‘We only have one more day.’
‘Then let’s have one more day.’ He took her hands in his now and pressed them tightly. ‘One last Saturday, just for us. We’ll dance and we’ll hold each other and we’ll kiss and then… then afterwards you can tell me what you’ve decided. Please.’
‘All right.’
‘Thank you.’ He kissed her cheek – just the lightest touch of his lips, as if she’d been brushed by a passing butterfly. ‘I’ll meet you here with Boxer at two o’clock, after I’ve finished handing over to the vet in Smeltham. Goodnight, Bobby.’
She watched him head back to Moorside. Something about the way he walked seemed different. His shoulders slumped slightly, and his gait wasn’t so full of bounce and confidence as it usually was. Perhaps his body was still recovering from carrying the pilot down the mountain the night before. Or perhaps it was something else that weighed him down.
When she went back into the cottage, her dad was waiting for her.
‘You see? I wasn’t long, was I?’ she said, forcing a smile.
‘Are you and that boy planning to get wed or what, our Bobby?’
Bobby was rather taken aback at the abruptness of the question. While her dad often gave her stern warnings about being cautious in her relations with boys, he’d never asked her outright before what Charlie’s intentions towards her were.
‘What makes you think he’s asked me?’ she said.
‘He damn well ought to have by now, with all the time he’s been spending with you,’ he said. ‘Besides, I’m not deaf. It’s all over t’ village that he’s after getting you down the aisle. Glad to know he’s honest, at least.’
‘I… no. No, I’m not going to marry Charlie.’
He squinted at her. ‘Why not then? You see him enough.’
‘Why? Did you want me to marry him?’
He shrugged. ‘You could do a lot worse. Rather Charlie than someone like that nowt Tony Scott who you were always hanging about with in Bradford. Besides, everyone can see you’re keen on t’ lad.’
She sank into a chair, feeling light-headed. ‘I’m not going to get married, Dad. Not to Charlie, certainly not to Tony, and probably not to anyone else either.’
‘You’d better think about wedding someone while they’ll have you, my lass. I won’t always be around to provide for you, you know, and you aren’t getting any younger.’
Bobby felt it best not to point out that it was she who provided for him these days. They lived mostly on what she earned, plus what little her siblings could send home out of their wage packets to add to the family coffers. All her dad was able to contribute was the odd lucky gambling win and some poached game.
‘I can provide for myself,’ she said instead.
‘Aye, and be an old maid with it.’
‘Yes, I suppose so. Is there so much shame in that? There are worse things to be, although sometimes it feels like I’m the only person in existence who truly believes that.’
‘Worse things to be but not lonelier things to be. No husband, no bairns… it’s not what your mam would’ve wanted for you. Nor what I would neither.’
‘I wish everyone would stop being so bloody concerned about how I’m going to spend my old age and leave me to worry about myself,’ she said impatiently, turning her face away from him.
‘Watch that mouth, young lady,’ her dad said sternly. ‘Folk are concerned because they want to see you happy and looked after. Folk as care about you, that is.’
‘Sorry,’ she said in a softer tone, turning back. ‘I didn’t mean to swear. I know you want what’s best for me, Dad, but I’m not a child any more, am I? This is a choice I have to make for myself – and I have. I’m doing what I feel is for the best, for me and for Charlie.’ She got up and went to give him a kiss. ‘I really do need to sleep now. I’ve barely closed my eyes for two days. You ought to get to bed too.’
Chapter 27
Bobby was tired enough that no dreams came that night, for which she was grateful. She slept the sleep of the dead for nearly twelve hours before she was woken by a knock on her bedroom door.
‘Dad,’ she mumbled when he looked around it, trying to focus her sleep-filled eyes. ‘What time is it?’
‘After ten.’
‘Ten!’ She pressed a palm to her forehead. ‘I’m so sorry. You must have been freezing.’
