Killian laughed, slapped Max on the back and went back to the kids who weren’t paying any attention to us because the obstacle course looked like something off a TV programme.
We carried out with the memories, Payton recalling a birthday party for the two of us, Ava remembering being allowed to choose the wallpaper for one of the guest bedrooms when she was thirteen, working with the interior designer and then deciding that was what she wanted for a career too. Callum remembered Marie’s thirtieth birthday when Dad threw a party and I recalled when I’d been left alone by myself in the house for the first time and hid in my room with a chest of drawers blocking the door because I was useless on my own, which we all knew.
By the time pizza came, Ava had an hour of video footage for whatever she was planning, and the sun was beginning to look drowsy in the sky. The kids had successfully completed the obstacle course and went about devouring pizza and we switched the conversation to plans around this week’s childcare and heading to Oxford for the late Bank Holiday weekend in a couple of weeks, which would be the next time we’d all be together.
I watched Rose nibble on her food, her usual book in hand, standing a little away from her siblings and cousins. She wasn’t as pale as she had been, but she had been quiet. I figured it was to do with this being the last time we’d be in this house, understanding this was the first time she’d encountered the end of an era.
There’d be more to come. Beginnings and endings were part of life as were the way they were interwoven through different layers.
“What’s up, kid?” I said, going over to her.
She pointed to the rose bush, orange roses that were in full bloom. “I bought that for Grandma for her birthday when I was seven.”
“Do you want me to dig it up and we can plant it in Oxford when we go in a couple of weeks?”
She shook her head. “No. I want to leave it here. It’s pretty in this garden and it likes it here. I just hope the next family keeps it.”
I gave her a hug, not mentioning that one of the people moving in was her surgeon, or that she’d never know what became of the rose in the garden either.
We packed up, the rest of the things that needed to be taken loaded into cars, not that there was much left and for the last time we left our keys on the console table near the front door – those of us who could find them – and Marie locked up.
“Goodbye, house,” she said, giving it one last look. “Thank you for being our home.”
CHAPTER 14
MARIE
Iwas there the next morning as soon as my solicitor rang to say the funds for the house had been received and we needed to hand the keys over at the house at eleven.
It was a bittersweetly bright and sunny day, London at its finest when dressed in the soft yellow glow. Even the Thames looked appealing, the clipper breezing up and down the water with its commuters and tourists, old buildings from centuries ago gleaming in the sun alongside the modern skyscrapers and mirrored buildings.
We’d planned to go to Greenwich this afternoon, to take the cable car over the river and back, maybe visit the museum there which we hadn’t done since Ava was little and Seph had been in a non-fiction phase where he wanted to visit everywhere, but it was looking like a picnic in the park with my latest book, mainly because I was struggling to put it down. It had nothing to do with the whodunit and everything to do with the will-they-won’t-they storyline that’d been running through the last ten books.
My home for the last few decades stood proudly, as if she knew that in a few hours or less, she’d be housing anotherfamily, doing her job of keeping them safe and warm and dry, outlasting all of us.
I was standing near the gate to the pathway, keys in hand. Grant had stayed at home as we had an electrician coming round to fit some lights, which was definitely beyond Grant’s capabilities, and I’d wanted this final moment to be by myself. I’d close the door on this chapter of our lives, it felt right for me to be the one to do that and I was also nosy.
I wanted to find out who’d be living in my house.
A car pulled up noiselessly outside, electric and elegant. A man got out of the driver’s side, automatically nodding at me with a brief smile.
From the passenger side, a boy emerged, one about fourteen or fifteen. He didn’t seem grumpy or irritated to be away from his games consoles, and was instead interested in the house, looking up at the storeys and eyeing up the door.
“Mr. Collins?” I offered him my hand.
He took it, nodding. “Mrs Callaghan? Thank you for meeting us, I hope it’s not too much trouble. I know we could've passed the keys on through the estate agent but having you talk me through the alarm system and heating and other bits is much better.”
I nodded, smiling. “Happy to do so. We’ve lived her for over three decades so we know the house pretty well. There’s even a secret room through the larder which would make a great games room.”
The boy smiled politely at me. “I don’t think I’ll be short of rooms to use.”
“How many of you are going to be living here?” I hoped it was more than just the two of them. There was no sign of the boy’s mother although I had corresponded with her so I knew she was part of this.
Mr. Collins smiled, looking entertained. “It’s myself, Carter and his mum when she comes over. She’s an oncologist and she is aiming to move over, but we don’t know when that will be yet as there’s been a delay. We both have grown up children who’ll be spending time here as well, so at times we’ll have a busy house.”
“There’s plenty of room. I had seven children grow up here and it just about was big enough.” I smiled at the boy. “Which school are you going to?”
He named the one down the road, which I was more than familiar with.
