''I've got a feeling this one is different.'' Rose ran a delicate finger down her tummy, enticing her unborn child to kick. Her hips hurt, her feet were swollen and her body ached like none of her other pregnancies.
''How so?'' Ruth eyed her daughter, in disbelief how one could possibly predict such a thing.
''I don't know. I just feel it.''
Ruth buttered her toast at the breakfast table. ''Perhaps, because Jack simply cannot keep his hands off you. Honestly, rabbits breed less. Do you not have anything better to do than procreate?''
Her mother's sharp tongue was lost on her. She was used to the bite. Jack entered at that precise moment.
''Morning Ruth.'' He kissed Rose quickly as he touched her stomach, rubbing it gently. ''Still sharp as a tack even at 7am.''
''Jack, I speak the truth. You and my daughter are like rabbits?''
''Can we have a rabbit?'' Four-year old George entered the kitchen with toothpaste around his mouth and dressed for school in a fashion. Immediately, Jack wiped his mouth and straightened out his collar.
''We have Jessie already.'' Jack referred to their six-year-old Labrador, who had taken refuge beneath the table awaiting scraps of toast and spilled milk.
''But I want a rabbit.'' George's eyes sparkled, they were the same blue as his father's but his mother's coppery curls and fiery nature ensured he was a handful.
''Oh, Heavens.'' Ruth sighed, pouring herself a cup of tea. ''That would be more for you to contend with.''
''Nanny will help me look after it.'' He glanced to his grandmother, his eyes wide and innocent. Ruth gave a sharp sideways glance. Rose laughed at the notion of her mother cleaning out a rabbit cage.
''Well, maybe if Nanny helps then we will have to get you, Flynn and Ellie a rabbit.''
Flynn and Ellie were George's siblings. They were seven and two respectively. At that moment, Flynn came in the back door.
''I got more milk.'' He proudly waved the glass bottle. ''Mr. Harper said not to worry about the money until next week.''
Mr. Harper was the nearby shopkeeper just two doors away, he was also good friends with the Dawson's and great at keeping the kids entertained on the weekends with his horse and endless jobs from milking the cows to feeding the chickens.
''That's a good boy now take George to find his coat.'' Rose ordered. Jack took a sip from Rose's weak tea and distorted his face.
''That is disgusting.'' He had forgotten just how milky his wife's tea was taken.
''Jack, you have the manners of a donkey.'' She shook her head at her son-in-law. ''Pour yourself a cup.''
Jack did nothing but laugh. What else could he do? He had to admit that underneath the vile exterior of Ruth she did actually care for her daughter, in a fashion. She was also good with the grandchildren, introducing discipline when needed perhaps more than he and Rose could do. Of course, their family was big and would continue to grow for as long as they could. Jack and Rose discussed a large family and they had kept their promise to each other for that was when they were happiest.
''Oh Mother, stop it.'' She wafted her hand at her mother.
''Come on kids, time for school.'' Jack shouted into the living room as he found his own coat and the boys came flying in. Jessie, the dog came scurrying from under the table almost knocking George from his feet, the excitement had gotten to her and she began chasing her own tail around Jack.
''So, I guess you're coming too, huh?'' He laughed as he found Jessie's lead and struggled to put it around her neck due to her thrashing with excitement. Ruth raised her eyebrows. She had never been fond of dogs; Jessie was too excited for her liking.
A giggle from upstairs made Rose aware than Ellie was awake upstairs.
''I'll see you in an hour.'' Jack winked at Rose. The boys kissed their mother goodbye and George kissed his mother's stomach as he did each morning and night.
The door closed and Rose took a deep breath, enjoying the few seconds of silence before her youngest child would join them.
''Ellie is awake.'' She glanced at the clock. ''She needed that eleven hour sleep, I think the cough has taken it out of her.'' She was just about to stand when Ruth settled her hands on her daughters shoulder and sat her down.
''I will fetch her.''
Rose said nothing as her mother started towards the stairs to fetch her granddaughter. She took a sip of her tea before remembering it was cold. She topped it up with the teapot which was on the table and took a bite of toast quickly. Mornings were always chaotic. As was bath times and mealtimes. Rose smiled, she remembered when Flynn was born and they thought parenthood was easy-they were mistaken but it was the most rewarding thing.
Each of their children had steadily become their own little character with flecks of both Jack and Rose in them. They were headstrong, proud children and she loved each of them dearly. This fourth one would even it out. Flynn and George would play together and while they loved Ellie and were very protective of her-they were also bored when they realised she wouldn't play football with them. Not well anyway.
Ellie was wide awake in her grandmother's arms. Rose had noticed her mother had softened when Ellie had been born; perhaps because she was the little girl. The less boisterous one. Ruth had great moments with the boys but Ellie seemed to have taken her heart fully.
''Good morning.'' Rose smiled as Ellie was placed in her high chair. Rose watched as Ruth expertly tied the knot so she didn't fall from the chair. Rose knew that her Mother wasn't like this with her when she was a child. It was as though a switch had flipped and even though she wasn't a great mother to Rose growing up, she was making up for it now.
''Porridge.'' Ellie waved a spoon around as Rose flattened her unruly curls from her sleepy head.
