‘It was your parents’ barn,’ he said quietly. ‘There had been a fire inside and the roof has caved in.’
‘And?’ She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘What has that to do with me? Something else?’
‘Yes. According to the Robinsons and apparently other villagers too, your parents seem to be missing. There was no one in the cottage, which hasn’t been affected by the fire, by the way.’
She lifted her shoulders again. ‘He’d be out shrimping,’ she said, unconcerned. ‘Shrimping season is about now. No?’
‘No. It seems that his boats are still moored in the creek, but someone else’s boat is missing; and his mule and cart were still tied up. I’m only telling you what I was told, Delia, but the villagers are concerned about both of them and it was suggested by the Robinsons that I might tell you.’
‘I don’t know why anyone else would be concerned,’ she said slowly. ‘They never spoke to anyone unless it was really necessary. I was sent shopping in the village almost from the time I started school, so that my mother didn’t have to. They were barely known.’
‘Well, you know how rumours can fly,’ he remarked. ‘But fishermen are out on the estuary looking for them.’
‘Well, if the worst should happen,’ her voice was cold and devoid of emotion, ‘I suppose someone might remember that the Deakins once had a daughter, but as no one but the Robinsons know where I am they won’t be able to find me, will they? Does that make me sound hard-hearted?’ she asked, looking in his face for a trace of censure, but there was none.
‘To anyone else, perhaps,’ he said mildly. ‘But not to me, and it seems, Miss Delamour, that you have at last left that little girl Dorothy behind you.’
Delia put the news of her missing parents to the back of her mind. She didn’t need to think about them. They had cast her off and she was now doing the same to them. Whatever they had done or where they were had nothing to do with her. She had more important things to think about now: her future with Giles, for one, which on the face of it appeared wildly improbable considering the short time they had known each other; but she was deliriously happy, and was loving the work in the theatre and refused to be distracted by thinking of her parents. Dennis Rogers had seen how organized she was and had decided to take time off before the next show began.
‘You must take a holiday too, Miss Delamour. Take a holiday at Easter. Go and visit that boy of yours,’ he told her, and she said that she would. She had hired a clerk for the ticket office, a Miss Graham, who was so pleased to be offered the position that she practically curtsied to Delia. She would begin the week after Easter when the box office opened for advance bookings of the variety show.
Peggy had sent Delia a letter asking if she would come for the short holiday and said there was news of the Deakins that she should be made aware of. She also said that Mr Dawson would be very welcome and she was hoping that Jenny might be there too.
Delia was curious about Jenny and wondered if Arthur had been to visit, and as the Easter holiday would begin on Thursday hoped that her friend would also travel to Paull to see her family and bring interesting news. Giles had gone to York and on his return the following day called in at the theatre to see her; he told her of his completed house sale, that the money was safely in his bank, and that he had been to his parents’ home to explain his wife’s circumstances, that she was en route to Canada, if not already there, and finally that she had asked him for a divorce which was now in the hands of their lawyers.
‘They were upset, of course,’ he said, ‘but on hearing that Marion was about to produce a child that wasn’t mine they agreed that I must divorce her immediately and said that they wouldn’t stand in my way.’ He gave a sardonic grimace. ‘As if they could! They still regard me as a mere youth unable to make my own decisions. For heaven’s sake,’ he suddenly burst out, ‘I’m thirty-one years old!’
‘Did you tell them of any of your plans?’ she asked cautiously.
‘No, I did not and will not, only what they need to know. And although I had initially thought that I might invite them to our non-wedding celebrations, I have now decided that I won’t, but will take you to meet them afterwards and present you as my wife and Robin as my stepson, and completely shock them.’ And because they were alone, he put his arms round her. ‘Light of my life,’ he said, kissing the tip of her nose, ‘you won’t change your mind, will you? You won’t begin to think that everything is far too complicated and happening far too fast?’
‘Everything is happening too fast,’ she laughed. ‘But not fast enough and I won’t change my mind.’
She wrote back to Peggy telling her that she would be there by late afternoon on Thursday and that Mr Dawson would be pleased to come too, and that he would again stay at one of the hostelries in the village to save them any inconvenience.
‘We must do things properly,’ Giles said to her. ‘We wouldn’t wish to cause the Robinsons any embarrassment, and although they might guess the situation between us I’d like to wait for the confirmation of the citation of divorce before we make any announcement.’
‘I – I didn’t think we’d make an announcement,’ she faltered.
‘Only to family and friends, to confirm our decision,’ he answered. ‘And you’ll want to explain to
