The Grace Stories Page 14
Beth clutched Grace’s hand.
‘Push!’ Grace whispered. ‘Push!’
Grace was concentrating so hard on Beth that she was taken by surprise when Liza said, ‘Yes, Beth! The baby is here!’
Liza lifted up the damp new baby and Beth began to cry as she took it into her arms. ‘It’s a girl,’ said Liza. ‘A beautiful baby girl. Well done, Beth.’
Beth held her baby against her chest and cried and laughed at the same time. Grace looked at the baby’s tiny hands and feet, at the damp dark hair covering her head and her soft pink lips.
She’s perfect, Grace thought. She noticed the way Beth looked down at her newborn, her face soft with love and tenderness.
Suddenly, Grace felt uncertain. Maybe now I will be on my own again, she worried.
As if sensing her feelings, Beth reached out and took Grace’s hand. ‘Oh, Grace, what would I have done without you? You were so brave.’ Beth looked down at her baby. ‘What do you think of the name Alice, Grace? Do you like it?’
‘I like it very much,’ Grace answered.
‘Lovely little Alice.’ Beth closed her eyes and held her new baby close.
Grace touched the soft new skin on Alice’s arm and her heart felt as though it was pressing against the bones in her chest.
‘I think it’s time you had some rest, Beth.’ Liza pulled the blankets up over her. ‘Grace, your mistress will be very tired after all that work. Can you pour some warm water into the pail? Alice needs to be washed and swaddled and then she will need to rest, too.’
Liza and Grace set about making a cot for Alice. Grace found a wooden box in the shed and Liza took a pair of Tom’s thick work trousers from off the line to make a mattress. Grace covered the trousers with newly hemmed tablecloths, then she placed the cot on the floor beside Beth’s mattress.
‘A bed for Alice,’ said Grace.
Liza stayed the night with Beth and Grace, showing Beth how to feed her baby and how to take care of her. She told Beth that she must rest for the next few days, and only get out of bed to use the privy. Grace was to do everything – wash the nappies, bring meals for Beth, keep the hut warm and clean, bring firewood and prepare food as well as checking on the animals.
‘It won’t be for long, Grace. Tom will be home soon, and then he can take care of things.’ Beth smiled weakly. ‘Alice and I, we need you . . . ’
Grace didn’t mind taking care of things. Beth had taught her so much. She could tend a garden, bake bread, feed chickens and wash clothes in a creek. Why, she could even milk a cow! Grace knew she was a good servant now, and it made her feel proud.
As Beth slept, Grace checked on Alice. She was wrapped in a faded yellow blanket in the makeshift cot. When Grace leaned over, the baby opened her deep blue eyes and looked at her. Grace reached out and touched her tiny hand. Immediately, Alice wrapped her fingers around Grace’s thumb and held on.
‘Hello, Alice,’ Grace whispered. Alice gazed back at her. ‘I’m going to do everything I can to help look after you.’
The next morning it was time for Liza to leave.
‘I’m sorry I can’t stay longer, but I must get back to Hannah, and then I have to be a midwife for three cows soon to calve,’ she said, hugging Grace. ‘Who would have thought that I would be bringing calves into the world as well as babies!’ She set Grace back. ‘And now that we’ve discovered how close we are, we’ll be seeing each other again very soon. Hannah will be so happy – she was missing you something terrible. She was getting very lonely with only our sheep to tell her stories to!’
Grace held Liza tight one more time. She wished she knew when she would be seeing her friends again.
After Liza had left, Grace took a bucket of turnips and corn down to the field to give to Glory. She checked the mare’s side – the blood had dried but the long jagged cut looked swollen and sore. Grace stroked Glory’s face and the horse pushed her head against Grace’s shoulder.
‘I’m so sorry you got hurt, Glory. Tom will be very unhappy when he sees. But it’s because of you that Beth is safe inside with her new baby,’ she said. She buried her face in the horse’s mane. ‘Thank you, Glory.’
Then Grace sang a song she had learned on the streets of London:
Lavender’s green, diddle diddle
Lavender’s blue,
You must love me, diddle diddle
Because I love you.
