"That's it Lily, get that down you, I'm sure he'll be able to answer any questions you have"
The poorly girl laid curled on her side, flanked by the two women in their wooden chairs now that Mrs Denton had given her mother the second cup of tea since her arrival. much upon the cooks insistence too. The bed was comfortable, but all the soft blankets and pillows in the world wouldn't make her any happier. She didn't want to talk to them, she didn't want to see how upset her mother was, it was difficult enough to hear it, so she feigned sleep. The two spoke quietly across her listless body, yet the words were laden with so much emotion that they would feel like a chorus of shouting, rallied back and forth between the pair.
"He can't answer my questions, I don't want to be asking them either. How can he give up on my girl? Burying her before she's even cold!"
"Now, now. No one is giving up on the lass, that be a wicked thing to say!"
"Prepared you said! Prepared for the worst! What's a woman to think when they be told that?"
"I know deary, but you have to be, lass is proper sickly! Aye, she be eating, talking, but it's only a bit, weak as a kitten she is and no denying!"
Lily picked up a slate that was resting upon the nightstand, clutching it in both hands as she looked at the silly drawing, half finished, upon it.
"It be our fault, ours that she is like this. Should have made her stay home, help with the farm, all this nonsense of finding her own way, look where it got her? Here!"
The distraught woman jabbed a finger at the drawing, more notably an image of a tall man surrounded by a plethora of hearts, and a woman laying in a bed, presumably her daughter. The older woman huffed and a small smile tugged upon her rotund face.
"We were both young once remember, I were younger still when I met me husband. Now, for a lass blaming a lad of burying her girl before she's dead? You stop grieving you hear? We be doing all we can to help the lass. She needs you to be strong Lily, she needs her Ma and Pa, dare I say him in that study too, between the lot of us she has a chance, you understand?"
The mother lowered the slate to rest upon her lap and her eyes closed, she took a deep, slow breath, releasing it just as slowly before looking at her child, then the woman opposite, a tiny series of nods showing her that she did.
