I raised my eyebrows. Why hadn’t Mum mentioned it? I decided to ask her when I had a chance. Sadie flicked the kettle on and continued.
‘But one of the best things she’s done is put us on her Instagram page. Thanks to that we’ve had near to a one hundred per cent increase in donations, and interest from the local press. The power of these things is amazing. Right, you two are on baby bunny feeding duty again, then I’ve got a piece of dry-stone walling that needs fixing – you said you know how to do that, Alexander?’ He nodded. ‘Great. In that case, I’ll leave you to it. Oh, and do use that kettle to make yourselves a coffee, everything’s in the cupboard there.’
We bustled around for a few minutes, getting everything ready, then each gently lifted out a little rabbit and sat down on the sofa.
‘They’re bigger than last time,’ said Alexander. ‘They won’t need feeding like this for much longer.’
We settled into a companionable silence which appeared calm although my heart was racing at the sensation of his thigh pressing against mine; we were sitting closer together than we had been last time. As we swapped our sated rabbits for hungry ones, I prepared myself to bring up what had happened at breakfast. Much as I didn’t want to spend this cosy time talking about Jacqueline Honeywood, I did want to clear the air.
‘I’m sorry about Mum,’ I said, stroking the bunny’s velvety ears as it sucked at the small syringe. ‘Obviously, you don’t have to do anything to help with the engagement party; it’s bad enough that I was forced into it.’
‘Do you find it hard to say no to her?’ asked Alexander. ‘Although I don’t know who wouldn’t – it seems almost impossible.’
I grimaced.
‘She has a way of making you feel so unreasonable for refusing her that you end up agreeing. It’s only later that you think of good arguments, and by then the juggernaut has moved on. I don’t see her very often, normally, so it’s not as bad as it could be, and it’s much easier to say no over email or text message than it is over the breakfast table.’
‘Dad should have been firmer,’ said Alexander. ‘I can have a word with him if you like?’
‘No, don’t worry, I’ll put something together and steel myself for her inevitable disappointment. At least the time scale is dramatically limited. That brings its own problems, but it’ll all be over with quite quickly.’
We swapped our rabbits again for the final two.
‘I’ll gladly help you,’ said Alexander, ‘although you’ll have to just give me instructions to carry out. The Christmas Fayre has been bad enough; I don’t have the first clue when it comes to organising a party. Theo never wants them for his birthday, so I haven’t even been able to do that.’
I turned to him gratefully.
‘If you really don’t mind, then that would be brilliant – for the moral support, if nothing else.’
‘Of course. And it’s for Dad as well – a small step towards thanking him for everything he does for Theo and me. And Fallon…’ He broke off, but I couldn’t answer – my throat wassuddenly tight. ‘I can’t deny that I’d be very happy to spend more time with you.’
Our rabbits, now replete, were dozing on our laps. Alexander caught and held my gaze again in that gorgeously unsettling way he had, that I seemed unable to break away from. His hand crept away from the rabbit and towards mine, which met it willingly. We were already so close together that I could feel his breath on my face, and it was the easiest and most natural thing for our lips to meet in a kiss that was gentle, yet set off explosions throughout my body. Those baby rabbits may well have needed to cover their eyes with their soft little paws, had the door not flung open, admitting Jacob, Theo and Linnet and causing Alexander and I to spring apart, guilt written all over our faces.
‘Hello, all!’ boomed Alexander in an unnaturally jovial voice, standing up and just managing to cling on to his surprised rabbit, rudely awakened from its milky snooze.
Linnet hadn’t noticed a thing and bounced over to take the little creature from Alexander’s hands, crooning over it. Theo followed her more slowly, looking at us thoughtfully, but was soon absorbed by the rabbit he took from me, going over to the cage with his friend to look at all the babies. Jacob, of course, wasn’t so easily distracted and gave us a knowing grin and a raised eyebrow, which prompted us to get very busy clearing up the little kitchen area and jabber away about dry-stone walling.
‘Do you want to come and help?’ Alexander asked the children, who agreed enthusiastically, so we all set off to complete our next job.
As we worked on the wall, Alexander and I tried to determinedly avoid looking at each other, but our eyes kept meeting and each time they did, a jolt of electricity shot through me. I kept up a stream of conversation, hoping to keep things normal in front ofthe children, but I can’t deny that I was relieved when the time came for me to go and meet Constance for lunch.
‘Are you sure you can find your way all right?’ asked Alexander, pausing in his work. ‘I could run you over there, it would only take ten minutes.’
‘It’s fine, thank you,’ I replied. ‘I have my phone and a paper map and it’s only a mile or so. But there was one favour I wondered if you could all do for me?’ I touched Theo on the shoulder, and he smiled up at me. ‘Could you possibly keep Runcible with you and take her back home when you go? She’s tired and I don’t think a hike across the moors is going to help.’
‘Ooh, yes,please,’ said the little boy, as I had known he would. ‘We’d love to look after her for you.’
‘Thank you.’ I handed him a small crossbody bag I had been carrying. ‘This is her lunch and poo bags.’
He put it on importantly.
‘Don’t worry, Fallon, she’ll be fine with me.’
‘I know she will, thank you.’
With a final glance at Alexander, I set off. The truth was that I was tired, too, but I welcomed a stride across the moors to think about that kiss and try to get my tangle of feelings straightened out.
Of course, by the time I arrived at the pub, I had answered precisely no questions about how I felt or where I wanted things to go, and when I went to join Constance at the table she had secured right next to the blazing fire in an inglenook fireplace, she noticed immediately that something was up.
