It was only Rose who asked questions about it.
“How long have Grandma and Grandad lived there?” She asked me as we walked round, me carrying the cake which was brave of Georgia, while she wrangled the twins.
“Since before I was born. You know Auntie Payts and me were born there. And Ava.” I didn’t remember Ava’s birth. I knew it’d been quick and traumatic for Max and Jackson, but she and Mum had been okay and I had a new sister.
“Will it be weird them not living there?” She pursued the topic.
“Kind of. But it isn’t my home anymore. That’s with you and your Mum and has been for a long time.” We approached the gates to the house, nothing different in how it looked. The drapes and blinds were just the same, but there was anemptiness that pervaded the glass, although I suspected only I could see it.
I rang the bell, because like Callum, I couldn’t find my keys. It’d been years since I’d gone round there when my parents weren’t in, so I’d never needed to unlock the door myself.
Mum answered, her hair flying everywhere, cheeks flushed and she was smiling. “You’re the last ones here. Typical.” She took the cake from me. “Everyone’s in the kitchen and courtyard – go through.”
She exchanged a few words with Georgia and kissed the kids, following behind us with the cake.
The furniture that was being left with the house was the newer stuff, I noticed, the pieces they’d bought since we’d all moved out. It was bare of ornaments and the walls were empty of the photos and artwork my parents had collected over the years. I wasn’t sure yet where it would end up or if they were intending on selling some of the art. One of our cousins was an art curator in a London gallery, her husband an artist himself, so if they did sell it, she’d be the one to advise.
The rugs that’d been on the floors were all gone, as were the rows of shoes, some of which had been mine from when I had been living there.
“It doesn’t feel like home anymore,” I said, a twinge catching in my chest. “It feels completely different.”
Georgia stopped in the hallway, the kids all bustling through into the kitchen, moving out of earshot.
“I wondered when it’d hit you.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned.
“You’ve been really relaxed about it, as if it didn’t matter, it was just part of the course, but the look on your face now - ”
I nodded, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close for my sake not hers. “It’s not my home, G. It hasn’t been for years and we can’t hold onto a place just because of whathappened there. I get that, but seeing it so empty makes me realise that it’s just a building, bricks and mortar. We were what made it our home.”
“All that’s true. And this is the last time you’ll be here. Let’s go and sit with everyone because I think all of you will be feeling the same way.”
As usual, it looked like Georgia was right. My brothers and sisters had gathered together, beers and drinks in hand, forming a group that was being left alone to an extent by our partners and children.
I walked over and sat down next to Payton, putting my arm around my twin for a hug that she gave back for once.
“Last night.” I stated the obvious.
There were nods rather than abuse for a change.
“Do you remember when we ended up being locked out here?” Max stretched his legs out and nearly knocked over Jackson’s beer that’d been left in a precariously stupid spot.
Claire laughed. “I remember trying to stand on your shoulders so I could get in through an open window. I was nowhere near and then you nearly dropped me.”
“You moved too much. It was like holding up a squirming worm.” He shook his head. “Was that when Dad had his study at the front of the house so he couldn’t hear us?”
“It was. And the twins were with Aunt Bernie for the day. I think Mum was pregnant with Ava and we were outside for about four hours.” Claire recalled more detail. “Dad thought we were all out with Bernie.”
“We usually were if she was here,” Jackson rescued his beer properly this time. “She was always more fun than our parents.”
“Aunts and uncles always are,” I said. “That’s why all your kids prefer me.” It was kind of true. I knew I was the uncle of choice a lot of the time but that was mainly because I could still give piggy backs and had no limit on sugar intake, unlessyou actually were my offspring and I’d have to cope with the aftermath.
Mum sat down, which probably saved me from being slandered by my own kin.
“Last night.” She looked around the walled garden. “I’m actually relieved now.”
“It’s the right decision,” Max said, putting his arm around her. “The house doesn’t feel like the place we lived in now all the stuff’s gone.”
