‘Eeh, Esther lass,’ he said climbing down from his seat high up above the rump of his horses. ‘It’s good to see ya again. My, it seems ages since I was out this way. What wi’ all that snow.’ He looked her up and down, and then searched her face more closely, holding her gaze with his own steady eyes. ‘How’ve ya been, lass? How’s married life?’

Esther smiled determinedly, ‘Fine, Will. Look . . .’ She took hold of his arm and turned him to look into the field. ‘Matthew bought a pair of horses. Aren’t they fine, Will?’

‘By, lass, they are an’ all.’ He looked at her again. ‘But should you be doing the ploughing, lass? Ya husband should—’

‘Oh, he does his share, Will, and I likes to tek me turn. I ain’t no slacker.’

Will’s laugh rang out. ‘No one could ever accuse you of that, lass. No one.’

‘If ya going to the Point first on yar calls, I’m nearly done in this field. I’ll come back to the farm and ya can have a bite of dinner with us, Will.’

‘Ah’d like that, lass.’

So it became a regular thing that Will had his dinner with Esther and Matthew on the days he came to the Point on his rounds. Soon he was taking their produce to the town markets and selling it for them, bringing the money he made for them on his next visit.

‘Why dun’t you come into the town on the cart, Esther?’ he would ask her. ‘Ah could always bring you back if it’s too far . . .’

‘It ain’t that – I ain’t keen on the town.’ She grinned. ‘Tell you the truth, Will, I’d be lost.’

Will smiled indulgently. ‘All right, lass. But you’d enjoy a trip now and then. Get that husband of yours to take you.’

‘Mebbe, Will,’ she hedged, ‘mebbe – some time.’

When the ploughing was done and the seed safely sown at last, Matthew suddenly said, ‘We should go to church again, Esther. We’ll go tomorrow.’

She nodded. ‘I’d been thinking the same, it’s what Sam would have done after such a bad winter. He’d have wanted to give thanks that we’d got the crops sown, even if we are a bit late.’

Matthew looked at her a little strangely then smiled and nodded. ‘That’s right, Esther, just what I’d thought.’

He went outside whistling. Esther watched him go, a thoughtful look on her face. She had readily agreed to his suggestion, though she was surprised that the idea had come from him.

The following morning Esther came downstairs in time to set off for church to find Matthew waiting for her in the living room. Her mouth fell open.

‘Matthew, what on earth . . . ? That’s a brand new suit. Where did ya get that?’