Bill found the bottle, opened it and sat down. "Well, we don't know when he'll be home, but I'll have to wash at some point and we might as well eat," he said. A quiet hint at the inconvenience of there not being hot water and food ready for him like usually, "if Kate's not run away to Gretna Green. "

Bill's flippant attitude made Lottie snap.

"William Patrick Blacke! How dare you!" she shouted using his middle name. "You sit on yer fat arse drinkin' a beer and expect to be waited on like a king! What do ye think I am? A bloody slave?!!" her anger might have been heard down Osway Street, but she didn't care. No one seemed to care about Lottie, evidently not her children, not her husband either.

"Like ye said, if yer hungry, there's the chippy; if ye want a wash, there's a pump at the end of the street!" She used a strong arm to sweep whatever was on the table off it in a rage and threw her apron at him for good measure before storming upstairs. A door slammed, emphatically ending the conversation for the moment.

Bill's anger flared as easily as Lottie's, as the neighbours well knew. He rose and followed her upstairs. "Christ, woman! I'm still covered in soot from workin' to put bread on this bloody table, and all I ask is fer some hot water and tea, and ye think I'm treatin' ye like a slave!? Ye'r out of yer mind!" And as he met the closed door he shouted at it: "And ye wonder where the children get it from!"

Kate sat at her desk and cringed when she heard the noise of things falling in the kitchen and her parents shouting at each other. She had been hiding in her room because her mother seemed to be in a grim mood and she had known this was coming. She closed her book, slipped out of her room and went downstairs to prepare hot water for her father, hoping that would somewhat calm him down.

"Away with ye!" Lottie shouted at the closed door and her husband beyond. Whatever else she might have said was lost as tears overwhelmed her. She had failed to be a mother to all her children. She had failed Charlie, God bless him. John was on the other side of the world with hatred in heart for those he left behind. Then there was Ruth. In Lottie's eyes, she had been willful and now looking to her family to support her in the aftermath. Now Joe was being reckless for God knows why. That left Kate. Kate had not done much to disappoint Lottie to date, but Lottie was sure she had failed her youngest somehow. In that dark moment, she turned some of that anger inward onto herself, and continued to cry.

At least Bill followed that order. The house had been quiet for a while when Kate came up and knocked on the door. "Ma? I picked up some food fer ye. Will ye not have some?"

Lottie's sobs had quieted to heavily sniffling. She dabbed at her face with a handkerchief, though you'd have to be a blind beggarman to not see that she had been crying. She sighed heavily to compose herself in front of her child.

"Yes dear, bring it in. I suppose I should eat."

Kate entered and handed her mother a box of fish and chips. She could tell that her mother had been crying and it made her want to cry too. "I'm afraid its grown cold. I didn't want to disturb ye." She sat down on the bed. "What's wrong, ma?"

The concern of her youngest rushing to her aid, moved Lottie deeply, she fought to not start crying again.

"My sweet child," Lottie began before blotching an errant tear. damn. "Your brother Joe is being very foolish with that Pearl girl. Ruth and John too. It just upsets me so." Lottie opened the box and munched on a chip. "Please Kate, use the brain God gave you, and don't be like them."

She had suspected it was something to do with Joe, judging from the way her father had spoken about her brother before leaving. "I'd never do owt to disappoint ye, ma," Kate tried to comfort her mother. But she was guiltily aware of the fact that she might have done just that. For if this concerned Joe and a girl, she was complicit. "I'm sure Joe doesn't mean to be bad either." Although he had been bad. Even John and Ruth hadn't appeared before the Magistrate.