‘Me. I like it.’
The smaller of the pair – Karl, Jess assumed – earned an elbow in the ribs for his admission, and the stand-off continued.
‘OK. Well, I have a huge tin of shortbread in the kitchen. I was going to say I’d share some of it with you, but if you’re not interested …’ Jess made for the door. ‘It’s a shame, really, it’s the best shortbread I’ve ever tasted. Ah, well, if you’re not hungry …’
Karl rubbed at his belly. ‘I amquitehungry.’
Freddie took his brother’s hand. ‘I’ll look after you,’ he said.
They crossed paths with Freya, back from her shopping trip, and Christian in the doorway.
‘I’m taking the boys for some shortbread,’ Jess said. ‘Thought you might like a bit of a breather.’
‘Thank you,’ Freya said, briefly resting a hand on Jess’s arm. ‘You’re a superstar.’
With both boys seated at the kitchen table, their fussing over Digby complete and a plastic tumbler of milk and piece of shortbread in front of each of them, they finally began to loosen up.
‘Jess, why was six scared of seven?’ Freddie said.
‘Because six, seven, eight,’ Karl piped up.
‘No, Karl. Shut up and let Jess guess.’ Freddie broke away from the joke to burst out laughing. ‘Jess-guess. It rhymes. You’re a poem, Jess.’
Jess pretended to think for a few moments, then shook her head. ‘No idea. Why was six scared of seven?’
‘Because seven ate nine.’ Freddie pumped the air in victory, then frowned. ‘Do you get it? Seven, eight, nine are the numbers but it sounds like he ate the number nine. Ate. Eight. Get it?’
‘Yes, Freddie. I get it. Very good.’ Jess smiled. ‘Are you enjoying being at the castle?’
Freddie considered the question. ‘There aren’t any ghosts, so that’s boring.’
‘Are there ghosts at your house?’
‘No, silly. We live in Austria.’ Unfazed by his non sequitur, Freddie took a slurp of milk, then said, ‘Did you know there are more Lego minifigures in the world than there are people?’
‘Wow, really?’ Jess nibbled at her shortbread. She’d never considered herself to be particularly good with children, but this was almost fun. Almost.
‘Yes.’ Freddie became serious. ‘Uncle Sebastian sent me a Lego spaceship for my birthday. He said now Karl’s three it’s OK to have Lego. And he said it would be easy for me to build, because it wasn’t rocket salad.’
Jess stifled a laugh. ‘Are you sure he didn’t say rocket science?’
‘Yes, that’s what I said. Rocket science. I love my spaceship.’
‘Uncle Sebabian said we should have a lion tomorrow, too.’ Karl took a mouthful and Jess admired the way he managed to get milk almost all the way up to his hairline, in a neat half-moon across his cheeks.
‘A lion?’ That one had her flummoxed.
Freddie tutted. ‘Not a lion. A lie-in. That’s what he said. To give Mummy and Daddy a rest. He said we have to stay in our room until the first number on the clock is at least a six.’
‘We’d better hope seven doesn’t get hungry again, then,’ Jess said.
Dee wasn’t sure where everyone was, but she had asked Jess to bring tea into the drawing room, so she headed there in hopes of finding someone. From the picture gallery, she could hear logs crackling in the fireplace and the door was ajar enough for her to see the lights were on, but there was an absence of voices.
Pushing the door fully open, Dee wasn’t sure what she had been expecting to see, but her youngest daughter in the embrace of her son-in-law hadn’t been on the list. Which, if she stopped to think about it, probably said more about herself than about them.
In the split-second before they became aware of her presence, Dee took in the scene. Bodies pressed more closely together than she’d ever seen Freya and Christian – even on their wedding day. Freya’s arms resting casually on Christian’s shoulders, her eyes closed as he leant in, his hands firm on her waist as he whispered something into her ear.
Tears pricked at the edges of Dee’s eyes, her fingers frozen on the door handle. They looked perfect. It was perfect. Far too perfect a scene to interrupt, except she had. And as they dragged their attentions away from one another, and turned to Dee, her apology seemed woefully inadequate.
