The Endless Forest
Page 50

Then came the small silence that always preceded the very first topic of discussion. The question that had no answer, and Martha herself was the cause. She could taste it on the air.
“You look tired, Ma,” Daniel said from the other end of the table. “Not sleeping well?”
Elizabeth smiled at Daniel in the hope that he would let the subject go, but Nathaniel answered for her.
“Hardly sleeping at all.”
“Lily really is doing well,” Hannah said. “If it’s her health that’s keeping you awake at night.”
“I am satisfied that Lily is well,” Elizabeth said.
“Curiosity?” Jennet asked.
“She may outlive us all.” Hannah said this in a perfectly serious tone. Elizabeth’s stepdaughter could laugh and joke when the mood was on her, but never when she talked about her work.
She could trust Hannah; Elizabeth knew that. Lily was being well looked after, and she seemed in high good spirits when Elizabeth sat with her. And still she lay awake at night, wondering what more could be done. The truth was, she felt Lily’s absence like a burn, but it was something she had to keep to herself. Short of building an extension onto the house, something she could not in good conscience ask Nathaniel to do, she saw no immediate solution. Not while so many families were still living rough after the flood.
“Today Lily drew Mrs. Thicke’s likeness,” Birdie was saying. “But she left the big mole with three hairs out. She meant it as a kindness, I think. But Mrs. Thicke asked about it straight away.”
“And what did Lily say to that?” Nathaniel encouraged Birdie, which was probably not the best strategy, to Elizabeth’s way of thinking.
“She said, ‘Give it back and I’ll add it in,’ but Mrs. Thicke clutched it to her bosom and scuttled away to the kitchen like a beetle.”
“Birdie,” Elizabeth said. One word of warning that the girl understood immediately.
“I like Mrs. Thicke,” she said, as if she must explain herself. “She’s very friendly and she makes jellies every day because she thinks they’re good for Lily. But mostly Simon eats them.”
“With your help,” Hannah prompted.
“Yes,” Birdie said. “I like jellies too.” Not a hint of embarrassment.
“An admirable lack of artifice,” Ethan said.
“Don’t encourage her,” Daniel said, but he winked at his little sister.
Elizabeth had been so concerned about Lily that she hadn’t been paying Birdie the attention she needed and deserved. For weeks now she had been running wild. Elizabeth was thinking back over that period of time, trying to remember where Birdie had been and what she had done, so deep in her thoughts that it took her some time to realize that Martha was answering questions about Callie Wilde and her plans for rebuilding.
“That won’t happen anytime soon,” Nathaniel said. “She’s short on cash.”
“You know Ethan will lend her what she needs,” Hannah said.
“Or I will,” Martha said.
All heads turned toward her and her color rose.
“Why should I not?”
Nathaniel cleared his throat. “You just took us by surprise. It’s a fine thing if you can help Callie out. That’s a hardworking young woman.”
Daniel was watching Martha thoughtfully. He said, “Did she ask, or did you offer?”
Martha seemed confused by the question at first. “I’m not sure. Does it matter?”
“Of course not,” Elizabeth said, irritated with Daniel.
“A day out in the open air agrees with you,” Luke told Martha.
“It does,” said Ben. “Your skin glows.”
Martha put the back of her hand to her cheek in surprise and unease.
“Stop,” Jennet said, but she was grinning. “You’re embarrassing the puir thing. Never mind them, Martha.”
Into the silence that followed came Birdie’s voice again, this time directed to Daniel at the other end of the table.
“Is it true school will start again next week?”
“Barring unforeseen circumstances,” he said. Elizabeth caught his gaze and he raised a brow. Birdie’s voice took on a certain tone when she was about to announce a plan of some kind, and it was there now.
“It’s aye high time,” Jennet said, and then when everyone looked at her, she ducked her head in embarrassment. “I love the bairns one and all, but it’s enough to wring a woman dry, having all of them about at once.”
Luke put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it. “I can take the boys with me, you know. You only have to say.”
“Och, I think not.” Jennet laughed and brushed his hand away. “The last time I let them go with you to buy furs they cursed like sailors for a month.”
“I look forward to having your monsters at school,” Daniel said. “But I will be glad to have the new teacher here in the fall so we can split the class in two.”
Luke looked up from his soup. “When do you expect him?”
A whole chorus of voices answered him: “September.”
“Not that we’re anxious,” Ben said dryly. “Except of course Birdie. Little sister is more than anxious.”
Birdie sat up very straight, her mouth pressed into a hard line. Arguing with herself, wondering if she dare say what she was thinking or if she would be banished to the children’s table if she did such a thing. In the next years she would learn to hide what she was thinking, but for now Elizabeth could still read her youngest child’s face like words on a page.