Grace, wearing her best dress and cap, was huddled in the farthest pew in the nave of St Bartholomew’s church, Gabriel in her arms, Will on one side and her Grandmother Bett on the other. Reverend Walters was speaking the words of God from the lectern in a voice of thunder, quoting Deuteronomy Chapter 23: Verse 2. ‘No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.’
Grace felt small, she and her baby hunched inside her cloak, as the rector’s furious eyes fell on her and several members of the congregation twisted round to stare in her direction. Will coughed, wrapping a protective arm around his daughter and Bett folded her arms, hissing between her lips, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’
Outside, the pale sun glimmered in a grey sky as the parishioners made their way from the church, many loitering to talk together. Someone brushed past Grace, spitting a comment about a strumpet and her fatherless child not being welcome in God’s house.
Bett pressed Grace’s arm. ‘Will you come back with me for a cup of posset?’
Will smiled. ‘Go, Grace – take time to be with your grandmother. You know how she dotes on the baby.’
‘But I have to prepare for Lady Day on Friday next. I like a fresh start, to sweep the house clean and make sure we have all we need in the larder.’
‘Come home with me, Gracie.’ Bett patted her cheek.
‘Father needs me to prepare him something to eat…’
‘And you need to rest,’ Bett insisted. ‘I will dangle the baby on my knee while you close your eyes for a while. I am so fond of him, and I have so little time left on this earth, it is my pleasure to spend it with him.’
‘And I will sleep this afternoon; I am aweary,’ Will said. ‘All week I have been working the oxen at the plough and helping with the calving. I am for resting in my chair until the evening, and we can sup together then, Grace. Go, be a good girl and keep your grandmother company.’
‘Very well.’ Grace touched her father’s hand, a soothing tap of her fingers. ‘Gabriel will want to feed soon, and it will be nice to sit at my grandmother’s hearth with him.’
Grace heard a light shout and suddenly Alice was next to her, wearing a pretty blue dress, cap and ribbons, calling her name.
Grace greeted her with a smile. ‘Alice, it is good to see you so hale.’
‘I must talk to you.’ Alice tugged her arm, moving her away from Bett, then she lowered her voice. ‘I have been unwell since Monday. It was the time of my monthly courses, and I took to my bed; my back ached so badly and Nathaniel does not like me to be near him when I am that way…’ Her cheeks flushed pink. ‘I wanted to say to you, Grace, that I do not believe the things that Jennet was saying about the baby’s father. She has become a shrew, because of the accident to Ned Shears. But you and I are best friends, and she will not come between us. Besides…’ Alice’s lips were next to Grace’s cheek, her whisper confidential, ‘I believe that Gabriel was fathered by a man not of this parish, as you have told me. I was vexed to hear otherwise from my sister – she seeks only to cause trouble betwixt us, but I will not listen to her words again.’
‘I thank you for your kindness,’ Grace said, embarrassed to lie to Alice, who was so trusting.
‘I am sorry you have to sit at the back of the church now.’
‘But I have Gabriel, and he is everything,’ Grace blurted, then she saw the sadness in Alice’s face and regretted her impulsive words, adding, ‘And you too, praise God, soon…’
‘Gracie, can you come here?’
Grace heard the urgency in her grandmother’s call. Bett was talking to George Shears, who was red in the face and waving his arms. Grace scurried towards her grandmother, Alice at her shoulder.
‘Gracie, I must ask for your help.’ Bett caught her breath. ‘George tells me Nancy’s pains have begun and we must go to her.’
‘And what of my baby? I must bring him with me,’ Grace replied.
Alice’s voice was suddenly loud with enthusiasm. ‘I will come with you, to help my sister and to hold Gabriel if you need me to, Grace. Oh, please let me come. I would see the child born and assist you and not return to Hill Top Farm and bear my mother-in-law’s sharp tongue.’
Bett nodded. ‘It may be good for you to be there, Alice. Gracie, you will go ahead and do what you can for Nancy and I will go home and collect all that I need for the birth. Do not forget, make sure everything nearby is as clean as it can be.’
Grace and Alice arrived at the room Nancy shared with George to find Nancy bunched in the corner wrapped in a blanket, her hair dishevelled and her eyes wild. George had left in haste, protesting that he would find someone who would offer him warm ale and a game of Penneech. He wanted no part in the birthing; it was women’s work and he would not return until morning.
Grace gently handed Gabriel to Alice, rushing to Nancy, speaking in a comforting voice, filling the kettle from a pitcher of water. Nancy’s face was red; she was groaning loudly, and suddenly Gabriel began to cry out, despite Alice rocking him in her arms.
