A Second Chance (55 page)

‘Milly, this is my son Dave,’ said Amy. ‘And
his wife, Beth, and Daisy’s their little girl. This is Milly
Dobson, you two. And this is Eddie.’

‘He looks just like…’ David turned a
questioning face to Amy.

Amy nodded. ‘Yes, Dave. Eddie’s Mal’s
son.’

David sank into a chair, Daisy held in one
arm. Beth gave a quick glance at them all, then crossed to the
bench. ‘I’ll put the jug on,’ she said.

‘So… so you’re Mal’s girl,’ David said when
he had recovered the use of his voice.

‘You knew about this?’ Amy asked,
astonished.

‘No, I didn’t really… I mean, Mal said he
had a girl, but I thought…’ He trailed off awkwardly.

Milly stiffened. ‘He never paid me for it,
if that’s what you’re getting at.’

‘No! I didn’t mean that! I just thought…
well, I thought he might have been making it up.’ David suddenly
found it necessary to bend low over Daisy and fuss with the edge of
her sleeve.

‘So you thought he couldn’t get a girl of
his own?’ Milly said. ‘Just because he didn’t have a pretty face as
if he was a girl himself?’

‘Of course I didn’t! I just—’

‘Dave was only fourteen when Mal went away,’
Amy interposed before David could dig a bigger hole for himself.
‘He wasn’t thinking about girls at all. I didn’t think Mal was,
either. I’m glad he was,’ she said, studying Eddie as he sat on his
mother’s lap and surveyed the room’s occupants. ‘But it’s been five
years, Milly—why didn’t you come to us before?’

‘I couldn’t while Mal’s old man was around.
Not with the way him and Mal hated each other.’

‘No, they didn’t,’ Amy said, remembering
similar arguments with Malcolm himself. ‘I know you’d have thought
it at times, the way they used to fight, but they didn’t hate each
other.’

‘Mal used to go on and on about his dad. I
got fed up with it. In the end I asked him if he hated him so much
why did he want to talk about him all the time?’

‘Yes, exactly,’ Amy murmured.

‘But the old bloke would’ve kicked me down
the road, and Eddie after me, if I’d turned up here.’

‘Oh, he’d have wanted Eddie, all right.’
Though it was doubtful, Amy privately agreed, that Charlie would
have welcomed Milly’s presence. ‘Well, what’s done is done.’

Beth brought the tea things to the table and
took her own seat beside David. David seemed grateful for the
distraction of teacups and plates of biscuits; it gave him an
excuse not to talk to Milly.

The two children were not burdened with any
sense of the situation’s awkwardness. They studied each other with
interest. Daisy beamed and gurgled and waved her arms at Eddie,
while he regarded her solemnly. He looked at Daisy, then at the
biscuit in his hand, pondered the matter for a few moments, and
held the biscuit out towards the baby.

Beth intervened, taking the biscuit before
it could make its way into Daisy’s hand. ‘Thank you, Eddie, but
Daisy’s too little for bikkies yet,’ she said, smiling as she
returned the biscuit, and getting a cautious answering smile.

David shifted awkwardly on his chair, moving
Daisy to the other side of his lap. ‘Do you want to have a look
around the farm?’ he asked Eddie.

Eddie looked dubious at the prospect, but
before he had a chance to answer, Milly did it for him. ‘He’s not
used to blokes,’ she said, gripping Eddie more firmly. ‘He wouldn’t
want to go off with you on his own.’

Whether intentionally or not, she made it
sound like an accusation, and that was how David appeared to take
it. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered, looking down at the floor. Amy was not
surprised when soon afterwards, having gulped down his tea and
passed Daisy across to Beth, he said that he needed to go back
outside.

Beth seemed torn between indignation at any
slight towards David and the need to show politeness to their
guest. She gave Milly a hard look, then stood up with Daisy in her
arms. ‘I’ll feed her in the bedroom, I think,’ she announced.

Milly watched as David left the room. She
turned back to Amy. ‘I suppose that one got on all right with the
old man.’

Amy smiled at the notion. ‘He did at the
end, when his father was old and sick, and just needed looking
after—Davie was very good with him. But when he was a boy… well,
not really. Mr Stewart always took more notice of Mal, anyway.’

Milly considered this, then nodded,
apparently finding it easy to believe that Malcolm would be of more
interest than his brother. ‘Mal reckoned getting away from his old
man’d be just about worth going off to the war. That wasn’t really
why he went, though.’ She shot a challenging look at Amy. ‘Do you
know why?’

