Hope for Tomorrow by Catherine Winchester

deep and won't need stitches,” she said. “But I fear you will have an ugly bruise under your eye in the morning.”
    “ Ah well, it will give my face character, will it not?”
    She smiled but didn't know how to answer.
    “ Sit,” he said, gesturing to a chair on the opposite side of the desk. “Enjoy your tea.”
    She did as she was told and poured herself a cup of tea adding milk and sugar. It was such a luxury to her that she savoured each sip.”
    “ You have been in service,” he said after a few minutes. He could tell from the way that she addressed him, not to mention that she hadn't even had to ask where the kitchen could be found.
    “ Since I was ten,” she confirmed.
    “ Do you think that you might be able to look after this place?” he asked.
    “ A whole house?” she sounded shocked. “Sir, I-”
    “ No, just a few rooms,” he interrupted her before she could protest too much. “You are right, I should have someone here full time but as you can see, I don't entertain or have people over so I think you can manage alone. It would just be you and I most of the time.”
    “ Thank you for the offer, Sir, but I have tried to find work in private houses and am always turned away.”
    “ Why?”
    “ My mother died in childbirth and I have to care for my sister. If I hadn't left my previous position, she would have ended up in a work house.”
    “ Now it looks as if you might both end up there,” he said though he was just stating a fact, not being unkind. “And what of your father?” he asked.
    “ Dead also, Sir, six months before my mother.”
    “ So where is this sibling?” he asked.
    Martha removed her shawl and gently lifted Hope from the sling that she rested in.
    “ Ingenious,” he said. “She's very quiet.”
    “ Yes, but for obvious reasons people don't want their housemaids wandering around all day with a baby strapped to them.”
    “ I don't see the harm,” he said. “I have no visitors or callers and my business is handled from my premises, not here. Do you think you can cook and clean as well as look after your sister?”
    Martha knew that she could but she was still hesitant.
    “ Is that all my duties will include, Sir?” she asked in a small voice.
    “ Oh please,” he smiled. “I'm far too old to be bothering with all that. No, you showed me a kindness this evening and if you hadn't come along, I don't know what I might have done. Let me return the favour and in return for a good days work, I will give you a wage and a room.”
    “ And what of your current help?”
    “ Truth be told she is a cook and rather resentful of the other duties she has to do. She will be glad that I have employed proper help so that she can return to simply preparing an evening meal for me.”
    “ Then thank you, Sir, I accept.”
    He smiled, the biggest she had seen on his face to date, although that wasn't saying much.
    “ Well you can't keep calling me sir, can you? I'm Augustus Aldercott but you can call me Gus.”
    “ I'm Martha Dawley and this is Hope.”
    “ What a marvellous name.” Gus's smile widened a little further. “May I?” He held his arms out for the baby and Martha placed Hope into them. “My my, what an angel you are,” he said softly.
    He had clearly had experience with children as he knew exactly how to hold her.
    “ Now, why don't you bring us both a portion of whatever Mrs Needham has left for me on the stove while I get to know Hope a little better.”
    Though she was wary of leaving Hope with a virtual stranger, she didn't believe that he meant either of them any harm and returned to the kitchen.
    There was more than enough in the pot for two bowls of stew and she sliced some of the crusty bread that was waiting on the kitchen table, then brought his up to the study. She paused outside the door as she heard him singing softly. She didn't recognise the tune but it sounded like a lullaby. She came in and paused for a moment as she watched him gently crooning