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‘I’m not a cow,’ Catrin wailed.

‘No, but we’re not so far from the animal world as some people like to think. Elephants, for instance, now they have all the aunties crowding round during a birth. Listen, I know what I’m talking about. And when the matriarch of the herd dies, they have a real family funeral with ham sandwiches and stewed black tea. Mari Elen was given a book about elephants and I know all about them.’

‘I don’t know as much as you do about animals,’ Graham said. ‘But I’ve been saying much the same thing to her, and I can’t get her to move. She wants us all to have supper up here but I’m begging her to think of May Malcolm who’s so shy and will cope better with a formal meal.’

‘There won’t be much of a formal meal though, I’m afraid,’ Lowri said. ‘I’ve been trying to get away to get the vegetables cooked, but Catrin keeps on begging me to stay here to dab cologne on her forehead.’

‘Mari Elen, go down to say hello to your new auntie and then please go to bed. It’s very late for you to be up.’

Mari Elen looked at Graham in some alarm. ‘I’m much too useful here,’ she said. ‘Catrin wouldn’t hear of my leaving her when she may be dying. Mrs Prosser’s sister died in childbirth, you know,’ she told him crossly, ‘I heard her telling Miss Rees about it. I’m staying here even if no one brings me any supper like a ham sandwich with some pickle and some of Miss Rees’ ginger beer. I’ve also promised Miss Rees to let her know exactly what is going on. I’m being kept very busy you know.’

‘You’re only three years old and it’s now time for your bed. Say goodnight to Catrin and ask Lowri to get you a bite of supper in the kitchen.’

Mari Elen, looking martyred, was so surprised by Graham that she went off without further word. Josi, looking admiringly at his son-in-law, followed her. ‘We have to do exactly what the doctor orders today,’ he explained to Mari Elen. ‘May, this is my daughter who wants to say goodnight to you before she goes to the kitchen to have her supper.’

‘Hello May,’ Mari Elen said. ‘I hear that you are Tom’s young lady. I hope you like it here.’

‘I really do. And I shall look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Goodnight, little girl.’

‘Nos da,’ Mari Elen said. ‘And cysgwch yn dawel. That means good night and sleep well.’

‘Thank you. I hope you teach me a few words of
Welsh before I leave here. “Nos da,” that’s my first bit. Goodnight.’

‘I’ll take you upstairs to see Miss Rees now,’ Josi said, ‘and you can say that to her.’

‘Well, Tom,’ Lowri said, ‘we all like your Miss Malcolm. Are you happy?’

‘Yes,’ Tom said, ‘Oh yes, I really am. But I wish she wouldn’t go on talking about my being a hero. It’s deeply embarrassing. I can’t tell you how nervous and frightened I really was. Whenever I had to sleep in the trench, my greatcoat on a layer of wet mud and knowing I had to be responsible for a company of men in a few hours, do you know, the only way I could get to sleep was to pretend that I was camping in the orchard as I used to when I was a boy. That’s pathetic isn’t it? In a grown man.’

‘Not at all, it’s very sensible if you ask me, letting the mind help the body in those terrible circumstances. Very sensible.’

They all, including Catrin, gathered in the dining room to have supper. Lowri seemed to have found a great array of salad and pickles to accompany the baked ham and everyone ate heartily except for Catrin who wouldn’t have anything except bread and honey.

‘I feel as though I’ve entered into the set of a theatre play,’ May said, ‘in this beautiful dining room with all your worthy ancestors looking down at us so seriously. One person home from war, one person about to give birth, the family servant trying to decide whether to get up tomorrow or carry on with dying since everyone is expecting it, and a hint of thunder in the air. It’s very exciting… I honestly don’t usually talk as much as this on first getting to know people, but you see I feel I know all of you already from Tom’s letters: Catrin so beautiful, Lowri so lovely and so calm and kind, who’s been apologising to me about one of the nicest suppers I’ve ever eaten, his handsome father whom he idolised as a child and Miss Rees who I hope will decide to live so that I can get to know her. Oh, please, you must all forgive me if I seem over-familiar.’

‘You’re not at all over-familiar, you’re just being friendly. And we all hope to have another cause for celebration very soon. I mean as well as the new baby,’ Josi said.

After that, no one said anything for a long time.

