‘Couldn’t keep them away, Molly.’ Tilly Watson stood at the foot of the bed, her thin, bony arms folded across her pinnie, and a smile on her mouth which Molly thought did not light up her eyes. ‘By! You look better for a night’s sleep, and that’s a fact,’ she told Molly. But there was something she was not telling, and Molly sensed it. ‘I’ll bet yer starving, aren’t you eh…? I’ll tell you what, there’s a bit of smoked bacon left in the larder. I’ll fry it up with a piece of bread, and we’ll top it off with a brew o’ tea. Oh, I know it’s not much, Molly… but it’s the best we can do for now, eh?’ She turned to leave.

‘Wait a minute, Tilly.’ Molly was afraid, but she had to ask. ‘Something’s worrying you… is it Jack?’ It was there again. That feeling of nervousness and insecurity whenever Jack made his way home. Almost as though the happiness he brought was too good to last.

For a moment, Tilly Watson stood still, nervously twirling a knot of her skirt through her fingers. She brought her gaze to bear on the children, who were laughingly tumbling against each other and seemingly unaware of the tense atmosphere. Suddenly, the newborn was awake and thrashing his tiny arms in the air. Tilly swallowed hard and looked at Molly again; at the pitiful sight she made, with her reed-thin figure dressed in an old nightgown of Tilly’s, and her surprisingly rich, black hair tousled about her ears. In her dark eyes there was more living than a woman twice her age should experience. Poor little bugger, thought Tilly, and how she wished it wasn’t her who had to impart the sorry news. It was left to her, and there was only one way to tell it, and that was straight out. ‘He’s gone,’ she said quietly, flinching inside when she saw the surprise, then sad resignation wash over Molly’s face. ‘I’m sorry, dearie, but the bugger’s done a bunk. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, and I dare say it’ll be a long time, if ever, before he shows his cowardly face round these parts again.’

‘Thank you, Tilly.’ Molly glanced at the girls, her voice betraying nothing of her shocked thoughts. Thank goodness the children seemed not to have heard. ‘I really am hungry… a bacon butty and a pot of tea will be fine.’ Enough had been said in front of the children, and she didn’t want Tilly to see just how hard the news of Jack’s going had hit her. She had intended making the effort to get out of bed, but now the spirit had left her.

‘Right then.’ Tilly knew when she had been dismissed. She didn’t mind, not in the circumstances. ‘Poor little sod,’ she murmured, closing the door behind her. ‘What a bastard that man of hers is… to run off and leave ’em again, and after what she’s been through… Men! I’d spit on ’em soon as look at ’em, and that’s a bloody fact!’