Nell did agree. She was proud of Steve now, not only for what he had done to help Emily and Trip, but also the way in which he was trying to turn his life around. And to confirm her belief in him, word came in a roundabout way through Eddie Crossland that the police were definitely no longer interested in Steve Henderson. It seemed that they, too, had heard that he was making a valiant effort to go straight and they wanted to help him do so. The former gangland leader was an example to other gangs and they hoped that if word spread amongst the city’s underworld that reformed characters would no longer be pursued, then there might be a few more who would decide that the time had come for them to give up their life of crime. But there was another – even more pressing – reason why the gangs who still roamed the streets, threatening the citizens and running their various criminal enterprises, might have cause to rethink their lives: the appointment of Captain Sillitoe to the post of Chief Constable. He had taken up his new post at the beginning of May and had vowed to smash the gangs once and for all.
‘Have you heard about him?’ Steve asked Trip, when they met in the pub for a celebratory drink before going home.
‘Yes, on the grapevine. I have to say, Steve, I hope he does it.’
Steve laughed wryly. ‘You’ll be surprised to hear me say it, Trip, but so do I. Oh, I’ve been a bad lad in my time, but I was never so vicious as the gangs of youngsters we’ve got now. I never really hurt anyone. Well, maybe just one person. Mick Dugdale. I gave him something to remember me by, but he deserved it.’
Trip was silent. He didn’t condone violence at all, yet he could understand Steve’s reaction to what Mick had done to his family.
‘Let’s just hope he stays away for good now.’
‘Amen to that, Trip. And here’s to your son.’ They drank to the baby’s health and as Steve put his glass down, he added, ‘I expect you haven’t heard, but the TUC has called off the General Strike. We’ll all be back at work tomorrow morning. Don’t forget to tell Emily when you see her tonight. And tell her, Nell will look after things at work until she’s back.’
‘I thought you said you didn’t want to name him after someone else,’ Emily said, smiling, when, on his visit that evening, Trip suggested that they should name their son after their rescuer.
Trip pulled a wry face. ‘What I meant was I didn’t want generations of Arthurs or Walters or even Thomases, and I’m only suggesting it should be a second name, just by way of recognition of what Steve did. I’m not into “Big Steve” and “Little Steve” either.’
Emily nodded soberly. ‘I agree. So, what do you think? I’ve thought of two: Andrew or Lewis.’
‘I like them both, but I think I prefer Lewis. Lewis Steven Trippet. What do you think?’
‘Perfect,’ Emily said. ‘Just like he is.’
‘By the way,’ Trip said as an afterthought, ‘the General Strike is over but the miners are fighting on.’
Emily sighed. ‘Well, I hope they win. If it goes on for long, we’d better start thinking about setting up some soup kitchens or something.’
Trip smiled to himself. That was Emily; despite the traumatic events of the day, she still had thoughts for others who might be facing hard times.
There was a steady stream of visitors once Emily arrived home from hospital. Constance, bringing Martha with her, was the first to arrive. She stood over the cot gazing down at the infant, who looked up at her with blue eyes and waved his small fists. ‘I have a grandson,’ she murmured, as if she couldn’t quite believe it. For Martha, of course, the feeling was not so new, but the boy’s arrival was still a cause for joy and Martha had begun planning his future already.
‘There, Thomas, you have a son and heir to your family firm.’
Trip smiled and nodded, but said nothing. He didn’t want to shatter Martha’s dreams, but he was very much afraid that if the unrest amongst the workers escalated, there might not be much of a future for his son at Trippets’.
‘As long as he’s healthy and happy,’ Constance murmured softly, ‘that’s all I ask for him.’
When it came to choosing godparents, Emily and Trip found themselves with a dilemma. ‘We’ve got to have Josh and we ought to include Richard, but what about Steve? We can’t leave him out after everything.’
‘There’s no restriction on the number you can have, is there?’
Emily shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. The usual is two godfathers and one godmother for a boy and two godmothers and one godfather for a girl.’
‘Then we’ll just ask whoever we want. We must ask Amy, of course.’
‘And I’d like to ask Nell.’
‘What about Lizzie?’
Emily sighed. ‘I know – there’s her too. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.’
‘I tell you what. Why don’t we stick to the usual number? We’ll have Josh and Steve and Amy. There, how does that sound?’
‘All right, but what about Richard?’
Trip chuckled. ‘I’ll tell him he’s top of the list for the next one.’
‘And I’ll tell Nell and Lizzie the same, because if it’s a girl, that’d be just right.’
Trip took her hand and kissed it. ‘You’re a very brave woman to even think of having more babies after what happened.’
