For a Mother's Sins (16 page)

Autumn came quickly to Ribblehead. Gales swept the navvy settlements on Batty Green, the strong gusts blowing men off the viaduct and making work impossible. The hospital was
busier than ever, with accidents a daily occurrence.

Lizzie sat up in bed, trying to shut out the screams of the latest patient to be admitted. She’d been looking forward to this day. After seven long weeks, the wooden splints on her leg and
arm were going to be removed.

‘Are you all right, my love?’ Molly appeared by her bedside, anxious lest her daughter had been upset by screams from the latest victim of the railway.

‘I’m fine, Ma. When’s Doctor Thistlethwaite going to come and take my splints off? I want to go home.’

‘Hush now, pet. The doctor has to attend to that poor man first. Besides, what’s the hurry to get home? You’ll only get bored – don’t forget you’re going to
need to take it easy for a while. No doing anything silly, else you’ll be back in here.’ Molly ruffled her daughter’s hair fondly.

‘Molly, can you help me see to this patient?’ called Doctor Thistlethwaite.

She immediately hurried to his side, happy to oblige. She’d learned a lot about nursing in the days and nights she’d kept vigil over Lizzie, hoping and praying that she’d live
through her ordeal, watching as she fought for her life. And then one morning Lizzie had suddenly come round and it was as if nothing had happened. Aside from the fact that her arm and leg remained
in splints and she had no recollection of how she had been injured, Lizzie showed no ill effects. It was a miracle, and Molly had been so overwhelmed with joy that she’d planted a kiss on
Doctor Thistlethwaite’s cheek. Ever since then, they had been on first-name terms – to the obvious displeasure of Nurse Starchy Drawers.

‘Now, Lizzie, today is the day.’ Doctor Thistlethwaite leaned over his patient. ‘Pass me those scissors, Molly. Let’s get these splints off and see what we are left with.
Arm first, Lizzie.’

He snipped away at the bandages that had been in place since the day Lizzie was admitted to hospital, revealing a white shrivelled stick of an arm.

‘Don’t worry,’ he said, seeing the dismay on her face. ‘It’ll only take a week or two for the muscle to build up. Before you know it, that arm will match the other
one. Bend it for me, please, Lizzie.’

She moved it tentatively. The limb felt stiff and delicate, and she was frightened it would snap.

‘Excellent! Keep moving it and everything will be fine.’ Doctor Thistlethwaite felt the length of the arm and beamed with satisfaction. ‘Now the leg. You’ll not be able
to run straight away, young lady. I warn you, it will be a long process, but at least you’ve got two legs – not like old George over there.’

Despite his jolly demeanour, the doctor was far from confident that he’d been successful in setting the bone correctly. It had been a bad break, and as always in such cases there was a
risk the limb would be permanently deformed. Still he smiled and kept the conversation light and breezy as he removed the splints and bandages, and ran his fingers along the bone.

‘Stand up for me,’ he said. ‘Put your weight on your mother, because your leg will be too weak at the moment.’

Lizzie looked uncertainly at her mother. She didn’t want to put her foot down, it felt too strange and she didn’t dare.

‘Come on, Lizzie, you can do it. Hold on to me.’ Molly held her hand out and helped her daughter to her feet.

‘Well done! Now, ladies, let’s see you walk all the way to the door.’ Doctor Thistlethwaite stood back and watched as Lizzie and her mother slowly walked to the door and back,
limping slightly but walking all the same.

‘Excellent! I’m delighted to say it looks as though you’ve come through your misfortune virtually unscathed, Lizzie.’ Doctor Thistlethwaite turned to Molly, whose eyes
were brimming with tears, and added, ‘I can see your mother is delighted too. Now then, it’s about time you went home, isn’t it? I’m sure you’ve had enough of this
place.’

‘John promised to come for me, didn’t he, Ma? He said he’d come after work. He promised to carry me – just until I get stronger.’ Lizzie’s eyes lit up,
knowing that she would be leaving the hospital. She’d hated every minute, stuck there with no escape from the smell of blood and urine, and the moans and groans of injured and dying men.
Especially those nights when she was on her own after her mother had finished work.

‘Yes, he’ll be here. I spoke to him this morning.’ Molly laughed and ran her fingers through Lizzie’s long black hair.

‘I can take her if you want, Molly. It’s no problem,’ volunteered Doctor Thistlethwaite.