When Grace lifted her head she heard the baby crying inside. Beth needs me, she thought. And so does Alice.
As she walked back up to the house, Grace felt the bright morning sun on her cheeks and she smiled.
GRACE was hanging a row of Alice’s nappies on the line in the late afternoon sun when she heard men’s voices coming from the track leading to the house. Tom must have returned from his journey, she thought.
Grace knew she should have been pleased her master was back to take care of things, but instead she felt an anxious knot in her stomach. She wondered what Tom would do when he discovered she had ridden his precious mare all the way along the East Trail and left the horse with a deep cut down her side. Grace wished she never had to face him.
Reluctantly, she picked up the empty washing basket and walked back into the house to tell her mistress that her husband was home. She knew Beth would be glad to see Tom – it had been very frightening for her to have a baby with her husband working so far away. But Grace was happiest when she was just with Beth and baby Alice.
When Grace reached the front of the hut, she found Tom and his friend and neighbour, Jerry, tethering the horse and wagon to the railing, and unloading their gear.
‘Master Tom,’ she said, bowing her head and keeping her eyes to the ground.
‘Hello, Grace,’ he answered. ‘How is my wife? Is she well?’ Without waiting for an answer, he rushed inside.
‘How did you fare with the boss away?’ Jerry asked, his eyes friendly and warm.
‘Good, sir,’ Grace answered. ‘My mistress had a baby.’
‘A baby? You have been busy, Grace!’ Jerry smiled.
Tom raced back out of the house, his face flushed pink. ‘I’m a father, Jerry! A father!’
‘So I hear.’ Jerry grinned at his friend, who was already on his way back inside. Jerry shook his head. ‘He looks as happy as the day he brought home that blasted mare from the saleyards.’ Jerry walked stiffly towards the front door. ‘I hope you have some tea on for us, Grace. That was one very long week.’
I wish my master was as friendly as Jerry, thought Grace, as she followed him into the hut.
Tom was kneeling by his wife where she lay on Grace’s bed on the hearth. The fire gave Beth comfort on the cooler nights, so Grace had slept in Beth’s bed on the other side of the sack partition. Alice gurgled contentedly in Tom’s arms. Tom and Beth were smiling at each other through joyful tears.
Grace thought she had never seen Beth look prettier, her eyes as bright and blue as the favourite ribbon she wore in her hair. It was as if having a baby had been good for her.
Tom looked up proudly. ‘Jerry, this is Alice.’ He held the baby out to his friend.
‘Well done, laddy. What a beauty!’ Jerry rubbed his backside. ‘Any chance of a cup of tea around here? If I don’t wet my whistle this minute, I’m likely to fall down dead and then how will I be able to give your lovely wee girl a cuddle?’
‘Grace, would you put the kettle on for our hard-working men? Anyone would think they’d just had a baby the way they carry on!’ Beth winked at her. Grace wished she felt as playful and happy as everyone else in the room but she could hardly manage a smile.
Kind Beth must have noticed. ‘Tom,’ she said, ‘did you know that if it weren’t for our Grace you might have come home to a very different picture?’ She sat up in her bed and smiled at Grace. ‘When the baby started to come, we didn’t know what to do, did we, Grace? I didn’t want to do anything but pretend it wasn’t happening until you got home. But Grace found help.’
‘Help?’ Tom frowned.
‘Yes, I’m sure that can be managed,’ said Tom. ‘But how did Grace get all the way to the Clays’ property? It’s a fair distance along the East Trail. She must have walked the whole day . . .’ Tom looked at Grace, his eyebrows raised.
Grace turned away from him to put the kettle on the stove. The cups clattered together noisily as she took them down from the shelf.
Beth sat up higher in her bed. ‘She took Glory, Tom. And Glory did you proud. She carried Grace all the way there and back.’
In the long pause that followed Grace finished preparing the tea and stood back against the wall of the hut. The room felt very hot. Sweat dripped down the backs of her legs. Tom turned slowly to look at her. Ever since she had arrived at Wattle Park, Tom had treated her with suspicion. He had never trusted her around his precious horse, as if she might do something to deliberately hurt her. The way Tom was looking at her now made Grace feel ashamed, even though she knew she had never meant any harm or intended to do wrong. If she hadn’t ridden Glory to find help, Beth and Alice may not have survived – didn’t Tom know that?
