Settling the Account (72 page)

‘He doesn’t deserve any respect.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t. But he needs it just the
same. If I left him with you he’d go getting upset, and he might
even make himself ill. Never mind, don’t let’s talk about it. I’ll
see Sarah another time.’

‘Is she going to come and visit you again,
then? I’ll make sure I’m out of the way if she does.’

‘I wouldn’t worry, Davie,’ Amy said, smiling
ruefully. ‘I don’t think she’ll come again in a hurry.’

She slipped reluctantly out of David’s
embrace. ‘I’d better go and see how your father is.’

May – July 1905

From the paddock where he and the boys were
working, Frank could see Danny near the house talking to a small
boy on a large horse.

The conversation did not last long; the boy
wheeled his horse around and set off at a trot, while Danny ambled
back up to his father and brothers.

‘What’d that boy want, Danny?’ Frank
asked.

‘He had a message from Richard. Do you know
what? Richard gave him a shilling just for riding out here!’ Danny
said, his eyes large with the magnitude of the sum. ‘A whole
shilling!’

‘Well, what was the message?’

‘Eh? Oh, he said Maudie’s had a baby,’ Danny
said, his off-hand tone showing how little interest the news held
for him.

‘She’s had it? Well, how is she, then? Is
she all right? Is it a boy or a girl?’

Danny shrugged. ‘Dunno. Fancy getting a
shilling just for riding out here.’

‘The boy must’ve said more than just that
she’s had the baby, Danny! Richard would’ve told him more than
that.’

Danny shrugged again and looked blank. ‘I
didn’t know she was having a baby.’

‘Well, you can go and tell your ma the
message,’ Frank said. ‘She’ll go crook at you for not getting it
all straight, mind you. Tell her I’ll be down shortly for my
morning tea. I’ll let her finish having a go at you first.’

‘Do I have to, Pa?’ Danny asked, a dim
awareness of how he might have been remiss showing in his eyes.

‘Yes, you do. Get it over with, Danny,
that’s usually the best way.’

When Frank arrived in the kitchen a few
minutes later with the two older boys, he found Danny backed into a
corner of the room with Lizzie, Maisie and Beth all confronting
him, varying degrees of aggression in their faces.

‘He must have told you something more than
that,’ Lizzie said. ‘Richard wouldn’t have sent a silly message
like that, not saying anything about the baby.’

‘Fancy not asking the boy, Danny,’ Beth
said, pursing her lips in disapproval. ‘And not asking him if
Maudie’s well or anything.’

‘Didn’t that boy say
anything
about
the baby?’ Maisie pressed.

‘Of course he did,’ Lizzie said. ‘Danny was
just too stupid to remember it properly. I’ve a good mind to give
you a belt, Daniel Kelly.’

‘He might… he might have said it was a
girl.’

‘Yes, and he might have said it was a calf
or a lamb for all the notice you took,’ Lizzie snapped. ‘Don’t you
go trying to slide out of it now, making things up.’

‘I’m not making it up,’ Danny protested. ‘I
remember he said Richard gave him a shilling, anyway. A whole
shilling just for—’

‘And you’ll get a clip over the ear if you
say that once more,’ Lizzie interrupted. ‘You might get one
anyway.’

‘Hang on, I’ve remembered,’ Danny said, his
voice rising to a squeak. ‘He said—hang on, I’ll get it straight in
a minute. He said, “Doctor Townsend said to tell you Mrs Townsend
has a fine little daughter and they’re both in the best of health”.
That’s what he said, that’s just the right words. He said it like
he’d learned it for a lesson.’

‘Then he’s obviously got more brains than
you have,’ Lizzie said. ‘Not that that’s saying much.’

She turned away from Danny and sat down
heavily at the table, not responding when Frank took the seat next
to her and placed his hand over hers.

‘That’s good news about Maudie, isn’t it?’
Frank said, a certain forced brightness in his voice. He longed to
see an answering brightness in Lizzie’s face.

‘Mmm.’ Lizzie barely glanced at Danny as he
made his escape from the room with every sign of relief, giving the
lie to the menace she had directed at him a few moments before.

That seemed to be the pattern of Lizzie’s
moods lately: a fit of bad temper followed by apathy. Lizzie’s
justice, though unfailingly strict, was for the most part
reluctantly acknowledged as fair by her children, but outbursts of
bad temper were something new and unwelcome. Frank was sure he had
sometimes caught a shadow of pain flitting across Lizzie’s face
before these moods, but she always denied it fiercely if he risked
asking.

