‘Hm, well at least you ain’t got Bertie Preston houndin’ you anymore,’ Nancy said. ‘Most o’ the police from the other counties they called in to look for him an’ his cronies after the robberies ’ave left now, an’ I doubt Bertie’ll show his face round ’ere again.’ She leant back on her hands and grinned with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. ‘So when is the ’appy event to be? Can I be your bridesmaid?’

‘No, you can’t. Like I told you, it’s goin’ to be purely a marriage o’ convenience. We’ll just go to the church, come home an’ things will go on as they are now. There’ll be no guests or bridesmaids.’

‘What? Ain’t you even havin’ a party to celebrate the day?’ Nancy looked disappointed. ‘Aw well, at least bein’ Mrs Greenwood will give you some security, an’ fancy the ’ouse ’aving its own little private beach, eh? It’s lovely ’ere, ain’t it?’

‘I suppose it is.’ Amber looked around as if she was seeing it through new eyes. ‘We’re certainly very comfortable.’ Glancing up she saw Charlotte rubbing her eyes and told her friend, ‘We’ll have another ten minutes then I’d best get this little ’un back for her afternoon nap.’

Soon after they set off back up the side of the cliffside, but Amber was soon struggling as Charlotte, who seemed to get heavier every day, had fallen into a doze on her shoulder.

Then she saw Barnaby making his way down towards them. ‘I thought this might happen,’ he laughed. ‘And she’s quite a little heavyweight now so I thought I’d come and take her off you.’ He took the child from her arms and surefootedly set off up the path again, as Amber glanced at Nancy who had a wide grin on her face.

‘See what I mean?’ she said cheekily and this time it was Amber’s turn to blush. Now that she came to think about it, she and Barnaby had been getting on well lately and he was very kind. Every morning before going to work he would fetch fresh milk from the Jennings’ farm, get the logs for the fire in and do any job he considered was too heavy for her to do. But then, she reasoned, he was only doing all that for Charlotte . . . wasn’t he?

Ignoring Nancy’s knowing stare she stuck her chin in the air, lifted her skirts and followed Barnaby.

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty

It was the day before the wedding, early in July, and Amber was hanging washing on the line that Barnaby had strung up across the yard for her, when May Jennings appeared with a covered basket.