Chapter four

It was almost five the next morning. ‘It’s a girl,’ Mari Elen pronounced, waking Lowri by pulling hard at her eyelashes. ‘It’s a girl. Catrin’s new baby, it’s a girl. I was the first to see her because I went along to Catrin’s bedroom as soon as I woke up and the little baby was only half an hour old. She’s not very beautiful but Graham says she’ll improve in a day or two, and Lowri, Catrin is dying for a really thick ham sandwich with some jelly in it and a whole egg custard and two pints of water. That’s what she’s asked for. But first of all she wants you to go along to see the new baby. Even though you may be disappointed: she’s not very beautiful at the moment, a little curled-up face with wet hair, and she doesn’t stop mewing like a very tiny kitten.’

Lowri jumped out of bed pulling on her clothes without bothering to wash or comb her hair. ‘Oh, Catrin, she’s so beautiful. She looks just like you. Can I hold her? Oh, Catrin you must be so happy.’

‘I am so happy, Lowri, though I kept dreaming of Edward during the time I was half asleep and half awake last night. I hope Graham didn’t hear me calling for him, though I think he realises how I still feel. Please Lowri ask him to come back to see me before he goes out to work. He has to make a very early start today because of people he failed to see last night. He’s gone to the small spare room at the moment, trying to get some sleep for a couple of hours. I think May’s lovely don’t you Lowri? What did my father say about her?’

‘He thinks she looks like Rachel when he first met her so I suppose he must think her very special. I’m going to tell Miss Rees about the new arrival and then I’ll bring you a very large breakfast. Shall I leave Mari Elen here with you? Then you can send her to fetch whoever you want to see. Who would you like to see?’

‘Oh, everyone. I want everyone here to see my gorgeous baby as soon as possible. Is Tom awake yet? Is May?’

‘I’ll send them up as soon as they appear for breakfast. But cariad, it’s not half past five yet.’

‘Oh, Lowri I’m so happy.’

Catrin was happy and so was the entire family, hers was the first baby of the younger generation.

‘You said you intended to call the baby Rachel Mary,’ Tom said, when he visited her after breakfast. ‘Is there any special reason for the Mary? Obviously Rachel is for Mother and it’s a lovely name as well. But Mary?’

‘No special reason but both Graham and I thought it sounded good with Rachel.’

‘So it does, but so does May. Would Rachel May be at all feasible as an alternative?’

‘Rachel May. Yes that sounds lovely. Though of course it’s mid June now. But all the same it’s a lovely name.’

‘You see, May has promised to marry me and it would be such a happy way to remember our happiness and our engagement. And it would ensure that the baby has a very special place in her rich uncle’s affections.’

‘You intend to be a rich uncle, then? I’m very glad to hear it.’

‘Yes, I’m anxious to study farming properly and to find better ways of cultivating the land and raising stock. Graham was giving me some interesting points on the way Scottish farmers have developed and diversified mixed farming. We mustn’t go on and on in the old style without any experimen­tation. I hope to interest Father in some of my new ideas.’

‘He may well be anxious to get back to Cefn Hebog, though, Tom. He loves Cefn Hebog and, as you know, regards it as his rightful inheritance.’

‘He must stay here with me for the time being. He can get a manager to look after Cefn Hebog. It feels so right that we are all here together. After all, there’s plenty of room here.’

It wasn’t to be. Over lunch Graham said that he would be taking Catrin and the baby home with him as soon as it was feasible. ‘I’ve arranged for the district nurse to call in every morning,’ he told Tom, ‘and of course I’ll see you every evening when I call in to see Miss Rees. Lowri has too much work already without our adding to her burdens. I have a capable housekeeper and a little nursemaid, Molly Price, the youngest daughter of
Ted and Alice Price, Gors Las, to care for Catrin and our daughter.’

‘Our daughter,’ said Catrin. ‘Doesn’t that sound delightful? I agree that Lowri already has too much to do, looking after the family and Miss Rees. And the nurse. I wish I could help you cariad, but Graham says I mustn’t do too much or I shall lose my milk. I know Graham will be happy to bring us over every Sunday to lunch. By the way, Graham, I haven’t given you today’s good news. Tom has asked May to marry him and she’s agreed to it. They are now officially engaged and we can expect an invitation to the wedding very soon.’

‘I’m delighted with your news,’ Graham said to Tom. ‘I half expected it because I could sense how happy you were to find each other again.’

‘Mari Elen has been told the news already,’ Josi said. ‘She’s extremely interested in holy matrimony and is already wondering who there is for her. Mrs Prosser has only two girls which is very disappointing.’

