Daughter of Dark River Farm (12 page)

I pulled Pippin to a stop in the yard, and caught sight of two figures walking up through the field towards the wood. One taller, but walking stiffly and a little hunched, the shorter one very straight-backed, and gesturing with his hands, clearly agitated in his speech. Curiosity burned as I remembered that strange, emotional exchange last night; what on earth had Nathan
done
to Will all those years ago?

‘It looks exactly the same as I remember it,’ Jessie said, with quiet satisfaction.

I turned back to see her climbing down from the trap. ‘When were you here last?’

‘I suppose I must have been around ten or eleven. Frances usually visits us instead, but I do remember coming here when my mother wasn’t well.’

‘And how old are you now?’

‘I’m twenty-one.’

‘Can you two stop chattering,’ Belinda said through gritted teeth, ‘and bloody well help me down off this seat? My ankle has seized up.’

We took Bel’s hands, helping her to slide off the seat and land more lightly than she would have been able to otherwise. Then she put an arm around my shoulder, and I shot Jessie an apologetic look as I left her to carry both her own bags again, and helped Bel into the kitchen. Jessie didn’t complain, simply picked up her belongings and followed us indoors where Lizzy and Sally were preparing lunch.

‘Gracious!’ Lizzy put down her vegetable knife in alarm, and came over to help Bel into a seat. ‘What
have
you been doing? Are you all right?’

‘Quite all right, thank you,’ Bel mumbled, sounding more nasal than ever.

‘It’s my fault,’ Jessie put in quickly, and smiled and held out her hand. ‘You must be Lizzy. Frances has told me so much about you. I’m Jessie Goulding.’ She sighed. ‘I’m afraid Belinda slipped and fell from the trap while she was helping me to load my bags. I feel awful about the whole thing.’

Belinda’s mouth dropped open, but she nodded quickly. ‘Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault at all. I was in too much of a rush to get home.’

‘You’re always in too much of a rush about everything,’ Lizzy scolded gently, and tilted Belinda’s face up to catch the light from the window. ‘You’ve managed to give yourself quite a wallop there. Kitty, could you fetch a wet cloth? Bel’s nose is bleeding a bit.’

‘It’s better than it was,’ I said, dampening a cloth at the sink. ‘We cleaned it up, but I expect the jolting of the trap started it off again.’

‘How about that foot?’ Lizzy wanted to know, frowning at the splint I’d put on. ‘Is it broken? We’ll have to get Dr Nichols over.’

‘It’s not broken,’ I said, and passed the cloth to her. ‘I thought it was but I had a good look at it, and I’m sure it’s just sprained.’

‘Well you’d know,’ Lizzy said, smiling at me with a warmth that made me feel clever again, for a minute. She could always do that. ‘Well done, Kitty.’

I blushed, and glanced at Jessie, who was eyeing me with a new speculation in her expression. Perhaps Lizzy’s words had given her a good impression of me; I hoped so. I tried to send her a look of gratitude for her quick thinking, but I don’t know if she read it correctly, and we were both soon distracted by Belinda’s little whimpers as Lizzy gently wiped the fresh blood from her face.

‘I’ll show you to your room,’ I said to Jessie, and picked up one of her cases. It turned out to be the heavy one and I grunted with surprise. She picked up the other, and followed me upstairs to the room we knew as the dorm. Jane had left her part of the three-bed room as neat as Bel’s was scruffy. The bed was stripped down, and the cupboard by its side was polished, the little jug and bowl set just so in the centre of the linen square, the drawers freshly lined with paper ready for Jessie’s possessions. Reflecting that Jane was, indeed, the best person to be taking care of hers and Bel’s mother, I put Jessie’s case on the bed and bent to unbuckle the straps.

‘There, I’ll just leave you to—’

‘This isn’t my room.’

I blinked. ‘Um, well, this is where Jane slept, and since you’re replacing Jane I thought—’

‘Whenever I come to stay I sleep in the room next door. The yellow room.’

‘Oh, but that’s…’ It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her it was my room, but she did have a prior claim after all. And it might be quite fun to share with Sally and Bel. ‘I’ll move my things in here then,’ I said instead.

‘Thanks lots,’ Jessie said, and smiled again. ‘It’s only what I’m used to, d’you see?’

‘Of course.’ I buckled up the case again and slid it off the bed. How on earth had she managed to carry the blessed things so far before we caught up with her? This one felt as if it were filled with rocks.

‘I’ll help you change the bedding after lunch,’ I offered, and she nodded her thanks. ‘What’s in this case?’ I asked, before realising how that sounded. ‘I’m sorry. That was quite rude of me.’

