Chapter 27

At the moment of flight, the sisters had no thought of where they were going, just the urgency to be gone. They took shelter from the misty drizzle under the vast echoing arches of the dock staithes. But it chilled them to the bone to stand under the slimy dripping walls. Light was fading from the short day and it was eerily dark in the tunnel.

Kate shook uncontrollably. ‘What do you think’s happening to Jack? I’m that scared. I should’ve stayed to help him.’

‘The best help you can be is to stay out of Father’s way,’ Sarah declared, ‘if you want to live till the morra.’

‘But what about Mam and Mary?’

‘They can take care of themselves. Haway, we’ll catch our death stopping out here. Let’s gan to Aunt Maggie’s. She’ll take us in.’

Kate grabbed her arm. ‘But what’ll we tell her?’

Sarah sighed. ‘She’s ganin’ to hear soon enough; you cannot keep it from family.’ She saw Kate’s harrowed look. ‘We’ll just say there’s been fightin’. She’s taken us in before, remember; she knows what Father’s like.’

Kate did remember. As young girls, when Rose had been widowed, they had lived with Maggie and Danny at their smallholding up Simonside. And later, when their aunt and uncle had moved down to East Jarrow, they had taken shelter with their long-suffering aunt after John’s attack on Sarah. Kate nodded in agreement and they hurried out of the tunnel.

They had to pass the end of Learn Lane again, crossing over to the far side and hurrying past the blacksmith’s, heads down. Kate did not dare look across the street to the cluster of houses sandwiched between two shops and the notorious Twenty-Seven. The lane was deserted and no sounds came from Number Five, but they did not stop in their hurry up the bank towards Jarrow.

The road was potholed and muddy, and a raw wind hit them as they climbed above the river. Below lay the Slake, a stinking inlet of mud now the tide was going out. Rose had never let them play there as children, fearful of the ghost of the striking miner who had been hanged and gibbeted there long ago.

The isolated grid of streets known as the New Buildings hove into sight over the brow of the hill. Once, during a brief prosperous spell, they had lived there among this half-finished block of houses begun by a well-intentioned employer of a chemical works. They were solidly built workers’ houses, upwind of the sulphurous factory and surrounded by open wasteland.

Their young cousin Margaret came to the door. ‘It’s our Kate!’ she cried to her mother in delight. ‘And Sarah.’

Aunt Maggie appeared behind her and squinted short-sightedly. ‘Well, let them in, lass. This is a grand surprise. Our Mary not with you?’

‘No, there’s bother at home.’ Sarah was blunt. ‘Mam told us to make ourselves scarce.’

Maggie clucked in sympathy and bustled them into her cosy parlour. ‘Your uncle’s having a nap. Come by the fire and tell me how you’re getting on.’

She poured them hot cups of stewed tea from the pot on the range and Sarah talked about Hebburn. Kate wondered if she was still seeing her young miner from Birtley but did not have the heart to ask. It might lead to awkward questions about courting. Oh, Alexander! If only he could see the trouble he had caused. Why had he not come back for her?

‘And you, Kate? How’s our Lizzie and the lads?’

‘Haven’t seen them for a bit,’ Kate mumbled.

‘Well, I’ll send you back with a pair of Danny’s breeks I’ve cut down for Alfred.’

‘I’m not ganin’ back,’ she burst out, then, covering her face, succumbed to tears.

Sarah nodded at Margaret and Maggie swiftly sent the girl outside to play under the lamppost with her younger sister. In a hushed voice, Sarah explained Kate’s predicament.

‘Saint Teresa! This is terrible,’ Maggie cried. ‘My lasses mustn’t hear of such carry-on. Our Rose must be beside herself. She had such high hopes for you, Kate. Oh, Mary Mother, what’ll the priest say?’

‘Never mind the priest,’ Sarah exclaimed. ‘It’s Father who’s ganin’ to give her a skelpin’!’

Maggie crossed herself and called to Our Lady again. ‘He’ll not set foot in this house,’ she promised stoutly. ‘You can sleep here the night. My Danny’s a match for old John any day.’

Soon after, Sarah left for Hebbum. The sisters gripped hands in parting.

‘Send word if you need me,’ Sarah urged. Kate nodded, trying to be brave, feeling bereft at her going.

