Amber nodded, her gaze fixed on Charlotte who was happily rolling about the floor with Socks, oblivious to what was happening. Thank goodness for that at least, Amber thought, and wiping her eyes and nose she went to put the kettle on.
Minutes later a familiar face appeared at the door. It was Trampy Ned and she suddenly realised that she hadn’t seen him since before the night of Bertie’s attack.
‘Mornin’ missus.’ He nodded towards Mrs Jennings.
‘Mornin’, Ned.’
Amber cut him a large slice of apple pie and wrapped it in a piece of muslin. When she handed it to him, he looked at her with a worried frown as he saw her eyes, which were red and swollen from weeping. ‘Would you like a cup o’ tea? I was just about to make one,’ she asked him.
He swept the old hat off to reveal sparse grey hair that stood about his head like a halo, but he backed away. ‘No, thanks, missus. I’ll be on me way now. Ta-ra.’ And with that he took flight.
Mrs Jennings smiled. ‘Poor old thing. He ain’t had much of a life, as he? Still, he seems content in ’is own way an’ at least lots o’ the townsfolk look out for ’im.’ She herself was often supplying him with food when he visited the farm and she knew that, like Amber, she was just one of many.
*
The next few days passed in a blur of misery for Amber. Every day she walked down to the police station whilst Mrs Jennings watched Charlotte and the sergeant allowed her to have a few minutes with Barnaby, who was trying his best to keep his spirits up. Finally news came that the magistrates were due the following day and a cold hand gripped Amber’s heart.
‘Listen, I want you to know that if anything should happen to me, you and Charlotte will be secure,’ Barnaby told her soberly when she visited him that evening. The sergeant had informed her that he was due to be taken before the magistrates at eleven o’clock the following morning and she intended to be there to hear their decision.
‘Don’t talk like that,’ she said, shaking her head.
He caught her hands and made her look at him. ‘I have to,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m innocent but it’s no good burying our heads in the sand. We both know what might happen with no witnesses to prove that I didn’t do it. That’s why the sergeant allowed my solicitor to come and see me to put everything in order. I want you to know that everything I have will be yours should the worst come to the worst. Jimmy is doing a splendid job of keeping the warehouse and the boats running smoothly and that should give you a decent income for the future, plus The Crow’s Nest will be yours so you and Charlotte will always have somewhere to call your own. Here’s the solicitor’s name, his rooms are in the market square.’
Despite promising herself that she wouldn’t, Amber started to cry and he lifted his hand to gently stroke her hair while his other arm slid around her shoulders. It was the first sign of affection they had openly shown to each other since the night his fever had broken, and placing her small hand over his large one Amber started to cry harder.
‘Lastly?.?.?. I want you to know that although I did you wrong, I wouldn’t have missed having this time with you.’ His voice was little more than a whisper now as she stared up at him through a veil of tears. ‘I thought my first wife was beautiful when I first met her, but I soon discovered that her beauty was merely skin deep. Since getting to know you I’ve seen that you are truly beautiful both inside and out. I know that when we wed it was supposed to be purely for Charlotte’s sake but somewhere along the line I’ve come to care for you deeply, so do you think you could at least tell me that you’ve forgiven me?.?.?. just in case?.?.?.’
‘Oh Barnaby, I’ve come to care for you too,’ Amber told him chokily, just as the sergeant appeared at the bottom of the stairs that led to the cell. He had come to tell her that their time was up but seeing their closeness he decided to give them a little longer and tiptoed away back upstairs.
‘And as for forgiving you?.?.?.’ She sighed. ‘I’ve had a lot of time to think and I realise now that what happened wasn’t all your fault. I knew when I lay with you that you were a married man and so I was as much to blame as you were – it wasn’t as if you forced me into our relationship. I also understand now why you sent me away when you found that I was having Charlotte. You were in an impossible position, so of course you had no choice when you discovered that Louisa was having a child too. As things have turned out you gave me the greatest gift of all when you got me with child so yes, I forgive you.’
‘Then knowing that I shall die a happy man.’ Barnaby wrapped his arms about her and she rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and feeling as if her own heart was breaking.
As she made her way home that night, she shivered in the mist that had floated in from the sea. Autumn was fast approaching and already the leaves on the trees were losing their colour and the evenings were cooler.
Back at The Crow’s Nest she found Mrs Jennings dozing in the chair at the side of the fire with Charlotte curled up asleep on her lap and her heart broke afresh as she looked down at her daughter. Charlotte adored her father; how would she cope if he never came home again? Socks scampered over to meet her and she bent to stroke his silky ears, pushing the thought away. Tomorrow would be soon enough to think about that, for now she just had to try and get through the night.
Once Mrs Jennings had gone after promising to be back bright and early in the morning, Amber got Charlotte settled in bed and sat downstairs thinking back over her visit to Barnaby. It was funny, now that she came to think of it, how determined she had been after having Charlotte that she would never get wed, and yet here she was, not only married but married to the child’s father, who had turned out to be the man she had grown to love. It was like something out of one of the penny romance novels her mother had liked to read when she could afford to, only in those they always had a happy ending, whereas her ending looked set to be far from it. It would be too cruel if she were to lose Barnaby now when she had only just realised how much he meant to her.
The minutes ticked by, each one feeling like an hour, and all was silent save for the clock on the mantelpiece and the sound of Socks softly snoring in his basket. As dawn broke, Amber filled the tin bath with hot water from the copper and washed herself from head to toe before washing her hair. She then sat wrapped in a towel by the fire and brushed her hair until it gleamed. She was painfully aware that this might be the very last time she would see Barnaby if the magistrates chose to send him to be tried and she was determined to look as nice as she could for him.
By the time Mrs Jennings arrived, Amber had fed and changed Charlotte, released the chickens from their coops and was dressed in her Sunday best blouse and skirt.
‘You look bonny, lass,’ the kindly woman told her. ‘All that’s missin’ is a smile.’
‘I’m so afraid of what might happen to him, Mrs Jennings,’ Amber confided in a shaky voice as she put her best bonnet on and a warm shawl about her shoulders.
‘I’m sure you are.’ Mrs Jennings put her arm about her and gave her a gentle squeeze. ‘But worryin’ yourself into the grave ain’t goin’ to change nothin’ so go an’ smile an’ be brave for ’im! I’ve no doubt he’s just as scared as you are.’
*
The visiting magistrates always heard the cases in a room above the inn in the market square and although it was early, Amber was shocked to see a crowd already forming outside when she arrived. She expected to be met with the usual hostility so she was surprised when the crowd parted to allow her to be first in the queue.
‘Come on, lass,’ one of the women encouraged. ‘It’s your husband up afore the magistrates so it’s only right you should get the best seat. Good luck – ’e’s a good man is Mr Greenwood.’
‘Th-thank you.’ Amber stumbled past her and soon the door opened and the crowd climbed the stairs to the room where the magistrates were seated in a row behind a table. In their black clothes they reminded Amber of a row of crows.
The only other case to be heard that day was a man who was up for being drunk and disorderly, so it had been decided that, as his case was not so serious, he would go first. After a short hearing, the drunk was given a fine and told that if he reoffended, he would be sent to court, and he went off with a spring in his step.
