‘Why ever not? We can hardly expect him to sit in the stable to eat his meals, and it was your idea to come here,’ Barnaby pointed out. Louisa wasn’t used to being spoken to that way and promptly burst into noisy tears making him feel dreadful.

‘I’m sorry, darling,’ he apologised. ‘But you must understand this place is only a fraction of the size of Greenacres so you’ll have to get used to seeing more of Jimmy while you’re here.’

She dabbed ineffectively at her eyes with a scrap of lace handkerchief before turning in a swirl of cotton petticoats and heading for the door. ‘I’m going to my room to rest!’ she declared. ‘And I just hope that woman you hired to clean the place has put all my clothes away properly!’

Once she’d gone, Barnaby let out a weary sigh and sank into a fireside chair. Their stay at the cottage certainly hadn’t got off to the best of starts and he had an awful feeling that it wasn’t going to get any better.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

The following Monday afternoon, Amber was sitting in the parlour quietly reading when she heard a knock on the front door. She made to heave herself out of the chair but Mrs Carter got there before her and when the parlour door opened, she gasped with delight.

‘Mam . . . what are you doing here?’

‘That’s a nice greetin’, I must say,’ Alice said although she was grinning from ear to ear. ‘Can’t a woman come an’ visit her own daughter, eh?’ She plonked down onto the nearest chair, her hat askew. ‘Phew, I could fair do wi’ a nice cuppa.’

‘I’ll go and organise one right away,’ Mrs Carter said obligingly as she shooed Fancy ahead of her. She was always escaping from the kitchen, especially when she knew Jeremiah was due home from work, and most nights he got a royal welcome.

‘So, how are you, lass?’ Alice asked, her expression more serious now.

‘Oh, you know . . .’ Amber shrugged as she tried to sit comfortably. It was getting harder by the day and she felt like a beached whale.

‘You certainly look well.’ Her mother couldn’t help but notice that Amber’s hands, which were usually chafed and swollen from all the hard work she used to do at Greenacres, were now smooth and soft and her face was glowing with health thanks to the good food Mrs Carter had insisted she eat.

‘Uncle Jeremiah and Mrs Carter have been very good to me.’

‘Hm, an’ are you still plannin’ on takin’ the infant to the foundlin’ home?’ Alice had spent sleepless nights fretting about the poor baby. It would be her first grandchild after all and had the circumstances been different, she would have been looking forward to it.