‘Would you like to go in and see her this
morning?’ Frank prompted. ‘We can leave it till this afternoon if
you like, if you’re feeling a bit tired just now.’

Lizzie’s reaction startled him. ‘I can’t go
in. You know that perfectly well.’

‘But… but you want to go and see them, don’t
you?’ Aware of the close interest the girls were paying to their
conversation, he tilted his head closer to Lizzie’s ear so that he
could speak more quietly. ‘I mean, I know you’re not going into
town any more these days, but this is a bit special, eh? You could
wrap up warm and no one would see what shape you are.’

‘I’m not going to go parading myself around
the town.’

‘There’s no need to do that. Just straight
in to Richard’s and out again, that’s all. It might cheer you up a
bit.’

‘I don’t need cheering up,’ Lizzie said,
scowling at him. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me.’

‘No, no, I know there’s not,’ Frank said
quickly. ‘But Maudie’ll expect you to come in, love.’

‘Oh, too bad about her. Stop nagging me, for
goodness sake, Frank. You go in yourself, get out from under my
feet. Then you can tell me how they all are,’ she added, letting
her unconvincing mask of hardness slip for a moment.

‘I’ll leave it till this afternoon,’ Frank
said. ‘You might’ve changed your mind by then.’

She did not, of course. One thing that had
not altered about Lizzie was her reluctance to change her mind.
Frank had to admit defeat and set off without her that afternoon,
though he did not go alone. Beth begged to be allowed to go with
him, and once he had checked that Lizzie could spare her, Frank
welcomed the company.

Beth was never noisy, but she seemed
unusually quiet as they rode along. Frank noticed a suspicious
redness in her eyes; noticed, too, the red mark on one cheek.

‘What’s wrong, love?’ he asked. ‘You don’t
seem too bright.’

Beth shrugged. ‘I had a row with Ma. I
didn’t mean to,’ she said, a plea for understanding plain in her
eyes. ‘I don’t know what I said wrong.’

‘It’s all right, you probably didn’t say
anything wrong. Your ma’s just a bit tired, that’s all.’

‘She slapped me,’ Beth said in a small
voice.

‘I don’t suppose she meant to. Try and keep
out of her way when she gets in a mood like that.’

‘Don’t see how I can,’ Beth murmured.

Richard greeted them at the door, signs of
weariness around his eyes but a look of quiet wonder in his
face.

‘Come and see my beautiful girls,’ he said,
hurrying Frank and Beth through the house. ‘You’ve timed it
perfectly—they’re both awake, though Maudie’s looking rather
sleepy. You two will liven her up, I’m sure.’

Maudie was sitting propped up against the
pillows, her arms curved protectively around the tiny baby she
held. She looked up at their approach, her eyes alight with the
excitement of her new state.

‘Look at her,’ she said. ‘Isn’t she
beautiful?’

Frank and Beth hovered over Maudie and the
baby, making suitably appreciative noises. To Frank the baby looked
much like any other, special only because it was Maudie’s, but that
was reason enough to make a fuss over it.

‘We’re going to call her Lucy,’ Maudie said.
‘We’ve had that name picked out for ages. She’s so lovely, I had to
be sure I had a pretty name for her. She looks like Richard, don’t
you think?’

‘Oh, I hope not,’ Richard protested
laughingly. ‘I’d much rather she looked like her beautiful mother.
What do you think, Frank? You’re the only one of us who knew Maudie
at the same age.’

Frank’s thoughts went back to the sight of
Lizzie holding the newborn Maudie in her arms, the same delight
shining out of her eyes. He wished fervently that Lizzie’s
pregnancy was safely over, the child something for her to enjoy
instead of a creature that seemed to be causing her nothing but
discomfort.

‘She’s sure to take after Maudie,’ he said,
realising that some answer was required of him. ‘She’ll probably
have a bit of you in her too, though, Richard.’

‘I hope she has Richard’s curls,’ Maudie
said. She took her eyes from her baby for a moment to look beyond
Frank. ‘Where’s Ma?’ she asked, a slight frown marring her smooth
forehead.

‘She didn’t come, love.’ Frank winced at the
sight of Maudie’s face hardening at his admission. ‘She was a bit
tired today. She might come another day,’ he said, knowing how
feeble that was as a sop. ‘She sent her love, though.’ No, she
hadn’t, he realised as he said it. Lizzie had been in one of her
frighteningly quiet moods when he had left, and she had sent no
message at all.

