It was the happiest Christmas Ella could remember since before her mother died. On Christmas morning, she could hardly wait for her grandmother to open her present. Esther’s cheeks were pink with pleasure. ‘Is this what they wear in the city? It’s a mite cold for winter nights in a draughty old farmhouse.’ She laughed as she held up the black shimmering nightdress, holding it against herself and swaying to and fro, provocatively.

‘It’s for special occasions,’ Ella heard her grandfather say softly and touched Esther’s hand. Ella saw the look which passed between the couple and yet again she felt as if she were outside in the cold, her nose pressed to the window, looking in on a scene of love and warmth and being needed, of belonging.

Once – how long ago it seemed now – she had been loved like that, by her mother.

Was there anyone in the world now who would one day love and need her again?

Seventeen

‘Why can’t I go? It’s only to the pictures, for heaven’s sakes.’

‘Watch your tongue, Missy!’ Her grandmother wagged her finger in Ella’s rebellious face. ‘You haven’t done your homework.’

‘Gran, it’s Friday night. I’ve got all weekend to do my homework.’

‘Ya grandpa needs some help with the spring sowing at Top End tomorrow. He’ll need you to walk behind the drill.’

‘I’d sooner drive the tractor,’ the girl muttered. ‘Besides, I can help him in the daytime and do my homework at night or on Sunday.’

Her grandmother sniffed. ‘’Tis the Lord’s day. We dun’t work on a Sunday.’

Slyly, Ella said, ‘Grandpa does. He mended the tractor last Sunday.’

‘That’s different.’

‘Why is it?’

‘Dun’t argue with me, Missy. And don’t go getting round ya grandpa to let you go. He’s not well.’

If there was anything calculated to make Ella give up her planned evening out, it was a reference to her grandfather’s lack of strength over the past few weeks. He seemed to be suddenly much older. His hair, now almost completely white, was thin and wispy, and his skin seemed to hang loosely on his frame, which stooped more noticeably. But his eyes twinkled as merrily as ever and his smile still crinkled the lines around his eyes.

Ella eyed her grandmother sharply. She knew the older woman was not above playing on her sympathies, yet loving her grandfather as she did, Ella dare not take the risk of gambling with his well-being.

‘All right, Gran,’ she said firmly, out-staring Esther. ‘You win, but only ’cos of Grandpa.’

‘And what’s because of Grandpa, might I ask?’

Deep in their argument, neither Esther nor Ella had heard Jonathan step through the back door and come to stand behind them in the kitchen doorway.