‘You can stick the wages where the sun don’t shine.’ She elbowed the old woman out of the way and the next minute she was striding across the farmyard.

Melvin was just coming out of the barn and seeing her with her bags and the baby tied to her he limped across to the gate. ‘An’ where are you goin’ in such a hurry?’ he asked.

Amber glared at him as she dropped one of the bags just long enough to open the gate. ‘Just as far away from this dump an’ you lot as I can get,’ she ground out.

‘B-but yer can’t just up an’ leave,’ he whined.

‘Just watch me and go to hell.’ And with that Amber moved on as fast as her legs would take her.

It wasn’t until she came within sight of Greenacres that she finally paused to rest and the tears came. Her arms felt as if they had been pulled out of their sockets and she was sweating as she stared down at Charlotte whose little head was lolling to one side. How could I not have seen what the wicked old woman was doing to her? she asked herself. But this was not the time for guilt; she finally had to face the fact that Charlotte had missed her father and she had been wrong to take her away from him in the first place. She didn’t even know what sort of reception she was going to get when she reached the house or if Barnaby Greenwood had reported her to the police for kidnapping his daughter. He could well send for them and have her arrested, but there could be no going back now and as long as Charlotte was happy again, she didn’t much care what happened to herself. So after taking a deep breath she moved on and despite the fact that she was in her oldest work clothes, she held her head high as she climbed the steps to the front door and rang the bell.

Seconds later, Nancy answered it and her face lit up like a ray of sunshine at sight of her friend. ‘Amber! Eeh lass, we’ve been so worried about yer.’ Ignoring the bags on the step she took Amber’s elbow and drew her into the hallway just as Barnaby Greenwood appeared from his study. Amber was shocked at the sight of him. His shoulders were stooped as if he had the worries of the world resting on them and he seemed to have aged ten years since the last time she had seen him. He stared at her for a moment as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, then suddenly he sprang forward and as he laid his hand gently on Charlotte’s head, she was shocked to see that there were tears in his eyes.