Emma felt grateful for the older woman's presence, although Arthen's aunt had been sharp and brisk to her at first. And it was not as if Aunt Royse had suddenly warmed towards her, but Emma had already begun to see that beneath her gruff manner, Arthen's aunt was a kindly woman who only meant to aid others. Since Emma had decided to make a home of this place, she was more than grateful for the older woman's aid in overseeing the house and the child, although Aunt Royse began to look at her askance when it became plain that Emma was not very adept at the chores which needed to be done in and outside the house.
To Emma's relief, Aunt Royse did not choose to openly berate her for her clumsiness, only saying, "You should strive to do better, since you've a child and a husband to care for."
Emma nodded, thinking she would do her best to learn how to take care of the child. As for the husband she'd unwittingly acquired, she found she did not care much about him at this time, but she had no choice but to put up with him because she had resolved to stay.
"Away with you now!" Aunt Royse said at last in plain exasperation after a while in which Emma supposed she'd not been able to aid the older woman with much. "Have a stroll outside and take the child with you. I want you out of my hair."
Emma decided it was as good a time as any to get acquainted with her surroundings. The sun was brightly shining outside, and soon she began to be cheered and carefree, liking the way Robin’s little hand felt as she held it in hers. She watched the houses and people around her with a smile upon her face because she loved to stroll and learn of new things. Robin chatted happily as they strolled and she eagerly tried to learn about the neighbourhood from him, but he was too young totell her what she wished to know, and soon Emma gave up her attempt of questioning him, and just took delight in his talk. After a while they began a jolly game in which each of them pointed diverting things to the other, and Emma came to see Robin was even brighter and quicker than she'd thought for his age.
But as they strolled, Emma became aware some of the people passing by were casting her strange glances, and she belatedly recalled some must be already acquainted with Rowena and must know something of the ill deeds she'd done. Most of those who stared at her didn't offer a greeting, but there was a woman, accompanied by a little boy of about five, who openly called out to her as she approached, “Good day to you, Rowena.”
Emma returned the greeting, tense. She did not know who this woman was and what her relationship to Rowena might be. Robin suddenly snatched his hand away from hers going to the older boy who was about five and who'd been walking beside the woman who’d offered the greeting. Both boys started running ahead, and Emma looked at them in alarm.
“Robin!” she called, but the child did not seem to mind her.
Emma had no choice but to follow, just as the woman who’d greeted her was doing.
“They’re both eager to go and see their fathers,” the woman said with a shake of her head and a smile.
Emma frowned. She’d had no intention of going to see Master Archer during the day. It seemed enough to her she had to bear his presence at night. The woman must have perceived her expression, because she said hurriedly, “Oh, pray forgive me. Perhaps you had another errand today, but then Robin saw my Will and followed.”
“No matter,” Emma forced herself to say with a smile. “If Robin wants to see his father, then we shall go to see him.”
She made the decision on the spur of the moment because she understood she needed to know where Master Archer was during the day, if need ever arose and she must fetch him to aid the child. Besides, now that she’d decided she’d stay here in Rowena’s stead it would not do to not know where her alleged husband did his work. Emma winced slightly at the thought of the wordhusband, but then dismissed her unease because she had decided to bear Master Archer’s presence for the sake of being with Robin. And she strived to dismiss her other, lustful thoughts of Master Archer.
For a while, she and the woman whose name she did not know walked in silence, as Emma had no notion what to say to her or how Rowena would have acted. Yet, after a while, the silence seemed to become strange, and Emma strived to find something to say which would not sound awkward.
“A bright day, isn’t it?” she muttered.
“Aye, bright,” the woman echoed.
She had a pretty face, slightly freckled, and although she wore a wimple, it was plain, from the thick plaits which fell upon her shoulders, that her hair was just as bright red as that of her boy, who was now chatting happily with Robin. And obviously Robin was quite taken with his older friend. Another awkward silence fell, and Emma saw the woman glance at her rather self-consciously as if also not knowing what to say to her.
“So. How…What…Well, you look well today, Rowena,” the woman stammered as they followed the boys who were now giggling at something Will had said.
Emma nodded in some embarrassment, understanding that the whole neighbourhood must already be aware, if not of the whole story of Rowena’s running away, at least of some of the things Rowena had done. How much did this woman know of Rowena’s behaviour? She was most certainly a neighbour and, by the fast friendship between the boys, Emma resolved thiswoman must also be someone Rowena was closely acquainted with.
“I am well,” she resolved to say with a nod and a smile.
Then she decided to be truthful to this woman, regarding the one thing she could be truthful about.
“I am glad Robin is hale and safe. I am glad to be with him upon this bright day.”
The woman cast her a look which seemed amazed at first, but then smiled a pretty, warm smile.
“All is well then,” she said, squeezing Emma’s arm, but then hastily withdrawing her hand as if afraid her comforting touch would be spurned.
How had Rowena behaved to this woman? Did they used to be friendly to one another? Emma had no way of knowing, but she resolved she needed friends in this new life she’d decided to forge for herself. Her former life had been far too lonely and confining, and her mother and uncle had never allowed her to form friendships. This woman was close to her in age, so it seemed natural to befriend her, no matter how Rowena had formerly behaved.
“Will seems in high spirits today,” she said, looking from mother to son, and smiling upon the keen resemblance between the two of them.
“Isn’t he always! A most mischievous boy. Always running and seeking to climb the tallest fences and the most dangerous trees. Never able to sit still. Always chatting and singing and driving us crazy with his prattle. And my John just shrugging and saying,Maggie, is it any wonder he’s the way he is? Isn’t he just as you were at his age? And I always say back to him that he was far worse than I was when we were children, but he swears he was far better behaved.”
So this was Maggie, and her husband’s name was John, Emma thought in sheer relief. At present, Maggie stopped with the same self-conscious look on her face as before.
“Pray forgive me. I am a chatterbox, everyone says.”
Emma shook her head with a smile, recalling those endless hours of sad silence after the death of her nurse when she’d not been able to befriend anyone in her home, because servants were silent and tense and wary of Lord Belfort’s wrath.