Grace took her baby and began to unbutton her dress. ‘Can you give Nancy a sip of water, Alice, and let her get herself comfortable? I will feed Gabriel and then he may sleep while we help poor Nancy with her labours.’
Alice nodded, and rushed to her sister’s side; Nancy’s yells became louder and Alice was suddenly nervous, calling to Grace, ‘Will my sister live through it?’
Grace looked up from suckling her baby, her expression calm. ‘I think perhaps it may not be long before the child comes. Tell her to rest when she can between the pains.’
Then Bett arrived with her basket and sat down by Nancy, placing firm hands on her belly and whispering soothing words. Nancy writhed, roaring again, and Bett turned to Grace. ‘It’s almost time for us to greet this small one. Gracie, fetch linen and hot water.’ She reached into her bag and found some oil, smearing it on her hands. ‘Now, Nancy, I want you to do just as I bid you. Do you understand me?’
Nancy nodded, then wailed, ‘God help me, for I fear I will die.’
Bett said, ‘The baby is on her way. Everything is as it should be.’
Half an hour later, as Gabriel dozed, enfolded in a blanket, Nancy bellowed and grunted in turns. Alice squeezed Nancy’s hand, her eyes bulging with horror as the baby was pushed out into the world. Bett and Grace placed themselves at Nancy’s feet, Grace cutting the umbilical cord. Bett nodded, satisfied. ‘It is good that the navel string is cut now. Can you clean the baby and wrap her up warm? I am busy here still.’ She wiped Nancy’s feverish brow. ‘Well, Nancy, as I thought, you have a baby girl.’
‘Nancy, your baby is well.’ Alice peered over Bett’s shoulder. ‘What is it that you do now, Mistress Bett? What is happening to my sister?’
Bett spoke as she worked. ‘It is just the caul, the bag of waters that must come out soon after the birth.’
‘What must be done with it?’
Bett replied, ‘I’ll give it to Gracie to take away. Many believe it can make a woman who is infertile quickly get with child if eaten. But we must dispose of it, because such practice goes against the will of the church.’
‘I will help Grace with it,’ Alice insisted. Her usually open face was cunning as she held out her hands to take the thin membrane from Bett.
Grace put a tentative finger in the baby’s mouth, her brow furrowed. She called anxiously, ‘Grandmother, something is amiss here.’
Bett wiped her hands on a piece of linen and scurried over, taking the child and examining her.
Grace whispered, ‘The child has a cleft lip, the lip of a hare.’
‘She has. I didn’t see it. My eyes are becoming weak.’
Grace was puzzled. ‘I have not seen the like before. What can be done?’
‘Nothing can change it,’ Bett said. ‘Some people say a child with a cleft lip will come from a parent who has the same affliction. But I have heard that it is due to the incurable bone-ache, the infinite malady.’ Bett noticed Grace’s confused expression, so she breathed her next words softly. ‘A man who visits many strumpets, or the strumpet herself, will oftentimes get such a thing on the face of a child.’
‘Why are you whispering together? How does my baby? Does she live?’ Nancy croaked from her bed. ‘Bring the child to me.’
Alice rushed over, swept the baby in her arms and gasped. ‘What is this? Why is the baby’s mouth so?’
Nancy reached out to clutch the child then, as she saw her face, she screamed.
Bett crouched next to her, rubbing her back with a soothing palm, clucking, ‘Rest, Nancy. You have a healthy girl. You must lie in for several days now. All will be well if you rest.’
‘All is not well.’ Nancy’s face was red, swollen with anger and tears. ‘Can you not see the child’s mouth?’
Alice joined her, touching the baby’s soft cheek with a delicate finger, tracing the raised lip. Her voice wavered with emotion as she tried to cover her shock with comforting words. ‘Look, Nancy, she has my dimples. What will you name her?’
‘I have chosen the name Agnes for her. I think it a beautiful name.’ Nancy was tired and tearful. ‘But I fear my daughter will never be beautiful.’
Grace lifted Gabriel from his cot; he had begun to snuffle and she opened her dress to feed him.
Bett spoke in a gentle tone. ‘Will you feed little Agnes now, Nancy? I’m sure she will suckle – why don’t you put her to the breast?’
Nancy lifted the child, unlacing her shift, positioning the baby as Bett was adjusting her position, placing a blanket around the shoulders and beneath her elbow. The baby latched on, then turned her face away and began to cry. Nancy grasped Bett’s shoulder. ‘She cannot suckle. What will become of her if I cannot feed her?’
‘Try once again – she will soon discover how.’
