Mud and Gold (69 page)

‘You, of course, you great fool! What a
dopey thing to say.’ He felt Lizzie relax against him. ‘Honestly,
Frank, you can be a real idiot sometimes. Anyone would think you’d
planned it so I’d be the size of a house right in the middle of all
this.’ He laughed with her, content to know that Lizzie had for the
moment forgotten to be afraid.

Lizzie wriggled herself closer. ‘I don’t
know why I have to have babies at such ridiculous times. Maudie
comes right in the middle of a mountain blowing up, and now this
one’s going to arrive when we’re stuck in a flood.’

‘It’s not going to come that quickly, is
it?’

He felt Lizzie shake her head, her hair
tickling his face in the darkness. ‘It shouldn’t be for a few
weeks. Maudie was early, though.’

‘We’ll be right, then. It’ll all be over by
the time the baby starts.’ His hand crept down to caress the warm
bulge of her belly. ‘And even if it isn’t, I’ll look after you. We
know more about the whole business now.’

‘Oh, no you won’t,’ Lizzie said. ‘I’m not
one of your precious cows, Frank Kelly. You needn’t think you’re
sticking those great hands of yours up inside me.’

‘We’ll see,’ he murmured, chuckling at the
fierceness of her tone. ‘You might be glad of a bit of help.’

‘Not from you, thanks very much. I’ve no
intention of having this baby until the flood’s over and you can
fetch a nurse out, or at least another woman.’ She said it with
utter certainty, and Frank felt himself sharing her confidence.
When Lizzie was like this it was impossible to imagine even the
forces of nature daring to disobey her.

‘You’re right, Lizzie,’ he said with mock
solemnity. ‘The baby won’t be born till you’re good and ready.’

Which turned out to be quite true. Late in
July the torrential rain began to subside into weather that was
merely stormy and unpleasant, and the creeks and rivers slowly
returned to their usual confines. The people of the valley emerged
from their isolation to compare notes with one another on their
losses, and to begin the task of rebuilding fences washed away by
the flood.

They had been luckier than many, they
discovered when they were no longer cut off from the rest of the
world. Sheep were being found washed up all along the coast, but
losses within the valley had been slight. Jack had lost one cow,
and Arthur and Jack had both lost a few of the sheep that served no
other purpose than to provide meat for the family table. Much to
the delight of all the older children, water had gone through the
school, and cleaning it up so that lessons could resume was well
down on the list of priorities.

The only dwelling to be flooded was Harry’s,
built well above the level of the usual winter floods but no match
for this freakish deluge. Harry, Jane and the three children moved
into the homestead until their house had been thoroughly cleaned
and the timbers damaged by the flood replaced, and that the Leiths
survived the ensuing weeks of strife was a source of wonder to the
rest of the family for long afterwards. The apparent miracle was
put down to the fact that Jane had not yet recovered her full
strength after Robert’s birth, so was unable to put much energy
into fighting with Susannah.

Life had almost resumed its usual patterns
when Michael Kelly made his way into the world, with nurse and
grandmother duly in attendance. Relieved of his burden of worry
over Lizzie, Frank could give more attention to tending his cows
and acting as midwife to whichever of them needed his help. The new
Jersey calves spread their arrivals around the baby’s, one heifer
and a bull calf a few days before, and a second heifer a week after
Michael’s birth.

With a total lack of justice, Lizzie told
anyone who would listen that Frank had worried more about the
Jerseys than he had about her, but now that they had weathered the
latest storm Frank was too contented to rise to her teasing. Two
more heifers to add to his growing tally of pedigree Jerseys; a
dozen half-breeds to replace the older Shorthorns and thus improve
the cream content of the milk he sold to the factory; another son
who in a few years would help him on the farm; and best of all:
Lizzie hale and strong as ever, Lizzie supporting whatever he did,
Lizzie giving him a reason to do it at all.

December 1892 – March 1893

That December Sophie produced her second
son, a little dark-haired child they named Andrew, in the way she
did most things: placidly and uncomplaining. The family took
Andrew’s arrival in much the same way as Sophie did; a second son
and fifth grandson was an occasion for no more than mild
celebration, and the most obvious effect was that the youngest John
graduated from being known as ‘Baby’ to the more appropriate ‘Boy’
now that there was a real baby.

