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Back A Season for Hope
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Acknowledgements
  48. About the Authors
  49. Also by Rosie Goodwin
  50. Welcome to the world of Rosie Goodwin!
  51. Letter from Author
  52. Meat and Potato Pie
  53. The Precious Stones series
  54. The Days of the Week Collection
  55. Mothering Sunday
  56. Victorian Tales from Memory Lane
  57. Memory Lane Club

The midwife was just about to leave and if she thought it strange that the new mother was showing no interest in her baby, she didn’t comment on it. ‘Right, that’s me done then. You know where I am if you should need me,’ she told them, and keen to get home to her feather bed she quickly took her leave.

‘Surely you want to see her, even if it’s only just the once,’ Mrs Carter urged as she stood at the side of the bed, but again Amber stubbornly refused.

‘It’s only going to make it harder,’ she said in a wobbly voice. ‘Now please take her away and send word to Mr Greenwood that she is ready to leave . . . It’s better this way. There’s no point in delaying it.’

And so with a heavy heart, Mrs Carter took the little one back downstairs. It appeared that Amber had made her mind up and she doubted that anything would change it.

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Nurse Bonnet had no sooner arrived back at her home and put the kettle on for a well-earned cup of tea when there was a loud banging on the door. She sighed. It looked set to be a very long night if yet another of her mothers-to-be had gone into labour!

She found Barnaby Greenwood standing on the step with a look of panic on his face. ‘It’s the baby, Nurse.’ Despite the fact that there was a cold wind blowing in off the sea she saw he was in his shirtsleeves. ‘I think it’s coming. We’re staying in Sea View Cottage up on the headland.’

‘I know where you are reet enough,’ she answered wearily. ‘I’ll go an’ get me bag an’ I’ll be with you shortly. Meantime, get her into bed and get me plenty of hot water and towels ready.’

He inclined his head before racing off back to his horse and after hopping lithely into the saddle he galloped away as if the hounds of hell were after him as the nurse went back inside to prepare anything she might need for the next birth.

He had just arrived back at the cottage when he saw a cloaked figure approaching the front door and when he reined his horse to a shuddering halt, he saw that it was Mrs Carter.

‘I’ve come to tell you that the baby has been born.’ She stared at him disapprovingly.

‘I see . . . was it a boy?’

‘A girl, actually.’ Her dislike of him was oozing out of her every pore. ‘A very beautiful little girl, as it happens.’

‘I see. Then I shall be there to collect her within the next few hours.’

‘And you will . . . you will ensure that she goes to a good home?’

‘On my honour!’