‘Thank you, Doctor, but John promised. Besides, you’re needed here.’ Molly smiled warmly at him. He couldn’t have been kinder these last few weeks. Since Lizzie’s
accident, the two of them had become close friends.

‘If you’re sure?’

‘Yes, I’m sure. Lizzie is no lightweight and John’s used to carrying awkward loads.’ Molly grinned as Lizzie pulled a face at hearing herself described as an awkward
load.

As the doctor walked away, Molly sat on the bed next to Lizzie and began encouraging her to move her leg and arm.

‘Two grown men, fighting over a woman her age!’ sniffed Nurse Starchy Drawers, unimpressed by what she had just witnessed.

‘Why not?’ piped up the elderly patient whose temperature she was supposed to be taking. ‘At least she’s a proper woman – unlike some I could mention!’

And as she stuck her nose in the air and stormed off in a huff, the old man roared with laughter.

‘What’s that you’re reading, Ma?’ John had just finished washing himself down with warm water from the jug and was drying himself with the coarse towel
before pulling his shirt on.

‘It’s a letter that came this morning from our Bob. He’s wanting to come home. It seems he’s got fed up, being with Nancy. He’s such a bad writer, I’ve all on
to make out what he’s written here.’ Rose sighed and sat with the letter in her palm. ‘What are you getting dressed up for? And how come you’re home so early? Has something
happened at the tunnel?’

‘No, I promised Molly I’d carry her Lizzie home today. I left work early because we don’t want her to be out in the damp night air.’ John smoothed his hair and checked
himself in the battered mirror.

‘Oh, so it’s “Molly” now, is it? The woman’s your elder – she should be Mrs Mason. What’s more, she’s a widow – just you think
on!’

‘Oh, Mother, them days are on their way out. She’s a neighbour – a neighbour who’s in need of help. For God’s sake, leave it be.’ John slipped his jacket on
and pulled his cap down, then reached for the door. ‘Don’t wait up for me, I might be a while. I was thinking of having a game of dominoes with the lads after I get Lizzie home.’
Without waiting for a reply, he banged the door shut behind him.

Rose sighed and looked at the crumpled letter in her hand. She couldn’t risk Bob coming home yet awhile. Like it or not, he’d have to stop a bit longer with his aunt – at least
until they could be certain that Lizzie didn’t remember what had happened to her. She got out pen and ink and replied to his begging letter. Better that he was safe and bored in Durham than
locked up in Lancaster Gaol. She’d write and tell him no. He’d be all right with Nancy.

‘Right, young lady, are you ready for home?’ John smiled at the beaming Lizzie.

‘I am. My ma says you’re going to carry me home – I can’t wait!’ Lizzie grinned and stood up shakily on her weak leg. ‘Look, John, I can stand on my own! I
can even walk a few steps. I’m going to be fine.’

‘Don’t you be doing too much, my girl. You heard what the doctor said – slowly does it.’ Molly tried to calm her excited daughter.

‘Come on then, let’s be away.’ John put one arm around Lizzie’s waist and the other under her legs, and lifted her into the air. She wrapped her good arm around his neck
and rested the weak one in her lap as he carried her through the ward, the injured navvies wishing her well as she bade farewell to them all, sad to leave the kindly faces.

Florrie was waiting at the hospital doorway and she skipped along beside them as John carried her best friend across the furrowed tracks. She was glad that that Lizzie had survived. Since the
accident, she had gone to the hospital every day. At first they wouldn’t let her in, but she’d waited outside, refusing to leave until someone came and told her how Lizzie was doing.
Then, when Lizzie was feeling a little better, she’d been allowed to keep her company. She’d take in books and sit listening as Lizzie read aloud, wishing that she had half the brains
that her friend did.

Molly had gone ahead to make sure the hut was ready to receive them. As they approached the front door, Florrie announced, ‘I can’t stop, Lizzie. My ma wants me back at the inn to
help. But I was determined to see you home.’ She held out a bunch of wildflowers: ‘Here – I’ve picked you some flowers. Ain’t they lovely?’ As Lizzie took the
now-drooping flowers and sniffed the bouquet her friend had thoughtfully picked for her, Florrie gave a cheerful wave and trotted off home. Bless her, she was a good friend. The flowers would soon
revive in a glass of water and then she could have them by her bedside to cheer her up.

When John set Lizzie down in the chair next to the stove, Molly took one look at her daughter’s pale face and announced, ‘Right then, miss, let’s get some supper in you and
then it’ll be an early night for you. I bet you can’t wait to be back in your own bed again.’