Later in the month, two days after Bill and
Lily’s first anniversary, came a birth that caused far more
excitement. In fact, Arthur’s reaction to the birth of Lily’s son
came dangerously close to straining Lizzie’s friendship with Lily
beyond mending.

‘Come and see my grandson,’ Arthur greeted
Frank and Lizzie when they arrived the day after the birth to pay
their first visit to the baby. ‘No, don’t worry about the
horses—Ernie, see to Frank’s horses.’ He drew the Kelly family
towards the house in his wake. Mickey stirred for a moment in
Lizzie’s arms, then settled again as she walked.

‘Edie?’ Arthur called as they trooped in the
back door. ‘They’re here to see him.’

Edie emerged from Bill’s bedroom. ‘For
goodness sake, Arthur, don’t make so much noise,’ she scolded. To
Frank’s amazement, Arthur looked abashed.

‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I didn’t wake the
little fellow, did I?’

‘He’s already awake,’ Edie said, smiling.
‘He’s just had a feed and he’s all sleepy and nice. Now,’ she said,
taking charge of the situation and clearly in her element with a
baby in the house for her to fuss over, ‘you children can just have
a peep at him, then go outside and keep out of the way. The rest of
you try not to make too much row. Lily’s worn out, poor love.’ She
hurried up to Lizzie and said in a whisper loud enough for Frank to
catch, ‘In labour for two days and two nights, the poor dear.
Bill’s been beside himself.’

Lizzie clicked her tongue sympathetically as
they walked into the room, which had not been designed to hold six
adults and five children. Edie led the three older children over to
inspect the baby, then firmly escorted them to the door and sent
them down the passage, leaving the adults free to move around more
comfortably.

Lily lay against a pile of pillows, the
linen pillow cases looking scarcely paler than her face, but a
faint smile played on her lips as she gazed at the child in her
arms. Bill sat beside the bed staring at the baby with a look of
bemused delight, one hand resting proprietorially on Lily’s
shoulder. He glanced for a moment at Frank and Lizzie, then his
eyes returned to the baby. Frank watched the three of them and
recalled the way he had felt when he had first seen Maudie, a tiny
bundle snuggled up against Lizzie. He smiled as much at the
remembered joy as at the sight before him.

‘Did you ever see a better looking baby?’
Arthur demanded. ‘He’s a fine boy, my grandson. How are you feeling
now, my dear?’ he asked Lily.

‘Tired,’ Lily said in a weak voice. ‘But
better than I was this morning, thank you… Father.’ She added the
last word hesitantly, but his beaming smile said clearly that
Arthur had forgotten he had ever wondered whether Lily might not be
a little too old, a little too well-educated, and a little too
finely bred to become the bride of a farmer’s son. The way Lily had
thrown herself wholeheartedly into helping Edie run the house had
overcome most of his doubts; now that she had produced this
wondrous child, her place in his heart was sealed.

Lily moved a little in the bed as if to ease
some discomfort, and her face contorted. She shot a helpless look
at Edie, who clearly understood the signal at once.

‘Out of here, you men,’ Edie said briskly.
She had to give Bill’s shoulder a shake before he took any notice
of her. ‘Go on, Bill, you can come back later. You too, Arthur.
Give the poor girl a rest for a bit.’ She bustled the three of them
out and shut the door in their faces.

‘A fine boy, that grandson of mine,’ said
Arthur. ‘Time we had a drink to celebrate.’

Frank soon found himself sitting in the
parlour with Arthur and Bill, each of them holding a generously
filled glass of whisky.

‘To my grandson,’ Arthur intoned.

‘To my son,’ Bill added, looking at the wall
in the direction of his bedroom.

‘To… hey, what’s his name?’ Frank asked.

Arthur’s smile grew even wider. ‘Didn’t I
tell you?’ he said smugly.

*

Two walls away Edie replaced the covers over
Lily and patted them down gently. ‘Nothing wrong that a good rest
won’t fix,’ she said. ‘It’ll be sore down there for a bit, but
you’ll forget it all soon enough now you’ve the little fellow to
think about.’

Lizzie had taken the seat vacated by Bill.
She opened her bodice to offer a nipple to a now-wakeful Mickey.
‘What are you going to call him, Lily?’ she asked.