Maggie told Danny that Kate had argued with her step-father and nothing more was said that night. She spent sleepless hours curled up with her cousin Margaret in a narrow bed, fretting about her family. With any luck, John would be down to the docks for work in the morning and she could sneak home. But what then?

Kate got up at dawn, stoked up the fire and made tea. Danny went off to the steel works after a breakfast of porridge, and the street came alive with the sounds of men going to work and children gathering to play. In the distance, the clang and din of the dockside told of the brief holiday over.

‘I’ll walk down with you,’ Maggie offered, asking a neighbour to keep an eye on her daughters.

As they descended the long downhill stretch into Tyne Dock, Kate found her steps dragging. Ahead she could see the curve of Leam Lane. People were going in and out of Lawson’s corner shop and the pounding of metal could be heard from the blacksmith’s opposite. A horse tram splashed mud at them as it passed.

Suddenly Kate seized her aunt’s arm in alarm.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you,’ Maggie reassured.

‘No,’ Kate gasped, ‘it’s not that.’ She felt the spasm again. ‘Some’at’s wrong with me.’ She clutched her belly in fear.

‘What’s it feel like?’

‘Like little hammers.’

A strange look came over her aunt’s face. ‘How far gone are you?’ she whispered.

‘Four months,’ Kate flushed.

Maggie gave a pitying look. ‘It’s the bairn, hinny. He’s started kickin’.’

Kate gaped at her in shock. ‘The bairn?’

Maggie nodded. Kate put a tentative hand where the gentle drumming had been. All at once she was overwhelmed with a confusion of dread and wonder. It was real. She was carrying Alexander’s child. Through all the sickness, tiredness and anxiety, she had never thought of the weight inside her as anything but a curse and a source of shame. But now she felt the stirrings of another human being, a small life growing within her, her own child.

Her eyes stung with tears. Standing there in the drab lane by the blacksmith’s with the scorched smell of hot metal on hoofs filling the raw air, she knew she could not give up her baby, whatever her stepfather might say. Her fight would not just be for herself, but for her unborn son or daughter. Illegitimate or not, it was hers.

Linking arms with her aunt, she walked the last few yards with a new determination. She would not go running away to save her own skin again.

They found the house deserted, but for Rose struggling in from the back lane with a full pail of water.

‘Let me, Mam.’ Kate was quick to relieve her.

‘Mary left early,’ Rose told them. ‘Father and Jack are down the dock.’

‘How’s Jack?’

‘Got an eye like a football, but he wouldn’t stay off. John’s got bruises to show for it an’ all,’ she added with a glint of satisfaction. ‘You’d best stay up at Maggie’s for a day or two.’

‘I’m stopping here with you.’ Kate was defiant. ‘I’ll not have others doing me fightin’ for me.’

‘You’ll do as you’re told,’ Rose snapped.

‘This is me home,’ Kate said stubbornly.

‘She’s felt the bairn moving,’ Maggie interjected. ‘You cannot let John throw her out - it’d be a sin.’

‘She’s the one done the sinning!’ Rose cried, jabbing a finger at her daughter. She felt so angry at Kate for what she had done. Yet as she glared into her soft pale face and large sorrowful eyes, she felt a stab of protectiveness. Had she not encouraged her daughter to be courted by this gentleman? Instead of warning her to be cautious, she had fed Kate’s vanity about their connection with the Liddells and allowed her to get above herself. She was as much to blame, Rose admitted bitterly.

All at once the fight went out of her and Rose sank on to a chair. Up till now, she had thought only of the disgrace to herself and John. Now, she feared for her daughter. She knew how harshly Kate would be judged by the priests, how cruel would be the wagging tongues of neighbours. The censure would be universal and relentless.

‘Oh, lass, what’s to become of you?’

They looked at each other in despair, not knowing the answer. Kate dashed forward and sank to her mother’s feet, throwing her arms about her waist and burying her face in her lap.

‘I’m sorry, Mam. I’ll do anything you ask - just let me stay.’

In reply, Rose placed a callused hand on her daughter’s silky hair and stroked it in reassurance.

It was dark when the men came banging in the door. Jack started to see Kate standing by the range, stirring a pot of broth. Even in the dim light she could see his left eye was half closed with bruising and his bottom lip badly swollen. He said nothing but gave a half-smile of encouragement. Behind came her stepfather. Her stomach jolted at the look of loathing he gave her.

‘What’s the harlot doing here?’ John snarled at Rose.