‘He wanted an adventure,’ Amy said quietly.
She watched Eddie, who appeared to be doing his best to follow this
conversation that included so many tantalising references to his
father. She ached to reach out and draw him into her arms, but made
herself tread carefully. She was still little more than a stranger
to him, and there was no sense in frightening the child.

‘Yes!’ Milly said. ‘He used to go on about
getting out of Ruatane and seeing other places. He had pictures and
things out of the paper—he’d bring them to show me. I thought he
was just making it up about going away, you know what blokes are
like for telling stories. But he kept on about it, then he told me
he had the tickets and money and all.’

She stroked Eddie’s hair and looked into an
invisible distance as she spoke. ‘He stayed at my place the night
before he went. I think that was the night we got Eddie on the go.’
She planted a quick kiss on his shock of hair. ‘I left the window
open for him, and he ended up staying right till it was daylight.
We lay there and talked for hours and hours, about foreign
countries and riding his horse across the plains, and seeing wild
animals. He said he’d come back and get me when the fighting had
finished, and take me to Africa to see it all for myself. Mal
talked a lot of rot sometimes,’ she added fondly, her eyes
suspiciously bright. Amy felt tears pricking at her own eyes at
this revelation of an unsuspected tender side to Malcolm.

‘He gave me this just before he went away.’
Milly stretched out her wrist to reveal a silver bangle. ‘I saw
them in the jeweller’s window afterwards—they cost two shillings!
He pinched this one for me,’ she said proudly.

While Amy could not pretend to be impressed
by Malcolm’s effort, she hid her reaction. She would have to find
some way of leaving the money anonymously in Mr Hatfield’s
shop.

‘Then he went off, and a couple of months
later I found out Eddie was on the way. Ma wasn’t too pleased, but
she said we’d just have to wait till Mal got back and hope he’d
marry me. I don’t know if he would have or not.’

‘He would have if I’d had any say in it.’
Though Amy knew her own influence would have had little sway over
Charlie.

‘I thought maybe I could write to him or
something, but I didn’t know where to write, and I didn’t know who
to ask about it. So I just waited, and hoped he’d come back soon.
Then I found out he wasn’t coming back at all.’ Her head drooped,
and Eddie raised a finger to touch the shining trail making its way
down one cheek.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Amy murmured. ‘I wish I’d
known about you and Eddie.’ She reached out and stroked Milly’s
arm, but felt it stiffen beneath her touch. Milly, it was clear,
was not someone easily persuaded to let down her guard.

Milly wiped her sleeve over her eyes. ‘Ma
said we might as well move away after we heard about Mal. She said
people would only be poking their noses in and gossiping. I wanted
to stay and see that memorial thing once I heard about it, though—I
put my foot down over waiting for that. I was showing by then, but
I didn’t go out much, and no one took any notice of me at the
service. We went to Tauranga just a couple of weeks later, and
that’s where Eddie was born. And we’ve been there since.’

‘I’m glad you’ve brought Eddie to see us at
last. It’s a long way to come with a little one.’

Milly sighed. ‘Ma got sick last year. Then
this year she got really bad, and she died a couple of months
back.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ said Amy.

‘It was sort of a relief in the end. She was
wanting to go. And she was never that fond of Eddie—she said she
was past putting up with little kids at her age. But it’s been hard
to manage since.’ Now they were getting to just what had finally
prompted Milly to approach Malcolm’s family, Amy realised. ‘Ma had
a bit put to one side, but it mostly went on doctors. And her and I
used to both work before she got sick, cleaning people’s houses and
taking in washing and things. It’s been hard getting enough work to
pay the rent and everything with just me to do it, and I’ve got to
try and keep an eye on Eddie, too. He gets into everything—you’re a
brat,’ she said, without the least hint of censure. Eddie giggled
with satisfaction.

‘Do you need some help with managing?’ Amy
asked cautiously, wondering how best to avoid giving offence. ‘I’ve
got a little bit of my own, I’d be only too glad—’

‘I don’t want money!’ Milly said
indignantly. ‘I didn’t come here looking for charity.’

‘Eddie’s my grandson, Milly. It wouldn’t be
charity.’

