‘I’ve saddled Major for you today seein’ as you’re goin’ a fair distance, sir. He’s a stayer is old Major, but don’t forget to stop about every five mile or so to gi’ him a good drink an’ a short rest.’
‘I won’t, Jimmy.’ Barnaby swung himself up into the saddle and within minutes they were trotting down the drive.
It was a beautiful clear day with powder-puff clouds floating in an azure sky but Barnaby was so focused on where he was going that he found little joy in it. Because the weather was mild, he decided to take the coastal path and once he came to a good stretch of grass, he urged Major into a gallop. It was some fourteen miles or so to Scarborough and seeing as the weather was in his favour, he estimated he should be there for lunchtime.
Some five or six miles further on he stopped at an inn for a jug of ale and to give the horse a short rest. He didn’t normally drink so early in the day but he reasoned that the drink would not only quench his thirst but steady his nerves for when he finally tracked Amber down – as he had no doubt he would.
As he had hoped, it was approaching lunchtime when the town came into view and he slowed the horse to a trot for the last part of the journey. Once he entered the cobbled streets, he found a stable where he left Major to rest and before leaving, he asked the young groom, ‘Would you happen to know where Harding’s hardware shop is, young man?’
‘Aye, I do, sir,’ the young man replied, realising by the cut of Barnaby’s fine clothes and the stallion he was to tend that he was speaking to a gentleman. ‘It’s reet ahead o’ you. Just tek your first left then the first sharp right an’ you’ll come to it on the left o’ the street.’
Barnaby touched the brim of his hat and inclined his head before following the chap’s directions and within minutes he saw the shop ahead of him. There was a young man outside the front on the pavement sweeping the shop frontage and after checking the sign above the door to make sure that this was indeed the right place, Barnaby approached him with a smile.
‘Good morning, sir, or is it afternoon now?’ Barnaby said jovially as the young man stood straight and leant on the broom handle. ‘I’m looking for a friend of mine, Miss Amber Ainsley. I believe her uncle owns this shop and she’s been living with him to take care of him while he’s ill.’
Archie narrowed his eyes and scratched his head. ‘Aye, Amber’s stayin’ wi’ him all reet,’ he agreed. ‘But Mr Hardin’ ain’t been ill so far as I know.’
‘Oh?.?.?.’ Barnaby was slightly confused but hiding it quickly he went on, ‘Then I must have got it wrong. Is she here? I’m sure she’ll be pleased to see me. I bring her news from home.’
Archie stared at him suspiciously for a moment but then deciding that the man looked perfectly respectable he shook his head. ‘No, she ain’t here, sir. Amber ain’t worked in the shop for a while now. She’ll be at Mr Hardin’s house.’
‘I see.’ Barnaby frowned as he stroked his chin. ‘Then I wonder if you might point me in the right direction? Amber did give me the address but when I stabled my horse back there, I realised that I’d come without it and I really don’t want to have to go back without being able to tell her mother I’ve seen her.’
Again Archie hesitated but only for a moment. ‘Mr Harding’s house is named “Marine View”. It’s in Royal Albert Road.’ He proceeded to give Barnaby yet more directions and soon after Barnaby found himself making his way through a labyrinth of little cobbled streets. He could hear the sound of the waves breaking on the beach close by and above him the seagulls mewed and dipped and dived to pick amongst the cobblestones for a juicy worm or any other small particles of food they might find.
It wasn’t long before he turned into Royal Albert Drive and found the house. It was not on the scale of Greenacres but it was a fine-looking house all the same and he thought how Amber must have enjoyed staying there after the cramped little cottage in Argument’s Yard where she had been brought up. After taking a deep breath he climbed up the steps and rapped on the door with the heavy brass knocker and seconds later he heard the tap tap tap of footsteps beyond coming closer.
‘Yes’m, sir?’
He found himself staring into the face of a maid whose mop cap was all askew, but before he could tell her why he was there an older woman in a staid dove-grey gown came up behind her and told the girl kindly, ‘Go and start slicing the bread for lunch, Biddy, I’ll see to this.’ She turned to Barnaby and asked politely, ‘May I help you, sir?’
He swallowed so hard that his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he nodded and said hastily, ‘Er?.?.?. yes, ma’am, I’m hoping you can. I’ve come to see Miss Amber Ainsley.’
‘Oh!’ To say that she looked surprised would have been putting it mildly. No one had visited Amber in all the months she had been there and this gentleman certainly didn’t look like the type a girl from Amber’s background would normally mix with.
‘Please come in.’ She opened the door to allow him to enter the hall and he saw that although it was quite sparsely furnished, it was spick and span. ‘If you would tell me who is calling, I’ll just inform her you are here,’ she told him as he removed his hat.
He shook his head. ‘Oh no, please, I’ve come all the way from Whitby and I’d like to surprise her.’
The woman’s small white teeth bit down on her lower lip. It didn’t seem right to allow a gentleman and a young unmarried girl to be alone without a chaperone, but then the young girl in question was expecting a child so she supposed there could be no harm done.
‘Very well,’ she agreed uncertainly, although she still wasn’t at all happy about the situation. ‘I believe Amber is in the drawing room.’
‘And her uncle?’
Mrs Carter raised an eyebrow. ‘Why, he is at work of course.’
‘Oh?.?.?.’ He looked surprised but then with a nod he headed for the door she was pointing to as she went to the kitchen to get a tray of tea for the visitor.
After tapping gently, he inched the door open and there was Amber sitting in a chair at the side of the empty fire grate reading a newspaper. But this young woman was not the young maid he remembered. Her hair was loose and fell in shining waves about her shoulders and her face had a glow to it. Until she glanced up and saw him standing there, that was, and then the colour seemed to drain out of it as she dropped the newspaper and gasped.
‘Barn— M-Mr Greenwood?.?.?. what areyoudoing here?’ She rose from her seat as she spoke and his eyes instantly fell to the mound of her stomach.
He had suspected that she hadn’t got rid of the child after visiting her mother and now his suspicions were confirmed, and strangely he felt elated. That was his child just as much as the one his wife was carrying. She, meanwhile, could only stare at him in horror. She had come to her uncle’s to seek sanctuary for two reasons: the first being she was terrified of her father and brothers ever discovering that she was to have a child. They were dependent on their home and living to Barnaby Greenwood and she dreaded to think what might have happened should they ever have found out that Barnaby Greenwood was the father. Should they ever have taken revenge on him they could all have found themselves out on the street with nowhere to live and no way to support themselves. The second reason had been that she felt in Scarborough there would be no chance of ever having to see Barnaby again, and yet here he was.
They stared at each other for a moment, until he said faintly, ‘The?.?.?. baby, you decided to keep it then?’
Her chin rose as she stared at him defiantly. ‘Not exactly. I have every intention of giving it up as soon as it is born but I thought it at least deserved a chance to live! But don’t worry, I want nothing from you!’
