‘What do you think he’s going to do?’ Bobby whispered. ‘He wouldn’t turn them out?’
‘Of course he wouldn’t. He’s a kind heart, for all his grumbling.’ But Mary didn’t sound quite as self-assured as she had earlier in the day.
Reg reappeared a moment later with an expression like thunder.
‘So. You’ve all been conspiring against me, have you?’
‘We haven’t, honestly,’ Bobby said. ‘Mary offered to have them on the spur of the moment because they were getting wet in the storm and no one else wanted them. Charlie and I didn’t know a thing about it until we came home from our walk.’
Charlie nodded. ‘There’s no conspiracy, Reggie. You just married a kind-hearted woman who hates to see little ones suffer, as I’m sure you know. You wouldn’t really be angry with her for it, would you?’
Reg’s expression softened a fractional amount, but he refused to look at Mary.
‘They can’t stay,’ he muttered. ‘This is a working establishment. I can’t produce a magazine and mind a pair of bairns at the same time. Besides, there’s no room.’
‘I’ll do all the minding of them,’ Mary said. ‘You’ll hardly know they’re here. Poor motherless little things. It’ll do them a power of good to be out in this good clean air, away from the city and those awful bombs.’
He folded his arms stubbornly. ‘This is my home and I expect to be consulted about who’s invited to share it.’
‘It’s my home too, Reg.’
Reg rested his stick against the fireplace again before sitting down at the table, placing his hands flat on the surface and glaring at them. ‘Nevertheless, they go tomorrow. The attic can’t be spared. I need it for storage.’
‘Go where? No one else wanted them.’
‘The WVS can find a place for them. It’s for them to worry about, not us.’
‘But they might split them up if they can’t find someone who’ll take them together.’
Reg remained silent, sullenly avoiding her eye.
‘They’ll fine us if we turn them out now they know we have the room,’ Mary said, sounding increasingly desperate.
‘Let them fine us then. I’d rather pay the fiver than be lumbered with uninvited guests for the rest of the war.’
‘Reg, please.’ Mary’s voice cracked a little and she rested a hand on his arm. ‘Children, here at Moorside. Do you know how long… How much I’ve always wished… For me, dear.’
‘It can’t be done, Mary. It just isn’t feasible when I’ve a magazine to get out.’
Mary drew herself up and put her hands on her hips. ‘Reg Atherton, I’ve been married to you for a quarter of a century. I’ve cooked your meals, borne your child, put up with that magazine of yourn taking over every inch of my home and I’ve never once asked you for anything. Well, I’m asking now. I’m begging, even. Please, let the girls stay.’
Reg laughed. ‘Never asked me for owt? Did I want to employ some slip of a city girl to work out here in a man’s country? No, but I knew you’d never stop nagging me about it until I agreed to take her on. Did I want to put Charlie up when he could have found more appropriate lodgings for a bachelor in the village? No, but you begged me to let him have the spare room until he went off to the war.’
‘Those were for your own good,’ Mary said stoutly. ‘And so is this. Stop being a stubborn old fool and listen to your heart, Reg. Do what you know is right.’
Reg didn’t speak. He just continued to glare at the backs of his hands as if they’d done him a terrible wrong.
Bobby, sensing it was the man’s pride that had been hurt more than anything else, decided to try another tactic.
‘Perhaps they could stay with Dad and me in Cow House Cottage instead,’ she suggested. ‘I know there isn’t much room, but I could put a mattress on the parlour floor for them.’
Reg looked at her sharply. ‘Bairns, living in that draughty old shippon? The pair of them look sickly enough as it is.’
‘They have to stay somewhere. And if you can’t find the space for them here…’
Reg stared moodily into the fire.
‘Your dad still troubled with them nightmares of his, is he?’ he asked after a bit.
