Ivy stood up and then sat back down again in agitation. “He asked me a month ago, you see, and I gave him a flat no. He’s got two kiddies, you see, Miss and I- I never liked my own stepmother. I told you I think that I tried married life once before and it didn’t turn out so well.” She quirked an eyebrow at Mina, who nodded. She recalled that Ivy’s husband had turned out to be a bigamist. “Truth to tell it’s not an easy life he’s offering me.” Ivy pulled a face. “I was raised on a smallholding. I’ve got no illusions. It’s hard work.” She twisted her hands. “In all honesty, he’d be better off asking the likes of Edna than me.” Ivy’s expression was rueful.
“I doubt Edna would have accepted him,” Mina said truthfully. “For her aunt means to leave her house to her and the true ambition of Edna’s heart is to own a Crown Derby tea set and raise three cats.”
Ivy gave a startled laugh. “Is it really? Well, she’s an odd duck and no mistake.”
“You’ve a kind heart Ivy, I think you’ll make an excellent wife and mother.”
Ivy’s eyes filled with tears. “Thank you, Mina,” she said, taking her hand. “There’s no two ways about it, though. I’ll be leaving you in the lurch here, doing a moonlight flit. I left it too late to work a decent notice. I daren’t tell Nye. Not when he’s expecting a regular gaggle of folks for Wednesday.”
Mina nodded her head, understanding Ivy’s reticence. Nye would be furious. “I comprehend you,” she murmured.
Ivy flung her arms about Mina’s neck. “Thank you for never standing in judgement over me,” she said fiercely as she hugged her. “There’s not many who wouldn’t have.”
“Oh Ivy,” said Mina. “You will be missed.”
“And you won’t tell Nye.”
“I won’t breathe a word.”
Ivy nodded. “You’ve got the handling of him anyway,” she said with a smile. “Any fool can see that.”
Mina wasn’t so sure about that, but she gave an answering smile of reassurance to Ivy who was plainly in a nervous state. “Is Tom collecting you tonight or—?”
Ivy nodded violently. “I’m to slip down to the side door.” She crossed to her small attic window and looked out. “He’s going to park a way’s down the road and I’m to keep a lookout and go to meet him.”
Mina looked around the room. “You’re all packed? You’ve got everything you need?”
“Yes, for this past half hour I’ve been ready and waiting. He said he’d wait till it turned dark and then to watch for him.”
“Just give me a moment, I’ll be back,” Mina said, letting herself out of Ivy’s room and crossing the passage to her own. Once inside, she made for her stocking drawer and retrieved the half-sovereign she had tucked away. Then she returned to Ivy and pressed it into her palm.
“Oh no Miss, I couldn’t!” Ivy gasped looking down at the shiny gold coin.
“Yes, you can. A good friend gave it to me when I was setting out to the unknown and now, I’m giving it to you. Strictly speaking, I’ve already spent it once, but it made its way back to me. Now I’m gifting it to you. If you have no immediate need for it, then hide it away for a rainy day.” Ivy turned teary again and they embraced. “I will remember you in my prayers, Ivy and perhaps you will write to me at Christmas time?”
“Oh yes,” Ivy agreed. “I will and send you my address so you can write back to me at New Year.” She blew her nose as Mina agreed.
“Shall I wait with you now or—?”
“No,” Ivy said firmly. “You get you to bed. I need to compose myself for a bit. I’ll just sit here in the dark and take my ease while I keep watch for him.”
“Very well.”
They embraced again, and Mina made for bed.
She wasn’t sure how much later it was that she woke, a gust of wind rattling the pane along with a few drops of rain. She lay a moment, listening before she noticed she her head was resting on a warm, muscular shoulder. She was tucked against a big, solid body in the bed.
When she went to lift her head, Nye’s voice spoke out of the darkness. “Go back to sleep.”
Mina blinked. “You’re awake,” she said in confusion.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I’ve learned my lesson. I can’t close my eyes next to you or I’ll never get up.”
She considered this a moment. “What time is it?” she murmured.
He hesitated. “A little before two,” he said briefly.
Clearly, he had to get up before morning for some fell purpose, she thought, but let her own eyes drift shut anyway. It was no business of hers. Her eyes sprang again in the darkness. “Why did you come to bed, if not to sleep?” she heard herself persist.
He didn’t answer that, just clamped a big hand to the back of Mina’s head and dragged her face back to his neck. Had she been sleeping with her face pressed to him like this, she wondered? “Relax,” he said. “I’m not here for anything else.”
Mina frowned. “I wasn’t worried and I’m not afraid of you,” she grumbled, shifting against him. He was wearing his clothes, she realized, feeling the press of his buttons through her cotton nightgown. It was not as comfortable as when he wore his soft flannel.
“You promise?” he said in an odd tone. Mina tried to draw back to get a look at his face, but it was too dark in the room for that.
“I’m not afraid of you, William Nye,” she insisted with quiet conviction and felt him exhale. “So, don’t think you can browbeat me.”
He snorted. “If I ever did think that,