Lizzie was too busy gazing at the shelves adorned with shiny plates and cups to hear what was being said. The place had changed a lot while she’d been away. There was even matting on the
floor. ‘It looks right cosy,’ she declared. ‘More like a home.’

‘Aye, well, I’ve had a lot of help from this fella – not that he’ll let on.’ Molly smiled at John. ‘I don’t know what I’d have done without
him.’ She ladled stew into a bowl and set it in front of Lizzie.

‘Give over, it’s all your own doing,’ said John. ‘You’ve worked every hour God sends at that hospital. All I did was put things up where you wanted them.’ He
pulled his chair up to the table as Molly passed him some stew.

‘You know how grateful I am.’ She reached her hand out and touched John’s, words not enough to convey her feelings. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she said, ‘Would you
look at me – sad old fool! What am I like? First hour home for my lass and I’m crying like a baby. We should be celebrating our Lizzie’s return.’ She wiped her nose on her
pinny and put on her firm voice again: ‘Come on, lady, get that eaten and then off to bed with you. I promised Doctor Thistlethwaite there’d be no excitement for a day or two, so
I’d better do as I’m told.’

Molly sang softly to herself as she washed the dirty pots, content that her daughter was back with her and apparently none the worse for her ordeal. She’d been afraid
that Lizzie would be tormented by nightmares about the fall and the long hours she’d spent lying out there in the wind and rain, but thankfully the child had no memory whatsoever of those
terrible events.

She dried her hands and turned to look at John, who was sitting in the chair next to the stove, lighting his pipe. ‘I love the smell of a pipe,’ she said. ‘It reminds me of my
old man. He used to do just what you’re doing now. He’d stretch his legs out and puff on his pipe and look out of the window for hours.’

‘Aye, except I wasn’t looking out of the window. I was enjoying a far bonnier sight than anything out there.’ John rose and walked over to Molly, placing his hands tight around
her waist.

‘Will you be quiet and behave yourself, John Pratt? You’ll wake our Lizzie, and I don’t want to upset her on her first day back home.’ Molly tried not to giggle for fear
it would spoil her pretence of being cross with John as he gently kissed her and playfully bit her neck.

‘You’re a fine woman, Molly Mason.’ He ran his fingers down the side of her face and cupped her face in his hands, kissing her tenderly on the lips. ‘You’re enough
to make a poor Methodist lad go off the road of good intentions and into the fires of hell.’ He grinned as his hands wandered up Molly’s skirts.

‘Give over.’ Molly closed her eyes and swooned in his arms. ‘We shouldn’t, Lizzie might hear.’

‘Shh, come down here, woman. Come on, stop your fretting – I’ll be quiet.’ He took Molly’s hand, pulling her down on to the warm matting where he laid next to her,
kissing her on the mouth and stroking her hair. ‘I love you, Molly. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know how it’s happened, but I know I want you so badly.’ He kissed
her neck and bosom and pulled her skirts up as he laid on top of her and entered her.

Molly gasped as she wrapped her legs around him and looked into his eyes as he clenched her hands above her head and made love to her with easy natural motions. Both of them forgetting the world
around them, their passions fully aroused.

‘I shouldn’t have let you.’ Molly lay next to an exhausted John, looking up at the hut’s roof and feeling the hard floorboards through the matting. ‘You’ll
think you can always do that to me, and I wanted you as a friend.’

John reached over, wrapping his arm around her. ‘Moll, did you not hear me? I love you. I’d never take advantage if I didn’t love you.’ He kissed her gently on the neck
to reassure her.

‘No, I shouldn’t have done it.’ She shook her head and closed her eyes. ‘I’ve too much history behind me. And what would your family say? Their lad going with the
whore across the way. I can just see your mother now.’ Molly sat up and pulled her skirts down.

‘It’s nowt to do with her. Anyway, she’s got bigger things to worry about. There’s our Mike, living with the family from hell and a baby on the way, not to mention our
Bob. Besides, she’s no angel herself.’

‘Your Bob’s all right, isn’t he? What’s up with him?’ Molly turned her head to look at John.

‘Nay, he’s got himself into a bit of bother, that’s all.’ Realizing it was a subject best left alone, he steered clear of it. ‘Moll, you know it’s right, I
love you.’

Both of them stood up and Molly gazed out of the window rather than face him.