank. The boy had no business sitting there
looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth; not after what he
had done. The soft, dark curls that brushed against his cheeks
seemed the height of impudence.

‘Get your ma to give you a haircut first,’
Frank snapped. ‘A good, short one.’

David flinched. ‘I don’t need—’

‘I haven’t said yes, boy,’ Frank
interrupted. ‘I’ve only said you can come and ask me. You needn’t
bother asking if you turn up looking like that.’

*

Amy was grateful to Frank for taking her
home, but by the time the short ride had ended, she was almost
wishing she had walked. Frank had barely said a word to her, and
she had quickly run out of banal remarks to fill the silence.

The awkward trip at least had the advantage
of getting her home more quickly. She said a hurried goodbye and
rushed into the house to find David.

‘What happened?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘Did Uncle Frank come and see you? What did he say?’

David turned a troubled face to her. ‘He
said I can come and ask him properly tomorrow. I’m allowed to go to
his place and ask to marry Beth.’

‘That’s good! I’m sure he must mean to say
yes, he wouldn’t tease you about an important thing like this.’ She
looked at David’s gloomy expression in surprise. ‘What have you got
such a long face for?’

‘He said I have to have a haircut
first.’

Amy laughed. ‘Is that all? Oh, I’m sorry,
Davie, I know you hate having your hair cut. But it’s not so much
to ask, is it? Not if it means you’re going to be allowed to marry
Beth.’

‘I suppose not.’ David did not sound
completely convinced.

As soon as they had had their lunch, Amy
fetched her scissors and draped an old towel around David’s
shoulders. She snipped off the first few curls, doing her best to
judge when he was about to give a sudden, nervous twitch.

‘You’d better…’ David began, then trailed
off.

Amy paused in her snipping. ‘I’d better
what?’

David looked down at the floor. ‘He said to
make it good and short,’ he said miserably.

‘Then I will.’ She moved the scissors closer
to his scalp, and halted as he flinched again. ‘Davie, if I’m going
to cut it short you’ll have to try and keep still. Or I really
might nick your ear.’

David looked grim and determined, clenched
his fists where they lay on his thighs, and managed to keep more or
less still.

The scissors sliced off long locks, leaving
a pile of hair spread in an arc on the floor and leaving David
looking somehow small and vulnerable. When Amy had finished, she
brushed the last few loose strands away from his face and stepped
back to check her work. ‘There. You won’t need another one for ages
now. I think I might get Beth to do it from now on, she must be
used to cutting boys’ hair.’ She put her arms around his neck and
kissed him on the cheek. ‘It’ll be all right, Davie. You’ll
see.’

*

Frank managed with difficulty to avoid
satisfying Lizzie’s curiosity as to his errand until that evening.
Then there was no escape.

‘I saw Dave. And he’s coming down tomorrow
afternoon to ask me.’

Lizzie’s expression showed how ridiculous
she considered this. ‘Why didn’t you just tell him then and there?
What have you got to have him running around here for?’

‘Because I want to be asked properly. And
now I want a good night’s sleep. I want to be thinking straight
tomorrow. I’ve got some business at the factory in the morning, and
then I’ve got him coming in the afternoon.’

Whether Lizzie would have allowed him to
sleep undisturbed remained unanswered, because soon after she had
put out the lamp Benjy broke the silence. Frank had to admit that
Benjy was normally a good sleeper, but tonight he was fretful and
hard to settle. ‘It’s that new tooth he’s getting,’ Lizzie said as
she paced the floor with him. ‘That, and he’s sick of you being so
grumpy all the time.’

Benjy did not want to be fed, and he did not
need his napkin changed. His wails subsided to a fitful sobbing as
Lizzie walked with him, but they began anew when she tried to put
him back in his cradle. Lizzie gave in readily enough, and took him
into bed with her. Snuggled between his parents, Benjy soon
returned to his usual cheerful mood, though not to being sleepy.
There was a good deal of tickling and giggling that seemed to last
for hours. Had he not been so tired, Frank would have liked to join
in.

*

Maisie was the first to see David and Amy
walking up the path the following afternoon.

‘He’s
coming,’ she announced, turning
wide-eyed from the kitchen window. ‘Dave is!’

‘Yes, we knew he was coming over today,’
Lizzie said briskly. ‘You can talk to him in the parlour, Frank,
I’ll get Maisie to take your tea through there.’

But Frank had no intention of talking to
David in a place where Lizzie could so easily eavesdrop. ‘No, I’ll
see him outside,’ he said, going out to the porch to meet the
visitors and to avoid further discussion with Lizzie.