Free The Amber Keeper by Freda Lightfoot Page A

always ready to stir up trouble. ‘Then he and I had better agree upon some sort of truce.’
    Fay gave a little giggle. ‘I’ll see if I can persuade him.’
    Determined to waste no time worrying over her foolish and arrogant brother, Abbie went straight to the lodge to see her grandmother, and over a most welcome cup of tea happily related the details of her day, including her sketchy plans for the shop.
    ‘I feel filled with guilt at separating Aimée from her father,’ she said, smiling as she watched her daughter pushing her young cousin on the swing. ‘They have a good relationship, and I’ve no wish to destroy it.’
    ‘Isn’t that why you stayed with Eduard so long?’ her grandmother asked softly.
    ‘Maybe. Guilt, jealousy, a longing for love, foolish hope ‒ just a mass of emotions warring with each other. It wasn’t easy.’
    ‘Nor will being a single parent be easy.’
    ‘I realise that, and do worry about whether I’ll cope,’ Abbie ruefully admitted.
    ‘Of course you will. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, and you enjoy a close relationship with your daughter.’
    Abbie smiled. ‘She is a sweetie, isn’t she? Let’s hope she settles into her new school okay. Thankfully she and young Jonathon seem already to be good friends. As for myself, I must learn to toughen up and follow my dream.’
    ‘As did I,’ Millie agreed.
    ‘So what made you decide to accept her offer, disliking the Countess as you did?’
    ‘Good question. Ambition. The optimism of youth. A desire to see the world. Who knows?’
    ‘Oh, do tell. What happened next?’
    Millie laughed. ‘All right, where was I? Ah yes, I was about to embark upon my new life.’

EIGHT
    T he day I sailed for Russia was in mid-November and my parents , who’d raised no great objections to my decision, came to see me off. My mother, however, had been devastated by the thought of not seeing me again for what might be years.
    ‘I shall write every week,’ I promised, giving her a comforting hug, far too excited at the prospect of the adventure that lay ahead to fully appreciate her concern.
    They stood on the quayside at Hull, and I watched as she wept in my father’s arms, their image shrinking before my eyes as the ship slid slowly out to sea. It was in that moment of farewell that for the first time I felt a small nudge of fear. Despite my dream to travel I had never been further than visiting an old aunt in Leeds. As I frantically waved goodbye to my beloved parents, reality dawned. Russia was a foreign land, thousands of miles from home, where I wouldn’t know a soul. I would also be responsible for two young children when I was little more than a child myself. What madness had possessed me to accept such a position?
    A voice at my elbow interrupted my troubled thoughts. ‘Is this your first trip?’
    I looked into the smiling face of a plump young woman not much older than myself. Her red-brown hair was largely obscured by a wide-brimmed hat, although wisps of it escaped to flutter around pale round cheeks, and fringed lively brown eyes. I returned her smile with a wobbly one of my own as I wiped away my tears. ‘I’m afraid it is, and I was unprepared for the depth of emotion I would feel at leaving home.’
    ‘It isn’t easy. I remember almost jumping ship the first time I did it. Ruth Stubbins,’ she said, offering a hand for me to shake.
    I gladly accepted it and introduced myself, feeling very much in need of a friend just then. ‘It’s not your first trip, then?’
    ‘Goodness no, I’m an old hand at this lark now, having spent almost five years as a governess in Russia. I take it that’s what you’re going out to do?’
    ‘I am, with Count and Countess Belinsky.’
    She nodded. ‘English governesses are very popular in Russia, and at least the pay is better than what we might expect to receive in service in England. Are you a good sailor?’
    ‘I have no idea. I’ve never sailed in a boat bigger