o’clock that night, Amy insisted that Bessie and Toby went home. Bessie protested, reluctant to leave them but Amy pointed out that Bessie had a husband and her own family to see to, and that she was quite capable of managing on her own till morning. Bessie eventually saw the sense of it and reluctantly slipped back to her own cottage, but Toby refused to go and nothing she said could persuade him otherwise.
‘I’ll sleep on the settee,’ he told her, and although Amy objected, secretly she was glad that he was staying.
It was a seemingly endless night. Molly lay in a deep fever, so still sometimes that Amy feared that she had already gone from her. Tirelessly she sponged her down, talking to her softly all the while, praying that Molly could hear her.
‘Don’t leave me, Gran,’ she begged a thousand times. ‘I love you so much; you’re all I’ve got.’
But through it all, Molly lay unmoving.
When Bessie arrived back at break of dawn, she found Amy red-eyed and exhausted. Toby was fast asleep on the settee and Molly was no better at all. As she scurried about making them all a bit of breakfast, a feeling of dread came on her. She was deeply fond of Molly and couldn’t imagine life without her. She begged Amy to go to bed for a while and try to get some sleep, as the girl looked fit to drop. But Amy flatly refused and instead pulled a hard-backed chair close to the side of her gran’s bed.
There eventually she slipped into an uneasy doze, her hand tightly clutching Molly’s, and it was the doctor on his next visit that woke her. He looked down on the young girl and the old woman sadly. The longer the fever raged, the less chance the sick woman had of coming out of it, as well he knew.
‘Is there nothing more we can do?’ asked Bessie.
He solemnly shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not. But take heart, it can’t go on for much longer now. The fever should break soon and I’ll call back again this evening.’
As the morning progressed, Molly appeared, if anything, to get even worse. The sweat ran down her face and she began to thrash about wildly. It took both of them now to bathe her, but not once did they cease in their efforts. Amy’s face was the colour of bleached linen as she watched this beloved old woman slowly slipping away from her. Her eyes held such anguish that they tore at Bessie’s heart.
‘Please, please, Gran, don’t leave me,’ she begged over and over again, and suddenly – just when it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse – Molly’s eyes sprang open and rested on her face. Then, just as quickly, they fluttered shut again, her thrashing about ceased, and still now, she sank back into the pillows.
Amy was sobbing uncontrollably but to her amazement and disbelief she suddenly heard Bessie laugh.
‘Don’t cry, lass,’ she said, pulling Amy into her arms. ‘It’s over. The fever’s broken and she’s come through it. Look – she’s fast asleep!’
Hardly daring to look, Amy followed her gaze and saw Molly’s old chest rise and fall regularly beneath her nightgown. A huge wave of relief swept through her and now she was laughing and crying and hugging Bessie all at the same time.
‘She’s alive,’ she sobbed gleefully as Bessie beamed through her own tears.
‘Aye she is, lass,’ she agreed. ‘Mind you, I don’t know now why we was ever worried in the first place. She’s as tough as old boots, is our Molly.’
By the time Dr Sorrell arrived back that evening, although still very weak, Molly was awake.
‘What are you doin’ here?’ she demanded rudely, and they all began to laugh with delight.
‘Now we know she’s on the mend,’ grinned Bessie. ‘She’s got her bloody cheek back.’
Chapter Five
The recovery was slow but sure, and after two weeks Molly was well enough to leave her sickbed and sit in her rocking chair for a while. Amy fussed over her, endlessly plying her with drinks and tempting her with tasty titbits to encourage her to eat. Usually an independent soul, Molly grew deeply frustrated and snappy. But Amy endured all her moods without complaint. As long as she could keep her gran, she would have put up with anything.
Every evening Toby came round and read to them, and Molly looked forward to his visits. Bessie was also a frequent visitor and once, when Amy was out