With the men away at work - Bill to the railway, Joe to the fire station, John to wherever he got to these days - , the women had the house to themselves. The gentle knock at the door roused Lottie's tired bones from their domestic slumber. Lottie made her way to the door. It was not the old biddy from down the street or a member of the boy's brigade searching for a bob, but Rose Willaby

Lottie had been one of the older women to keep an eye on Rose in her girlhood, who had been too old for the constant care needed by a babe. As Rose had grown, Lottie had become distracted by her own growing family, though she remembered young Rose and her Joe looked sweet together. Pearl was grand, but Rose would have done too.

"Hello Rose. If yer lookin' fer Anne, she's not 'ere." Lottie answered aware that her house had become a haven for the youngest Ward daughter.