Across the hallway another door led into a sizable parlour with a deep fireplace and she could picture it at Christmas with a tree to the side of it and a lovely log fire roaring up the chimney. This room, too, was furnished but again it was impossible to see what sort of state the furniture was in. Back in the kitchen, the next door she opened led into what she supposed was the laundry room-cum-dairy. There was a big copper for heating water in one corner next to another large stone sink. There was also a mangle and a dolly tub and a big tin bath hanging on the wall, so she guessed that this must also have been where the previous tenants had bathed. A door to the far side of it led out into the back garden, which was very sizable indeed. This too was overgrown but she knew it could be lovely with some hard work. An outside toilet was attached to the house and across the yard was a large wooden outbuilding, which, she judged could easily house a horse and carriage should Barnaby wish to keep one. They also located the well and after hoisting a bucket of water up from it they were delighted to see that it was crystal clear.
Back inside she climbed the sturdy wooden staircase to find herself on a landing with three good-sized bedrooms leading off it, the largest of which overlooked the sea. Again, each room was fully furnished but it remained to be seen if any of it was useable.
‘So what do you think?’ Barnaby asked tentatively when she joined him in the kitchen, and for the first time since he had sent her packing after discovering that Charlotte was on the way, she gave him a beaming smile, quite forgetting for the moment that she was supposed to detest him.
‘I think with some tender loving care this could make a beautiful home for Charlotte,’ she said with hesitation. ‘But why has it been left empty for so long?’
‘Apparently the sea captain that owned it left it to his nephew when he died. He wanted to come and live in it but his wife didn’t, so in the end he gave up trying to persuade her and decided he might as well sell it. The house is called “The Crow’s Nest” by the way. I think it’s been empty for at least four or five years now and it smells very damp and musty, doesn’t it?’
‘It just needs a good airin’ and a good clean, but you would have to get the windows and the roof repaired before anything else,’ she told him sensibly. ‘And it’s not too far from Whitby either, I could walk there to do the shopping.’
A ray of sunshine was doing its best to pierce through the grimy windows and as it shone on her hair it reminded him of spun gold. Charlotte’s was exactly the same colour and in that moment he realised just how much she looked like her mother.
‘Another urgent job would be to get the fencing all around the garden repaired,’ he said thoughtfully as he stared back at his little daughter. ‘One side of the garden is quite close to the cliffs and we don’t want any accidents with this little madam here. She’ll be walking before we know it, the way she’s going on. So, does the house meet with your approval?’
Again, she smiled and her eyes shone as she looked about the room, imagining how it would look when it was all clean and shining with pretty curtains hanging at the windows and rugs on the tiled floor. ‘Yes, it does,’ she said softly. The only down side to living there would be the fact that she would have to share it with him.
After a quick tour of the garden, they set off back to the town where Barnaby paid a deposit on their new home.
‘It’s a very straightforward sale,’ the elderly solicitor who was handling the house informed him. ‘I can have the deeds signed over to you within a couple of days if you’d care to return with the balance.’
And so it was agreed and as they returned to Greenacres, Amber hoped that she had made the right decision.
Nancy and Becky listened to her avidly as she told them all about it that evening.
‘I just ’ope you’re doin’ the right thing,’ Nancy whispered when Becky went down to the kitchen to fetch their dinner tray up. Mrs Boswell had temporarily taken over the cooking duties since the cook had left and it was beginning to look like she didn’t know how to cook anything but porridge and stew.
‘I don’t really have much choice if I want to be wi’ me baby, do I?’
‘No, I suppose you don’t,’ Nancy agreed glumly. ‘But be prepared, the townsfolk are goin’ to call you to hell an’ back when word gets out.’
*
Two days later, Barnaby got the keys to the house and by the end of the week he had men in repairing the windows and the roof. Others were sent to scythe down the worst of the weeds in the gardens. Finally, he sent in a sweep to sweep all the chimneys and at last it was time for Amber to put her stamp on it. Becky was left to care for Charlotte while the groom took Nancy, Amber and all the cleaning materials they might need to make a start on the inside.
‘Blimey, this is some place, ain’t it?’ Nancy said wonderingly as Amber showed her around. ‘An’ it’s so big!’
‘I know,’ Amber said happily. ‘But now we’d better make a start. Goodness knows how long it’s goin’ to take to make the place liveable.’
Crossing to the window she tore down the curtains making dust fly into the room, then she flung all the doors open to get some air in. Meanwhile Nancy lit the fire so they could boil some water and looked about, wondering where they should start. They were certainly going to be busy, that was for sure!
‘Let’s wash all the furniture down and see what’s worth salvagin’ first, shall we?’ Amber suggested. ‘An’ what ain’t any good we can drag outside an’ have a bonfire.’
Two hours later they stopped to make a cup of tea as they sat staring at what they’d uncovered. There was a solid oak dresser that Amber thought would look lovely with plates and china on, and the large table that took up the centre of the room was fine and sturdy, although the seats of the chairs would need re-covering as the moths had feasted on them. There were two leather wing chairs either side of the fireplace and after washing the many layers of dust off them they, too, were found to be in remarkably good condition.
‘Ooh, I can just picture you sittin’ ’ere in front o’ the inglenook on a cold winter night,’ Nancy said enviously and Amber snorted.
‘Don’t go gettin’ carried away,’ she said wryly. ‘Just remember I’m only goin’ to be here for Charlotte. I can’t ever see me an’ the master sittin’ enjoyin’ each other’s company. I wouldn’t spit on him if he were on fire.’
Nancy glanced at her with a curious expression on her face before suggesting tentatively, ‘Don’t you reckon you’re bein’ a bit ’ard on ’im? What I mean is, I know what he did to you was despicable but I think he’s tried to make amends one way or another an’ he has got a lot on ’is plate at the minute, what wi’ losin’ little David an’ ’is missus, then losin’ the house an’ ’is business an’ all! Most men would ’ave turned tail an’ run after what he’s ’ad to put up wi’ lately but he won’t do that cos he thinks too much o’ little Charlotte.’
Amber tossed her head as she threw an old cushion out for the bonfire. ‘Aye, he does love her, admittedly,’ she said begrudgingly. ‘But I still can’t forgive him for lyin’ to me, an’ abandonin’ me when I needed ’im most. He might be sorry for it now, and he might love Charlotte, but I’llneverforgive him, an’ I can’t trust him!’ Though, deep in her heart, she wondered whether this was still completely true.
‘In that case, I can’t see there bein’ much ’appiness in this ’ouse,’ Nancy said quietly and she returned to what she had been doing while Amber stared at her thoughtfully. As much as she hated to admit it, she supposed Nancy was right about certain things. Back at the house it was easy to avoid Barnaby apart from when he visited the nursery, but here they would be living in very close proximity to each other so she supposed she ought to at least try to be civil to him, for Charlotte’s sake if nothing else.
The carriage arrived at six o’clock that evening to take them back to the house and as Jimmy, the young groom, helped Nancy into the carriage, Amber noticed the way their eyes locked and how he held her hand for just a little longer than was necessary.
‘Would I be right in thinkin’ that you an’ Jimmy are becomin’ a little bit more than friends?’ Amber teased as, exhausted from a hard day’s work, they settled back against the leather squabs.