‘It’s her home, John,’ Rose said evenly. ‘Get the broth served, lass.’

Jack went straight to the scullery to wash, but John stood glaring at Kate.

‘This isn’t your home,’ he spat. ‘You belong in the pigsty with that fancy man with the fancy name, Pringle-Davies.’

Kate flinched to hear his name spoken. How much had Mary told them about Alexander?

‘You know she can’t gan to him,’ Rose said quietly. ‘Now come and eat.’

‘Well, I’ll not have her in my house.’ John was adamant. He strode towards Kate. ‘You’ve brought shame on it. You’re a bloody disgrace. Go on, get out!’

‘Please, Father, let me stay,’ Kate said, holding her ground. ‘I’ve nowhere else to gan.’

‘Should’ve thought of that before you opened your legs for your fancy man,’ he said savagely, thrusting his face into hers.

Kate felt nauseous at his foul breath. ‘Just till the bairn’s born,’ she whispered.

‘And what do we tell the neighbours when your belly gets big with that man’s bastard?’ he taunted. ‘What do we tell the priest?’

‘When have you ever cared what the neighbours or the priest think of us?’ Rose retorted.

‘Shut your gob, woman.’ He turned on her.

Rose put her hands on her hips. ‘No I won’t. She’s already feeling the bairn, John. I’ll not have her put out on the street like a dog.’

‘That’s what the slut deserves!’

‘No it’s not. She was daft enough to be taken in by some fancy-talking man - but she’s not the first and she’ll not be the last. If you hoy her out she’ll have nowhere to gan but the workhouse. I can’t believe you would ever want that to happen to any of yours, John McMullen. Don’t you remember that terrible place?’ she challenged.

‘Aye, of course I do,’ he said in agitation. ‘Don’t you lecture me about it - I was the one went breaking rocks for you and your pack of brats!’

‘Then you know what they do to lasses like Kate.’ Rose advanced on him. ‘They hoy them in with the loonies and thems with filthy diseases. And they’ll tak the bairn off her and she’ll never see it again and they’ll keep her locked up like a criminal for years. Is that what you want? ‘Cos the John McMullen I married never would have!’

John looked stunned. ‘Maybes I don’t!’ he cried. Turning from them, he smashed his fist into the wall, sending a shower of plaster to the floor.

Rose motioned for Kate to keep quiet. Jack came quietly out of the scullery, poised in the doorway ready to defend his sister again.

John spun round and stared at them all. ‘And what are we to do with her, eh? Come on, Missus Big Gob, the one with all the answers.’

‘Let her stay here and have the baby,’ Rose reasoned. ‘When it’s born, the lass can gan back to work to pay for its keep.’

Kate felt a wave of gratitude. Not only was her mother standing by her, she was prepared to keep the child too.

‘You mean have it livin’ here? Someone else’s bastard?’ John railed.

‘I’ve brought up plenty bairns,’ Rose said with resignation. ‘What’s the harm in one more?’

‘Mam!’ Kate cried in relief and moved towards her. ‘Thank you.’

But Rose held herself away. ‘There’s one condition,’ she said, her look suddenly severe.

‘Aye, anything,’ Kate agreed.

‘We bring the bairn up as our own - me and John.’

Kate was nonplussed. ‘As yours? But - but what about me?’ she gasped.

‘You gan back to work like it didn’t happen. As far as the neighbours are concerned, the bairn is ours. That way we can all hold our heads up round these streets.’

‘And me baby?’ Kate whispered, a strange pain sweeping through her.

‘She’s not to know. You’ll be her big sister, that’s all. We’ll bring her up strict like I should’ve done with you - knowing what’s right and wrong. You won’t have to bother yourself with being a mam. You’ll work hard and keep your nose clean.’

‘Aye,’ John joined in, warming to the idea of being a father again, ‘we’ll not spare the rod with this one. You’ll have nowt to do with it - no spoiling like you got. And if I catch you looking at another man again,’ he threatened, ‘I’ll kill ye.’

Kate swallowed the tearful angry words she wanted to shout. She had no intention of looking at any other man but Alexander. He was the only man she could love - still loved! And they would not stop her loving his child. She looked to her mother for a softening of her stepfather’s words, but Rose’s face was closed.

‘If you do anything more to shame us, you’re out. I’ll not stand up for you a second time,’ Rose warned. Her words turned Kate’s insides to ice.