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than I’ve already got.’ She
pressed Amy’s hand. ‘I want to see you happy, though. That’s the
one thing that still worries me.’
    ‘Well, you mustn’t let it,’ Amy said. ‘I’ve
got two healthy boys, that’s enough for any woman to be grateful
for. Don’t take any notice when I say silly things, for goodness
sake. As long as I can talk about Ann sometimes, that’s all I need.
I’m not really meant to—I promised Charlie I wouldn’t—but talking
doesn’t do any harm, does it? I don’t talk about her to him,
anyway—that’s an easy enough promise to keep,’ she added with a
rueful smile.
    Lizzie studied her with what struck Amy as a
strange expression. ‘I didn’t know you were so keen on keeping
promises to him.’
    ‘Well, that’s the only one I’ve ever made
him. It’s not much to ask me to keep that one, is it?’
    ‘But you make promises when you get married.
What about those?’
    Amy shook her head. ‘I didn’t make any. I
got married in the courthouse, remember? All I had to say was that
I took him as my husband. Nothing about loving or obeying. Not like
you,’ she added cheekily. ‘I bet you find that one about obeying
pretty hard to keep.’
    ‘Frank doesn’t complain,’ Lizzie said
loftily. She glanced at the clock. ‘He’s been out for ages! He’d
better not be late for dinner or I’ll give him a piece of my
mind.’
    ‘What’s he up to, anyway?’
    ‘It’s this business about the co-operative.
He’s been going around seeing different men, trying to get them
interested. Harry’s quite keen, Frank says, and John’s easy-going
enough to go along with it.’
    ‘Jane said Frank had been to see Harry a few
times, I wondered what that was about.’
    ‘Oh, he’s been all over the place. I think
he must have been to every farm in Ruatane, especially now he’s
talking to the older men who haven’t got sons for Frank to start
on.’
    ‘I don’t think he’s said anything to
Charlie.’
    ‘Well, no, he hasn’t,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘He
didn’t think Charlie would be very keen.’
    ‘He’s right,’ said Amy. ‘Charlie doesn’t
like anyone telling him what he should do.’ Especially not
Frank , she added silently; not with the jealous grudge Charlie
bore towards Frank for the size and success of his farm, and even
more for the rate at which his family was growing.
    ‘Anyway, the idea is he gets the younger men
keen on starting up this factory, then he gets them to soften up
their fathers. He said Harry and John have talked Uncle Jack around
all right. He didn’t leave Bill to have a go at Pa by himself,
though—Frank said it wouldn’t be fair to do that. You know what a
know-it-all Pa is. But he listens to Frank sometimes,’ she added
with a complacent smile. ‘He throws off when Frank tries to tell
him about what he’s doing, but Pa takes more notice than he lets
on. He knows Frank’s no fool.’
    ‘No, he’s not,’ Amy agreed. ‘He never used
to have much to say for himself—you couldn’t say that about him
now, could you?’
    ‘Not when it’s something that really matters
to him. He’s been to see the bank manager, too, because all the
farmers who go in for this co-operative are going to have to borrow
money to set up the factory. He said Mr Callaghan seemed pretty
keen on it, so Frank doesn’t think there’ll be any trouble about
getting the money. Mr Callaghan says anything Frank’s involved in,
he’s happy to support,’ Lizzie said proudly. ‘I’m not meant to tell
anyone the manager said that, either, so don’t you go telling
Charlie. Frank doesn’t like making a fuss about himself.’
    ‘I won’t do that, Lizzie,’ Amy said, smiling
at the notion that she would boast of Frank’s successes to such an
unwilling audience. ‘Mr Callaghan must think a lot of Frank to say
something like that.’
    ‘He does. He says Frank thinks things out
better than other people. And Frank always does those piles of sums
before he spends any