Northern Girl Read Online Free

fillin’ yer belly!’ she joked. Then she laughed and added, ‘Unless yer’ve changed, of course?’
    Tom’s eyes glazed for a moment, before he said, in all seriousness, ‘Well, I think I have changed, Mam. Oh, not in the way you’re talking about, but there’s so much happened, I couldn’t help but be altered by it …’ He stopped abruptly, and remained deep in thought until he noticed the look of concern on her face. Quickly, he added, ‘It’s not all bad, mind!’ Immediately he thought of Maddie, and shivered with excitement. He remembered how honoured he’d felt when she’d liked the way he had shortened her name, especially as no one else had called her that. And she was such a bonny lass! How he’d loved to show her off. He’d always noticed other chaps looking at her at the dances they’d gone to in Calais. Why, even officers had been queuing up to ask her for a dance, although, he reminded himself, he’d not been so keen on that!
    He’d just put a freshly made mug of tea to his mouth when the clatter of the back door latch stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned, and there in front of him stood his da, his smiling face as black as coal. The whites of Jack Dawson’s twinkling blue eyes and the pink of his lips stood out against the coal dust. Father and son stood face to face, both too overcome tospeak. Without a word they moved towards each other, and for a split second faltered, before flinging their arms around each other so tightly that it was painful.
    Tom, almost overcome by love for his da, said, his voice breaking, ‘I’ve so much ter tell yer, Da.’
    Jack glanced at Hannah for advice, and, picking up from the discreet shake of her head that now wasn’t the right time, responded as casually as he could, ‘All in good time, lad, all in good time. But fer now just let me get used ter havin’ yer back home, eh? We never thought we’d see this day, son.’ He patted Tom on the back.
    Then, to avoid the danger of becoming emotional again, he pulled away and walked into the sitting room, where he began undressing. He climbed into the metal bath that was steaming before the fire and tactfully changed the subject with the comment, ‘Ah see yer mam’s been bakin’ enough fer an army again. She must have thought yer were bringing them all back with yer!’
    Tom laughed. ‘Ay, Da, you haven’t changed a bit,’ he said.
    Jack laughed loudly and said, ‘Who are you talkin’ to, lad, in that posh showin’-off accent? Is that from serving with all them army lads from down there in the South, like?’
    ‘You’d better watch your P’s and Q’s now, Da, because I’ve P’d and Q’d with the best of them now, you know. And most especially I’ve peed!’ Tom said teasingly.
    Jack was really getting in to the banter now as hewinked at Tom and shouted to the kitchen, ‘Here, Hannah Dawson! Come and scrub me back, will yer?’
    ‘Get our Tom ter do it,’ came the reply. ‘Ah haven’t got time fer your shenanigans. Ah’ll be dishin’ yer tea out in a minute, so get yer skates on!’
    ‘Eee, lass, ah wuz just havin’ a bit crack with yer, so yer didn’t feel left out in the scullery there, all on yer own! Dinnet worry, ah’ll be washed an’ out a here before yer’ve got the kettle boiled, that’s if yer ever get it put on, instead of yer mitherin’.’
    A few seconds later Hannah came through into the living room, squeezing herself between the table and the bath tin, which as usual was taking up most of the space in the room. It hadn’t struck Tom until that moment that his mam must have heated, on the fire, the endless pans of water required to fill up the bath all on her own. Damn it! How selfish of me to have fallen asleep like that, he thought angrily. I could have been helping her just like I used to in the old days. I used to love fetching that old bath tin through from the back yard. He stared at the rust on it. That’s when I finally managed to get the thing off