‘If that’s the case I couldn’t be more pleased fer him.’ Alice smiled. ‘She’s a good woman is Martha Carter. She were married briefly a long time ago, I believe, to a fisherman but his ship went down in a storm. Not long after that your uncle bought this house an’ she came to live wi’ him as his housekeeper an’ she’s been here ever since. Nothin’ would please me more than to see ’em get together for they’ve both led lonely lives one way or another. But now what about a slice o’ that cake, eh? It’s makin’ me mouth water.’

*

Just as predicted, Jeremiah was delighted to see his sister when he arrived home that evening and dinner was a merry affair as they chatted non-stop.

‘Couldn’t you stay for another day or two, Alice?’ he asked but she shook her head.

‘Much as I’d love to, I can’t. I’ve got to be back for when the men drop anchor else they’ll think I’ve run off an’ left ’em,’ she told him and he nodded understandingly. He knew how devoted his sister was to her family and thought that this was just as it should be.

After dinner Alice joined her brother and Mrs Carter for a stroll along the front with the little dog gleefully running ahead of them on his lead and as Amber watched them go from the window, tears pricked at the back of her eyes as she realised that there would never be anyone special in her life now. Who would want her when they knew that she’d given birth to an illegitimate baby? With a sigh she returned to sewing the tiny nightdress that Mrs Carter had insisted the baby should have. They’d stitched a number of clothes between them now, although Amber knew that she would never get the chance to see the child wearing them.

There were tears when her mother took her leave early the following morning. ‘Oh, I wish I could be here to help wi’ the birth,’ Alice fretted. ‘Promise you’ll send word the minute it’s born, won’t you? I’ll burn the letter then, just in case your dad or one o’ the lads reads it,’ she promised.

After she’d left, Amber felt totally bereft, wondering how she would manage to give birth without her mother by her side.

*

Just one-week later Amber came down to breakfast looking pale with dark shadows beneath her eyes, and instantly concerned, Mrs Carter asked, ‘Didn’t you sleep well, dear?’

‘Not really,’ Amber admitted, rubbing her back. ‘I think I must have lay funny. I’ve had a dull backache all night.’

‘I see. Well, sit down and have a nice hot cup of tea and some breakfast.’