‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said. ‘I took Annie out for a walk. Tony’s got her now so I’m ready to do my share of the work.’ She glanced at the neglected mince pie ingredients. ‘Not that there’s a lot of it going on. Is everything all right?’
Mary beckoned her over. ‘Look at this.’
‘What is it?’ Lilian asked, approaching the table.
‘Young Florrie made it out. Her will.’
‘Her will! Whatever for?’
‘That’s what we can’t work out,’ Bobby said. ‘She won’t talk to anyone about it. Jess is in on the secret, but Florrie made her swear on the Bible not to say anything. The poor love seems to believe she might be dreadfully ill.’
Lilian’s gaze skimmed the list. ‘What would make her believe that, do you think?’
‘I’m not sure. She seemed tired when I saw her, and a little moody, but vigorous enough otherwise. Jess told me she’d woken to find her sister crying a few times recently though.’
Mary was looking seriously concerned now, and Bobby went to put an arm around her.
‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ she said gently. ‘Like you said, anything can seem like the end of the world when you’re a bairn.’
‘I was just thinking of the poor child’s mother,’ Mary murmured. ‘I don’t believe George has ever said what illness took her off. Do you girls know?’
Lilian looked up from perusing the list.
‘It was a cancer of some kind,’ she said quietly. ‘Poor Rose. It sounds as though she just wasted away after Jess was born.’
‘Could Florrie be thinking of that?’ Mary suggested. ‘She’s old enough to remember her mother getting ill, even if only vaguely.’
‘Lil, what do you think?’ Bobby asked. ‘You see more of them than I do.’
Since Mary had joined the ranks of the Women’s Voluntary Services, which claimed much of her time during the week, Lilian had taken over collecting the girls from school and minding them until their father came home from work.
‘Hmm.’ Lilian was still staring at the list. ‘I suppose… I suppose someone’s had a talk with her, haven’t they?’
‘I tried to, yes, but she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong,’ Bobby said.
‘I meanthetalk. You remember how Mam sent Dad out with the boys and sat us down to explain everything, when we were ten or so?’
Bobby turned to Mary as realisation dawned.
‘Jess told me Florrie had woken her in the night for help with something,’ Bobby said quietly. ‘And when I saw her in her bedroom, she was filling a basket with washing.’
‘Oh my word.’ Mary pressed her forehead. ‘Oh, the poor motherless thing. Of course she thinks she’s dying, if no one’s had a talk with her about her monthlies.’
‘Poor Jess too,’ Lilian said with feeling. ‘She must have been scared out of her wits to find her sister bleeding.’
‘I don’t suppose it occurred to their father to talk to them,’ Bobby said. ‘What an idiot I’ve been! It’s natural, growing up without a mother, that some facts of life might have passed them by.’
Mary groaned. ‘It’s my fault. It’s me they look to to fill their mam’s place, but the only experience I’ve had of raising bairns that age was with Charlie. It never occurred to me that some woman they trust ought to speak with them about it.’
‘One of us ought to put the poor child’s mind at rest right away, before she worries herself into a real illness.’
Mary shook her head. ‘No. I mean you’re right, Bobby, but George ought to be spoken with first. I’m sure he’ll be relieved to have one of us offer, but it isn’t right to be discussing the facts of life with his daughters without his knowledge.’
Lilian nodded. ‘That is true.’
‘He ought to be made aware of what his daughter’s going to need as well,’ Bobby observed. ‘Sanitary napkins and so forth. We can offer to buy them.’
‘He’s at home now,’ Lilian said. ‘I saw him when I was walking from the village.’
