‘About the same,’ he said grumpily. He seemed to have forgotten that it was Ruby’s fifteenth birthday, and she had no intention of reminding him. She never did or said anything to put him in a bad mood if she could avoid it. She had learnt a long time ago that it didn’t pay her to, especially during the last year when her mam had been ill and confined to her bed. She crossed to the enormous soot-blackened kettle and tipped some water onto the tea leaves she had placed ready in the big brown teapot before placing the tea cosy over it and leaving it to mash. Then she rushed over to the stove and flipped the bacon and eggs she had just cooked out onto a plate for him. Thankfully they were cooked just as he liked them. Woe betide her if they hadn’t been. Her cheek was still bruised from a few days before when he had stormed that his egg yolks were too hard before slamming them up the wall, plate and all.

‘I’ve made Mam some porridge. She might manage to keep that down,’ she told him as she put his meal in front of him, but he merely grunted as he tucked in so she went to ladle some of the porridge into a dish and after sprinkling it generously with sugar she placed it on a tray and left the room. Once upstairs in the bedroom that her parents had shared until recently, she placed the tray down and swished the curtains open before saying cheerfully, ‘Morning, Mam. It looks like we’re in for some snow.’

The sight of her mother lying there looking so ill made her stomach turn over with fear, but she kept the smile in place as she hoisted her up onto the pillows and placed the tray across her lap. It wasn’t hard. Her mother seemed to have shrunk in the last few weeks and she barely weighed more than a feather.

‘So, how are you feeling today?’ Ruby asked as she straightened the blankets. Her father had moved into the spare room so at least she knew her mother was allowed to get some rest now.

‘I-I’m all right, pet.’ As a fit of coughing shook Rita’s frail frame she quickly covered her mouth with a piece of linen she had to hand. But not before Ruby had seen the scarlet blood on it, although she made no comment. Ruby moved towards the fire to stir it back into life before throwing some lumps of coal onto it and Rita managed a smile as she watched the girl she had always loved as her own. She patted the bed, and when Ruby came to sit beside her, she felt beneath her pillow and extracted a small paper-wrapped package and handed it to her. ‘Happy birthday, pet. It’s not much but I hope you’ll like it.’