Children of the Tide by Valerie Wood Read Free Book Online

me, will you, Hardwick? I’ve an urgent call to make. If my father should ask, tell him I’ve been delayed, would you?’
    Hardwick raised his eyebrows. ‘Very good, sir.’
    Damn. Father’s going to be furious
. Gilbert drove into the yard at the back of the office and jumped down from the gig.
But I must see where they are taking him
. He called to a stable lad and threw him the reins, then dashed out of the yard in pursuit of his brother and Sammi. He followed them as they walked down Whitefriargate, and waited in a doorway until they came scurrying out of an old part of the town, and saw them hesitate before hurrying on again.
    Oh, God!
He rubbed his whiskers hard as he thought.
They’re looking for a hospital. What can I do? They’re terrible places. He’ll not survive. But if I go after them and tell them that the child is mine, Harriet won’t marry me. The wedding will be called off!
    He was already racked with guilt at letting James take the blame, and he had spent a sleepless night worrying what to do. He had heard the infant cry during the early hours and, trusting that no-one else would hear him, he’d knocked on Sammi’s door. His mother would have had apoplexy if she had known he was in his cousin’s room, but he gave no regard to that, and Sammi had let him in. He had been surprised at her maternal instinct as she held the child in her arms, trying to soothe it.
    ‘I’m used to babies,’ she’d whispered. ‘When the village women have them, I always go to see them and ask if I can hold them. And we have puppies and kittens at home, and baby lambs, and they’re all the same really.’
    But they’re not the same
, he thought, as he followed them again and watched them turn towards anotherhospital.
Dogs can be trained and mastered. Cats can fend for themselves. Infants grow into people
. He could only just remember James being born, and more clearly his sister Anne, but he remembered how he wasn’t allowed to touch them in case he hurt them. This child he’d touched. He’d stroked his soft cheek and marvelled at his tiny hands and nails, and had seen as Sammi took off his covering blanket, his downy head of pale hair.
    He drew out his pocket watch. He didn’t know what excuse he would make to his father. The meeting was an important one. The local shipping and whaling merchants were meeting to discuss the ever-declining whaling industry.
    Sammi appeared suddenly from the end of a street. She was still holding the child, and looked as if she had been crying, then James came running after her. He, too, looked upset.
    This is no good
. Gilbert suddenly made a decision.
I’ll have to tell them. They’re so young, they can’t take on my responsibilities
.
    ‘Good morning, young Rayner! What are you doing mooching about at this time of day? No work to do?’
    Gilbert looked stupefied as Austin Billington, his future father-in-law, stopped in front of him. He lifted his top hat. ‘Good morning, sir. I, er, I’m just about a spot of business, just, er, wondering which call to do first.’
    ‘Mm. I see.’ Austin Billington was wearing a dark, formal frock coat with a brightly patterned waistcoat beneath it. In his lapel he wore a rose which he bought every day from the flower seller before he went into his bank. ‘We were only talking about you at breakfast. Most of the arrangements have been made for the wedding. We only want your final list of guests.’
    ‘Yes, I, er, I haven’t forgotten, sir. I’ll let you have it by this weekend.’
    ‘Yes, I was only saying to Mrs Billington thatperhaps it is as well that we had to delay the marriage because of her ill health, though I know you young people wouldn’t agree,’ he chortled and winked and stroked his pointed greying beard. ‘But I do believe we are going to have some very good weather in the next few weeks, and there’s nothing quite like a June wedding. But there we are, I always was a sentimental old fool.’
    Gilbert laughed