Milly looked away, discomforted. ‘Well,
anyway, I didn’t come asking for money. I’ve got myself a job,’ she
said, her eyes lighting up. ‘A really good one. It’s at a hotel
down on the Strand in Tauranga—one of the flash places, with a
dining room and all. I’ll be helping in the kitchen, and they said
if I do all right at that I’ll be able to wait on tables in the
dining room. They have fancy white cloths on the tables, and
flowers in vases, and real silver knives and forks. I’d get to wear
a black uniform with a white cap with real lace on it.’

‘That sounds very nice.’

‘And I can live in, so that’s my room and
board all covered. They’ve got a few rooms for the maids out the
back. The only thing is, I can’t have Eddie with me.’

‘Ah,’ said Amy. ‘I see.’

‘It’d just be for a while,’ Milly said, a
plea in her eyes. ‘Just until I’ve got enough saved up. It won’t be
costing anything for my keep, I’ll be able to save my whole pay,
pretty well. Then I thought once I had enough put by, I could get a
job just in the daytime, even though that wouldn’t pay as much.
Eddie’ll start school at the end of the year, so I wouldn’t have to
leave him on his own all day. I thought maybe I could rent a nice
little place with a bit of yard for Eddie to run around in. That’d
cost a bit, but if I do extra shifts at the hotel I’ll be making
good money.’

It sounded a precarious plan to Amy. She
could not believe that this hotel job would provide Milly with the
sort of nest egg she seemed to be dreaming of, no matter how
carefully she saved. Amy’s conscience prodded at her, telling her
she should offer Milly a home on the farm, but the voice of logic
easily silenced it. Given David’s and Milly’s reactions to each
other, neither of them would welcome the idea.

Eddie, however, was another matter. ‘I’d
love to have Eddie here. He can stay with us for as long as you
need.’

She saw Milly’s shoulders slump with relief,
while Eddie frowned, clearly aware he was being discussed but
unable to fathom the details. Amy leaned forward so her face was
closer to his level. ‘Eddie, you’re going to stay with Granny for a
little while,’ she said. ‘Just while Mama’s busy with her new job.
That’ll be nice, won’t it?’

Eddie looked dubious, while Milly gripped
him more tightly. ‘You’ll like it with Granny,’ Milly said, her
voice unconvincingly bright. ‘Lots of these fancy biscuits, eh? And
lots of places for you to run around without getting in trouble.
And Granny can tell you all about what your dad was like when he
was a little boy.’

Eddie considered the notion. ‘All right. Can
I have another biscuit?’

Now that the matter was settled, all vigour
seemed to have drained from Milly. Her head drooped, and she
responded to Amy’s offer of a second cup of tea with nothing more
than a quick shake of her head. Amy studied her face, grey with
weariness, in concern.

‘You’ll be staying the night with us, of
course,’ said Amy. ‘And a bit longer, maybe?’

‘Two nights, if that suits,’ Milly said,
rousing herself to speak with an obvious effort. ‘I’ve got a
passage booked for the day after tomorrow.’

‘Why don’t you have a lie-down till
dinnertime? You must be worn out after that long walk.’ Milly would
also, Amy suspected, appreciate a little time away from prying eyes
as she took in the fact that she would be leaving Eddie behind when
she left Ruatane.

‘I wouldn’t mind,’ Milly said. ‘And Eddie
usually has a sleep in the afternoon.’

Amy rose from her chair. ‘I’ll show you
where you’ll sleep. We’ve only got the one spare room, I hope you
don’t mind sharing with Eddie.’

Milly blinked in surprise. ‘Of course not.
I’ve always shared with him, right from when he was a baby.’ She
slid Eddie from her lap, stood and picked up her bundle, and
followed Amy from the kitchen, leading Eddie by the hand. ‘He’ll
have to get used to sleeping on his own,’ she said in a low voice.
‘It might be a bit hard for him.’ And at least as hard for Milly,
Amy thought to herself.

‘Here you are,’ Amy said as she ushered them
into the small room that had been made by walling in the verandah
of the cottage. ‘This was Mal’s and Dave’s room.’

‘You hear that, Eddie?’ Milly said,
brightening visibly. ‘You’re going to have your dad’s old
room.’

Amy left them looking around, a good deal
more impressed than the cramped space warranted, while she
collected clean bedding. On her way back through the parlour, the
photograph on the mantel caught her eye. She placed it on top of
the pile of sheets and pillowcases she was carrying.

‘I thought you might like to have this in
here,’ she said, setting the photograph on top of the small chest
of drawers. ‘Mal must have been near enough to Eddie’s age when
this was taken.’