Calico Road by Anna Jacobs

front of the new neighbours. Oh, she didn’t even want her in their room! If only Ben had been here, he’d have protected her.
    Netta stopped in the doorway and fired her first shot. ‘Is this all the furniture you’ve got? He’s not a very good provider, is he? My Jem took me to a proper house when he wed me.’
    ‘This is just for the time being. Would you like to sit down?’ When her mother was seated, she asked nervously, ‘Can I get you a cup of tea?’
    ‘Yes. And a piece of cake if you have one.’
    ‘We haven’t. It’s just the tea.’
    ‘Poor fare for guests.’
    Meg bit her tongue. They’d never had cake at home, so she knew her mother was deliberately goading her. She went to put another piece of coal on the small fire and swing the kettle over it, feeling reluctant to turn round again. But her mother had to be faced so she busied herself setting out their two cups and the chipped teapot she’d bought from the pawn shop.
    ‘And how are you enjoying married life?’
    ‘Very much. Ben’s a good husband.’
    Netta pulled a face as if she didn’t believe this. ‘We’d expected you to come round to see us.’
    ‘We’ve been busy and I’m at work all week.’ Meg had no intention of going back to the house that carried only unhappy memories for her since her father’s death. She wished now that she’d told her mother to go away, was sure Netta was only there to poke her nose into their business then gossip about it in such a way as to blacken their names.
    When she served the tea her mother sipped disdainfully. ‘Cheapest sort. Can’t you afford better than this?’
    ‘No, we can’t.’
    Ben came back just then from seeing to the horses, stopping dead in the doorway when he saw who was there.
    ‘My mother came to see us,’ Meg said, hoping she didn’t look as unhappy as she felt.
    He stared from one woman to the other then back at his wife, his expression turning grim as if he could tell how she was feeling.
    ‘There’s some tea in the pot,’ Meg said as the silence continued. ‘You can use my cup.’
    ‘Poor sort of home where there’s not even a spare cup,’ Netta said at once, smirking. ‘But then, our Meg never was much good in the house. She’ll not know how to make the best of the money you provide. You’d better keep an eye on her.’
    Meg watched Ben’s mouth drop open in shock. She was used to her mother’s nasty comments, if you could ever be said to get used to unkindness, but she had never seen him look as angry.
    ‘You’ll regret the day you married her,’ Netta went on. ‘Let alone she’s too young, she’s lazy.’
    He stood up and walked across to take the cup from his mother-in-law’s hand, setting it down so carelessly on the table that it overturned and the remaining tea spilled out. ‘If that’s the way you talk to my wife – your daughter! – in her own home, then you’re not welcome here, Mrs Staley.’ While she was still gaping at him, he pulled her to her feet, put a hand on the small of her back and propelled her towards the door.
    As he pushed her out into the street, Netta shrieked with fury and began to weep loudly, which brought the neighbours running. Sobbing as if her heart was broken, she pointed her finger at him and cried, ‘See how he’s treating me! Throwing me out of my daughter’s house. What sort of a son-in-law is that?’ She turned a malevolent gaze on Meg and continued, still at the top of her voice, ‘And she lets him. Yes, she does! It’s a sad day when a mother’s treated like that.’
    Ben’s friend, who had rented them the room, came to stand behind him at the front door and mutter, ‘By hell, you’ve getten yoursen an old tartar of a mother-in-law there. I don’t envy you, lad.’
    Ben raised his voice. ‘She’ll not be coming here again if she knows what’s good for her.’
    A woman moved forward from the crowd, giving Ben and Meg a dirty look as she put an arm round Netta’s shaking shoulders and led