‘Don’t be silly, Dada, I’m going to marry the Prince of Wales.’

‘Have you heard that our little daughter is to be called Rachel May?’ Graham asked May.

‘Oh, how wonderful,’ she said, blushing prettily. ‘I shall do my best to deserve the honour.’

‘And Miss Rees says the baby looks the image of Mother,’ Catrin said. ‘That is the greatest compliment she can bestow. She looked after Mother for fifty years, May, and in all that time she never did anything to offend her except marrying Father who was not nearly good enough for her. However, he was forgiven as soon as Tom was born, because of course Tom was the handsomest baby ever born, nine and a half pounds in weight and with an expression wise as a preacher.’

‘Catrin you’re getting over-excited,’ Graham said. ‘Tomorrow I’ll take you home, put you straight to bed and send Molly up to look after you.’

Catrin stood up meekly and went back to bed as though she realised that she was over-tiring herself.

‘You will come over to see us?’ she asked May and Tom.

‘Of course. We’ll hire a car and come over before the end of the week. We must take care of our little niece.’

‘She was getting over-excited,’ Lowri said. ‘Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were too bright. I always recognise the signs. She’ll have one of her headaches before evening. Excuse me now, I must see if Miss Rees has managed to eat anything. By the way, she’s decided to stay with us at least until Michaelmas when it will be easier for us to hire another housekeeper. We have to go to her for our instructions every morning and she vows that she’ll be up by the end of the week. Though Dr Andrews, Graham I mean, doesn’t think she’ll ever leave her bed.’

‘Oh, that’s too cruel,’ Tom said. ‘I can’t imagine this place without Miss Rees at the helm. How will we manage without her? Have you any idea, Lowri?’

‘She’ll be hard to replace. Perhaps I ought to ask Mrs Prosser whether she knows of any hard-working widow who might like the job along with a good home. I can’t think of anyone except possibly…’

‘Except possibly who?’

‘Well,’ Lowri hesitated, glancing over at Josi for support, ‘an aunt of mine has recently been widowed and she’s very restless and nervous on her own. I think she’d jump at the chance to come here, at least for a trial period. Of course we’d have to tell Miss Rees that it was a temporary appointment.’

‘Oh, do ask her Lowri. Anyone in your family would be dependable, we know that,’ Catrin said.

‘And hard-working,’ Josi added. ‘And I think she’s probably my second cousin as well, and when did anyone from my family let us down?’

‘We certainly can’t manage on our own,’ said Catrin. ‘I feel awful that we have to depend on Lowri to do everything.’

‘There isn’t too much to do, honestly. I don’t like being idle. I was never one to sit with my hands in my lap all afternoon. I wasn’t brought up to be a grand lady. You see, I’ve come up in the world,’ she told May. ‘I’ll tell you all about it one day.’

Chapter five

The next day brought very sad news. Old Sarah Morris, once a maid at Hendre Ddu, had heard that her second son, Dewi, had been killed in action. She’d already lost her eldest son, Gethyn Wyn. Josi and Tom decided to go to visit Sarah, taking her some money for the funeral tea.

They found the house empty with no one there to open the door or ask them in. At last the woman next door saw them there and came to speak to them. ‘Ever since she heard the news, Sarah spends all her time in the woods,’ she said. ‘She seems to gain some strength by being on her own. She might come home to have a bite of dinner with me, but she eats less than a child. What is to become of her? She lived for those two sons. She’ll never be able to manage the smallholding on her own.’

‘We’ll wait here until she comes home,’ Josi said. ‘Though I don’t know how anyone can comfort her.’

They were soon joined by Mr Isaacs, the minister, who’d only that morning heard of the tragedy. ‘Poor soul, what will she do?’ he asked them. ‘She’s not at all strong and won’t be able to manage this little place on her own. She’s almost sixty – she was late having her children – and her only daughter died of TB before the war started. She was a dear sweet creature, Myfanwy, pretty as a flower, but she passed away at eighteen and now here’s a further tragedy. War is particularly hard on poor people who can’t afford hired help. I’m glad you’re here. Having visitors is bound to keep her busy making tea for a short time at least. And because you are here, I think I’ll decide to leave and come back this evening. You can tell her that I’ll be along as soon as I’ve had my supper at half past six. My wife will send her some supper too, I daresay.’