And youre telling me I should sprint two miles with a baby just to fetch a loaf? I honestly cant tell if you even need me and Rosie.
From the maternity ward, Victoria and her little girl were met by Christopher, his parents and his inlaws. At home they all gathered around the kitchen table, but only for an hour before the guests drifted away, leaving the young couple and their infant alone.
Christopher, as was his habit, flopped onto the sofa and switched on the telly, while Victoria set about cleaning the kitchen that her husband had somehow turned into a wonderland during his fourday absence.
When the chores were done, Victoria fed Rosie and, once the child was asleep, she slipped into the nurserys cot, thinking today had been unusually hectic. She hadnt dozed off long before a frantic knocking rattled the front door. When she stepped out of the nursery she found the guests Christopher had already invited in.
It was Jenny Christophers older sister her husband and two of Jennys friends, women Victoria barely knew.
Brother, weve come to celebrate you! Jenny shouted, I remember you as a tiny tot, and now lookalready a father!
The others crowded around Christopher, hugging and planting kisses.
Jenny, could you keep it down? Rosie just fell asleep, Victoria whispered.
Come off it! Babies this little cant hear a thing. Youd better set the table weve brought sparkling wine and a cake, Jenny declared, and the rests on you.
Victoria laid out the remnants of the earlier family feast.
Seems a bit scant, the motherinlaw grimaced.
Sorry, we werent expecting guests. I just came from the hospital, so any blame falls on Christopher hes been running the house without me, Victoria replied.
Ladies, no quarrels! Ive ordered three pizzas, so nobody will go hungry, Christopher announced.
The visitors lingered until about nine oclock, when Victoria finally said she needed to bathe Rosie and get her to sleep. As they left, Christopher muttered to his wife,
Victoria, you could have been a bit nicer. People came to congratulate us and you spent the whole time running after the baby, then practically sent everyone away.
And what could I have done? They dont understand that on the first day after the maternity ward I have no patience for visitors. They could at least have brought a cheap rattling toy for the child.
He added, From now on, the baby is the priority in this house, not the guests. Rosie needs a routine. So for the next three months, please dont invite anyone over.
Youre free to see the lads, just not here, Victoria replied.
A month passed. Christopher kept at work, while Victoria and Rosie stayed at home. Rosie was a calm child, and Victoria managed the house almost singlehanded, only simplifying the cooking. Christopher didnt object. Life settled into an odd normality.
Then a problem emerged, originating with Christophers mother, Eleanor. She insisted the solution lay in Victorias hands.
Eleanors mother, Martha, was an eightyyearold living in a remote Cotswold hamlet roughly a hundred miles from Oxford. She occupied a modest cottage with a well, a woodshed, and a garden, all set on a tenacre plot she tended herself. Her daughter and grandchildren helped only with planting and digging potatoes, which they ate throughout the winter.
That winter Martha fell ill with a bad chill and could no longer tend the garden. Eleanor decided that for the whole summer Victoria should be sent to the cottage with Rosie to help.
At first Victoria thought Eleanor was joking, but the elder was dead serious.
I cant take Mum into the city the gardens already full. Who will look after it? Ill come on weekends, but who will haul water from the well during the week?
The well is only three hundred metres away, but its a heavy bucket. She can only carry half a bucket at a time. You know how much water is needed for the house and the irrigation, Eleanor explained.
Are you suggesting I become a water carrier? Victoria asked, bewildered.
You dont have to lug the buckets. Mum has a wheelbarrow that can hold two fortylitre drums. She cant manage the load, but you could. The garden work isnt hard either.
No, Eleanor, youll tend the garden yourselves. Christopher and I buy all the potatoes and veg from the market, so let those who harvest it work the beds.
Send Jenny instead. She doesnt work anyway, Victoria snapped.
But Jenny has two children.
And you think Im childfree?
Dont compare. Jennys older child is five, the younger three. They need care, and then Artem will have to be taken from nursery all summer, though hell be looked after there.
What about Rosie? She wont run off somewhere. Feed her, put her in the pram, and go about your business, Eleanor replied.
Do you realise I have to take Rosie to the GP every month for checkups and vaccinations?
We could do without the doctor visits. The child is healthy; extra trips to the clinic just invite trouble.
Fine, youll go. No one else. My mother raised all three of my children; I never stayed on maternity leave for long.
Two months later Jenny handed over her children to Victor and Christopher, and now Martha was frail, time to repay the debts of help.
I respect Martha. She helped you a great deal, but I owe her nothing personally. You, Jenny, Victor and Christopher are indebted to her, not me, Victoria said.
One Friday morning Christopher reminded his wife,
Did you pack? Youre heading to the hamlet tomorrow.
Christopher, Ive already told your mother and Im saying it again: Im not going to any hamlet, let alone take Rosie. What if she gets sick? Id have to walk a hundred miles to the nearest town on foot.
The village you speak of doesnt even have a bus; its bypassed. Theres no shop at all.
Theres a shop in the neighbouring village.
And you expect me to sprint two miles with a baby just to buy bread? I cant tell if you need me and Rosie at all.
When your mother asked me to lift those fortylitre drums you stayed silent. Does that mean you agreed? How could I lift a drum when I weigh only fiftyseven kilograms?
You can leave the drums halffull, Christopher said, and stop arguing. If mum said youll go, then youll go. No one else. Father will arrive by ten tomorrow and take you. So pack today.
When Christopher left for work, Victoria began gathering her things, but first she phoned her own parents.
Her mother, a former pediatric nurse, couldnt believe Eleanor wanted to lock her newborn granddaughter in a remote cottage.
By the first year you must monitor a childs development. At three months you see every specialist, at twelve months you do it again! How can you be so reckless? she fumed.
Her father silently loaded the suitcases into the car.
Victoria and Rosie drove to her parents house.
When Christopher returned home to find his wife and child missing, he immediately guessed where theyd gone. He rang Victoria several times that evening, but she didnt answer.
Later he went to her doorstep himself, only to realize the husband had missed the point entirely.
Youre not being sent to work in a mine, are you? To the countryside for fresh air? Did you create this whole mess over a foolish idea? he asked.
Yes, I created the problem. Not now, but two years ago, when I married you. I liked you tall, broadshouldered, kind. I didnt see that behind that charm was a mothers son. He does exactly what his mother says. If she had sent me to the mines, youd have objected too.
So you wont come home? Christopher asked.
No, I wont. Home is a place of safety, love, and protection. You never became a protector. Live with your mother.
Six months later she managed to get a divorce from Christopher.
