He held out his hand to Catherine. ‘Shall we join Jessica and Timothy?’

Catherine crossed the floor to him. At the door, she swung her head round to observe Kerensa Pengarron staring after Clem, still keeping her hold on him. Only she wasn’t. She had her eyes closed and was leaning into Oliver, for comfort, for support, for love. Oliver motioned his encouragement to Catherine. She thanked him with a small smile.

In the passage, Clem halted as he heard Jessica sobbing wretchedly in the other room. ‘I’m sorry, Cathy,’ he croaked. ‘I need a moment.’

She reached up and touched his face, smoothing at his hurt expression. ‘Do you need me to hold you, Clem?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, I need that very much.’

The business with the constable settled, the two families were saying goodbye.

Oliver usually ensured he had the first word but left it to someone else.

Clem spoke to him, while sheltering Catherine and Jessica in his arms, ‘When next we meet, for the sake of our families, I hope it will be with this same lighter attitude.’

‘It is my hope too,’ Oliver replied. ‘We shall all make the new baby’s baptism next year a cause for wholehearted celebration. We shall stand as equals, you and I, Clem Trenchard, and the whole county will see it.’

These were words Clem had never expected to hear from the other man. If Pengarron could change enough to offer to see him as his equal, he would not allow himself to be ruled by bitterness. Leaving the women, he held his hand out to Oliver. Leaning down from his horse, Oliver gripped it.

‘We’ll stand as equals in the church, and Catherine and I look forward to that occasion, but I shall keep my proper place elsewhere. Wherever we may meet, not as grandparents of the same children, I’ll give Kerensa her title. Goodbye, Sir Oliver.’ He stood back. ‘Goodbye, Kerensa.’

‘Goodbye, Clem.’ She started off for the journey home with Oliver, the hour so late they would have to spend the night at an inn. She stopped after a few paces and looked back.

Clem had not moved. He waved to her, ‘Goodbye, Kerensa.’

‘Goodbye, Clem, for now.’

Clem turned round. With his arms outstretched, he walked back to Catherine and Jessica and gathered them in. ‘Come, we will eat and then sit with Philip. I’ll send someone over to bring John and Flora home. To get through this we need to be strong, and to be strong we all need each other.’ He rested his head against Catherine’s and whispered, ‘It’ll be all right, I promise.’

When the returning party had left the sadness of the moor behind, Luke and Jack rode on a little ahead, chatting about their new schemes for Polgissey and Porthcarne.