Josephine Cox Sunday Times Bestsellers Collection

A short time later and aching through every bone, Barney paused to stretch his limbs. Taking out his pocket-watch he glanced at the time. ‘Good Lord! Why didn’t somebody tell me it was nearly one o’clock?’

To everyone’s relief he called for a break, at the same time taking the opportunity to slide his arm round his wife’s waist and give her a resounding kiss. ‘I’m proud of the three of you,’ he told Vicky, Lucy and Jamie. ‘I might even go so far as to say you’re as good as the men …’ At that moment he saw Ronnie throw himself down some way off, to lie flat under a tree. ‘And maybe better than most,’ he added with a light-hearted groan.

Ronnie was the first to answer. ‘Not bad,’ he said airily. ‘It took Lucy a while to get the hang of it, but she got there in the end.’

‘They did well.’ Thomas gave his dad a knowing wink. ‘In fact, they did so well, I reckon us men should go home and leave them to it. Come on, Jamie.’

‘You mind we don’t leave you three to it.’ Vicky rose to their teasing. ‘Here.’ She thrust a greaseproof pack of sandwiches at each of them. ‘These should quieten you down.’

Everyone took off their sacking aprons and quickly sluiced their hands with water from a big enamel pitcher, before sitting down and unwrapping their lunch.

The break, though short, was a pleasure, not only because they were famished and the thick sandwiches filled with cheese, ham and pickle were delicious, but because the company was pleasant and the day glorious. ‘What about you, Lucy?’ Barney addressed Lucy who had fed the child and was now preparing his drink. ‘Have you enjoyed your first-hand experience of market-gardening?’

‘It’s tiring,’ Lucy admitted. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever ached so much in all my life, but oh yes, Barney, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed it.’ She cuddled the child. ‘Jamie’s enjoyed it too,’ she said fondly. ‘Though he didn’t like being strapped in his pram for most of the time.’

‘Well, I’m proud of you,’ Barney said, and without hesitation the others echoed his sentiments.

With the food all gone, Ronnie and his brother went for a quick dip in the river, to wash the dust and grime from their backs. ‘Don’t be long,’ Barney called after them. ‘We’ll need to work till dark as it is.’

Shortly afterwards, Vicky followed with the plates and cutlery. ‘I’ll give these a rinse in the water,’ she told Lucy. ‘I don’t fancy the flies plaguing us all the way home.’

Left alone with Lucy and the child, who had dozed off, Barney helped to clear the picnic things away. ‘How are things,’ he enquired, ‘really?’

‘Things are fine, thank you, Barney.’ Though she had good friends in Bridget and the girls, Barney and Vicky were the only people she could really talk to; especially Barney. He had such a way with him, naturally attentive and caring, that Lucy felt she could tell him anything.

‘So, did you do the right thing in moving out to the cottage?’ Looking tired and worn, he leaned against the tree.

‘It was the best thing I ever did, and it’s all thanks to you and your family,’ she answered.

Taking a rag out of his trouser pocket, Barney wiped the sweat from his face. ‘And you’re content, are you, working at the house with Vicky, and labouring in the fields under an Indian summer sun?’ he grinned. ‘Seems to me, we’ve thrown you in at the deep end.’

Lucy smiled. ‘Oh Barney, I’m more than content. I don’t know how I can ever thank you both.’

‘No thanks necessary,’ he answered softly. ‘Just to see you smile like that, and know you’re settled – that’s more than enough.’ Barney looked down on her and thought what a lovely woman she was.

‘You and Vicky, you can’t know what you’ve done for me,’ Lucy persisted. ‘I’ve never been so happy.’

‘It’s only right that you should be happy.’ In a fit of coughing, he turned away, scarlet in the face. Lucy passed him a cup of water. When the coughing fit passed, he addressed her again, his voice still a little hoarse. ‘You worked well today, lass.’ He didn’t look round. ‘I want you to know how much I appreciate that.’

‘Barney, can I talk to you?’

The young woman’s anxious voice caused him to swing round. ‘Of course you can. What is it?’

Hesitating, she shrugged her shoulders. ‘It’s nothing – I’m sorry.’ Suddenly it seemed foolish to voice what was in her mind.

Concerned, he came to kneel beside her. ‘Come on, tell me, love. What’s wrong?’

Lucy looked at him, at his strong, kind face and the endearing look in his eyes and she opened her heart to him. ‘I’m afraid, Barney … so afraid.’

‘What d’you mean? What have you to be afraid of?’ His expression hardened. ‘That bugger Trent isn’t back again, is he, because if he’s bothering you …’

Lucy shook her head. ‘No, he’s not back – at least not that I know of.’ She gave a wry little smile, her heart sinking at the memory. ‘After the cowardly way he ran, I shouldn’t think he’ll ever show his face round here again.’

