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Episode 8 - The Reckoning - Synopsis

May is convinced that things can be sorted out with Mr Brazendale even though he tells her he is leaving for New York just when the baby is due.

When there are complications with the birth it is Frank who is hanging outside like an expectant father. Iris and Ruby become very worried about May as day turns to night and the baby still hasn't come. Billy is sent to get the doctor, who cannot be found. Desperate he calls on dada for help. When the baby is finally born it isn’t breathing and Dadda has to massage it to life. He then, however, rejects both the baby and May, who falls into a deep depression, disappearing from the family home under a cloud.

May refuses to feed her baby as she desperately waits for contact from Mr Brazendale. She is alone with her son when Mrs Brazendale visits and delights in telling May that she and Mr Brazendale are going to make a new start in New York, leaving May questioning whether she will cope alone. Taking her son for a walk she meets Dadda. He cannot look at her ‘bastard’ child.

When Billy arrives home he finds Ruby and Iris frantic about May – she hasn’t come home. After a dramatic search, May is found by the river, but soon she is threatening to give up her baby to Mrs Brazendale.

By sticking together the Moss family manage to set aside their differences to stop May from making the biggest mistake of her life.

Things return to ‘normal’ in the Moss household without Dadda. And when he arrives back he has to battle with his pride and admit that he was wrong. He brings with him two documents for the mantelpiece; one a vow of abstinence from all strong drink; and his grandson’s birth certificate. He will proudly march with the wee lad in the future.