A Second Chance (17 page)

‘Yes, like that, I expect. They use
chloroform to make you sleep. I had it later, with my other babies.
But the nurse wouldn’t let me have it with you.’

‘Why ever not?’ Sarah asked, frowning.

Amy stared at the distant windmill, just
visible between two buildings. It was easier to speak if she did
not have to look at Sarah. ‘She said it’s meant to be awful for
girls like me. She wanted me to be so scared I’d never come back to
her nursing home again. She wasn’t going to waste chloroform on a
whor—on a bad girl.’

She met Sarah’s eyes, and saw cold fury
there. ‘How dare she treat you like that!’ Sarah said, her eyes
flashing. She halted, released her hold on Amy’s arm and half
turned back towards the building. ‘I wonder if there’s any way of
tracing the woman,’ she murmured. ‘I’d like to tell her what I
think of such behaviour.’

The idea was so ridiculous that Amy laughed
aloud. ‘Sarah, it was over twenty years ago! And she wasn’t very
young—I’m sure she was a lot older than I am now. She’d be an old,
old lady now, if she’s alive at all.’

She slipped her arm through Sarah’s and
pressed close against her. Any ghosts of memory lingering in this
place seemed banished by Sarah’s warm and solid presence. ‘The
worst part of all was when they took you away. And you’ve made that
come right. Because you came back to me.’

Sarah stooped to plant a soft kiss on Amy’s
cheek. ‘Shall we go home now?’

‘Yes,’ said Amy. ‘Let’s go home.’

Beth was already halfway along the road to
David’s farm before she realised that she had forgotten to bring a
coat. She glanced apprehensively at the iron-grey sky, but decided
to risk it rather than ride all the way home again.

She was on the track up to the house when
the heavens opened, drenching her in moments. She made no attempt
to urge the horse into a faster canter; that would only risk a
dangerous stumble, and she could hardly get any wetter than she
already was.

When she neared the house she saw David
running towards her, carrying a halter and a spare coat. His own
coat was flapping open, as he had not taken the time to button it.
As Beth slid from the horse, he flung the coat over her shoulders.
The two of them got the halter on the horse, took off its tack and
turned it in to the nearest paddock. The horse gave them a
reproachful stare and shook itself ineffectually.

‘I’ll put this stuff away,’ David called
over his shoulder as he ran towards the nearest shed carrying the
tack. ‘You go inside and get dry.’

Beth was still in the porch, struggling with
numb fingers at the laces of her sodden and muddy boots, when David
joined her there. He pulled off her boots before removing his own.
They hung the streaming coats on two nails, then erupted into the
kitchen.

They stood dripping water on the floor and
laughing helplessly at the sight of each other. Their hair was
plastered to their scalps, and their clothes were so wet they might
as well have been swimming in them.

David fetched a towel from his room. Beth
rubbed her hair with it, and made a futile attempt at dabbing some
of the water out of her clothes. She passed the towel to David, and
watched as he gave his hair a quick rub, leaving it tousled but
still dripping.

‘That hasn’t done much good,’ she scolded.
‘Here, let me. Lean forward so I can reach.’

David obligingly lowered his head, but Beth
still had to stand on tiptoe to lift the towel high enough. She
rubbed vigorously at his thick, dark mane, ignoring his protests
that she was pulling it, then dropped the towel, slipped her
fingers through his hair and pulled his face down to hers till
their lips met.

When David came up for air, Beth kept her
fingers twined in his hair and admired the way the ends were
turning up as it dried. ‘You and your curls,’ she said. ‘Ma used to
say you were too pretty to be a boy. I wish I had hair like
yours—or blonde like Maudie’s.’

‘I like yours best.’ David took a rather
damp lock of Beth’s fine, light brown hair in his hand and kissed
it. She shivered slightly. ‘Are you cold? Come in the parlour, I’ve
got the fire going.’

He put his arm around Beth and led her
through to the next room. David built up the fire, and they sank
onto the rag rug in front of it, leaning against each other.

Beth held out her hands towards the warmth
of the fire, but her teeth chattered. ‘You’re really cold,’ David
said in concern. ‘You need to get some dry clothes on. Do you want
to see if Ma left any dresses here?’