‘So what are you afraid of?’

In a small voice she told him, ‘It might sound silly to you, Barney, but I feel I’m too happy, and I’m afraid because something is bound to go wrong, I just know it is.’

‘Aw, Lucy girl! Come here to me.’ Taking her in his arms, he held her close. ‘Nothing will go wrong. I won’t let it – Vicky won’t let it. The worst is over for you now. We’ve got you safe with us.’ He held her at arm’s length. ‘Promise me, Lucy, that whenever you’re feeling worried you’ll talk to me or Vicky. Promise me you won’t ever be afraid to share what’s on your mind.’

Her heart full, Lucy slowly nodded her head.

‘That’s my girl.’ He rumpled her hair, and let her go.

A few minutes later, at Barney’s suggestion, she left the child with him and made her way to the river. Here, she dropped to her knees and washed her grubby neck and face. Her fingernails were grimed with mud; she’d deal with them later.

She was shaking the river-drops from her hands when she heard a noise some way further along the river. She turned her head and there, where the weir rushed down and tumbled amongst the larger boulders, she saw Thomas and Ronnie clamber out of the water, their muscular well-toned bodies magnificently naked.

Until that moment, she had seen them as merely Barney and Vicky’s two young sons: Thomas, serious and deep-thinking, and Ronnie a bit crazy – a daredevil ready to have a go at anything.

Now she saw them as men in their own right, and it came as a bit of a shock to her senses.

Climbing to where they had laid their clothes, Tom and Ronnie took up their shirts and began drying themselves while, blushing to the roots of her hair, Lucy took flight and did not stop running until she was back to base.

It was the very first time she had ever seen a man stripped off; even when Edward Trent had made love to her, it was a case of undoing his trouser-buttons and lifting her skirt. A virgin when she had met him at the age of twenty-seven, in many ways Lucy was still sexually inexperienced. She had only known brief couplings with Edward, which had heated her blood and brought her a child, but the richness and depth of married physical love was unknown territory.

She knew now that what she had experienced was not lovemaking in the way it should have been; it was pure lust and nothing more, and she felt ashamed at having thought it was ever anything else.

As she neared her son, still sleeping in his pram, she was amazed to find that there was no sign of Barney. She stood a moment, eyes scouring the area. That was strange. She hadn’t thought that Barney would ever go off and leave Jamie on his own.

Suddenly she could hear him, or at least she could hear something, because the harsh, rasping sounds were not human. They were more like the cries of some unfortunate animal caught in a trap.

Leaving Jamie, she cautiously followed the sounds, and there, doubled up against the side of the tractor, was Barney. Obviously in pain and fighting for breath, he looked a frightful sight. Lucy ran to him. ‘Barney – what in God’s name is wrong?’

Breathless and exhausted, he couldn’t speak, but when he looked her in the eye, she saw the anguish there and her heart turned somersaults. ‘Don’t … tell … Vicky,’ he gasped.

Lucy gave no answer. Instead she held him until he was fully recovered, at which point he repeated his plea. ‘Lucy … you mustn’t tell Vicky about this. She’ll only worry, and it’s unnecessary.’

Lucy wasn’t too sure about that. ‘But you’re ill!’ she told him gently. ‘You couldn’t breathe – could hardly stand up on your own two feet!’ Seeing him like that had given her a scare. ‘You’re wrong, Barney,’ she told him. ‘Vicky should know about this.’ When she saw the look of panic on his face, she assured him, ‘All right, I won’t tell her. But you must.’

‘There’s no need!’ Barney was recovering his strength now. ‘I’m not ill. It’s something to do with handling the tubers. They don’t agree with me. Summat about them gets in and clogs up my lungs, hampers my breathing and makes me feel bad. It comes on quickly and goes away the same. Like I say, there’s nothing to worry about. Right now, lass, let’s get back to yon bairn. I’m sorry I left him, pet – didn’t want to wake him, see?’

‘All right, Barney, if you’re sure.’ She could see how agitated he had got when he believed she might tell the family.

‘Look at me, Lucy.’ Raising his arms, Barney let his hands fall to her shoulders, his smile quick and confident. ‘You can see for yourself, I’m right as rain now. It was a coughing fit, that’s all it was. I won’t have Vicky or anyone else worrying about something and nothing.’

Lucy didn’t argue. In fact, she was amazed at how quickly he had recovered. One minute he had looked so ill, she feared for his life, and the next he seemed fine. ‘You’re sure you’re all right?’

He nodded. ‘Like I said, right as rain.’