Emily laughed. ‘Actually, despite the circumstances, it was a lot easier than I thought. The pain was bad, of course, but it didn’t last long. The nurses at the hospital told me that, for a first baby, he came surprisingly quickly.’
‘We’re very lucky,’ Trip said, his voice husky as he thought how very different the outcome might have been.
Although Emily didn’t return to work for a few weeks, she organized the setting up of two soup kitchens in a local school and the distribution of free bread to help the miners’ families. The citizens rallied round and the miners continued their battle.
Lewis was christened in Ashford’s church on a warm August morning in a double celebration with Josh and Amy’s second son, Philip, who had been born only a week after Lewis.
The whole family was invited to Riversdale House for luncheon following the service and, although he was still confined to his bed, Arthur was able to hold his grandson in his arms and, with a lopsided smile, nod his delight to Trip and Emily.
Belle and Richard had been invited to join the gathering and, after lunch, they spent a little time with Arthur in his room.
Martha and the rest of the Ryan family left soon after luncheon.
‘Walter’s a little tired,’ Martha explained. ‘It’s been an exciting day for him. Two grandsons christened on the same day. Who’d have thought it?’
And so Trip and Emily were left in the sitting room with Constance nursing her newly baptized grandson.
Conversationally, she said, ‘George came to see Arthur the other day.’ With her gaze never leaving Lewis’s face, she did not see Trip and Emily exchange a quick glance. Carefully, and making no comment on his mother’s use of the factory foreman’s Christian name, Trip said, ‘That was nice of him. I think they always got on pretty well.’
Constance gave a low chuckle. ‘As well as anyone could get along with your father.’
Trip and Emily smiled weakly, but made no comment. Arthur Trippet had been a difficult man to live with and to work for, but it didn’t seem right to be speaking ill of the man lying incapacitated upstairs, closer to death than he was to life.
There was a long silence, the only sound the baby’s snuffling in his sleep as he lay contentedly in his grandmother’s arms.
At last, Constance said quietly, ‘I have known George a long time – longer, in fact, than I have known your father. We grew up together in Over Haddon. We were –’ she paused a moment as if searching for the right word – ‘good friends, but both our parents thought the friendship unsuitable. My father was a landowner – I think you know that – and held great sway in the district, whilst George’s father was the village wheelwright and blacksmith. To put it bluntly, my father was a snob, though of course I didn’t realize it at the time. I was just a young girl being obedient to her father’s wishes. He introduced me to Arthur and, well, you can guess the rest.’
She was silent again and neither Trip nor Emily felt able to probe any further. But the conversation left them wondering . . .
Although Steve had moved into the house Nell and Lucy shared with Dora Geddis, there was still no sign of a date for their marriage being fixed, but Emily was heartened to hear Nell singing at her wheel once more. Emily had returned to work only four weeks after Lewis’s birth, taking him in a baby basket beside her on the seat of her car everywhere she went. Trip insisted that she have some help in the house so they employed Flo’s younger sister, Daisy, to clean and wash and iron for them, though Emily made sure she was home by five o’clock every night to cook dinner for Trip herself. Far from being overtired, Emily seemed invigorated by the arrival of their son. Lewis was a happy and contented child and, in the evenings, they both enjoyed ‘family time’; bathing and feeding their son and putting him to bed. Although Trip was happy to be involved, he flatly refused to change nappies!
‘I don’t know what I’d do if he was a fractious baby,’ Emily commented more than once to Trip. ‘According to Josh’s last letter, Philip rarely sleeps through the night and is a difficult baby.’
‘We ought to go to see them all on Sunday.’
‘Yes, let’s, but on Saturday morning, there are a couple of people I want to take Lewis to see.’
‘Oh? Who?’
‘Mr Hawke, for one and –’ She paused before adding, ‘Mrs Dugdale. They’ve both seen him before, of course, but I want to keep in regular contact with them both.’
Trip paused for a moment and then he nodded, ‘Yes, I agree. Mr Hawke has been extraordinarily good to you over the years and as regards Mrs Dugdale, it’s time to build a few bridges. Resentment and ill-feeling have gone on long enough. How is Lizzie, by the way?’
‘A bit quiet. Subdued, you’d say. Nothing like the bubbly, vivacious girl I first met when we arrived in Sheffield.’ She sighed. ‘It’s sad really.’
‘All because of her devil of a brother.’
‘I know, and we all thought he was so kind and helpful – and clever.’
‘He was clever all right, but, unfortunately, he put his ingenuity on the wrong side of the law. I wonder what became of him? Has Lizzie ever said that they’ve heard from him?’
Emily shook her head. ‘Even if they had, I don’t think she’d tell us, do you?’
‘Probably not.’