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By Root 949 0

had started on the second creel when the door opened. Quietly, Rose came across the hut to stand above him, watching his nimble fingers. Her lips wore a gentle smile as she studied his face in the glow from the lamp. His tanned, sea-worn cheeks running into a strong jaw line, mouth working as he concentrated on his task. Long fair hair framed his face, curling down to hide his brown eyes skimming the line ahead of his fingers. He reminded her of a picture of a cavalier she had seen once in one of the town’s shops. They had known each other since childhood. Friends then, now it had grown into something more. She was always in and out of his cottage, helping his mother, even more often since his father had been lost at sea two years back. Everyone who knew them took it for granted one day they would be married. That was the way it went, especially with Scarborough lasses.

Jackie wasn’t sure how he felt about it all. He was glad she took some of the strain off his mother, nursing her when her wracking cough drove her to bed, preparing Jackie’s meals in the meantime. He liked Rose almost as much as he liked his friends. But where they laughed loudly, she smiled serenely, shy as a calf. Where his pals always carried the smell of the fishing trade, Rose always seemed clean and fresh, and when he was close he ached to hold her in his arms and bury his face in her velvet skin.

Sometimes when they walked, away from the eyes of his mates, he would take her hand and occasionally she would let him kiss her. When he tasted her soft lips a hunger would awaken, but when he tried to pull her close she would push small hands against his chest, saying “not yet.” When he asked her “When?” she would answer enigmatically “One day.” Seared by a heat he had not yet come to understand, he would turn away flushed, angry, his feelings jumbled.

Now she stood in front of him, delicate in her homespun frock covered by a large green apron which ran almost to the floor. Her fair hair was tied back under her bonnet. But this morning her eyes were cloudy as a rainy sky, cheeks pale. As if she didn’t trust them free, her fingers were intertwined tightly.

“Harry told me you were in here,” she blurted.

“What’s the matter, pet?” Jackie frowned. “You don’t look well.” He put down the long line and stood up, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“You’d better come home. I think your mam’s had some bad news. She’s taken on, crying her heart out and coughing like you’ve never heard.”

First the sea keeping him ashore and now this. “Right. You go on back up. I’ll just go down and tell Harry. There’s work to be done in here and he’s out there jawing.”

***

Her eyes reminded him of a rabbit with one foot caught in a snare, Jackie thought as his mother turned to face him. She looked tiny in her chair by the open fire, her shawl clutched about her as though it was deep midwinter. Her cheeks appeared sore where tears still lurked, the puffy skin shiny. As he crossed the room from the street door, Rose shot him a look followed by a shrug. He hovered over the chair as his mother sniffed, dabbing her eyes with a sodden handkerchief.

“Now, our Mam, what’s all this?”

Her voice was feeble, quaking like the bleat of a spring lamb. “We’re nearly all gone now. Won’t be none of us left soon.”

“What’re you talking about?”

She sobbed. “First your Dad. Now it’s our Bob. And then it’ll be me. There’ll only be you.”

“This something to do with Uncle Bob?”

She whimpered. “He’s dying, just like me.”

“Don’t be silly, Mam, you’ll outlive us all.” He looked at Rose.

“The carter brought a message this morning, not long after you left. He’d just come from Whitby,” Rose explained.

So that was it. He knelt down, one hand covering both his mother’s in her lap. Her fingers felt thin and cold.

“What do you want me to do about it, Mam?”

“I just wanted to see him again. Just once more, you know.” Her eyes implored him to understand. “He was your Dad’s favorite brother. Now he’s the only one left.”

Jackie scowled as she began to cough, her narrow shoulders jerking in spasms. “You know