Lily smiled at the baby, now dozing in his
cradle. ‘Well, I’d decided he was going to be William, and Bill had
no objection to that,’ she said, a touch of wry humour showing
through her weariness. ‘But then when it was all over and I’d woken
up properly, and Bill had come in and seen us, your father came
in—’

‘I’d had a beggar of a job keeping him out
till then,’ Edie put in. ‘I said you and Bill were to have a bit of
time just the two of you and the little fellow, once you’d woken
up. He only gave you five minutes.’

‘Was it that long?’ Lily said musingly.
‘Well, he came in and looked at the baby as though he’d never seen
one before. He gave me a kiss as if I was really his daughter,
and…’ Her smile took on a touch of sadness. ‘I don’t remember my
father very well.’ She gave her head a little shake and went on.
‘Then after he’d asked how I was, he asked what we were going to
call the baby. I opened my mouth to say “William”, and found myself
saying, “We’d like to call him Arthur, if you don’t
mind.”
 
’ She laughed, but the
movement made her wince. ‘He doesn’t mind,’ she said softly, her
eyes drooping as she spoke. As soon as Mickey had finished feeding,
Lizzie and Edie rose and quietly left the room to join the men in
the parlour.

*

Lizzie was not normally given to fits of
jealousy, but when she felt her husband or one of her children was
being slighted she could be fierce in their defence. When she had
heard her father refer to ‘My grandson’ one time too many, she
tartly reminded him that he already had four other
grandchildren.

‘That’s all very well, but they’re Kellys,’
Arthur responded. ‘This boy’s a Leith.’

‘What a load of old rubbish,’ Lizzie said.
‘Babies are babies—what on earth does it matter what their name
is?’ But Arthur laughed at her, and only Frank saw that Lizzie was
hiding hurt under her show of pique.

‘Take no notice,’ he urged when they were on
their way home, with Arthur safely out of earshot. ‘He’s just being
silly, just because it’s a novelty for him to have a Leith
grandson. Not to mention one named after him. He’ll get over it
soon enough and be moaning that the little fellow keeps him awake
at night.’

‘Serves Pa right if he does,’ Lizzie
muttered. ‘I hope he bawls all night.’

But Lizzie’s sense of fairness would not
allow her to feel any resentment towards Lily for the place the
young Arthur was clearly going to hold in his grandfather’s heart.
Her father might be being ridiculous, but Lily was her friend, and
Lily was sore and weary from travail that no man could really
understand. Lizzie teetered on the edge of blaming Lily for the way
Arthur was ignoring his other grandchildren, then abruptly swung
the other way.

‘Pa fussing over that baby’s probably
getting on Lily’s nerves,’ she said. ‘Poor Lily’s worn out, too. Ma
said she had an awful time of it.’

‘Mmm. Bill said the same to me. It doesn’t
come natural to her like it does to you, eh?’

The appeal to Lizzie’s pride in her own
womanly gifts coaxed a smile from her. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m lucky.
Still, the first time’s the worst, especially with Lily not being
so young. It’ll be easier next time.’

‘Bill said something about not wanting her
to have another one for a good long time, after this one being so
hard on her.’ Frank shifted the reins into one hand so that he
could slip his free arm around Lizzie. ‘Hope he’s better at keeping
to it than I was when you’d been ill, eh?’ he murmured close to her
ear.

‘He couldn’t be any worse,’ Lizzie said.
They shared pleasant memories in silence for a few moments.

‘I don’t remember you looking as bad as she
does, Lizzie. You always look as pretty as ever, even when it’s
only just over.’

‘Flatterer,’ Lizzie scoffed, but she smiled
as she said it. ‘She does look awful, doesn’t she? Ma told me
she’ll be fine, and Ma knows all there is to know about it, so
there’s no need to worry, but I bet she’ll be a while getting over
it. She looks nearly as bad as Amy did.’

‘Worse,’ Frank said idly.

‘Oh, no,’ Lizzie insisted. ‘Amy looked
shocking that first time. You wouldn’t know, you didn’t see
her.’

‘Yes I did,’ Frank said. ‘I took you in to
see her after she had Mal.’

He felt Lizzie stiffen against him. ‘So you
did,’ she said in an odd voice. ‘I’d forgotten about that.
Sorry.’

An apology from Lizzie was startling.
‘What’s up, Lizzie?’

‘Nothing. Nothing at all. I might make a
sultana pudding tonight.’ She faced his scrutiny with a disarmingly
open expression.