perfectly well with adults and wasn’t in the least shy, and yet responded well with children too, and it was as if he’d found a niche, as if being part of a family was what he had craved. She looked at Jack, who was observing Robin as if he couldn’t quite believe what had happened either, and then he glanced at Louisa and put his hand over his mouth as if he was suddenly overwhelmed by something. A second later he drew the little girl towards him and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

Susan leaned forward and put her cheek against Delia’s. ‘We’ll try to make it work out, Delia,’ she whispered. ‘Honest we will.’

Jack didn’t offer Delia a kiss and she was glad that he didn’t, but he held out his hand to her and hurriedly repeated that they’d meet again soon.

When they’d gone, Robin, Louisa and Molly went back into the parlour to clear away their games. Peggy sat down and put her head back on the chair and closed her eyes.

‘I feel as if I’ve been through ’mangle,’ she sighed. ‘I hope I never have another day like this one.’

‘I’m sorry—’ Delia began.

Peggy cut her short. ‘Don’t you dare apologize,’ she said. ‘Nothing’s your fault, and Aaron says we’ve to get over all our apologies and begin again. As long as ’bairns are all right. That’s what’s important.’

‘Yes,’ Delia said quietly. ‘I agree.’

‘And I mean our Louisa as well as Robin.’ Peggy lowered her voice. ‘In case Jenny hasn’t mentioned anything to you, we now have ’truth about Louisa.’

Delia raised her eyebrows and waited.

‘She’s not our Jack’s child.’ There was a note of anguish in Peggy’s voice. ‘I have to say, it came as no great surprise, and yet … ’truth teks some getting used to. But there we are! Jack and Susan mek a good match. It seems,’ she went on, wiping a teary eye and seeming to give herself a mental shake, ‘that we’ve lost one grandchild but gained another.’

Delia asked if they might leave ten minutes earlier and drive down to the estuary before they went to catch their train. ‘It’s been a long time since I last looked at the Humber,’ she told Aaron. ‘It was part of my life for so long. I watched its moods every day, and every day they changed.’

‘I can understand that,’ he murmured. ‘Having been a fisherman I’ve a bond with ’river; sometimes … well, this might seem strange’ – he glanced about the room but only Delia was listening – ‘but at one time, when I was a young man, it seemed to talk to me, telling me whether or not to go out or stay ashore, and sometimes when to head home.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t feel it much nowadays, cos I don’t go out so often. But I tell you what, that lad of yours, he’s got a feel for it too. He’s not afraid of it.’

‘He must get that from you,’ she murmured.

‘Aye, mebbe, or …’ He cast a questioning glance at her and raised his head in the direction of her old home.

She shook her head and said decisively, ‘I hope Robin has inherited nothing from my side.’

Aaron smiled. ‘Except from you, Delia. Bravery and determination are just two qualities I could think of.’

Peggy gave them a blanket to put over their knees as they drove away, as the weather was getting even colder. There was a pale sun and a few patches of blue sky through the dark cloud; Aaron said he thought there might be snow heading their way. Robin had asked if he could come to the station to see his mother off and Peggy gave him a woolly hat to wear and turned up his coat collar, and then brought out another blanket.

They headed down the track towards the village; the river glinted in front of them, and they felt the chill of the wind as they drove nearer. Gulls and other estuarine birds flew low over the water in their hunt for fish.

‘See them low clouds, Robin,’ Aaron said, ‘and how they’re flattening out, and feel that Arctic wind coming up ’estuary? That tells you that snow is on ’way.’

‘It would be too cold a day to go out fishing then, wouldn’t it?’ Robin asked. ‘Although I thought that there might be plenty of fish coming in from the sea.’

‘What meks you think that?’

‘Well, didn’t you say the other day that the smolt would soon be coming to the estuary to spawn?’ He turned to his mother. ‘Smolts are a young salmon and spawn means laying their eggs,’ he explained.

‘I see.’ Delia nodded and hid a smile. ‘Of course.’

‘So I thought that the smolt might be starting to come, to get ready, you know.’

‘Ah,’ Aaron said. ‘But it’s not only about ’weather being warm or cold – and it’s still much too cold for them – but it’s also about ’condition of ’water. Here at Paull, nearer to ’sea, there’s more saline in ’estuary waters and certain types of fish can tolerate it and others can’t. So, for instance, you’d find some cod or plaice and turbot round here, but at ’top end of ’estuary where there’s fresher water with less saline you’d mebbe find tench or carp or roach.’

‘Oh, I see,’ Robin murmured. ‘There’s quite a lot to learn, isn’t there?’

There was a heavy swell on the river and brisk white-flecked waves broke over the bank and thrashed on to the road. Delia recalled when she had lived in Paull if the tide had been very high it several times flooded the bottom of her father’s land and nothing would grow there. He never built up the bank to avoid the problem; he was a fisherman and didn’t seem to care about the land. He kept a mule for pulling his cart which was allowed to graze, but her mother was the one who dug and grew fruit and vegetables, and kept a

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