His voice was soothing, soft. She stared at him, her skin prickling. ‘I’ve been thinking about what you said.’

‘Oh aye?’

‘I want some time to come to terms with it all. It’s only been a couple of weeks since the accident and I’ve not been sleeping well. My mind’s befuddled.’

‘Of course it is,’ he said eagerly. ‘That’s natural.’

‘So can I have a few days to get my head straight, till the weekend perhaps? Then you could call again and we’ll discuss things.’

His expression darkened. ‘You’re not going ahead with this lodger idea in the meantime?’

‘No, I can promise you that. I went to the other couple of shops where I’d put cards and had them taken out of the windows.’ This had the advantage of being true. On the way back from the Emporium she’d realized this would add credence to what she was going to say to Nathaniel.

He was smiling again. ‘Good. You need protecting from yourself, I can see that. I only want to take care of you, of both of you,’ he added swiftly, glancing at Betsy for a moment. ‘And I’d be good to you, Rose.’

His eyes lingered on her mouth for a moment and again her skin prickled as though a fly was crawling over it. She nodded – words were beyond her.

‘I’ll come back Saturday then, how about that? And I’ll bring a bottle with me. We can toast the future, our future.’

She found it unbelievable that he could talk like this when it was only two weeks since they had buried Davey.

Her expression must have revealed something of what she was thinking, because in the next breath, he said, ‘And Davey, of course. We’ll toast Davey and what he meant to both of us, but I know he’d want us to look ahead and not dwell in the past.’

She was so sick of him parroting out what he insisted Davey would have thought or wanted that she had to lower her eyes quickly, in case she gave herself away. Quietly she said, ‘Till Saturday then.’

‘Aye.’

He stood for a moment more just staring at her and when he would have said something else she walked to the door, opening it and forcing another smile as she said, ‘I need to put Betsy to bed now.’ As though on cue the baby flung her rattle on the floor and started to grizzle.

‘Right.’ He pulled his cap more firmly over his forehead. ‘Will you need more coal or food before Saturday?’

‘No, we’re fine.’ Go, just go.

Her body inwardly cringed away from the bulk of him as he passed her and stepped outside into the cold frosty air, but as he reached out and touched her cheek for a moment she remained perfectly still.