‘I can’t go poking around in Aunt Amy’s
stuff! Anyway, I don’t think her things would fit me, she’s so
little. I’ll be all right.’ Despite herself, she shivered
again.

‘You’d better get out of that wet stuff,
anyway.’ David got up and went into his room, and was back a few
moments later with a blanket, which he held out towards Beth.
‘You’ll be decent enough in this,’ he said with a grin.

‘You needn’t think I’m getting undressed
with you watching me. Go and get changed yourself—your clothes must
be nearly as bad as mine.’ She took the blanket, and watched as
David went into his bedroom. ‘Close the door!’ she called after
him. David made a show of firmly closing it. ‘And don’t come back
out here till I say you can.’

She took off her dress and outer petticoat,
only to find that her under-petticoat was damp, too. So she
stripped to her chemise and drawers, draped her clothes over a
chair and wrapped herself in the blanket. ‘You can come out now,’
she called.

To her surprise, David emerged wrapped in a
blanket and carrying his clothes. ‘Why didn’t you put some dry
clothes on?’ she asked.

‘I haven’t got any clean ones left except my
good ones for Sunday.’

‘Well, why didn’t you put everything in the
wash when I collected it the other day?’

‘I forgot,’ he admitted. ‘These’ll dry
pretty quick.’

‘Oh, honestly! I’m going to go all through
your drawers, and check under the bed and everything before next
wash day.’

She took the trousers and shirt from him and
draped them over the room’s other chair. She wondered what David
was wearing under the blanket; as he pulled both chairs closer to
the fire, the blanket gaped a little, and she caught a glimpse of
what looked like woollen combinations.

They sat on the rug again. David took off
his socks and spread them on the bricks of the hearth. Beth
followed his lead and slipped off her stockings under cover of the
blanket, and put the stockings with her wet clothes. ‘You should
make one of those drying racks for Aunt Amy,’ she said. ‘We use
ours all the time in winter.’

‘That’s a good idea. I’ll come and have a
look at yours some time to see how to make it.’ He looked at Beth,
who was hugging her knees under the blanket. ‘Are you warm enough
yet?’

‘Not really. Even my… what I’ve got on’s a
bit damp.’

David held out an arm, letting the blanket
drop slightly. ‘Cuddle up, then. I don’t want you getting a
chill.’

Beth hesitated a moment; two rather
threadbare blankets did not seem much of a barrier between two
bodies clad only in underwear. But David’s solid form looked
invitingly warm in the draughty room that the fire had still not
done much to heat. She snuggled into the crook of his arm, and
tilted her face for the kiss she was expecting. David obliged.

They twined their arms around each other,
kissing more and more enthusiastically. For the first time since
the rain had started, Beth began to feel warm.

When her lips were released, she leaned back
against David’s supporting arms to look into his face, with its
dark blue eyes and frame of curls. ‘Too pretty to be a boy,’ she
teased, taking a curl in one hand and tugging it gently. David
retrieved her hand and kissed it, then returned his attention to
her mouth.

As he pressed against her, she almost lost
her balance under his weight, and put out a hand to steady herself.
David let go of her just long enough to snatch two cushions from
the couch. With the cushions as pillows, they stretched out on the
rug to cuddle more easily.

‘Mmm, this is nice,’ Beth murmured when her
mouth was again free. She was vaguely aware that her blanket was no
longer wrapped around her; instead both blankets were lying loosely
over the two of them. But it was too comfortable in David’s arms to
take notice of such details.

They pressed together more closely, their
legs entwined. Warmth crept through Beth. She could feel her heart
pounding, and her breath coming rapidly. She ran her hand down
David’s arm, feeling the hard muscle moving under her palm.

He was beginning to make moaning noises that
struck Beth as comical. She giggled, and tried to free her mouth to
tease him about it. David pushed against her; she found herself
rolling onto her back with him on top of her.

‘Oof! You’re too heavy! Get off,’ she said,
but the only response was more moaning. She was aware of an odd
pressure, and then a sudden sharp pain. ‘Stop it!’ She batted
against his arms with both hands. ‘You’re hurting me! Stop it,
Davie!’

David’s voice came oddly thick to her ears.
‘I can’t,’ he moaned. ‘I can’t stop!’

