Jaen by Betty Burton

Author:Betty Burton [Burton, Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781847399625
Publisher: CB Creative Books
Published: 2012-12-16T23:00:00+00:00

Why don't I love you, Child? Why will it be like a ton weight off my chest when I sees you going off down the path by Th'ammet and why will it wrench my insides when I sees Ju going off too?

And why don't I love you, Dan'l, like Vinny loves Fancy?

And why don't I love you, little Bax, and you the one that's inside me?

Why can't I just be like anyone else and be pleased?

In the recesses of her mind lurks an unformed thought about Dan being as willing as herself to let The Child stay away year in year out — but, it is a subconscious thought.

She looks away from her children and sees that Ju is watching her closely. She smiles brightly at Ju.

After a visit from Bella and Jude, Jaen would often go for weeks seeming well enough, then Dan would come home of a day to discover that she had been off wandering, leaving the little ones with one of the girls, hardly seeming to know where she had been. Other times she would sit, staring into the fire, then jump when he spoke.

Smiling brightly. 'Lord, I was miles away then, Dan.'

If Dan was bewildered by her moods, so was Jaen herself. It wasn't just her attraction for France — though that did not help — she felt sometimes that she was living in a dark cave or a well. When she saw France it was like someone letting in the light.

She tried to talk to Vinnie.

Smiling brightly. 'I reckon my brains is going soft, Vin. There's times when I don't know whether I'm going or coming. Dan gets that cross. And I don't wonder.'

But stable, practical Vinnie had no experience of what Jaen felt. 'I know. 'Tis just the same with me. I had to make Pete put up a tethering post for Fancy. Once they'm on their feet you got to have eyes in the back of yer head.'

Smiling brightly. 'I shall need some in my elbows soon — I got another one on the way.'

Placid, dull, contented Vinnie saw, as did Jude, something behind Jaen's brightness. Only once did she venture to hint to Jaen that she knew a bit about the use of alum and certain oils that could make a cottage fill less speedily with children. Jaen said that she did not like alum, and Vinnie left it at that.

There is only so much close friends can do for one another, and for the rest it often means standing by helplessly. And Vinnie had her hands full. What with Peter and Fancy, and her work at the main farm and their own plot. As well, being the one living next to France, she had undertaken the care of his cottage.

Jaen and Vinnie saw one another often enough, even though they only worked at the main farm at the busiest times such as planting, sheep-washing and harvesting. Vinnie always called out when she was going wooding so that occasionally they might go together.

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