‘That’s all right,’ she said. ‘I should have carried that one. It’s far heavier than this. It’s got my books in it.’

‘You like to read? I do, too.’ I was itching to see what books she had, hopeful of the kind of conversations I’d often had with Lizzy’s younger sister, Emily, but she had turned away, so I just took some clothes from the drawer and carried them next door to the dorm.

On my way past the yellow room again I poked my head around the door. ‘I’ll see you downstairs. I’m going to help with lunch.’

In fact I was intending to slip out of the front and follow the path Will and Nathan had taken up to the woods. Jessie would be a while sorting her things out, and the others were busy in the kitchen. It was the perfect time to seize some of that excitement that still bubbled around inside me. I was desperate to find out the truth behind Nathan’s past, and even better, to be able to tell Belinda before she found out for herself. If either of the men saw me I could always pretend to be looking for Frances.

But as my foot crossed the threshold, and my heart started to speed up in anticipation, I heard Jessie’s voice cut through the small hallway from halfway down the stairs.

‘Oh, there you are, Kitty!’

I stopped, hissing a quick, impatient breath, before turning back. ‘Yes, here I am. Are you settled?’

‘Oh, nowhere near,’ she said cheerfully, ‘but we have plenty of time for that. I was hoping to see Frances first.’

‘She’ll be out clipping sheep,’ I said. ‘Would you like to sit down with a cup of tea? I’ll go and find her for you.’ The perfect excuse. Now I was on the outside step, feeling the sun and the breeze, with freedom just a door slam away.

‘Will she be back for lunch?’ Jessie wanted to know.

‘Probably not. While the weather’s this good she’ll want to see it through. Shall I go and find her then?’

Jessie shook her head, looking disappointed. ‘Not on my account. I’m keen to see how Belinda is though, aren’t you?’

I hesitated, then sighed. ‘Yes, of course.’ I stepped reluctantly back over the threshold. ‘It was good of you to say what you did. You know, about her falling off the cart.’

Jessie turned back with a smile. ‘Oh, I could tell you two had been up to something,’ she said. ‘I bet it was fun. Perhaps you’ll tell me later?’

‘I will,’ I promised, hopes of a friendship rekindled, and quashing my sense of mild annoyance at being turfed out of my room.

In the kitchen Belinda was sitting with a cold cloth pressed to her nose, and with her foot propped on a chair piled high with cushions. Lizzy and Sally were cleaning up the lunch preparations, and Jessie sat down while I went to the cutlery drawer.

‘Does Frances have help now that Harry’s…gone?’ she asked.

‘She still has Colin Trebilcock, him who collects the milk,’ Lizzy said. ‘He was too old to join up, but he’s healthy enough, and he comes over to help with some of the heavier work. Other than that, she’s learned to ask now and again in the village.’

‘Swallowed her pride then,’ Jessie said. ‘Well people will be quite happy to help. Harry was a popular man.’

I felt that tug of jealousy again. She had only been here half an hour, if that, and already it was clear she knew more about the farm than I did. I was starting to feel edged out again, despite Frances’s heartfelt declaration that I was family now. I shook myself mentally; there was room for both of us, after all.

‘How was your training?’ I asked, meaning to sound friendly and interested, but too late I realised I had merely sounded exactly the way I was feeling about myself—making the point that she was the new girl here. I could have kicked myself, particularly when Jessie’s embarrassed look told me she’d heard it in just that way.

‘We didn’t really learn very much,’ she said, ‘not in the time we were given. But I’ve learned enough about safety to be reasonably sure I won’t chop off any limbs, or…’ she flicked a sudden grin at Belinda ‘…fall out of a pony trap and break my nose.’

Lizzy snorted laughter, and the faintly strained atmosphere was broken. ‘I should hope not,’ she said. ‘Right, Bel, that cloth should have done the trick now. Kitty, run and fetch some water, please. Jessie, if you wouldn’t mind, perhaps you could take the plates out of the aga? Sally, the vegetables should be ready for straining now.’

Within moments the kitchen was a mass of activity, and Jessie moved quickly, and without question, to carry out the task assigned her. There was something about Lizzy’s calm authority that had the same effect on almost everyone who met her, and even Belinda obeyed her without pause, with the result that, five minutes later, we were all sitting down to a hot, beautifully cooked midday meal.

‘Which bedroom is yours?’ Jessie asked Lizzy, tearing off a chunk of bread and dipping it into the rich, dark gravy on her plate.

