‘It’s good to be back, although I’m afraid I had no luck finding Abi.’ She sighed as she helped him off with his coat. ‘I can only think that perhaps she didn’t go to Le Havre after all. She must still be in London somewhere. But wherever she is why didn’t she take all of her clothes?’
Jake shook his head, as confused and worried as she was. And then Emmy hauled him off to the drawing room to sit by the fire and get warm.
On the train back to Nuneaton, Dorcas noticed that Jasper was unusually quiet, although she wasn’t really surprised. No doubt he would be worrying about what sort of reception he was going to get from his father when he arrived home, and she couldn’t really blame him. Bernard had been absolutely furious about Jasper being so unreliable the last time she had spoken to him and she was glad that she wouldn’t have to be there to witness the reunion. She settled back into her seat and watched the fields passing by in a blur as she wondered about her husband and Abi. She thought about both of them every single day and wished that she could turn the clock back. But it was much too late for that now so all she could do was hope that eventually they might both decide to come home.
It was dark by the time the train pulled into Trent Valley Station and Jasper grasped their bags and hurried her outside where the hackney cabs sat hopefully waiting for fares, their horses covered in thick blankets and with their noses stuck in nosebags.
‘Crossroads Farm, Astley,’ Jasper told the driver as he helped his aunt into the cab and the driver frowned at him through the snow.
‘I’ll get yer as close as I can, me man, but I can’t promise as I’ll be able to get yer all the way,’ he admitted. ‘A lot o’ the lanes around that way are impassable an’ under drifts but as I said, I’ll do me best.’
They set off with the snow still falling so thickly that it was impossible to see more than a few feet beyond the windows. It was after they had passed Astley Pool and were nearing Astley House, Dorcas’s former home, that the real problems began and the poor horse slowed until finally the driver drew him to a halt.
‘Sorry, mister, but I’m afraid I can’t risk goin’ any further,’ he shouted down to Jasper and Dorcas. ‘The mare is gettin’ skittish an’ I can’t risk ’er goin’ off the road an’ into a ditch. It’ll be ’ard enough to get back the way we’ve come wi’ how it’s comin’ down now.’
Dorcas and Jasper clambered out of the cab to find themselves almost knee-deep in snow and after Jasper had paid the driver and retrieved their luggage, they set off with their heads bent low against the wind.
‘Phew, have we much further to go?’ Dorcas gasped as she struggled along. All the familiar landmarks were buried and already she had lost all sense of direction.
‘No .?.?. the castle and the church should be just ahead,’ Jasper answered as he struggled with their bags, and sure enough shortly after the buildings loomed into view.
Now that she knew where she was, Dorcas took heart and, staying close to Jasper, tried to quicken her pace, until finally the lighted windows of the cottage came into view. There had never been a more welcome sight and as she got closer, she heard Bruno begin to bark and she smiled. Seconds later the cottage door opened and Hetty peered out into the silent white world holding a lantern aloft as Bruno sniffed at the air. Then picking up the scent of his mistress his tail began to wag furiously and he leapt into the snow and ploughed towards her, knocking her clean off her feet.
‘Hello, boy, miss me, did you?’ Dorcas laughed as his wet tongue licked the snow from her frozen cheeks. ‘Let me get up and out of the cold and then I’ll give you a fuss.’
Minutes later she sprawled unceremoniously over the step and into the cosy sitting room as Hetty looked on with a smile on her face.
‘That’s some entrance, missus.’ Hetty giggled as Dorcas tried to rise past Bruno’s searching tongue with Jasper close behind her.
‘Will you stay for a hot drink?’ Hetty asked Jasper.
He shook his head as he set Dorcas’s bag down. ‘Thank you but no. I’d best get back and face the music.’ With his face set in grim lines, he turned and went back out into the swirling snow.
Hetty led her mistress to her favourite chair by the fire.
‘Oh, it’s good to be back,’ Dorcas said, and in that moment she realised that she meant it. However humble this little cottage was, it was now the place she called home and it came as a shock to realise that she was now more content here than she ever had been in Astley House, or at least she would have been if her husband had been there with her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Emmy had been home for three days when her aunt patted the bed at the side of her one morning indicating that she wished to speak to her. Emmy went and perched on the edge of the mattress and stared at her expectantly as her aunt licked her lips.
‘I .?.?. I have something I should tell you,’ Imogen began slowly. ‘And I’m only doing it to stop you worrying. I’m sick of seeing you walk about as if you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.’
‘Oh?’ Curious, Emmy raised her eyebrow.
‘I know where Abi is,’ her aunt went on after taking a moment to get her breath back and now Emmy’s face registered her shock.
‘So where is she? Is she safe?’ Emmy’s heart was pounding but Imogen ignored her stricken face. It wasn’t easy for her to speak and so any sort of conversation they had could take a long time.
Eventually Imogen nodded. ‘Yes, she’s very safe .?.?. she came to see me a couple of days after you left for France to find her .?.?. A friend had helped her and found someone to take her in, but her money had run out and well .?.?. Luckily she came very late at night when your mother was in bed so Dorcas never knew she’d even been here. Aggie answered the door to her and I .?.?. I made Aggie promise that she wouldn’t say anything to either of you. I wasn’t going to tell you but I can see you’re fretting. The thing is, though .?.?. Abigail has had her heart broken and she needs time to heal so before I tell you where she is, I want you to promise that you’ll make no attempt to go to her. Abigail will come back in her own good time. Can you do that?’
Reluctantly Emmy nodded and after a while her aunt went on, ‘She is at my home in Lytham St Anne’s. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to send her.’
‘And is she there alone?’
Imogen shook her head. ‘No, I have a live-in housekeeper and her son that live there and keep the place up to scratch for me. Of course, at such short notice I had no chance to let them know that Abi would be coming so I got Abi to write a letter from me to take with her for Mrs Merryweather, my housekeeper there, and then I signed it. Abigail will be quite safe with them and I made sure she had enough money for her fare to get there before she left.’
‘Oh, thank goodness!’ Tears of relief pricked at Emmy’s eyes but after a moment she asked, ‘How long do you think she’ll stay there?’
