Mrs M smiled. ‘Gave you a kick, did it?’
Abi nodded numbly. ‘Y-yes. I’ve felt a funny sort of fluttery feeling before but never anything as strong as this.’
‘Well, you’d best get used to it, lass.’ She chuckled. ‘When I was having my Bertie there were times I felt as if he were playing football inside me. Now, I think it’s time we got the doctor to check you over.’ When a look of panic crossed Abi’s face, she held her hand up. ‘It’s nothing to worry about. It’s just to make sure that everything is as it should be. And I can tell him you’re my niece that’s been widowed if that will make you feel better?’
‘Very well.’ Abi was reluctant but knew that it made sense. Feeling the baby move had made her realise that this was a real little live person she was carrying and it was a strange sensation.
Soon after they heard the front door open and Bertie appeared carrying a huge box that he struggled to get through the door.
‘Goodness me, whatever have you got there, lad?’ his mother asked.
Dragging his cap off he blushed. ‘Open it and see.’
Both Mrs M and Abi stepped forward to do as he asked and when the lid of the box was opened Abi gasped. Inside was a baby’s cradle.
‘I’ve been carving it at work in my spare time and during my lunch break.’
He and Mrs M manoeuvred it out on to the floor where the wood gleamed softly in the light from the oil lamp. It was on little rockers and he had painstakingly carved tiny animals all around the outside edge. The wood was so smooth that it was easy to see a lot of time and patience must have gone into the making of it but instead of the reaction he had hoped for Abi’s eyes filled with tears.
‘And what would we needthatfor?’ she snapped. ‘Haven’t I told you that I don’t intend to keep the baby?’
‘Aye, you have.’ Bertie nodded solemnly as he twisted his cap in his hands. ‘But it will still need something to lie in when it’s first born, won’t it? And every baby is a gift as far I’m concerned and deserves somewhere comfortable to sleep at least.’
Abi instantly felt guilty. He had obviously gone to a lot of trouble for her and she knew how ungrateful she must sound but this and feeling the baby move was suddenly making everything seem all too real.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said in a wobbly voice, and lifting her skirts she waddled from the room, leaving Bertie to stare after her with a sad expression on his face.
Upstairs in the privacy of her room, Abi stood at her window staring out across the snowy street to the wild sea beyond where the waves were crashing on to the shore. The wind was howling like demented souls in torment and rattling the window panes and she sighed. She wished Bertie wouldn’t be so kind to her all the time. It made her feel .?.?. How did it make her feel? she wondered. Finally she settled for confused as she tried to picture Hugo’s handsome face.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
‘Where’s Father?’ Jasper asked his mother at breakfast a week before Christmas. His homecoming had not been a happy one to say the least and the atmosphere between himself and his father had been fraught with tension.
‘He’s out shooting rabbits with the gamekeeper,’ his mother told him as she helped herself to a thick rasher of bacon from the sideboard.
‘Oh, so, er .?.?. I don’t suppose I could persuade you to lend me a few pounds to tide me over, could I?’ he asked cajolingly. His father had refused to reinstate his allowance until Jasper agreed to start work and so they were at stalemate, and because he had no money Jasper had barely set foot out of the house and was becoming increasingly frustrated.
‘You know I can’t give you any more without your father knowing.’ Even Sybil was becoming impatient with him now and was forced to see that he really should be learning the business.
‘Fine!’ he stormed, flinging his chair back so abruptly that it crashed to the floor and, turning about, he stamped from the room.
Over in the cottage Hetty was carrying the envelope she had found on the doorstep to Dorcas who was frying eggs.
‘Our phantom helper has called again,’ Hetty said.
Taking it from her, Dorcas chewed her lip as she stared at the money it contained.
‘Blast!’ she said suddenly. ‘I stayed up all night again to try and catch whoever is calling and I never heard a thing.’
‘Well, you wouldn’t, would you?’ Hetty glanced towards the window. ‘The snow would have muffled their footsteps.’
‘Yes, you’re right, but you’re forgetting that Bruno’s hearing is much more finely tuned than ours. I wouldn’t mind betting that he at least woke up when he heard whoever it was. I’m just surprised that he didn’t bark.’
‘Then perhaps it’s someone friendly?’
Dorcas nodded and turned back to preparing the breakfast. ‘It could well be but one way or another I’m going to get to the bottom of it.’
A thought occurred to Hetty and crossing the room she opened the door and peered out. ‘I just realised there was no snow on the envelope,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘And look, these footsteps are fresh. Whoever left it must have only just come.’
