‘Oh, nothing important. I thought it might be here by now, that’s all.’
‘Happen it’s over at Moorside. I’ve had my letters end up there many a time.’
Bobby brightened slightly. ‘Yes, I suppose it might have gone over there. Do you mind if I go and check before I light the fire? I need to let Reg and Mary know we’re back anyhow, and the girls will be dying to see me – if only because I promised to bring them some spice from the fair.’
‘Aye, go on. I’m warm enough from t’ walk down to keep chill out for a bit.’
Bobby left the cottage, not bothering to put her coat and hat back on. Hope had risen its head again, if only a fractional amount. Her dad was right: it wasn’t uncommon for short-sighted Gil Capstick to deliver their post to Moorside on occasion. Perhaps Mary had her letter from Charlie and was keeping it safe for her.
She knocked on the side door, which was opened shortly after by Mary. Bobby was expecting her usual greeting on returning home from an absence, a beaming smile and a warm hug, but Mary only looked a little uncomfortable.
‘Bobby,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you back until tomorrow evening.’
‘Yes, we came back early. My dad was anxious to be back in the countryside. I just wondered if—’ She broke off, frowning, as Mary glanced nervously behind her. ‘Is anything wrong, Mary? You seem out of sorts.’
‘I do wish you’d telegraphed to say you’d be early, Bobby.’
‘I didn’t think there was any need. Why do you—’
She stopped short as a male figure appeared behind Mary. Not the grizzled, slightly hunched figure of her husband, but someone tall, young and handsome. Someone in an RAF uniform.
Charlie.
Chapter 39
‘Charlie.’ The sight of him almost took Bobby’s breath away for a moment; his name when she said it sounded more like a gasp than any intelligible sound.
‘He was granted leave rather earlier than he’d expected,’ Mary said with an apologetic grimace. ‘Only three days. He’s leaving tomorrow morning. I was expecting he’d be gone before you and your dad were back.’
‘It’s… fine.’ Bobby forced a smile, trying to get her fluttering stomach muscles under control. ‘You didn’t need to worry on my account, Mary. We’re all sensible people who are quite capable of co-existing in this place without serious consequences, I’m sure.’
‘I quite agree,’ Charlie said. Mary looked relieved.
‘Well, since we’re all being civilised, perhaps you and Rob might like to come in for a cup of tea,’ she said.
‘Is Ruth here?’ Bobby was rather proud of herself for managing to say the name without flinching.
Mary frowned. ‘Ruth?’
Bobby looked at Charlie. ‘Topsy told me you were planning to bring her home with you.’
‘Oh. Yes.’ He rubbed his neck. ‘I was hoping to be granted a week’s leave later this month so we could both make the trip, but in the end I could only get these three days at short notice. I’ll bring her next time.’
‘Who is this Ruth, Charlie?’ Mary asked.
Charlie shot Bobby a warning look that seemed to plead for silence. Clearly the news of his engagement had not yet been broken at Moorside.
‘Just a friend, Mother,’ he said airily. ‘I was waxing lyrical about this part of the world and she expressed a wish to see it, so I arranged for her to stay with Topsy when she visits and then we could travel down together.’
‘This is the same friend you take to the pictures sometimes?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Um, I ought to go back to the cottage,’ Bobby said, feeling awkward beyond belief. Charlie must have received her telegram before he left for Silverdale, yet he seemed determined not to refer to it. ‘My father’s sitting in the cold, waiting for me to light a fire for him.’
She turned to leave.
‘Bobby, wait.’ Charlie followed her out, nodding to Mary to indicate that she could go back inside.
