The Soldier's Daughter Read Free Page B

wash later.’
    Her brother was lying on his stomach looking at the pictures in his comic but he went willingly enough, and once the children were out of the way, Briony fixed a smile on her face and said brightly, ‘I’m going to put the kettle on now, Mam. I’ve bought us some nice lamb chops for tea as a treat. We may as well enjoy them while we can. Once this rationing that they keep on about comes into force it might not be so easy to get hold of some things – and even when we can, we’ll be limited in how much we can have.’
    ‘I’m not hungry,’ Lois said dully, and Briony felt a little stab of anger. Didn’t her mother realise that they were all missing her father just as much as she was? Even so she kept her voice level as she turned to fill the kettle at the sink.
    ‘Well, I still want you to eat something,’ she answered firmly. ‘You’ll be no use to Sarah and Alfie if you get ill, will you?’
    Receiving a sniffle as an answer she sighed inwardly and began to prepare the teapot and the mugs before starting on the vegetables. It looked set to be a very long evening.
    By the end of the week, Briony was exhausted. Each day she would go off to work then each evening she would come home and see to the children and cook them all a meal. Then when that was done, she would tackle the washing and ironing whilst her mother sat curled in her chair, a mere shadow of her former self, locked in self-pity. Lois had always relied heavily on her handsome husband, and now that he was gone she didn’t seem to be able to cope with anything.
    It was Mrs Brindley who brought it all to a head one evening when she appeared at the kitchen door clutching a chipped cup.
    Briony was up to her eyes in ironing the children’s school clothes and she looked up as the woman entered the room.
    ‘’Ello, luvvie.’ Mrs Brindley was dressed in her customary wrap-around flowered pinny. ‘Yer couldn’t lend me a bit o’ sugar till in the mornin’, could yer? I don’t fancy goin’ up the corner shop in this cold.’ Then as her eyes settled on Lois she abruptly stopped talking and said, ‘So what’s this then? Why is young Briony doin’ the ironin’ when she’s bin to work all day, Lois? Are you ill?’
    ‘She’s missing my dad,’ Briony explained as her mother broke into a fresh torrent of weeping. Martha Brindley seemed to bristle before her very eyes.
    ‘Is that so? Well, I’m missin’ my Clal an’ all, but it won’t do no good to sit about weepin’, will it? Then young Ernie will be off an’ all soon, an’ I’ll be all on me own, not like you, Lois, who still have yer family about yer. Stop feelin’ so bloody sorry fer yerself, woman, an’ get up off yer arse, fer Christ’s sake. You ain’t bein’ a bit fair on yer kids, especially young Briony ’ere.’
    Lois was so shocked at being spoken to in such a manner that she stopped crying and stared at the older woman open-mouthed.
    ‘That’s better.’ Mrs Brindley nodded approvingly. ‘Now get yerself over to that sink an’ wash yer face then go an’ get yerself dressed, ’cos I’m tellin’ yer now, I ain’t goin’ nowhere till yer do. Then when you’ve done that, yer can make us all a nice cup o’ tea an’ make yerself useful. Meantime I’ll sit an’ have a chat to young Briony ’ere.’ And with that she plonked herself down in the chair opposite Lois and glowered at her until the woman stood up and hurried off to do as she was told.
    Once Lois had washed her face and gone upstairs to get dressed, Briony smiled at Mrs Brindley gratefully.
    ‘Thanks for that,’ she said. ‘I was beginning to get really worried about her, wondering if she was ever going to get out of that chair.’
    ‘Hmm, trouble with yer mam is she’s been spoiled,’ Mrs Brindley said matter-of-factly. ‘I reckon she had yer dad eatin’ out o’ the palm of her hand, waitin’ on her hand an’ foot. But he ain’t here now so she’s goin’ to have to join the