‘Well?.?.?. I don’t quite know how to tell you this,’ she said regretfully. ‘But the doctor called earlier and he seemed a bit concerned about the baby’s progress.’
‘In what way?’
‘He thinks it feels very small fer the stage Louisa’s at and it isn’t as active as he’d have liked it to be,’ she told him soberly. ‘Added to that he said the heartbeat sounds thready.’ Seeing the concern pucker his brow, she rushed on, ‘Of course it could be that everything will be fine, but I just thought?.?.?.’ When her voice trailed off, he mopped his brow with his handkerchief and plopped heavily onto his leather desk chair with a sigh.
‘I think what you’re trying to tell me is that you fear this child could be born dead like the last two?’
She chewed on her lip before slowly nodding. ‘I reckon there’s a good chance of it, sir. This is exactly what happened with the last two little mites that were born sleeping. But there, I’m no doctor, so let’s just pray that I’m wrong. All we can do is prepare for the worst and hope fer the best, isn’t it?’
She slowly turned and made her way out of the room leaving him to sit there staring miserably from the window, feeling as if his heart were breaking. Could this be his punishment for treating Amber as he had? he wondered.
*
At that moment down in Whitby, Alice Ainsley was just settling herself at the table with a pot of tea and a letter from Amber to enjoy. As yet she hadn’t managed to visit her daughter at her brother’s house so she looked forward to the letters that Amber wrote on a regular basis. The door into the yard was propped wide open to let the breeze in, and with a sigh of contentment she started to read.
Dear Mam,
Well, so much has happened since I last wrote to yer that I barely know where to start. Do yer remember I told yer about Archie, the young chap that worked for Uncle Jeremiah in the shop? Well, I had a bad feeling that he were looking on me as wife material so I directed him towards a young maid that comes into the shop regular. She lives just up the road an’ she’s a lovely girl. Anyway, the long an’ the short of it is they are now walkin’ out together an’ I couldn’t be more pleased for them. They really do make a lovely couple.
But the biggest surprise is Uncle Jeramiah. A while ago I dropped a hint to him that Mrs Carter would love a puppy and before I knew it he only goes out and buys her one. She’s a lovely little thing and Mrs Carter has named her Fancy. But you’ll never guess the next bit – now all of a sudden Uncle is going for a stroll each evening after dinner with Mrs Carter when she takes the dog for a walk and they seem to be getting on like a house on fire! Who knows, we might have a wedding in the offing, eh? But we’ll have to wait and see.
As for me, well all I can say is I’m so bored!!!! Since Uncle stopped me working in the shop time hangs heavy on me hands and I can’t wait to come home and look for a new post.
Alice sighed; Amber was always careful never to mention the baby she was carrying in case one of her brothers or her father saw the letter. They still had no idea that Amber was with child and she prayed it would stay that way. But Alice could read between the lines and it saddened her that she couldn’t be with her only daughter to help her through this difficult time.
Still, I don’t reckon it will be too much longer now. I can hardly wait to see yer an’ the rest of me family again. Till then, take care an’ stay safe,
All my love,
Amber xxx
As she finished reading, a shadow appeared in the doorway and glancing up Alice saw Molly Preston standing there.
‘’Ello, lass. My Bertie asked me to call round to see if you’d any news of when Amber might be home.’
Alice shook her head as she hastily returned the letter to its envelope and tucked it into her pocket.
‘Not as yet I’m afraid,’ she informed her neighbour. ‘That was a letter I was readin’ off her just then as it happens but she didn’t mention when she might be back.’
‘Oh, that’s a pity, our Bertie is missin’ her somethin’ awful.’
Alice grinned. ‘Well, he didn’t appear to be missin’ her that much when he come by here last night with young Betsy Piper hangin’ off his arm.’
Mrs Preston sniffed. ‘Ah, but these lasses who chase after him don’t mean a thing,’ she said in her son’s defence. ‘An’ who can blame ’em? He is the best-lookin’ young man hereabouts, ain’t he? But at the end o’ the day it’s your Amber he’s set his cap at as wife material. Ain’t it always been took for granted atween the two families that they’d wed one day?’
‘I can’t say as I’ve ever even considered it,’ Alice said hastily. ‘I don’t think our Amber is anywhere near ready to think of settling down yet and even when she does, I hope it will be wi’ a young man of her choosin’.’ But then seeing the hurt expression on her neighbour’s face she said quickly, ‘Why don’t you come an’ sit yerself down, Molly. There’s a fresh pot o’ tea here. What do you say? I might even find a bit o’ cake to go wi’ it.’
Suddenly Mrs Preston was smiling again; she was never one to turn down a bit of free grub, and so she shuffled over to the table, smelling far worse than any of the fishing nets Alice had been mending that morning, and greedily watched Alice fetch a fresh fruit cake from the pantry.
Chapter Nine
‘Ishall be away for most of the day today, darling,’ Barnaby informed his wife the following morning. She was sitting at her dressing table in a floaty peignoir trimmed with feathers as Mrs Ruffin brushed her shining hair, and her fragile beauty almost took his breath away. Her expression, however, did not.
‘Oh, it’s all right foryou, isn’t it?’ She glared at him in the mirror. ‘You can gowhereveryou likewheneveryou like, whereas I am stuck in here like a prisoner!’ And then as an afterthought, ‘Where are you going anyway?’
‘To Scarborough. I have a possible client there. A gentleman wanting a new trawler built.’ He crossed his fingers behind his back hoping his face wouldn’t give him away. He wished now that he had gone before but with work and one thing and another he had always found a reason to delay the visit.
Louisa shrugged as she turned back to the mirror and attempted to pinch a little colour into her pale cheeks, and feeling that he had been dismissed, Barnaby quietly left the room and hurried to the stable block.