Nancy lifted little Agnes, clearly exhausted: the baby found the nipple and Nancy winced. Then, she fell back against the folded blanket behind her and closed her eyes. ‘I am weary – I will sleep now. I do not think George will be back tonight. Agnes and I will rest here until he returns.’
‘I will stay awhile and clear up,’ Bett said. ‘Nancy, here is some posset Grace prepared for you. I will leave it here beside you for when you wake. You will need to eat to be able to feed little Agnes here.’
‘I will not eat it if Grace has touched it,’ Nancy grumbled. ‘It may poison me. She has placed a finger on my baby, and she has cursed Ned’s leg, and my George told me what happened in the field when she put her hands on the dead sheep. I should not have let her near me…’
‘Do not say such things – they are folly,’ Bett chided. ‘You must rest.’
Nancy’s eyes were closed, her arm around the baby who was still suckling.
Bett put a finger to her lips and whispered to Grace and Alice, ‘Get you both off home before it is dark. Alice, your husband will be troubled – I’m sure you are waited for at the farm. Gracie, your little one will need to rest in his crib. I will make sure Nancy sleeps and the baby is wrapped warm in her cradle. Get you both gone.’
The scattered light of the evening sky was diffused with orange and blue as the sun sank behind Hill Top Farm. Grace hugged Gabriel beneath her cloak as she and Alice walked home together. She was lost in thought, thinking about the twist of little Agnes’s mouth and how it had come to be. Nancy’s angry words repeated in her ears: Grace was troubled that anyone could believe she would harm a baby or that she had caused Ned’s accident. But Alice wanted to chatter.
‘Are you sure I cannot carry him for you, Grace? He must be a burden in your arms.’
Grace smiled, thankful. ‘He is no burden.’
‘Watching my sister bring forth her child – it was not as I imagined it would be.’
Grace plodded along slowly. ‘Did you think labouring would be easy?’
‘I do not know what I thought.’ Alice sighed. ‘It is the curse of Eve that we must bear. But I am not afraid when it becomes my turn.’
‘Amen to that,’ Grace said. ‘And I wish it may be soon.’
‘As I do.’ Alice’s eyes glistened, thinking of the caul she had hidden in the folds of her apron. ‘And I want you with me when I have my baby. Will you be there?’
‘If I can.’
‘Even after what happened to Nancy, I do not think my child will come to harm at your hand.’
‘I would harm no one.’ Grace frowned. ‘Please do not fear it, Alice.’
‘There are gossips in Ashcomb – but I do not listen to them. George Shears is among the worst. He blames you for Ned’s shattered leg.’
‘It was not I who broke the branch – you know that.’
‘I do. But there is the tale of you and the dead sheep.’
‘It was not dead. I turned it and it ran off.’
‘And then, George says, after you had brought it back to life, you turned into a hare and scuttled away.’
Grace was alarmed. ‘That is not possible. How could I have done that?’
‘By magic, I suppose.’ Alice shook her head.
‘It is all gossip, Alice – you know it. I do not understand why people speak this way.’
Alice’s brow creased. ‘But baby Agnes has the lip of a hare in the place you touched her.’
‘I would not harm the child, or Nancy. Not ever would I wish anyone ill fortune.’
‘I know it, and tomorrow my sister will be thankful that you were there at the birthing and gave her good assistance. You are a gentle person, Grace. Everyone knows – you are mild and kind. I am sure that once George has filled his belly with ale and returned safely home to Nancy tonight, they will be joyful that their baby is healthy and all this talk will be forgot.’
‘I wish it with all my heart.’ They paused by the oak tree outside Slaugh Cottage and Grace felt Gabriel wriggle beneath her cloak. ‘And I am late to make supper for my poor father. Will you return to the barn tomorrow to milk the cows?’
‘I may not. I have persuaded Nathaniel to let me rest in the house a week or two longer. I have told him that I must build up my strength to get with child. Mistress Harriet is always complaining that she is weary – she has a disposition of old age on her now, which makes her in a constant bad humour, so I will play the farmer’s wife. Nathaniel and his father are much concerned with the calving and he has a hedge and a stone wall to build, so I will stay home and make cheese and cook the supper and bake bread and cakes. It suits me well, much better than milking cows.’
‘Then I bid you goodnight, Alice.’ Grace smiled. ‘I hope we shall meet soon.’
‘Indeed – I will bring some fish to the house for you one evening before dark. And perhaps you will let me dangle little Gabriel on my knee.’ Alice threw her arms around Grace, and her voice was soft. ‘For I love that baby as much as if he were my own. And you too, Grace. I am your constant true friend, I promise. Never fear otherwise.’