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However, Mam guessed. "You've been sacked!"
Ethel could not look at her mother. "Aye. I'm sorry, Mam. "
Mam wiped her hands on a rag. "What have you done?" she said angrily. "Out with it, now!"
Ethel sighed. Why was she holding back? "I fell for a baby," she said.
"Oh, no-you wicked girl!"
Ethel fought back tears. She had hoped for sympathy, not condemnation. "I am a wicked girl," she said. She took off her hat, trying to keep her composure.
"It have all gone to your head-working at the big house, and meeting the king and queen. It have made you forget how you were raised. "
"I expect you're right. "
"It will kill your father. "
"He doesn't have to give birth," Ethel said sarcastically. "I expect he'll be all right. "
"Don't be cheeky. It's going to break his heart. "
"Where is he?"
"Gone to another strike meeting. Think of his position in the town: elder of the chapel, miners' agent, secretary of the Independent Labour Party-how will he hold up his head at meetings, with everyone thinking his daughter's a slut?"
Ethel's control failed. "I'm very sorry to cause him shame," she said, and she began to cry.
Mam's expression changed. "Oh, well," she said. "It's the oldest story in the world. " She came around the table and pressed Ethel's head to her breast. "Never mind, never mind," she said, just as she had when Ethel was a child and grazed her knees.
After a while, Ethel's sobs eased.
Mam released her and said: "We'd better have a cup of tea. " There was a kettle kept permanently on the hob. She put tea leaves into a pot and poured boiling water in, then stirred the mixture with a wooden spoon. "When's the baby due?"
"February. "
"Oh, my goodness. " Mam turned from the fire to look at Ethel. "I'm going to be a grandmother!"
They both laughed. Mam set out cups and poured the tea. Ethel drank some and felt better. "Did you have easy births, or difficult?" she asked.
"There are no easy births, but mine were better than most, my mother said. I've had a bad back ever since Billy, all the same. "
Billy came downstairs, saying: "Who's talking about me?" He could sleep late, Ethel realized, because he was on strike. Every time she saw him he seemed taller and broader. "Hello, Eth," he said, and kissed her with a bristly mustache. "Why the suitcase?" He sat down, and Mam poured him tea.
"I've done something stupid, Billy," said Ethel. "I'm having a baby. "
He stared at her, too shocked to speak. Then he blushed, no doubt thinking of what she had done to get pregnant. He looked down, embarrassed. Then he drank some tea. At last he said: "Who's the father?"
"No one you know. " She had thought about this and worked out a story of sorts. "He was a valet who came to Ty Gwyn with one of the guests, but he's gone in the army now. "
"But he'll stand by you. "
"I don't even know where he is. "
"I'll find the beggar. "
Ethel put a hand on his arm. "Don't get angry, my lovely. If I need your help, I'll ask for it. "
Billy evidently did not know what to say. Threatening revenge was clearly no good, but he had no other response. He looked bewildered. He was still only sixteen.