‘I live a little way down the road, nearer the village,’ Lizzy said. ‘I did live here for a while, but I moved back into Ma’s house with her, Emily and the twins.’

‘And what do they do?’

‘Adie and Albert are only little still, so they’re at school. When it’s not being closed down,’ she added with a sigh. ‘Emily, that’s my sister, works at Devonport Technical School.’

‘Is she a teacher?’ Jessie looked impressed, but Lizzy shook her head, smiling.

‘No, it’s been taken over to put shell casings together. That’s what she’s doing.’

‘I didn’t realise they were making bombs there,’ I said with a little shudder, hearing the phantom sounds of Flanders.

‘It’s only the casings,’ Lizzy reiterated. ‘They get sent to Bristol for the charges and fuses and things. I know which end I’d rather be working at.’

I nodded agreement. ‘What about your mother?’ We hardly ever talked about Lizzy’s family, and it had been Jessie who’d led the way. I felt bad about that and determined to make up for it.

‘Ma’s just started working up at Princetown, at the moss-drying plant.’

‘Boss?’ Belinda asked, and frowned, trying again. ‘Mm-moss?’

I tried not to giggle, but she caught my expression and flicked a pea off her fork at me.

‘Belinda!’ Lizzy cuffed her arm, and Belinda glared at me, but I saw her mouth twitch. She knew how funny it sounded, and she poked her tongue at me out to hide the smile.

‘Sphagnum moss,’ Lizzy said. ‘For field dressings.’

Jessie lit up with interest. ‘What a brilliant thing! How do they get it dried out?’

Lizzy began to explain the process, and I listened too, quite interested until the door opened and Will and Nathan came in. Belinda and I exchanged wide-eyed looks, and she grabbed her napkin and lifted it to cover her nose while I turned my attention back to them. Will was looking tired, and his hand was wrapped across his waist—I was glad Evie wasn’t here to see that. But Lizzy was, which was the next worst thing.

She was on her feet in seconds. ‘Will, sit down.’

He dropped a kiss on her forehead. ‘I’m well; don’t worry. Just walked a bit too far.’ He nevertheless eased himself into the vacated seat, and let out a slow, careful breath. He was always taken by surprise that he wasn’t able to move with his former vigour.

‘Don’t tell Evie,’ he pleaded, and Lizzy looked at him for a long moment, then her cross, worried expression faded.

‘I won’t, if you’ll promise to let him—’ she nodded at Nathan ‘—take on the lion’s share now.’

‘Agreed,’ Will said, and grinned. It was easy to see why Evie had fallen for him when he did that, and Belinda even took her eyes off Nathan for a moment and responded with a tiny smile of her own, visible above the napkin that still covered her swollen nose.

Abruptly Archie’s face floated to the front of my mind, and I saw his own grin—slightly lopsided, shaping his face to something unique and beautiful…eyes of an unusually changing grey, with his bold, dark eyebrows making them appear all the more piercing. I remembered the look in those eyes when I’d turned him down, and the pain that shot through me almost made me gasp out loud and I took a hurried gulp of water.

‘So, did you two sort things out?’ Belinda asked, impatient for details.

Nathan leaned against the door, and nodded, but his eyes were on me. ‘I’ve explained everything,’ he said, ‘and Will understands. I hope that means you’ll take his word that I’m no rogue?’

‘Oh, you’re a rogue all right,’ Will said, ‘but I do understand a bit more now.’

‘What did he do? Tell us!’

‘Bel! It’s not for us to ask that.’ I felt the weight of Nathan’s gaze again and let my eyes rise, until they met his. I saw a glint in them as his lips curved into a smile, then he shifted his gaze to Belinda, and raised a questioning eyebrow. Belinda gave a resigned sigh, and lowered the napkin.

‘Hell’s bells!’ Will exclaimed, and Lizzy chuckled.

‘Bel’s hell, perhaps. Poor girl fell out of the pony trap.’

I winced, thinking it made Belinda sound a bit foolish. ‘She
was
only trying to help,’ I said quickly. ‘It was Pippin’s fault. The silly thing wouldn’t keep still.’

‘Exactly,’ Belinda said. ‘And I’ll have you know I’m really quite badly hurt.’

‘You poor thing,’ Nathan murmured, and she gave him a gratified look.

‘You need to keep that foot raised,’ Lizzy said. ‘As soon as you’ve finished lunch, go to your room and lie down. Kitty can bring you some cushions to rest your ankle on.’

‘But I don’t want to spend the afternoon up there,’ Belinda protested. Her eyes flicked from Will to Nathan and back again, and it was obvious she thought she’d be missing something.