*

It took David some time to show any reaction
to the fact that he was being hit quite hard. He had rolled onto
his back, and Beth was crouched over him, punching him without any
real skill, but with more strength than her size might have
suggested.

‘I told you to stop!’ she shrieked. ‘You
hurt
me!’

David blinked stupidly and said nothing,
which maddened Beth all the more. She redoubled her efforts, and he
recovered the power of speech.

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ He took her hands in
his, forestalling her next attempt to hit him. ‘I didn’t mean
to.’

Beth snatched her hands from his grasp and
turned her back on him. She looked at herself under the blankets.
‘There’s blood! You’ve made me bleed!’

David sat up quickly. ‘How did I do that?’
He made to lift the edge of the blankets and look, but Beth slapped
his hand away.

‘You leave me alone! You’re horrible!’ She
swung her hand at him. It made a loud
thwack
as her palm
connected with his face.

David made no attempt to hinder the slap,
nor the one that followed it. He waited till Beth paused for a
moment to catch her breath, then he took her hands and held them
too tightly for her to pull away.

‘I’m really sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean
to do that. It just sort of happened. How sore is it? Is it really
bad?’

The shock was beginning to subside. ‘Not
really—it’s almost come right. And there’s only a little bit of
blood. But why didn’t you stop when I told you to?’

‘I tried to, honestly I did. But I couldn’t
seem to help it.’ He cautiously slipped his arm around her, and she
allowed him to guide her head onto his shoulder. ‘It’ll be all
right, don’t worry. I’ll marry you, Beth.’

‘Well, of course we’re going to get
married!’ Beth said, almost without thinking.

David looked startled. ‘Oh. I didn’t know
that. I mean, I want to and all, but… when did you decide
that?’

Beth frowned in thought. ‘I think I’ve
always known. I never exactly thought about it, I just knew we’d
get married one day.’

‘Well, I’m glad you finally told me,’ David
said, grinning. He gave her a squeeze. ‘Come on, get up on the
couch and I’ll make you a cup of tea.’

He helped Beth upright, then onto the couch
with her feet up. He placed a cushion behind her head and tucked
one of the blankets around her before going off to the kitchen with
the other blanket wrapped around his waist.

David was soon back with their tea things
and a plate of biscuits, which he put on an upturned box. He sat on
the floor in front of the couch. ‘I didn’t eat all the biscuits
this time,’ he said proudly. ‘I didn’t find these ones till this
morning.’

He took a biscuit and devoured it in two
bites. ‘So when do you reckon we should get married?’

‘As soon as we can. Davie,’ Beth said
anxiously, ‘do you think they’ll let us? Ma and Pa, I mean. Aunt
Amy too—I suppose she’ll have to sign the paper to say you’re
allowed.’

‘Why? Do you think they mightn’t want us
to?’

‘Well, they might think we’re a bit young.
They
might
let us get engaged—I’ll be seventeen in November,
and Maudie was allowed to get engaged when she was seventeen. I
think she would’ve been allowed before then, come to that, if
Richard had got on with it. They were meant to wait till she was
eighteen to get married, but they talked Ma around. But you’re only
eighteen, they might think that’s too young for a boy. Richard was
nearly thirty, and he was—’ She caught herself just in time to bite
back the word “rich”. ‘He was sort of… settled.’

‘I’m settled, too. I’ve got my own
farm.’

‘I know, but it’s not…’ She trailed off,
reluctant to risk hurting him. David might have his own farm, and
she knew he worked hard on it, but it was far smaller than her
father’s, and she had seen for herself how rundown its buildings
were, and the low quality of his stock. ‘Well, we’ll just have to
ask, and hope for the best.’

She could see that she had made him anxious,
too. ‘Do you think we should tell them about this?’ he asked,
waving his hand vaguely in a motion that seemed meant to take in
the rug, the blankets, and all that had happened there. ‘They’d
have to let us then.’

‘No!’ Beth said, horrified at the thought.
‘Ma would give me the worst hiding there’s ever been! Maudie used
to get hidings just for giving her cheek—I hate to think what I’d
get for this lot.’

‘It was my fault, really,’ David said, but
Beth shook her head.

‘No, it was both of us. It wouldn’t have
happened if we hadn’t been doing all that cuddling and stuff.’