‘And with none of her mother’s red hair or… his black hair. It’s fair like mine. People could talk, you know,’ he teased.

Kerensa laughed. ‘My father and grandfather were fair.’

‘Ah, but who will remember that?’

Clem cupped the tiny warm head in his hand. The baby was quiet, putting her pink tongue in and out of her puckered red mouth as if she was tasting this new thing called air. Her eyes were open but not for long and she nestled into her mother’s breast and slept. She was wrapped in a floral patterned petticoat snatched from Alice’s drawer and tenderly Clem positioned the fabric to cover the top of her head to keep her warm.

‘I did a good job helping this little one into the world but I suppose I should have found something more suitable than this to put her in,’ he confessed. ‘I just didn’t think.’ Kerensa kissed her daughter’s forehead and said, ‘Now isn’t that just like a man! This will do for now.’

Clem gently tilted Kerensa’s face to look into her eyes. ‘There is a part of you, Kerensa, that belongs to me. A part of you Oliver Pengarron can never have. I helped to bring this child into the world. I was the first person to set eyes on her, the first to hold her and I feel a part of her belongs to me too… Have you got a name for her?’

‘No, I hadn’t given much thought to what the baby I was carrying would be called.’

‘Kelynen is nice, Cornish for holly, and right now she’s as red as a holly berry.’

‘It’s a beautiful name,’ Kerensa said thoughtfully.

‘A beautiful child deserves a beautiful name.’

‘Yes,’ Kerensa said, sadly. ‘I was hoping I wouldn’t have to choose alone and she must be called something.’

Chapter 26

Two days later Alice Trenchard, holding the new baby snuggled in close to her body, sat beside Kerensa in the Trenchard farm cart for the journey to take mother and child home. Morley drove the team of two oxen with Nathan O’Flynn and Adam Renfree riding as escort. All three men kept a wary eye open in case of any more trouble. Morley had wanted Kerensa to send for a Pengarron carriage, worried that any other means of conveyance would be uncomfortable for her and the baby. But Kerensa had insisted the farm cart with plenty of straw and a couple of pillows was more than suitable. She nursed a secret fear that a rich man’s coach might attract the attention of more highwaymen.

Kerensa cast Alice many a sly look, turning quickly away whenever Alice looked back at her.

‘What?’ Alice asked eventually.

‘Oh, nothing.’

‘Must be something. Have I got a dirty mark on my face or something?’

‘No.’

‘What then?’

‘You look different, that’s all.’

‘Different? In what way different?’