‘Yet I’m still guardian to my sister’s children until they all come of age, and I take that responsibility seriously.’
‘So bring them to Bodmin.’ He smiled. ‘They’re smashing kids. I’d be happy to bring them up as my own, if that’s what worries you.’
Smiling at his generosity, she reached across briefly to touch his hand. ‘But Thornton Hall is their home, William. They lost their father in the war, and their mother last summer. I can’t drag them away from the hall, it’s all they have left of their parents.’
His smile faded. ‘Yes, I see what you mean. The fact is, you need to keep the children with you, yet it wouldn’t be fair to bring them to live with me in Bodmin. Not after everything they’ve been through. Peter, in particular. The boy’s just starting to come around …’ He sighed.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘Plus, there’s Nancy now. Her baby’s due next month. She can’t be left to face the music alone.’
‘Of course not.’ He shook his head, fiddling with his glass. ‘But there’s no need to apologise. I would probably say no in your position.’
Selina bit her lip. ‘You’re forgetting something.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I didn’t say no,’ she reminded him, and then took a deep breath, forcing herself to be brave. ‘In fact, saying “maybe” was a bit of a fudge, given my … my feelings.’
William locked gazes with her, his own colour returning swiftly when she smiled. ‘Oh, Selina … You mean …? You have feelings for me?’ When she nodded, her smile turning shy, he loosened his collar with one finger. ‘Good Lord.’
‘If I’m honest, it really ought to be a yes.’ Her heart beat faster on admitting this out loud, but no half-expected sense of fear or apprehension accompanied the words, so perhaps this was the real thing. After so many false starts, was this true love at last? Well, why not? The dark years of the war were behind them, and it felt like time for something new, something better. ‘All right, it’s a yes … Yes, I would love to be your wife.’ Seeing his eyes widen, a new emotion dawning in his face, she touched his hand again. ‘But let’s keep our engagement informal for now. Just between the two of us, if that’s okay with you? Until we’ve worked out what to do for the best.’
He grinned, holding her hand. ‘Here’s to the best, then,’ he agreed softly, and raised his glass to her.
That spring, things went on very much as they had for the past year, except that William visited the hall more often, and Selina spent more time with Faith now that Nancy was heavily pregnant.
Her cousin’s baby was born at home in April, weighing a healthy six pounds, five ounces, a darling little girl whom Nancy called Isabella, in memory of the children’s mother.
Faith, Jemima and Peter gathered about her crib the day after Isabella had been born, staring down in hushed awe at the new arrival.
‘She looks like a doll,’ Jemima whispered.
‘Can I see?’ Faith piped up, not quite tall enough to see over the padded side of the crib, so that Selina had to lift her.
‘What are those awful red bumps on her head?’ Peter demanded, his hands thrust carelessly in his pockets as though to indicate a lack of interest in babies, though it was clear he was as fascinated as his sisters.
‘Forceps,’ Mrs Hawley told him shortly, busy plumping Nancy’s pillows so she could sit up.
‘Fourwhat?’ he repeated, mystified.
‘Right, enough admiration of the baby. Time to give Nancy and Isabella some peace and quiet,’ Selina announced, guiding the children out of the room. Faith hung back, begging to be allowed to kiss her newborn cousin, but she shook her head. ‘No, sweetheart, because you might have germs. When she’s a bit older you can kiss her.’
‘Germs?’ Faith wrinkled her nose.
Authoritatively, Peter began to hold forth on the topic of germs, while Faith stared at him, open-mouthed, and Jemima dashed off, muttering something about crocheting a pink hat for Isabella. Mrs Hawley bustled away with a laundry basket full of washing, seeming cheerful to have a new baby in the house despite all the extra work involved.
Selina paused in the doorway. ‘Congratulations,’ she told Nancy softly, who was looking tired but happier than she had been in months. ‘She’s lovely.’
‘Thank you.’ Nancy beamed. ‘Will you pass her to me, please? She’ll need feeding soon.’
‘Me?’ Selina swallowed, taken aback. She’d never handled a baby before, let alone a newborn. But, with Nancy’s encouragement, she bent over the crib, gathered up thetightly swaddled infant, and lifted her gently. One hand came up instinctively to support the baby’s head, and she made a soft cooing noise, murmuring, ‘Hello, Isabella. Aren’t you a beautiful baby? Yes, you are,’ while passing her carefully to her mother.
Nancy grinned, cradling the baby in her arms. ‘See? You’re a natural.’
With an embarrassed laugh, Selina handed her cousin a cup of tea and hurried away, closing the bedroom door to give her some privacy just as Isabella began to cry lustily.
You’re a natural.
She’d never really thought much about babies before. Being a wife and mother had never been an ambition of hers. That was doubtless why she’d enjoyed being a Land Girl for years, happier with the rough and tumble of work on a farm than dolling herself up for a party. But she’d always been interested inmen. And, since saying yes to William’s unexpected proposal, she’d become more curious about the possibility, wondering what her own baby would look like, and if she could ever be as loving and protective a mother as her sister Bella had been.
