This was mortifying enough as it was. Why did she have to be like this? But I did actually need her help. I asked a starter question for ten points.
“How did you know you were in love with Dad?”
Mum’s eyes glazed. She squeezed my hand.
“It was a night like this. Moonlit. I’d come up from university to visit him for the weekend. Your father took me for a walk down by the Long Water. We talked about our hopes and dreams. When we stopped to cross Lady Caroline’s Bridge, his hand slid gently onto my cheek. I turned towards him, and his lips found mine. It was a gentle kiss, soft as the flutter of a butterfly’s wings. But it caused an earthquake inside me, and thirty-three years later, I’m still riding those vibrations.”
Hard to know the appropriate thing to say to that.
“So, my father was basically chaos theory in meat form.” I nodded. “Yep, that checks out.”
Mum laughed. “No, darling,loveis chaos theory in meat form.”
“So, you think I should kiss him?”
“Yes, William, of course you should kiss him! Go make wild, passionate love to him on every corner of the estate, if it’s what your heart tells you is right.”
“But what does lovefeellike?” I asked. “Not the sticky bit. I mean the other bit.”
Mum smiled. “It feels like a key sliding into a lock. If it fits, you know you belong together. That you wouldn’t work without each other.”
Bramley reappeared with a damp cloth and a bucket, ready to attack the window.
“Sorry, old chap,” I said.
“Think nothing of it, my lord.”
Over Bramley’s shoulder, I saw a light go on in the distant porthole window of the folly. I stood abruptly, made my apologies, and dashed out of the room.
“That’s it, my darling,” Mother called after me. “You ride those vibrations.”
Running across the Great Lawn, the cool night air prickling against my skin, I couldn’t help but notice it was a glorious evening. Almost romantic. Perfect for a walk and a life-altering first kiss on Lady Caroline’s Bridge. I burst through the folly door and bolted up the stairs to find Petey sitting at my father’s desk, jotting at a notepad.
“You’re home early,” I said, catching my breath.
Petey could barely contain his laughter as he looked me up and down.
“Where the hell have you come from, dressed like that?”
“Dinner.”
His eyes popped. “You went to dinner in your boxer shorts?”
I shrugged. “It was only family.”
“I thought the aristocracy dressed for dinner.”
“I dress for important things.”
“I refuse to believe you don’t think dinner is important.”
“It’s one of the eight most important meals of the day,” I confirmed.
“William, do you know your feet are covered in grass clippings?”
“Had to dash across the Great Lawn.”
“Why?”
