Robin approved of the house too and had chosen his room on the top floor for when he came to stay. It had a good view of the museum on the opposite side of the street, which he had found was full of the most interesting objects. He had asked his mother if she would mind very much if he continued to live with Peggy and Aaron for he liked it there, and if he left he would miss them and all the little girls, especially Louisa. And then he had added, ‘I’m very useful to them.’
Delia felt torn and she felt Robin must be too, but she also realized how content he was with his settled existence, even though she hadn’t yet told him that Peggy and Aaron were his grandparents. It was his choice, she decided, and because he had asked and they had had a discussion, she didn’t feel that she was forsaking him. He also seemed to be getting along well with Jack, who was teaching him about animal husbandry and had let him help with calving and shown him how to milk a cow.
After discussion with Peggy and Aaron, Jack and Susan had suggested that Robin could stay with them at Foggit farm sometimes, just as the girls stayed with their grandparents. ‘It means,’ Susan had said hesitantly, ‘that we’ll become used to him as family and when ’time comes he can be told that he’s Jack’s son.’
Mr Rogers said he didn’t know how he had ever managed without Delia as under-manager at the theatre. She’d thanked him, but didn’t mention that soon he would have to, as she and Giles were planning on going on tour as a duo in northern theatres and festival halls; that was also their intention after their marriage, which was still some time away. She was, however, advising Miss Graham the ticket clerk on other tasks, and as the woman had a good head for figures was sure she would be a great help to Mr Rogers.
When Robin’s eleventh birthday came along in November Delia and Giles stayed in Paull, Giles in one of the hostelries and Delia with the Robinsons, for she had decided that she would, after all, wait a little longer in a state of celibacy until Giles was completely free.
Then on the day of the Hedon hirings the whole family gathered to mark the ending of a rather special year, and booked a midday meal at the Sun Inn; Delia, Jack and Susan had come to an amicable understanding, but the main focus was that although they all agreed that much had happened in a very short time, Giles and Delia had met on that same day too and it should be a day of celebration.
Christmas came and they spent another very happy time in Paull, with Delia rejoicing that at last she had the family that she had only dreamed of when she was young. On Boxing Day Jack asked her if she would come and look at the site where Deakin’s cottage stood. The Robinsons had emptied it completely, as Delia had said she wanted nothing from it, and they had had a great bonfire of the old furniture and everything that was of no value.
Jack took a sledgehammer and aimed the first great blow to the cottage walls and said he hoped he had made amends and that he would consider Robin as his son, the son he had always wanted.
They gazed together at the mound of brick and stone and boulders that had fallen and Jack muttered sheepishly, ‘Mebbe one day, Delia, you’ll think of building another house here? One where you and Giles could come and stop sometimes when you want some peace and quiet from town or travelling; and mebbe when Robin’s older he might like to keep some sheep and pigs an’ have a proper smallholding.’
He pointed down to the bottom of the paddock, where the two goats still bleated and the mule brayed at them and the estuary ran swift and constant. ’You could even mek a small lagoon where seabirds’d come: avocets, shelduck, curlew, grebes and mallard; there’d be all manner of wildfowl flying in.’
As she heard the enthusiasm in his voice, Delia remembered what Jack had been like when he was just a boy, spotting different species of wildfowl, nurturing a litter of kittens, birthing a calf, and sometimes telling her he had seen seals and once a dead whale off Spurn; he’d been a quiet shy country lad then, seemingly without any anger in him.
‘Louisa would like that.’ Robin had come to join them and caught the end of Jack’s suggestion. He ran off to find Louisa and tell her.
Giles came looking for her and Jack, turning pink with embarrassment, looked down at his feet. ‘In a few years’ time there’ll be some explaining to do,’ he muttered. ‘I overheard Robin telling Louisa that they could get married when they’re old enough.’
Delia and Giles both smiled. Delia couldn’t comprehend that her young son would even think of such a thing, but then sighed and thought that in ten years’ time he would be an adult. She gazed at Jack, who still couldn’t meet her eyes. ‘I think, Jack,’ she said, addressing him easily by name for the first time, ‘that next year, when they’re twelve, we must tell them their own stories.’
In January of the following year, Giles received a letter from his wife to tell him she had been safely delivered of a daughter and that she would be for ever grateful that Giles had been willing to set her free to marry again; she asked if he would consider being a godfather by proxy to their baby girl whom they were naming Gloria. He asked Delia what she thought and she said that it was a lovely request to make and good that they could remain