‘I thought she’d come,’ Maudie said, hurt
and bewilderment clear in her voice. ‘I thought she’d want to see
her own grandchild.’

‘You can come out and see us soon,’ Frank
said. ‘Once you’re up and about again.’

‘Maybe,’ Maudie said in a clipped tone.
‘Richard, I think I might give Lucy your mother’s name for her
second name,’ she said, as if the matter were of only slight
interest to her. ‘Lucy Caroline sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?’

Richard shot a brief glance at Frank before
answering. ‘If that’s what you want, darling,’ he said
carefully.

Frank and Richard left the sisters to carry
on fussing over the new baby, while they went out into the parlour
for a celebratory drink.

‘Maudie looks well, Richard—she seems to be
getting over it quickly. Did everything go all right?’

Richard stared over the top of his glass
into the unseen distance, a soft smile playing about his lips.
‘Maudie was… magnificent. There’s no other word for her. To think
I’ve had the cheek to accuse her of being childish at times—only
when we’ve had the very occasional disagreement,’ he added hastily,
and Frank nodded sagely.

‘I’ll never dare call her such a thing
again,’ Richard went on. ‘I very much doubt if I’ve her courage.
Pity your poor daughter, Frank,’ he said, smiling ruefully at him.
‘It’s no easy thing, having a doctor for a husband.

‘She went into labour yesterday morning. She
was so excited about it, every time she had a twinge her face lit
up and she practically danced around the room. She’s a funny little
thing at times. Well, I put the sign up on the gate saying I was
unavailable, talked Maudie into taking things a little more
quietly, and we set ourselves to waiting.’

‘Takes a while, doesn’t it, with the first
one.’

‘Yes, it does. As I said, Frank, pity your
daughter. Chloroform is a wonderful substance, but I’ve seen far
too many babies born barely conscious and struggling for breath
from the midwife’s being too generous with it. I explained that to
Maudie as well as I could, and told her that if she thought she
could bear it I’d like to avoid giving her any till well on in the
labour. I did stress that I didn’t want her to suffer
unnecessarily, but I’d just like to minimise the use of the
drug.

‘Maudie sat there looking at me, her eyes
huge with the excitement of it all, nodding wisely at everything I
said. And she certainly took me at my word. The trouble with
theories, Frank, is that often when one comes to put them into
practice they don’t seem quite so fine. Especially when they relate
to someone you happen to love dearly. As soon as Maudie’s pains
were strong enough to make her cry out, I rushed for the bottle of
chloroform and offered it to her.’

‘I would’ve, too,’ Frank said.

‘Maudie was having none of it, though. She
sat there clutching at her stomach and shaking her head at me. You
know what she said? “It’s not as bad as getting a hiding from Ma,
and I’ve put up with plenty of those. I want to do what’s best for
the baby.” She must have had some fierce sessions with her mother
if it was true,’ Richard added, frowning slightly.

‘They’ve had some bad set-tos over the
years,’ Frank admitted. ‘Especially when Maudie really started
getting a mind of her own.’

‘I suspect that my wife was born with a mind
of her own,’ Richard said with a wry smile. ‘I put her to bed a
little after sunset, when I could see that things were progressing
more rapidly. Do you know, she kept on refusing the chloroform
almost until the end? It was only when the baby’s head was quite
visible that Maudie said, “It’s worse than a hiding now,
Richard.”

‘She let me take the pain away then, thank
goodness—I was beginning to think I’d have to force it on her.’ He
sat back in his chair and smiled dreamily. ‘Then it was just the
baby and I, working together. It’s quite an experience, Frank,
bringing my own child into the world. I had no idea it would feel
like that.’

‘You’re lucky to be able to,’ Frank said,
remembering being unceremoniously banished from the bedroom when
Lizzie was in labour.

‘I know I am. I think I’m the most fortunate
man that ever lived, and I’m savouring every moment of it. I’ll
arrange for a nurse to come in from tomorrow, so that Maudie can be
suitably fussed over, but I told her that I wanted to be her nurse
and do everything for her just for the first day.’

He laughed softly. ‘Do you know, I don’t
think I slept at all last night? What with checking on Maudie to
see that she was resting comfortably, and looking at that baby of
ours every few minutes, the night had slipped away before I’d quite
realised.’