Charlie waited until Kate had finished faffing with the table, then quickly translated what he wanted to say into signs that would make sense—or, at least, quickly for him. Kate switched between signing and English like breathing. For Charlie, it took a little more thought. “Yes. Just art left. Dad will help me.”
Kate smiled and flitted in and out of the room a dozen more times until Charlie’s burly older brother arrived a little while later.
Andy Poulton filled the room and lifted Kate off her feet in a bruising bear hug. “All right, Ma?”
Kate beamed. Andy was Reg’s son from his first marriage, but he’d called KateMasince she’d married Reg twenty years ago, and there wasn’t much that made her happier. “How’s the cat?”
Andy grimaced. “She shredded the couch again.”
“Maybe you should get another one to keep her company? She’s probably bored while you’re at work all day.”
“Nah. I think she’s evil.”
“I don’t believe that, sweetheart. She just needs some love.”
Andy grunted and swiped a finger through the houmous. “Anyway, why am I here? Dad said it was important. Is something wrong?”
Kate glanced briefly at Charlie and shook her head. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. Let’s wait for the others, then your dad and I will explain everything.”
She left the room to fetch drinks. Andy dropped into the chair beside him and ruffled Charlie’s hair.
“Stop it,” Charlie snapped. What was it with people messing with his bloody hair?
Andy chuckled. “Got a girlfriend yet?”
“Piss off.”
“What? Not even a snog up the cricket pavilion?”
“Pissoff.” Charlie cringed and angled himself away from Andy. Was it too much to ask that his own brother didn’t pester him too?
Apparently oblivious, Andy laughed again and put a fraternal arm around Charlie’s shoulders. “Easy, mate. Just pulling your leg. Where’s Fliss?”
“Upstairs.”
“Did you tell her about the meeting?”
Charlie turned to Reg as he entered the room. “I tried.”
Reg gave him a patient glance and banged on the ceiling. “Fliss! Downstairs. Now.”
It took a while for them all to settle at the table. Beside Andy, Charlie waited for Reg and Kate to drop their bomb.
Reg went first. “We got a call from social services this morning. Though we haven’t taken any new children for a while, we’re still, technically, available for emergency foster placements.”
Here it comes.
Kate took over. “We’ve been asked to take two siblings, a boy and a girl, with immediate effect.”
“No way.” Fliss groaned. “I don’t want the house full of screaming kids again. We’ve only just got rid of the one.”
“Freddie left more than a year ago,” Reg said in the tone he reserved for Fliss when she got bratty. “And they aren’t screaming kids. The boy is fifteen, the same as Charlie, and his sister is profoundly deaf.”
“Is that why they want you to take them?” Andy asked. “So Ma can help with sign language and stuff?”
“Partly.” Reg exchanged a look with Kate. “But there’s a little more to it than that. They lost their mother a while ago in quite horrific circumstances, and they’ve both had some trouble, uh, settling since.”
Reg’s waver didn’t go unnoticed. Fliss sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “Settling how? Are they nutters, or what? I’m not living with a pair of skanky ASBO kids.”
