‘It’s not actually as bad as it looked but these had been knocked over and it seems a shame to throw them away. I thought you might like to put them in a vase?’ He placed them awkwardly on the table to the side of her.
Amber was in the process of feeding Charlotte her lunch and she paused to stare at the blooms. No one had ever given her flowers before and even though they were only ones that had damaged stems she felt a blush burn into her cheeks, but she said nothing, as Barnaby turned and left the room. She had to admit that he’d worked beside her tirelessly since they’d returned to find the house in a mess again. He had insisted that he should be the one to scrub the graffiti from the wall and she’d been surprised to find that he’d done a remarkably good job of it. He had also fixed up the curtain poles for her and when she’d asked him early that morning if he shouldn’t be going to the warehouse, he had told her that Jimmy would have to manage on his own until they had put everything back to rights. He was clearly trying his best to make things as comfortable as he could for her and Charlotte and so she decided that she would try harder from now on too.
Half an hour later, as Charlotte crawled about the flagstones, Amber stood back to admire the flowers she had arranged in a jug. They took pride of place in the centre of the table and as she leant towards them to sniff their perfume she smiled.
Later, as they ate lunch, Barnaby said tentatively, ‘I was wondering if you might wish to invite your family to the wedding.’
Amber shook her head. ‘No, I’ll just write to me mother an’ tell her about it after it’s over. As you said, it’s only a marriage of convenience so there’s no need to make any fuss.’
‘Very well, if that’s what you wish.’
The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, and soon Barnaby went back to work in the garden, leaving Amber to wonder at why he’d looked slightly disappointed at her words.
*
Barnaby returned to work the next morning as he was expecting a delivery of wood that his ship would be transporting to France.
‘If anything happens that worries you while I’m gone, lock yourself and Charlotte into the cellar until I get home; they won’t be able to get to you in there if you put the wooden bar across the door,’ he’d told her as he left and seeing the flicker of fear that shone in her eyes for a brief moment, he wished that he didn’t have to leave her.
However, the day passed pleasantly and uneventfully and when Amber heard the sound of his horses’ hooves late that afternoon, she began to butter some of the scones she had just baked. One thing she had learnt about Barnaby since being at the house with him was that he was always hungry.
When he entered the kitchen, he was carrying a box.
‘I, er?.?.?. I hope you don’t mind but I bought Charlotte a present.’ The guilty look on his face reminded her of the ones she had seen on her brothers’ faces when they had done something naughty, and her heart ached as it hit her afresh that she would never see two of them again.
Charlotte was crawling towards him as fast as her little hands and knees would allow her to and when he placed the box down beside her and the child peeped inside it, she began to crow with delight. Curious, Amber inched closer and then she too smiled.
‘Why, it’s apuppy!’
He nodded as he lifted the tiny creature from the box to place it beside his daughter who was clapping her little hands excitedly. ‘Yes, I got the idea when we were staying at your uncle’s and I saw how taken Charlotte was with Fancy. Then today Jimmy told me that Farmer Jennings’ dog had had a litter that he was getting rid of. They’d all been sold when I got there this afternoon, except this one who was the runt of the litter. Between you and me, I think he was intending to drown it, but he still charged me for her, not that I mind if it makes Charlotte happy. You don’t mind, do you? I thought it might make you feel a little safer too, if you had a dog about the place when I was at work.’
‘I don’t mind at all!’ Amber was almost as thrilled with the puppy as Charlotte was. ‘But what breed is it?’
Barnaby grinned as he scratched his chin. ‘Hm, now that’s debatable. The mother is a Jack Russell. The farmers like them for rabbiting, but looking at her I have an idea this one might be a cross-breed.’
She was a tiny little thing; black and white with pointy ears, huge brown eyes and a very waggy tail and Amber instantly fell in love with her. ‘But I thought Jack Russells didn’t have tails?’
‘No, I believe they usually have them docked when they’re tiny but as I said, I think this one was destined for the bucket if I hadn’t gone along when I did.’
Charlotte and the puppy were rolling around the floor together and it was already obvious that they were going to be the best of friends.
‘I suppose we should think of a name for her,’ Amber mused as she watched the antics and then with a grin she suggested, ‘What about Socks? All her feet are black and look a bit like socks, don’t they?’
‘They do actually,’ he agreed with a smile, and so the name was decided and once again Amber thought how considerate of him it had been to bring a little companion for their daughter; it was nice to think that they would grow up together.
*
The next visitor to The Crow’s Nest was Nancy. She arrived the following Sunday afternoon and she came with gossip. ‘There’s been another two shops broken into in the market square,’ she told Amber as she sipped at a glass of lemonade Amber had made that morning.
It was a glorious day with the sun shining high in a cloudless blue sky and they had carried the kitchen chairs out to the orchard where they could sit and watch Charlotte and Socks rolling about on the grass. ‘Luckily there was no one ’urt this time.’ She shook her head. ‘Bertie Preston is still the prime suspect but no one ’as seen ’ide nor ’air of ’im for weeks, although he’s got to be still hidin’ out around ’ere somewhere. I tell you what, I wouldn’t like to be in ’is shoes when they do catch ’im. I reckon he’ll be for the noose if they can pin old Mrs Tilsley’s murder on ’im. His mother’s ’ouse ’as been robbed an’ all an’ she’s furious. They took her rent money. I doubt they’d find much else in there.’
Amber shuddered and hoping to lighten the mood, she suggested, ‘Do you fancy takin’ Charlotte an’ Socks down on the beach for a while? I could do with a paddle in the sea to cool me down.’
‘Sounds good to me!’ Nancy responded.
Amber had done her chores and, wishing to give them some privacy, Barnaby was busily digging the vegetable garden in readiness for the winter stock that he was going to plant. For Nancy it was a treat to be out in the fresh air after working in the smoky confines of the inn. Not that she was complaining. A job was a job at the end of the day and she considered herself lucky to have one, so with Amber carrying Charlotte they carefully made their way down to their own little private beach.
Within minutes Charlotte was happily crawling about picking up shells and tasting the sand as the seagulls wheeled and swooped in the sky above them.
