‘I’ll send the mister over wi’ more milk an’ a steak pie later on,’ Mrs Jennings promised as she set off with Charlotte excitedly clutching her hand a short time later.
‘Thank you.’ Amber watched the child toddle away with a lump in her throat before hurrying back inside where she fetched a tin bowl full of cool water and a clean piece of huckaback to bathe Barnaby’s face.
By the time the doctor reappeared late that afternoon, Barnaby was incoherent and rolling about the bed, although after checking his leg the doctor was pleased to find there was no sign of an infection.
‘It’s a bad break and he’ll probably always have a limp, but it’s the fever that worries me more at present,’ he informed her.
‘Is there any more I can do?’
‘No, my dear. You are doing all you can.’ He fished in his bag and produced a small glass phial telling her, ‘Put a few drops of this into some water and try to get him to drink it. It will probably knock him out in his weakened state but that won’t be a bad thing. I don’t want him thrashing about so much that he disturbs the splints on his leg.’
‘Hewillget better, won’t he, doctor?’
As the man stared into her anxious eyes, he wished that he could give her better news but he was painfully aware that Barnaby’s condition could go either way at the moment.
‘If we can just get this fever to break there’s every chance that he’ll make a full recovery,’ he said sympathetically. ‘Just carry on as you are, you’re doing a good job. Keep him cool and get lots of liquid into him.’
After he’d left, Amber continued her vigil at Barnaby’s side. By bedtime she was so exhausted that she could barely keep her eyes open and eventually she lay her head on the side of the bed and dropped into a doze.
The sound of the cock crowing made her blink wearily and almost instantly she felt a change in the room. She could no longer hear Barnaby’s laboured breathing and with a frightened start she sat up and stared down at him only to find him watching her intently.
‘Oh?.?.?. you’re awake.’ She was so happy that tears sprang to her eyes.
He gave her a weak smile. ‘It’ll take more than a fall down a cliff to keep me down,’ he said weakly.
She was thrilled and confused all at the same time. After all, theirs was a marriage in name only and she didn’t even like him?.?.?.did she?
She thought back over the last months, of all his attempts to make amends for what he’d done. He’d taken in Charlotte, found her work, then, against all odds, found a way that she could care for her own baby. And despite his love for his daughter, he’d not once reprimanded her for taking her away from him. It had been within his power to have her arrested and ensure she never saw Charlotte again, but instead, when she’d returned, he’d apologised toher. Even as his life was falling apart around him, he continued to care for both of them, doing everything he could to ensure their safety. And when Bertie had attacked her, he’d put his own life at risk to save her.
And then it hit her like a ton of bricks – shedidstill care for him, very much in fact, although she had no idea when her feelings towards him had started to change. Perhaps it had been when she had seen him being such a loving father to Charlotte? Or was it when she had seen his broken body being carried up the side of the cliff? Or perhaps it had been a slow softening – one she’d refused to acknowledge – as day by day he showed her how sorry he was. Whenever it was though, she would have been heartbroken to lose him and she didn’t quite know how to deal with the tender feelings that were flowing through her.
Suddenly flustered she pulled her hand from his and stood up, aware that she must look terrible. ‘I-I’ll go and get you some tea,’ she said and she flew from the room as if old Nick himself was snapping at her heels.
Chapter Forty-Three
Over the following week, Barnaby continued to make good progress, although he was still in a lot of pain with his leg and the many cuts and bruises he had sustained from his fall down the cliff. Amber continued to nurse him devotedly and every day it became harder to hide the tender feelings she had developed for him.
Charlotte had come home and she spent hours in Barnaby’s room listening to him read from the storybooks he had bought for her. And then one day the doctor arrived with the sergeant in tow.
‘I’m so sorry, but we shall have to take him back to the cells now, Mrs Greenwood. The doctor informs me that he is well enough to be moved and the magistrates will want him to appear in front of them when they arrive.’
Amber bristled. ‘Butwhy? He still can’t go anywhere with his leg in splints and we could always bring him into town when he’s due to appear!’
But despite her protestations Barnaby was loaded onto the back of the police wagon and taken away. Both Charlotte and Amber were devastated, although the sergeant had promised faithfully that they would make him as comfortable as was humanly possible.
‘It’s so unfair,’ Amber told Mrs Jennings with tears in her eyes when her kindly neighbour walked over later that day with fresh milk and an apple pie. She had been wonderful to them and Amber didn’t know how she would have managed without her.
‘It is that, lass, but life is often unfair.’ She had grown to be very fond of Amber and utterly doted on little Charlotte.
And now Amber forced herself to ask the question that had been keeping her awake at night. ‘What do you think will happen to him, Mrs Jennings?’
The old woman swallowed nervously. The whole town was buzzing over Barnaby’s fate and the common opinion was that if he couldn’t prove that he hadn’t stabbed Bertie Preston he would be hanged. But as well as what had happened to Bertie, the town was also buzzing about the death of Mrs Preston. It appeared that someone had seen Bertie there late on the evening she had been killed and they had been quarrelling. Most people surmised that he had gone to his mother for money yet again, and when she had none to give him, he had killed her in a fit of rage, but now that Bertie too was dead it was doubtful if they would ever know what had really happened.
‘I don’t rightly know, lass,’ she answered tactfully, avoiding Amber’s eyes. ‘The offence is too serious for the magistrates to deal with here so I reckon they’ll send him to crown court to be tried and then it’ll be up to the judge.’
‘He’s going to hang, isn’t he?’ Amber suddenly burst into tears and in a second, Mrs Jennings had her wrapped tight in her arms.
‘Best try not to think about it.’ She felt angry that the police hadn’t taken into account what Amber had told them and yet she also understood that the evidence against Barnaby was very incriminating. ‘You’ll just have to let things take their course.’
