The Miller's Daughter by Margaret Dickinson

Author:Margaret Dickinson [Dickinson, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780330534642
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

‘I won’t have that old beezum near me,’ Emma shouted, writhing on the bed, alternately sweating and shivering as the spasms of pain gripped with increasing frequency. ‘Get a doctor – a midwife – anyone, but not her!’

‘Oh, I see, not good enough for you, aren’t I?’ Mrs Biggins, standing at the end of the bed, her flabby arms folded beneath her bosom across which was stretched a dirty, grey-white blouse, gave a sniff and turned away.

‘No.’ Leonard’s hand shot out and gripped the woman’s arm. ‘No, please stay. She’s – she’s delirious.’ He gave an exaggerated, hearty laugh. ‘She must think you’re my mother. Yes, that’s it. They never did get on. Can’t stand the sight of each other, in fact,’ he added, warming to his theme.

‘That’s not true,’ Emma tried to whisper, but her words were lost in the groan that began low in her stomach and forced its way up and into her throat. It was, in fact, a lie. Emma wished with all her heart that it was Bridget standing at the end of the bed at this moment.

She gave another moan and the pain caused her to bring her knees up, to grip her hands beneath them and bend forward over her bulging stomach. Through the haze of her pain she saw Leonard staring down at her and heard the woman say, ‘Good God, she’s getting ready to push. Look lively, man. Get down to yon kitchen and get some water boiling. Get my old man to help ye. He knows what to do. I’ve ’ad five o’ me own and he delivered two of ’em when we couldn’t afford a midwife. Go on.’

Roughly, she pushed Leonard towards the door and then gripped the bedclothes and flung them off. ‘Now then, let’s be ’aving a look at yer.’

Not one of them – not Emma, lost in the depths of her pain, nor the bewildered man, nor the blowsy, unkempt woman – noticed the young boy, cowering, terrified in the corner of the hot, stuffy room.

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