''Yes darling, I will make you some porridge.'' Ruth got to work by searching the cupboards for some oats.
''You know I could get used to the help.'' Rose joked as she sat back with her hand on her stomach.
Ruth stopped in her tracks, eyeing Rose. ''Well don't get used to it. I only help when I am needed.'' She sighed. ''Just where are the oats?''
''Top cupboard.'' Rose pointed. Ruth found them simple enough as she found a pan to boil some milk.
''Soon you will need a bigger kitchen. Definitely a bigger table. A larger house if you keep going!''
Rose glanced around. She hated to admit it but her mother was right. ''We will find the time to move into someplace bigger I hope once this little one is here.''
Ruth stopped for a moment, she watched her daughter. ''Just what possesses you to have four children? Rose, you are just twenty six. You have years left in you for child bearing.''
Rose took another sip from her tea. ''Jack and I like the children close together in age. Besides, we both come from parents who were an only child and so were we. We didn't want to be alone in the world and certainly didn't want to only have one child ourselves.'' She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes. ''Besides, what else were we put on the Earth to do? Sit around and be decorative.''
Ruth was always one to avoid conversations which were too revealing of her own past. But now, Rose thought would be a good time to press the matter. ''Why did you not have more children?''
Ruth kept her eye on the boiling milk. ''I was sensible!'' She cried. ''Besides I enjoyed my figure.''
''Nonsense! I have a waist and I have borne three children!'' She placed her hand on her hips. She glanced down. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen her trim waist but she hoped it would soon return once the newest addition came along.
Ruth wasn't one to speak of the past, nor of her husband. She found herself absentmindedly stirring the porridge. ''I never felt maternal.'' She confessed. ''Rose, when you were born I had chosen your name and you were taken from me. I lost the chance to raise my only daughter and I struggled to bond.''
Rose attempted to stand from the chair where she had sat for too long. Her back ached more from sitting and she wiggled her hips to get the feeling back in them but her concentration didn't leave her Mother's face.
''But, why?''
''My own mother ensured you were raised well. We all doted on you as a child but I found it hard to believe you were mine. I could never feed you, hold you as you slept. That fell onto the job of the nurse. Your father drank early on...''
Ruth looked at her daughters face and saw the maturity; she was now a mother and a wife.
''I want to tell you just how proud I am of you, Rose.'' Ruth clutched Rose's hand in her own.
Ruth kept one eyes on the porridge as she felt the niggling feeling in her stomach. Something which she had been feeling for quite a while and wondered whether or not she should share it with her daughter. Rose saw the look on her mother's face and knew something wasn't quite right.
''What is it?''
Ruth glanced her daughter straight in the eye.
''Your father was so carefree and easy, I could wrap him around my little finger when we married. We were so in love and I see the way you and Jack look at each other now and remember your father in so many ways.''
Rose felt a rush of emotion, tears came to her eyes right away. Memories of her father's death were still fresh in her mind even though he had died in December of 1910. ''Oh mother, I didn't even know you were in love with my father.''
''Oh, of course I was, I just never learned how to show it after I gave birth to you.'' Ruth sighed. ''Rose, you were conceived when I was just seventeen years old, I wasn't even married.''
''I thought that…'' Rose trailed off, confused. ''You weren't married?''
''Your father had proposed to me, and in one of the three times that we were….'' Ruth thought of a polite way to put it, even though she knew her daughter was now a woman herself. ''…together, in a physical way, you were conceived. I found out four days before I married so it was easy to cover the truth just that little bit.''
Rose felt her mouth fall open a little. She knew very little of what her Mother was like as a young woman, but now, it seems, she wasn't so unlike her at all. The thought of her Mother in love, as a young woman had been a thought so far away but now as she saw the dim twinkle of her eyes, she could picture it just a little more.
''When you were growing up I just wanted the best for you Rose and for a time I failed you, I pushed you into things you never wanted.''
''No mother, you didn't fail me. You did what you did out of love for me, you wanted the best, you thought you were doing the right thing it just turns out you wasn't. I knew from the moment I met Jack what I wanted and I have it right now and we have children.''
Ellie was oblivious to the moment of closeness between Mother and daughter at that moment in time. She chattered in her own baby babble, clutching a spoon which she could see her own reflection in.
''Children are precious.''
Rose closed her eyes as Ruth touched her face. She had never felt such affection from her mother. ''Yes, they are.''
''Your father would have loved the boys.'' Ruth smiled. ''I do wish things had been different with him, Rose.''
''Mother, he was selfish but he was still my father.''
Ruth took the porridge from the stove and poured it into a bowl for Ellie. She waited a minute for it to cool.
''When he died I had nothing to focus on except my young daughter, I wanted a bright future for her and for myself. My focus became finding you a great husband.''
''I met Jack because of everything which happened leading up to this moment. I can never blame you for wanting the best for me. Just as I do my children.''
Ruth passed the porridge to Rose.
''I take pride in my daughter and my grandchildren.'' She smiled at Rose. She felt the bond between them strengthen and both had a feeling that it would be different from now on. ''But I honestly don't know how you will cope with so many children.''
And just like that, old Ruth returned.
The next day, another daughter was born and the truth was, Jack and Rose didn't stop there despite Ruth's opinion; another three children came over the next six years.