She thought seriously about it. There seemed to be so much happening, and as they travelled to Hedon on Thursday she said, ‘I’ll explain to Robin, but not immediately, that one day we’ll marry and that you’ll be his stepfather. It might be confusing for him. He doesn’t know that Jack Robinson is his birth father.’
‘All in good time, Delia. Robin doesn’t need to know the details, but here is another dilemma for you to worry over.’ He smiled. ‘I thought that now the York house is sold I would buy a house in Hull; there are some good properties in Pearson Park and in Albion Street, and in Parliament Street too. What do you think? Perhaps we might take a look?’
‘Oh!’ She was astonished. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she might live in such elegant housing.
‘I’ve been making plans for a long time, Delia,’ he explained. ‘Thinking of when I might be free. I’ve often strolled by such houses, but I always held back, for it seemed pointless when there was no one in my life with whom to share it. But now there is.’
He looked out of the window and took hold of her hand and she realized that he too had been hurting, but hiding it so much better than her.
‘Next stop,’ he said. ‘Will your son, soon to be mine, be waiting for us?’
He was, of course; he was waiting in the trap with Peggy and jumped down to greet his mother with a hug and a kiss and eagerly shook hands with Giles. ‘We’re painting eggs,’ he said excitedly, ‘and then we’re going to have an Easter egg hunt.’
‘Oh, ho! Can anyone join?’ Giles asked. ‘I remember painting eggs when I was your age, Robin.’
‘Oh, yes, you can,’ Robin agreed. ‘We’ve got loads of eggs, haven’t we, Granny Peg? Some of them are from someone else’s hens because they’ve gone away, so we’re looking after them and feeding the goats. Molly’s feeding their mule too because she’s the only one that can go near him. He doesn’t nip her but he nipped through my breeches and I had to run!’
Delia glanced at Peggy, who shrugged and murmured, ‘Somebody had to feed ’em, didn’t they? We need to discuss some matters, Delia.’
Giles moved closer to the trap. ‘Is it essential, Mrs Robinson?’ he murmured.
She nodded. ‘Yes, I think so,’ she said on a breath so that Delia, who was still listening to Robin’s chatter, wouldn’t hear. ‘Identification is proved.’
Delia, Robin and Giles climbed into the trap, and Peggy shook the reins to set off.
‘Has Jenny come?’ Delia asked.
‘No,’ Peggy said abruptly. ‘And no word from her either; not that she needs to say she’s coming, but I would have liked to know.’
As they drove along the Thorngumbald road, Giles commented on the wide evening sky. It had been a dry and bright day and the sky reflected it. Though the sun was setting behind them in the west, great swathes of purple, red and gold were interspersed with the darkening wave-like clouds that passed over them, creating a landscape of images in the sky.
‘Look at that,’ he said, pointing. ‘It looks like the sea or a great river.’
‘Aye,’ Peggy answered. ‘It’s as if ’world has turned upside down and ’estuary is above us. There’s nothing like a Holderness sky for drama and spectacle,’ she said complacently, and even though she had never once stirred from her home county she added, ‘Nothing in ’world to touch it.’
‘Sometimes you can see castles and turrets and ships,’ Robin stretched his neck back to look up. ‘I’m going to make up a story about them.’
As they reached Thorngumbald and neared their turning, Peggy pointed ahead to where a carriage was bearing in the same direction. ‘Look there,’ she said. ‘Who round here can afford a carriage like that?’
Giles turned his head to grin at Delia, who smiled back. ‘Looks as if you might be having more company, Mrs Robinson,’ he commented.
Robin stood up to look. ‘I know who it is,’ he said excitedly, and his mother put her finger to her lips to silence him. He clapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes bright with laughter.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
‘I knew that if I told you I was bringing someone home you’d clean the house from top to bottom, Ma.’ Jenny kissed her mother on the cheek when they arrived in the trap. ‘And there was no need. The house is perfect and Arthur must accept me, us, just as we are.’
‘Arthur? But – who is he?’ Peggy’s bewildered gaze cut across the yard to where Aaron was standing by the fence in his baggy old cords with his arms folded across his chest, talking to a man in a top hat with his well-coated back to them as he gazed towards the estuary.
‘He’s a great friend of Delia’s,’ Jenny smiled at her friend, ‘so that is a very high recommendation, and …’ She paused for effect. ‘He’s the man I’m going to marry.’
Peggy put both hands over her mouth and looked at her daughter. ‘But we don’t know him. He’s a toff! Look at his clothes, look at his carriage.’
‘I know.’ Jenny sighed ruefully. ‘But it can’t be helped. You’ll get used to the idea. And by the way, he lives in a huge manor house with servants.’
Then she laughed as she saw Robin race across the yard towards the two men, calling, ‘Mr Arthur Crawshaw!’
‘You see,’ she said. ‘Robin has no difficulty with his status.’
Giles folded his arms across his chest and turning to Delia
