‘Yet you still sound worried,’ Lilian said, poking her head out of the pantry to give her sister a stern look. ‘What aren’t you telling me, Bobby?’
She sighed. ‘This friend… he’s kind of the local spiv. He’s a poacher mostly, but I’ve heard talk about other schemes. Forged petrol coupons, black market cigarettes… the sort of thing the government are coming down hard on these days.’
‘Dad isn’t involved with that, is he?’
‘He never goes out with Pete but that he doesn’t come home with a rabbit or a fish – even a pheasant sometimes. It’s good for him in one sense because he’s contributing to the household, which helps him feel he’s still the head of it, but I worry about him getting into trouble. It’s private land, Lil.’
‘I doubt he’d get into too much trouble for the odd rabbit, would he? I should think that’s common enough out here in the countryside. Surely just a rap on the knuckles and a fine of a few quid.’
‘Perhaps. I do worry Pete might drag him into something worse though.’
‘You worry too much, Bobby,’ Lilian said firmly. ‘If a bit of poaching is helping him with his demons, I’d say that’s far preferable to letting him sink into the state he was in back in the winter when we nearly lost him. You’ve got enough to think about without worrying over things that may never happen.’
‘Yes, that’s what Mary says.’ Bobby forced a smile. ‘Well, let’s cheer up. I’ve been dying to have you visit for ages. I can’t wait to show Silverdale to you. I know you’ll fall in love with the place, just like I did.’
Lilian, however, looked far from convinced. ‘Hmm. It looked dull enough to send me to sleep when I walked through it earlier.’
‘You won’t have seen the best parts yet. It’s a beautiful place, and it’s got a character all of its own.’
‘If you say so,’ Lilian said doubtfully. ‘So what have you got planned for us tomorrow?’
Bobby pulled a face. ‘I’m so sorry. I ought to have told you before you came, but I have to work.’
‘On a Sunday?’
She nodded. ‘There’s a farming show in Kiltford that’s the biggest event of the year round here. I had to practically beg Reg on my hands and knees to let me cover it. I can’t let him down.’
Lilian shrugged. ‘Well, perhaps I could come too.’
Bobby laughed. ‘You? It’ll be muddy and smelly. Full of noisy animals.’
‘It doesn’t exactly sound like a fun time,’ she agreed, wrinkling her nose. ‘Still, I’m only here for two days and I want to spend as much time with my little sister as possible. I’m sure I can bear it for a few hours. Besides, I’d rather like to see you at work.’
Chapter 15
Robert came home that afternoon with a brace of grouse, which Mary cleaned and baked into a pie for their supper. Lilian expressed herself impressed and pleased at the change in both his mood and appearance since the move to the countryside, which gratified Bobby. She did believe that moving him out here with her had been the right thing to do. Her father’s night terrors, bouts of heavy drinking and general mental state had improved greatly since. However, she felt a faint guilt about removing him from his old home in spite of that. The country air was good for him and he loved this place, but Robert Bancroft was still a Bradford man born and bred. He’d grown up among those sooty mill chimneys and crowded terraces. His few remaining relatives and the friends he’d made at the mill in which he’d worked since he was a boy of fourteen were all there, and although he rarely spoke of his hometown, Bobby knew there were times when he missed it enormously. She had felt even guiltier when he’d taken up with Pete Dixon and started spending his days trespassing on private property while he stripped the land of its game.
So she was pleased when Lilian told her how improved he appeared to be, with the hollowness gone from his cheeks and a healthy spark in his eye after a day in the open air. And after all, did it really matter if Topsy and other local landowners lost the odd bird or rabbit, now that her dad was happy and well for perhaps the first time since her mam died? If it helped him to feel less like a burden on his family, as he’d once told her he feared he was becoming?
That night the Athertons, Bancrofts and the two Parry girls enjoyed a delicious meal of grouse pie together, then they spent a contented evening at Moorside listening to the wireless and playing board games. Afterwards, Bobby’s father slept like a baby with nothing stronger than cocoa inside him. That was surely worth a couple of pounds’ fine if he ever should get caught.
The morning of Kiltford Show dawned bright, crisp and clear. Bobby awoke to an unaccustomed warmth in the air, and a depression on the other side of the bed where her sister had slept the night before. This was explained when she ventured into the kitchen and discovered that Lilian had lit the fire in there and was boiling the kettle for their morning pot of tea.
‘I wondered when you were planning to show a leg,’ Lilian said when her sister joined her. ‘I’ve been up for an hour. Now I’ve got into the habit of military timekeeping I can’t seem to get out of it, even on leave.’
‘We ought to have you stay more often,’ Bobby said with a yawn. ‘I’m not used to waking up warm. Let me make the tea, though, Lil. You’re the guest, you know.’
‘I’m not a guest. I’m a daughter of the house. I ought to earn my keep.’ She pointed an imperious finger. ‘Sit, young Bobby.’
Smiling, Bobby dragged a seat from the kitchen table over to the fire.
‘Is Dad still asleep?’ she asked.
‘No, he’s up. He’s gone to the outhouse.’ Lilian filled the pot with hot water and left yesterday’s tea leaves to brew as best they could now they were on their fourth service. ‘I didn’t want to start the breakfast without talking to you. Do you eat here, or do you pool rations with the Athertons?’
‘On working days Mary likes us all to eat together, but on Sundays she and Reg go early to chapel so I usually make a round of toast each for Dad and me.’
‘All right, I’ll slice some bread and you can toast it on the fire while the tea brews.’ She took out half a loaf and started slicing.
