Both Maddie and Nell were impressed but eventually Maddie said, ‘As nice as this is, we really ought to be off now. I want to do a little shopping in the market in Nun-eaton before we catch the train back to Birmingham. But take care of yourself, my dear, and do come and see us when you can.’

‘I will,’ Ruby promised, leading them back through the house. At the front door she stood on the step and waved them away feeling a little deflated. Once again, Maddie hadn’t said the words she longed to hear. But there was still time, she consoled herself, and with a sigh she went to rejoin Hermione in the workshop.

*

The rest of the week passed uneventfully for Ruby but the same couldn’t be said for Mr Pembroke as he had noticed a slight cooling towards him from Serena which concerned him. And so, one evening after he and Miranda had finished dinner and Miranda had gone to her room, he called her into the drawing room. ‘Is everything all right, my love? You’ve seemed very preoccupied for the last few days.’

With her hands joined tightly at her waist Serena licked her lips as she gazed at him solemnly. ‘I, er . . . I do have something on my mind, as it happens,’ she admitted. ‘And I’ve tried to tell you about it on a few occasions recently but we always seem to be interrupted.’

‘Well there’s no one here at the moment,’ he pointed out, spreading his arms to encompass the empty room. ‘So why don’t you tell me now? It can’t be that bad, surely.’

‘But it is,’ she said brokenly as tears began to course down her cheeks. ‘And I don’t know what you will think of me when I’ve told you.’

He stared at her, perplexed. ‘I can’t believe anything will ever make me think badly of you.’

Serena shook her head, trying to control her emotions. Finally, she took a deep breath and started to talk. ‘It began with Maddie . . . Mrs Bamber . . .’ Slowly and painfully she began to tell him the secret she had kept from him, completely unaware that outside the door, Miranda had her ear pressed to the wood and was listening to every word she said.

Soon after when she was back in her room, Miranda began to pace up and down like a caged animal as rage coursed through her.

So, her father and Miss Wood were planning to go and see Ruby at the weekend, were they? It was all happening a lot faster than she had thought it would, but all was not lost. She would make sure that she got there first. It was time to put her plan into action, but first she needed to see her mother.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three