Grace worried that if things didn’t improve between them, Tom might send her back to the Factory Above the Gaol, where she’d had to work when she first arrived. While she was there, she’d heard about convict-servants who had so disappointed their new masters that they’d been returned in exchange for better workers. Grace swallowed, her throat dry. She would rather die than be taken back to the Factory – so far away from Liza and Hannah, her best friend, who Grace knew now were living nearby, and from Beth and Alice – back where it was violent and dangerous. She felt her face grow hot under Tom’s stare.
Beth placed her hand firmly on her husband’s arm. ‘Aren’t you going to thank Grace, Tom, for making sure our baby was born safe, and that I was taken care of while you were away?’
The room was silent. Grace wished the wall would pull her straight through it and put her safely on the other side beside Jerry’s tethered horse and wagon. How tempted she would be to ride away!
‘Thank you, Grace,’ Tom muttered.
But Grace knew Tom would regret thanking her when he saw what had happened to his horse. How could he possibly want to keep her at Wattle Park once he saw Glory’s wound?
‘I think this calls for a celebration stronger than tea!’ Jerry’s warm voice filled the room, and Grace was grateful he was there. ‘It’s not every day a baby as beautiful as Alice is born in Rose Hill!’
‘I believe you’re right, Jerry.’ Beth smiled back. ‘Maybe I’ll even have a drop myself.’
Alice began to cry in Tom’s arms. He rocked her and stroked her cheek, but she only cried louder.
‘Tom, give her to Grace, she knows how to stop the tears,’ said Beth. ‘A proper little nurse, she is. And take down the nice glasses from the top shelf – the ones with only half as many chips.’ She smiled. ‘Today is a day to be remembered. Father and baby meet for the first time!’
Tom passed the baby to Grace and immediately Alice was quiet again, holding onto Grace’s finger. Grace had never looked after a baby before but little Alice didn’t seem to mind. If ever Alice was upset and crying, Beth would pass her to Grace and she would settle, as if she trusted Grace and liked to be in her arms.
Tom took down the glasses and Jerry poured a shot of whiskey into each. Grace gave Alice back to her mother and busied herself stoking the fire.
‘To Alice!’ said Jerry, raising his glass high in the air.
‘To Alice!’ said Beth and Tom, arms around each other, their daughter in between.
Grace stood back against the wall, wishing for Liza and Hannah. Finding them again so close by had been like a wonderful dream. But now it made her long for them even more. She could hardly wait to see them again. I don’t know if I will ever truly belong here, she thought, her heart aching, especially now that Tom is back. This is his home – not mine.
At dusk, Grace went out to milk Moll the cow and give her a bucket of corn for her dinner. The weather was growing warmer as spring drew to a close. The air buzzed with the evening insects – she could smell sweet flowers and the minty trees she had grown so used to. She breathed in deeply.
As Grace was carrying the bucket of milk back to the house, she saw Tom over at the fence with Glory. Beth must have told him what had happened while I was riding her, Grace thought. Tom was stroking Glory’s neck and looking into her eyes. Grace saw him move across to examine her damaged side and she held her breath. Grace had checked on Glory only an hour or so before Tom had returned, and the cut had looked as if it was getting worse. The blood had dried but the lips of the wound were swollen and leaking a watery fluid.
Tom must have sensed she was there, and he turned to look at her. Grace saw anger and mistrust in the shadows across his face. She carried the milk back into the hut so quickly that it sloshed over the sides, spilling onto her shoes.
Jerry spent that night at the hut, and Grace was glad. His noisy talk warmed the house as he told Beth about their time away clearing the land. Alice liked him too, sleeping peacefully in his arms even as he laughed loudly when Tom teased him about his snoring by the campfire.
Grace slept back in her bed in the kitchen that night, and Beth moved Alice’s cot behind the hessian partition to be close to her and Tom.
