‘You can’t?’ I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to mine Charlie for more information about his reticent brother. Something tells me Charlie isn’t anything like as word-shy.
‘I don’t think it’s easy being the little brother. Are you a sister, by any chance?’
‘I am. Eldest of two.’
‘Ah, so maybe you know what it’s like beingthe chosen one?’
He says it so dramatically, I laugh.
‘Parents aren’t supposed to have favourites,’ he adds in a theatrical whisper, pulling a guilty face. ‘Poor Patrick.’
‘Ah!’ I say, as it clicks for me. ‘I think I know what you’re saying. My mum definitely treated me differently to Lydia. Not like I was herfavouriteor anything, but…’
‘Only that they had different expectations of you than the baby of the family?’ Charlie puts in as we reach the hall steps.
‘Yes! Exactly that. Believe me, I wouldn’t have spent every Christmas of my life surrounded by gingerbread if I hadn’t been singled out for the job.’
‘But you’re glad your little sister didn’t have to take it on?’
I nod. ‘She’s doing her own thing.’ I pull the keys from my coat pocket and let us inside. ‘What is it you do, Charlie?’
‘I run the family business in Cheltenham. Antiques, restoration, sales, that sort of thing.’
‘Patrick did say your dad was an antiques expert.’
‘But my brother keptmequiet, though,’ Charlie says with a wink.
‘Through here,’ I tell him, opening the doors into the main hall for him. ‘You can set my cottage down right there.’
Once it’s in its spot, we both stand admiring little Wheaton, Charlie far more enthusiastically than me.
‘It’ll be better with all of Patrick’s bells and whistles added in,’ I tell him.
‘He always was the handy one. There was nothing he couldn’t fix. Mind you, he liked taking things apart just as much.’
‘Oh yeah?’
‘Yep, like my ZX Spectrum? First computer I had, and he took it to bits to see how it all worked, but he was too young at that point to know how to fix it. Dad was furious!’
‘Aww, poor Patrick,’ I say.
I understand a little about the unspoken things that go on between siblings. I’m pretty sure Lydia’s glad not to have been put through Mum’s grotto training, and she definitely didn’t want a share in the responsibility for it – she’d have to be mad to – but I’ve always had an inkling Lydia was sore about the way it bonded me and Mum. I don’t think my little sister and Mum were ever as close as we were, and that’s got to do something to a younger sibling. I’ve tried to guard against her feeling excluded, but I still think there’s some jealousy there, and it’s not made any easier by the fact Lucy and I always got on like a house on fire.
Obviously, I can’t replace her mum, but when Lydia left for New Zealand, I was the one helping Lucy with the big things, like helping her move into her flat, and sharing the small things, like taking the picture when she blew out her birthday candles. Lydia and I never spoke about any of that, and there were never any major fall outs either, but still, there’s something there.
Charlie’s moved on to admiring the hall now, saying it’s a wonderful example of mid-century rural civic architecture, and he’s gone moon-eyed over the mural. ‘Stunning,’ he’s saying.
I join him in front of the painted orchard, the apples so big and red they make me want to reach out and grab one. ‘So… are you staying for long?’ I ask.
‘Just a few days. I’m doing some valuations in the area, a couple of house clearances. What is it they say? You shouldn’t wait for an invitation from family? I think if I was waiting for my little brother to invite me to stay, it’d be one hell of a long wait.’
‘I bet he’s happy you’re here, really,’ I say, and Charlie grins a little wickedly. ‘It’s a shame he’s working such long hours. You won’t get much of a chance to catch up.’
‘He’s always been like that. Keeping busy, helping everyone.’
‘I’d have been lost without him these last few years,’ I confess.
‘I’m glad he’s got friends here. Whenever I ring him, he’s always Margi this and Margi that. I’m just glad I’ve finally got to meet the marvellous Margi.’
