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‘That must have been hard.’
‘Fortunately, I had plenty of distractions. The navy doesn’t like to let grass grow under your feet. Or lichen anyway. So what made you leave Ashley and move to the city?’
‘I had to. After our parents died, my brother and I needed to find work. That was ten years ago.’
‘I’m sorry.’ His voice softened. ‘It’s always hard to lose a parent, but you must have been very young, too. Eight? Nine?’
‘Nine, but it was worse for David, my brother. He’s eleven years older than me and had to take care of both of us. Fortunately, I found a job on a market stall, selling cloth. Then when I was seventeen I got a position in a dressmaker’s...’ She frowned at the pavement, wondering why she’d just told him that when she usually avoiding thinking about it herself. It wasn’t a pleasant memory, one she had to shake her head to get rid of. ‘Then I came to Belles.’
‘I see. Why di—?’
‘What made you join the navy?’ She spoke before he could finish the question.
‘Mmm?’ He looked mildly surprised at the interruption. ‘Oh, the spirit of adventure, I suppose. I always loved the idea.’
‘Did the reality match up?’
‘It wasn’t quite what I’d expected.’ A strange, inscrutable expression passed over his face. ‘Some parts were better than others, but I got to travel, to find out what I was made of, too. Unfortunately, it came to feel somewhat tainted.’
‘Tainted?’
‘Yes. My father died not long after I joined, but when I got the news I was already at sea and couldn’t come back.’ He paused, his voice sounding rougher when he spoke again. ‘By the time I had shore leave he’d been buried a year.’
‘Oh.’ She tightened her hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘So am I. Sometimes I think it was selfish of me to have left Bath in the first place.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My father always worked too hard. I knew that. Maybe I should have stayed and forced him to retire.’
‘But did he enjoy working in the shop?’
‘He loved it. Belles was his pride and joy.’
‘Then maybe you couldn’t have forced him to stop.’ She looked at him steadily. ‘What about the navy? Did he object to your joining?’
‘No, he was happy for me. He knew how much I wanted to get out on my own and travel like he had. My mother wasn’t so enthusiastic, but at the time...well, Anna and my father were a good team in the shop and there didn’t seem any need for me to stay. He seemed in perfect health, too. There was no way any of us could have known what would happen, but when it did...’ He paused for a moment as they crossed Pulteney Bridge. ‘Miss Gardiner, if I ask you a question, would you promise to give me an honest answer?’
‘Of course.’
‘Thank you. You see, after my father died, I felt that it was my responsibility to come back and help run the business. That was what he would have wanted, but it’s not so easy to leave the navy, especially in wartime. There was nothing I could do to help except send money home, but I’d still like to know...how difficult have things been for Anna and my mother over the past few years?’
‘Oh...’ Henrietta sucked in a breath slowly. She didn’t want to make him feel bad by admitting the truth, but that was what he’d asked for and what she’d promised to give. ‘I believe that Anna did have a hard time running the shop on her own. The swelling in your mother’s hands and feet got so bad that it became impossible for her to help with the baking and they couldn’t afford to pay anyone else for the hours. Not for a while anyway.’
‘So Anna had to do it all by herself?’
‘Ye-es, but then she met the Earl and I moved in, so...’ She tried to sound positive. ‘It all worked out in the end.’
‘No thanks to me, but I appreciate your honesty, Miss Gardiner.’ A muscle clenched in his jaw. ‘So, what happened at the dressmaker’s?’
‘What?’ She almost tripped over her feet at the question. She’d thought they’d moved past that particularly unpleasant subject. ‘What do you mean, what happened?’
‘I just wondered why you left.’ He reached his other hand out to steady her. ‘Presumably you decided you preferred biscuits to dresses?’
‘Not exactly. That is, I do prefer working at Belles, but I had other reasons for leaving. Anna understood them.’
‘Ah.’ He gave her a sidelong glance, seemingly on the verge of asking something else before changing his mind. ‘Tell me about my new brother-in-law, then. Do you like him?’