As Grace was putting out the lamp, Beth came and sat on the edge of her bed. Grace could see her mistress’s face in the soft light that came from the fading embers in the fireplace. It was full of concern.
‘Grace,’ she whispered, ‘you looked so worried over dinner tonight. Remember what I told you about Tom? Just give him time. I warned you how bloomin’ silly he is about that horse. You and I both know you did the right thing – even though Glory was hurt. It wasn’t your fault, Grace.’
Grace felt a lump in her throat.
‘Grace, are you all right?’ Beth put her hand gently on Grace’s arm.
‘Yes,’ Grace managed to answer. She watched as Beth pulled at the blue ribbon in her hair, so that her long dark locks fell loose around her shoulders.
‘I wanted to give you something,’ Beth said. ‘To thank you for all you have done for me and Alice.’ She pressed the ribbon into Grace’s palm. ‘And I wanted to tell you that Tom has promised to take you in the wagon to visit your friends very soon.’ Beth leaned close enough for Grace to smell the scent of Alice mixed with the sweet lavender she liked to use, and kissed Grace on the cheek. ‘Sleep well, dear Grace,’ she said, before standing and leaving Grace’s bedside.
Grace knew how few pretty things Beth owned, and the way she treasured the ones she did. ‘Thank you, Beth,’ she whispered into the darkness.
THE next morning, when Grace was outside getting fresh water for the house, she saw Tom take Jerry to the fence to look at Glory. She watched as they draped Glory’s cut with wet bandages. Though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she could see how serious their faces were. Jerry won’t be so friendly once he sees what I did to Tom’s horse, thought Grace.
But Jerry was no different with her when it came time to saying goodbye. ‘If I’m ever having a baby, Grace, you’ll be the first person I’ll call on!’ He laughed as he clambered onto his wagon, the sun catching his broad red beard. ‘Goodbye Tom, or should I say Father Tom?’ He winked. ‘Stay off the whiskey when I’m gone, Beth – I know how much you like it!’ Beth and Tom laughed, and Beth held up Alice’s tiny hand so it looked like she was waving. Jerry waved back at the baby before bringing the reins down onto his horse’s rump. ‘Get up there, Billyboy, time to go home!’
Grace w
as sad to see Jerry leave; the merriment and laughter that followed him would soon be gone.
Over the next few days, Grace was busier than ever helping Beth, who still had to spend much of her time resting in bed. Grace had to wash all of Alice’s nappies, first boiling the water on the stove, then scrubbing them with carbolic soap before hanging long rows of them on the line. It was also Grace’s duty to milk the cow, feed the chickens, make the damper, collect the vegetables, keep the snails and slugs away from the garden, and, with Beth’s guidance, prepare dinner for the family.
But her most important chore, and the one she enjoyed the most, was looking after Alice. Grace had learned to do all sorts of things with one arm so that she could carry Alice at the same time. She could peg clothes, pull snails off leaves and stir porridge all with little Alice over her shoulder.
‘Little bonny baby, Little bonny baby, sweet as sugar, pretty as lace,’ Grace would sing as she carried Alice across the grass and down to the creek. Grace liked it most when it was just the two of them; she didn’t feel shy when she was with Alice. Grace would sit on a rock by the stream and tell Alice stories. They were the kind of stories Hannah used to tell when they were on the ship together – stories with princesses and fairy magic. Grace knew Alice was too little to understand stories, but the way she looked at Grace, so still and quiet, it was if she did understand and wanted Grace to go on.
Being with Alice, Grace didn’t feel as if she had to change or work extra hard or be polite – all she had to do was be herself.
Each day before Grace took Alice or began any of her other chores, she would walk to the edge of the forest to gather pieces of the long grass that grew under the trees. Beth had shown her how to weave chains from the wild daisies that grew around the house, and now Grace was weaving wreaths for Hannah and Liza. She had been using dried grass that would last until she saw her friends again. Hannah was so good at pretending, she would probably imagine her wreath was a crown of glittering jewels, and everyone else would end up believing it, too. Grace smiled to herself just thinking about it. She wished she knew exactly when Tom was taking her to visit them, but he still hadn’t said anything more about it.