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+---- Thread: [Complete] [CW] [NSFW] Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side [Streets, Yards, and Homes] (/showthread.php?tid=563)
Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side [Streets, Yards, and Homes] - Ruth Longbottom - 01-08-2022
She had dropped her children off at her parents' place. But they weren't going to feed them. Or her. She didn't even know where they were and had asked James to look after the kids.
Rose had married a baker. True, she hadn't been to the wedding and she had even less reason to associate with the Wards after she had last spoken to her father. But her principles could easily be shed for the lure of free bread. She guessed Noah had had it coming anyway. So it was time to rekindle an old friendship.
She was dressed in a simple dark blue skirt and light blue dotted bodice with a top button that didn't match the rest. Her black hair was tied in a messy bun and she wore a shawl over her head, as she had already sold her hat.
A little bell rang as she stepped in.
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Andrew Willaby - 01-08-2022
Andrew was busy cleaning up the mess his wife had made... He was starting to feel like perhaps his little wife wasn't ever going to learn to cook properly. It was bad enough that he'd lost another apprentice and she... well... she seemed like she was deliberately running them off and then trying to overcompensate afterwards, but that was merely speculation. Added to that, he was feeling blue in the ballocks from remaining faithful to Rose...
He didn't understand her at all! First, she had acted like she was jealous because he had the lass apprentice... but then he married her, and their activity went from hot and cold too much for his liking. He was awfully tempted to find a lady of the night and have a romp. Rose wasn't making him happy. He'd signed up for a practical marriage and made it clear he wanted children, and just how was that going to happen when her attention was as sporadic as the flight of a bumblebee?
When the bell above the door tinkled, he did not look up from his task right away. "Welcome on in," he said with false cheer, his voice indicative of his displeasure with life right then and there. "How may I serve ye?"
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Ruth Longbottom - 01-09-2022
[CW: reference to child neglect and domestic violence]
Was this tall, gorgeous fellow Rose's husband? Ruth felt something tie up uncomfortably inside of her. Of course he would be. Rose had always had everything Ruth wanted and didn't have.
She had often come to the Wards' home as a child to play with her friend. She'd always have to come to Rose's, because Rose's parents didn't allow their children to come to hers, a thought that had stung her and made her feel ashamed then, when Rose had explained it to her with a blushing face, and that could still make her seethe now. Yet the food and kind words of Rose's parents had made her return to the Cragg again and again. But she would look longingly at the warmth and joy the members of the family seemed to find in each other. The way Rose's mother hugged and caressed the little ones. The food on the table and the parents at the table. Sober. Ben Ward didn't drink. He brought his money straight home. And his wife only spent it on what her family needed.
In school Rose had been well liked. Rose had always had nicer clothes. Nothing fancy, but her clothes and face and hands were clean, whereas Ruth had only started washing and cleaning herself in the morning when a teacher had punished her during inspection and had told her that nobody liked a dirty child; a statement her classmates had heeded. She had tried to wash her clothes too, but they'd be soaking wet when she'd put them back on and make her even colder, and so she had chosen to bear the reprimands she got for smelling bad, and when she would be sent home for being too smelly, she would treat it like a laugh.
One day she had come to the Wards and Mrs. Ward had said 'enough', had ordered her to strip down to her underwear, and had shown her how to wash clothes and wring them out properly so that they would dry quicker. When Rose's mother had learned that Ruth had no other dress to wear while the others were drying, she had talked to her husband and they had offered her one of Rose's old dresses. But she had refused it with her head held high because they had called her parents a disgrace.
As they had grown older, Rose had become gracious and pretty, with a healthy blush on her round face and curves in the right places, whereas Ruth had looked younger than her age, skinny, and gaunt. Rose had managed to get a job as a maid and keep it for years, while the best Ruth could get was a man if she spread her legs and lied to him. And now Rose had a handsome husband with money, a bakery, a steady income, respect from the fishing community no doubt, and she bet this perfect husband had never raised his hand against her.
She hated Rose in that moment.
"Aye," she said, walking to the counter, and studying the tall man. But her attention was soon drawn by the mouth-watering sight of all sorts of pastry and bread and cakes and pies. "I'm looking for Rose. I'm an old friend. Ruth," she said, looking at the display, but still having the presence of mind to avoid stating her last name.
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Andrew Willaby - 01-09-2022
"She's at home tendin' to the house. I can give ye direction if ye'd like," he said, not looking up yet from his task. He then chucked the burnt breads into the bin, flinching at the revenue he was throwing away thanks to Rose. He was glad she wasn't there to witness it; he'd hate to hurt her feelings even if she was making him mad with desire that needed to be sated. He was a loyal man, but even he had his limits, and he was already at the end of his rope and feeling unhappy with his choice. Their marriage already felt like a sinking ship. Then he felt guilty for feeling that way. He chalked it up to having blue ballocks.
When he looked up, it was to see a woman who wasn't as unattractive as she might be thinking, though his thoughts weren't of her thinking that but rather the fact that she was a pretty bit of muslin. "I'm 'er husband, Andrew Willaby." The tall man pulled the towel from over his shoulder and wiped down the counter. "And ye are?"
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Ruth Longbottom - 01-09-2022
Ruth turned her eyes up at him and smiled pleasantly. "Ruth," she repeated again. "She wasn't lying when she said she was going to marry a handsome man."
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Andrew Willaby - 01-09-2022
"My apologies, mum, I did not hear ye the first time," he said when he realized she'd spoken her name twice. "Oh? She did?" Well, at least she had good taste in men, he thought, almost giving a slightly arrogant smile in the process. He knew he was a good looking man, but he didn't think the lasses talked about him that much.
"I can direct ye to our home if ye'd like, I am sure she'd be happy to see ye." He was being polite of course, not knowing the history between the two women because Rose never really confided in him those details, but then, they had only been married for a short time and they were trying to find their footing as a couple. If only she'd put out more, he thought grumpily. Then he pictured himself bending this woman over the counter and-- "Is there ought else I can do fer ye?" he asked.
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Ruth Longbottom - 01-09-2022
Ruth eyes the sweet pasties. "Oh no, I have no money," she hinted quietly. "Directions would be great."
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Andrew Willaby - 01-09-2022
He gestured toward the baskets of samples. "Ye're free ta try a few tarts." What she didn't know is that he would probably give her a bag full of stuff if she asked outright and explained her situation, but he wasn't about to tell her that. She'd have to figure that out for herself. He put the towel back over his shoulder. "Can ye read?" He asked this because he was going to write it down for her unless she couldn't.
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Ruth Longbottom - 01-09-2022
Ruth walked over the the basket and looked into the basket like a child at the confectionary. She picked up a tart and began to eat, delighted. But she turned her head sharply at his question. "Of course I can read," she nearly spat the words. The fact that her mouth was full didn't help. Some bits landed on the floor.
RE: Bread Always Falls on the Buttered Side - Andrew Willaby - 01-09-2022
"I didn't want ta presume, miss," he said, not unkindly. He watched crumbs fly from her mouth even still and he wondered if she would be as sloppy with hi-- STOP IT. He cleared his throat and scribbled out the address of the cheerful, yellow house that he'd bought for his wife.