A Mother's Ruin by Gracie Hart

Author:Gracie Hart [Hart, Gracie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473567412
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

Chapter 14

Eve leaned back against the bar and poured herself a glass of Stanley’s special brewed gin; she understood now why it was so popular with Rosie and Tilly: it dulled the senses and made the days at the Swan more palatable. There wasn’t much joy in her life at the moment, apart from the fact that Ivor was taking interest in her and had actually asked her to visit him at his home again at the weekend. She’d enjoyed her time with him and his family and had bent over backwards to impress that she was good with children. He was perhaps her only hope out of the hell she found herself in and he had seemed to accept that, even if she was with child, she was worth more than a life at the Swan.

‘I hope that you are not drinking us dry,’ Maude said sharply. ‘Two tipples a day free, and then you pay for the rest out of your wages. So don’t think I’m not watching you. No other landlord is that understanding, but my Stanley knows it takes Dutch courage to serve some of our customers down in this neck of the woods.’ She looked at Eve and noticed her cheeks red with the effect of drink on her. ‘Besides, it’ll not be good for that baby that you are carrying.’

‘This is my first sip of the day and I need it before the evening rush. I’ve found that it makes me more sociable.’ Eve smiled at Maude. She’d got used to her now and she quite admired the hard but fair woman who ran the Swan, even though she looked as wild as an old witch.

‘Aye, they are a rough lot that you’ve to deal with, that’s why we know a nip of gin helps. Just don’t get to drinking too much for it gets a hold of you before you know it, especially our Stanley’s concoction.’ Maude leaned on the bar next to her and looked around the room. ‘The lasses must be out on the streets this afternoon; I’ve not seen either of them. Lord, Tilly looks like death warmed up at the moment! I doubt she’s long for this world; once she takes to her bed, she’ll not get up again. It’s best you don’t go that way, Eve, so don’t get led astray by them or Nell, especially after that baby of yours is born. Respect yourself and do right by yourself. Put the baby in the workhouse and get a job more suitable for the likes of you and stop serving behind a bar, seeing to the dregs of the world, for I think you are better than that. No wonder that Theodore Lambert took you on until Nancy got jealous – he saw that you were a cut above the rest.’ Maude sighed and looked at Eve; she was beginning to show and the men who drank there wouldn’t want reminding of what awaited them at home, wailing babies and nagging wives.

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