with wandering. I want to settle down.’
She suppressed her desire to laugh: perhaps he was sincere, or at least as sincere as it was possible for him to be. Honesty had never been one of his virtues. ‘What sort of job?’
‘Anything. Labouring in the building trade, I’ve done a bit of that.’
‘Then you’d better try Kennett’s. George Kennett has done very well for himself and I heard he’s expanding.’
‘OK. I might just do that.’ He smiled to himself. It meant he could stay, that she was taking him back. She didn’t say it in so many words and he was not such a fool as to express gratitude.
Chapter Four
Barbara woke on the morning of the tenth of August knowing the day was a milestone in her life, but she was given no time to dwell on it. Five-month-old babies make no allowances for their mother’s twenty-first birthday and Alison was awake at five and demanding attention. Barbara crept wearily from her bed, put on a dressing gown and went into the next room to see to her. She changed her nappy and fed her, sitting in a chair by the window and looking out onto a summer day which promised to be a scorcher. She was reminded of childhood birthdays which, coming as they did in the middle of the school holidays, were always memorable and happily anticipated for days beforehand. Sometimes her parents took her on a picnic to a local beauty spot, or to watch the seabirds on the marshes. Sometimes they went to Cromer or Hunstanton, where she would paddle in the sea and make sandcastles and then eat fish and chips out of the paper. At dusk they would return home, red as lobsters from sun and wind, with sand in their shoes and a bucketful of cockles to boil. The shells were afterwards distributed along the garden path and scrunched underfoot for weeks until they became as fine as dust. She was suddenly filled with longing for her father and the comfortable old farmhouse.
She would go and suggest a day at the seaside. ‘We’ll paddle in the sea and build you a sandcastle and eat a picnic. You’ll like that, won’t you, my lovely?’ she said, kissing the top of her daughter’s head. ‘It will be like old times.’
‘What will?’
She swung round at the sound of George’s voice. He was standing in the doorway in his pyjamas, watching them. ‘A trip to the sea. I’m going to ask Dad to take us in his car.’ Even her father had succumbed to the advantages of a motor instead of the pony and trap. ‘Would you like to join us?’
‘I can’t. After the meeting with Donald, there’s a site visit and I have to see my accountant and the bank manager this afternoon.’ He wandered off towards the bathroom, while she went downstairs to make his breakfast. The postman knocked while she was filling the teapot. He handed her several envelopes and two small parcels, one of which was from Penny and the other from her father. Penny’s parcel contained an expensive perfume and a note. ‘Wear this when you come to my party.’ She smiled as she sprayed a little on her wrists and sniffed appreciatively; it was typical of Penny not to take no for an answer.
The other package contained an antique silver brooch with a large amethyst in its centre which had belonged to her mother. ‘Your mother always intended you should have this on your twenty-first,’ her father had written on the enclosed card. She held the brooch on the palm of her hand and her mother’s warm presence seemed suddenly very real. Her eyes filled with tears and spilt down her cheeks. ‘Oh, Dad,’ she murmured. ‘You do know how to hurt, don’t you?’ But she knew it was never intended to hurt but to heal, and that made her tears flow faster than ever.
George came in and put a gift-wrapped package on the table in front of her. ‘I bought this for you.’
Her genuine cry of pleasure as she opened it was brushed aside. ‘I’m sorry we can’t go out somewhere to celebrate tonight, I’ve got a meeting. I’ll make it up to you another time. I might be late, so don’t wait up for me.’
She sighed but said nothing. George was always going to meetings of one kind or another.
As soon as he had gone, she packed a picnic and filled a couple of flasks, one with coffee and the