Bridget had never seen a child born, and what she saw happening to Fanny put the fear of God into her.

It was a hard, painful birth. Fanny did a lot of screaming, and the neighbour did a lot of shouting, and Bridget ran back and forth with bowls of hot water and clean towels, and finally, when all three were exhausted, there it was, the biggest, bounciest boy ever seen. ‘Oh, Fanny, he’s just beautiful!’ Bridget was laughing and crying, and as she gazed into those soft dark eyes, her heart turned over with love. All of a sudden, she couldn’t wait to hold her own child in her arms.

‘Sure, he’ll drive the girls wild,’ the neighbour said. ‘There now, will you look at that! The little feller’s winking at me already, so he is.’

Fanny was straining to see. ‘Give him here,’ she ordered, ‘and clear off, so me and the lad can get to know each other.’

Bridget and Fanny embraced. ‘I’ll come back and see you both tomorrow,’ Bridget promised. And Fanny told her how much she valued and loved her as a friend.

‘Sure, I’ll be downstairs clearing away the rubbish,’ the neighbour announced, ‘so don’t think I’m going yet, because I’m not.’

‘You’ve done more for me than anyone I’ve ever met, with the exception of Bridget,’ Fanny said. ‘You’re the only one round here who hasn’t turned away from me on sight. And, I’m shamed to say, I don’t even know your name.’

Wiping the sweat from her brow, the woman smiled. ‘The name’s Lilian,’ she said, ‘and don’t worry about these buggers round here, because since the day I arrived from Ireland with six kids and no man in tow, they’ve not had a good word to say about me neither.’

‘My door’s always open to you,’ Fanny promised.

‘Well now, that’s very kind,’ came the grateful reply. ‘Sure, I might take you up on that, particularly if there’s a drop o’ the good stuff on offer.’

‘There’s none on offer just now,’ Fanny confessed. ‘That cowardly bugger Bill Norman helped himself to it. But give me a week or two and I’ll have a jug tucked away big enough to last the three of us for a month. Isn’t that right, Bridget?’

Bridget nodded. ‘Whatever you say.’ She felt as though she’d been stretched on the rack and, knowing how late she was, she was eager to get home as quickly as possible. ‘I’ll freshen up and then I’ll have to make tracks home,’ she told Fanny. ‘Look after yourself and, like I said, I’ll be back tomorrow.’

Concerned about Bridget walking down the hill in the dark, Fanny asked Lilian if she would walk with her. Lilian said she would. ‘And I’ll fetch our Danny to keep an eye on you till I get back.’ Fanny argued that she was perfectly capable of looking after herself, but Lilian would hear none of it.

While Bridget washed and cleaned up downstairs, the boy was quickly summoned by way of a shout through the back upstairs window. ‘What’s all them people standing out there for?’ he wanted to know as he came rushing into the parlour.