Free Sweet Rosie by Iris Gower

I’ve never had a day’s sickness in my life.’
    ‘I don’t know, Watt.’ Llinos rubbed her eyes. ‘No, that’s not going to work, I need you in the pottery. We must bring in a nurse.’ She looked up at Watt. ‘Any suggestions?’
    ‘Mother Peters would do it.’
    ‘Oh Watt, she’s so old now she can hardly walk.’
    ‘Nonsense! In any case, she wouldn’t have to walk far, she could sleep in my room. I can sleep on the sofa downstairs, I’ve done it before.’
    ‘All right.’ Llinos rubbed her eyes; she had no better suggestion. ‘Go ask her then, see how she feels about it.’
    When Watt left, Llinos stared out of the window, her mind full of doubts and fears. From the music room, she could hear Lloyd’s stumbling fingers on the pianoforte; his tutor must be giving him a music lesson. It all seemed so normal, surely there was nothing really to worry about?
    She tried to calm herself but everything seemed to be piling up on top of her. She must not panic; she must deal with this sickness calmly and sensibly. But was she strong enough to handle it alone?
    For a moment she allowed herself to wallow in self-pity. Her life had never been easy, not since the day her father had left Swansea and joined the fight against Bonaparte. Llinos had been left to run the pottery practically single-handedly but she had been strong then. She had been able to deal with all the extra problems of business, the accounts, ordering stock, everything. She had saved the pottery then but where was her strength now?
    She returned to her bedroom and sat near the window, staring out at the windswept garden. If only he could walk into the room right now she would have courage to face anything, but the room remained silent.
    The sickness spread and, within two weeks, the pottery was running on half strength. Even Pearl, big healthy Pearl, had gone down with the whooping cough. But Llinos was grateful that Eira was on the mend. It seemed the young woman had only a mild dose of the illness and had managed to overcome the worst of it.
    So far the rest of the household was unaffected. Lloyd had remained healthy and so had she. Llinos thanked God every day for that. She even prayed to Joe’s Great Spirit, feeling she was hedging her bets in a most unworthy way. But she felt that whatever, whoever was out there, they were looking down at her kindly, keeping her little family safe.
    She was back at work now, needed in the pottery because of the people off ill. She was looking through Joe’s patterns for the firebird china when Watt barged into the small office. Llinos knew at once that something was badly wrong. She rose to her feet, the patterns fanning out on the floor where she dropped them. ‘What is it, what’s wrong?’
    ‘It’s Maura, I’ve got to go to her, Llinos.’ He held up his hand as Llinos made a move towards him. ‘No! Please, Llinos, stay away, I don’t want you catching anything from me.’ He shrugged. ‘I should have known better, I’ve been going from this house to the Morton-Edwards’s place not realizing I might carry the sickness with me.’
    ‘Oh, Watt,’ Llinos said, ‘you can’t blame yourself. As Dr Stafford said, none of us knows very much about how this sickness is spread.’
    ‘You don’t feel I’m deserting you?’
    ‘You go and look after Maura and go with my blessing. Is Eynon all right?’
    ‘He’s fine. He’s had Maura taken to his holiday cottage down by the sea. He feels the clean air will be good for her.’ He paused. ‘He’s also worried that Jayne might get the whooping cough and I don’t blame him.’
    ‘Are we very selfish people, Watt?’ Llinos asked wistfully. ‘Worrying about our own, not caring too much so long as they are protected?’
    ‘Now that Maura is sick, I know just how you feel,’ he said despondently. ‘I would do anything to save her from suffering.’
    ‘Look, Watt, take anything you need from the house. I wish I could do more.’
    ‘Eynon is very