He was not what you’d call a handsome man, but there was something in the way he stood four square and a kindly confidence in his manner that made Kate say yes. She extended her hand and he pulled her to her feet. He held her in a firm but gentle hold and they danced, barely exchanging a word. He was a good six foot tall and she was only five foot four, so he stooped a little to look at her. When their eyes met, he let his gaze rove over her face and then looked away. Kate noticed that one of his eyes was different. Then, as they danced, she realized. He had a glass eye. She took occasional glances at his face and saw that the hair grew less thickly on that side of his head and there were wrinkled scar marks. He had been badly wounded. When the music stopped, he thanked her and turned to go.
‘My name’s Kate,’ she said.
‘Albert,’ he replied, ‘Albert Locock, pleased to meet you.’
Chapter Thirty-Six
November 1917
Florence Taylor decided that the best way she could help Kate was to give her some work on the farm. By the time November came, Ronnie was in a good routine and the agreement was that she should start work in the mornings, straight after feeding Ronnie, then go home at midday to feed him again. It would not be long before she could wean him and then everything would be easier. Kate was to help with the work in the barns and animal pens and around the yard. There were chickens to be fed and stables to be mucked out. Fresh straw was to be laid and the hay mangers topped up. She should expect the list of tasks to change every day, the Taylor sisters said, and Mr Graves, the farm manager, had overall responsibility, so if she was unsure of anything she was to ask him.
She and Nora were not the only women working on the farm. The usual farmhands, who had enlisted, had been replaced by two Land Army girls. They had also recently taken on a young man. That young man was Albert Locock.
Kate’s first morning at the farm was a wet one. The runnels in the lane joined forces with one another and became a second stream, flowing parallel with the brook. She’d borrowed a pair of her father’s work overalls and rolled up the legs and the arms to fit her small frame. As she walked, the water ran down her face and into her eyes but she resisted wiping it away with a wet sleeve. The trouser legs began unravelling themselves and dangling in the mud and one boot was letting in water.
When she arrived at the farm, Nora Taylor was waiting for her in the barn.
‘Well, we said you’d get covered in mud,’ Nora laughed, ‘but we didn’t mean before you started work. You’re drenched. You’dbest get out of those clothes and I’ll fetch you something from the house.’
Nora left Kate shivering in one of the horse stalls and returned with a towel and some dry trousers, a cotton twill shirt and a long work coat.
‘The shirt and trousers are Mabel’s, she’s in Egypt of all places, nursing. The coat belonged to our stockman, Doug. He’s somewhere in France. Ypres, I think,’ Nora said. ‘I’ll leave you to get changed. Just hang your wet things up on that nail and I’ll take them into the kitchen later to dry out.’
Kate shuddered as she heard the name of that place. Philip was there but he would never return. Images of his broken body formed, despite her trying to banish them. She saw him being laid to rest in some strange place, where no one who loved him could visit his grave.She tried to think instead of their most tender moments together. The sweet beads of sweat on his back, the saltiness of his taste, his fingers playing over her skin and the way his breath caressed her cheeks. She hoped, for the sake of those he loved, that Doug would be one of the ones who came safely home.
‘Beg pardon, miss. I didn’t realize anyone was . . .’ a voice said.
Kate whipped around, her arms across her chest for modesty. She had stripped down to her underwear and her skin was all goose bumps.
She let out such a loud cry of surprise that the young man turned rapidly away. He walked out of the barn apologizing profusely as he went.
‘Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to . . .’
Kate pulled on the dry clothes as quickly as she could to avoid any further embarrassment and then went outside to look for the owner of the apologies. He was nowhere to be seen. She hadn’t got a good look at him but she was sure that it was theyoung man she had danced with at the harvest supper. A pity he ran off in such a hurry.
The best part of the morning was spent leading the two remaining horses out onto the field. The strongest horses had been taken for war work. The shire, Sampson, and two other horses, Starlight and Sunny, had been requisitioned. At least they were left with old Barney to pull their riding trap plus the brood mare and the skittish yearling. They had been managing the plough with their ageing draft horse, Rex, until the tractor arrived. The government had decided that farming should be mechanized and here it was! Old Graves had been mystified by it when it arrived, said it was a newfangled thing and give him horses any day. Thankfully the Land Army girls had soon got the measure of it and it was proving useful.
‘Except on days like this,’ Nora said, ‘when they will probably have to abandon it in the field if it gets bogged down.’
Kate looked out for Albert every morning but he was always out in the fields before she got there or repairing fences or off taking things to market. It was sometime before they bumped into one another again. They exchanged a few words while he was sawing wood and she offered to bring him a hot drink and a chunk of bread pudding for his break. He drank it down, almost without pausing and consumed the bread pudding with such speed that you’d have thought he’d not eaten in a week.
She asked Nora about him, when they were feeding the pigs.
‘That’s Albert,’ Nora said. ‘He’s been medically discharged as a result of his injuries. He got shrapnel in the eye apparently. He cycles every day from Hambleden and he’s never late, whatever the weather. He’s got just the sort of build and temperament for farm work, he’s strong and calm with the animals. His hands are the size of dinner plates and he has shoulders that carry a hay bale with ease. His shirts are clean and his trousers patched. He works long hours and is always ready to take on more to keephis younger sisters and brothers fed. He’s a fine young man and can turn his hand to anything. The builders’ yard is always trying to steal him from us for his strength and diligence is second to none. On top of all that he is as honest as the day is long and completely dependable.’
‘You give him a very good reference,’ Kate said.
‘We’re lucky to have him,’ Nora replied.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
January 1918
By the beginning of January, the weather was so bad that much of the work was indoors cleaning, repairing and patching. Kate and the land girls were kept busy tending to the animals, cleaning tack and mucking out. Albert was given the job of repairing some of the fabric of the barn and rebuilding part of the chicken coop. Lunchtimes were spent inside the large farm kitchen where the workers could all warm themselves in front of the range and be heated from the inside with warming soups. At these times, Kate had more opportunity to talk with Albert and the land girls, who were very entertaining with their talk of the London dance halls and how they would dance the night away. They all avoided wishing aloud that the war would end and tried to keep the numbers of dead, which were rising every day, out of the conversation.
Kate and Albert were often in and around the barn together and Kate noticed that when Albert was working with the horses he spoke to them kindly. He sometimes had a carrot in his pocket for each of them and when he put on their head collars to move them to muck out the stables, he nuzzled them behind their ears. When Kate was grooming them, he offered to help and if old Rex was stubbornly refusing to lift his feet and let Kate pick his hooves out, then Albert would use his bulk and strength to lean into him and get him to cooperate. He was always ready to help. Albert was a gentle giant and he never complained about the weather, the cold or the difficulty of any job. He just got on and did whatever was required of him. Kate grew to like him more and more.
One day when Kate was going to retrieve wood for the range, she heard a banging noise and shouting coming from inside thewood shed. She discovered Albert beating his arm against the wall and wondered whatever had got into him. As she moved closer, she could see that he was holding one arm out and blood was dripping from it.
