‘Okay. Well, if you wanted, you could leave your school and go to school here in Devon. Molly’s school. It’s a much more academic one, which I think you would like.’
‘Oh. Yes, it is. But I don’t think granny could afford that one. It’s terribly expensive, you know.’
Aleksey tried not to laugh. ‘Well, maybe you could win a scholarship. There are some. Which subject would you choose though…?’
‘Gosh, yes. That’s a tricky question.’
‘And then you could…live at home. Go daily, as Molly does. I think your grandmother would like that.’
Miles only nodded and began poking the moss with a stick. Miles wasn’t stupid. Aleksey could see the boy knew. The days of planning his grandmother’s bio-habitat on Mars were long over. He just didn’t want to face the truth.
It didn’t help, Aleksey supposed, that they were having this conversation sitting amongst the gravestones.
* * *
The afternoon just drifted on, relaxed and happy. Ben let Molly open all his presents. Babushka had brought him back a hoodie from Russia with Cyrillic writing on it. Ben pulled it on over his T-shirt, and everyone thought it suited him perfectly. But Aleksey had thought he’d looked good in a homemade rabbit-fur loincloth, so a top to match his eyes didn’t impress him. What did make him smile however was the slogan:Z-We don’t give up our own. The exaggerated zed-shape was the only thing Ben would be able to read, as that did resemble the English letter, and he probably assumed therefore the rest was something about zombies. Babushka and Emilia, being the only other ones present who could read Russian, just gave him sly lip quirks.
Enid, Emilia and Miles had clubbed together and bought him a dive light, snorkel, mask and flippers, which Squeezy immediately commandeered and proceeded to wear for the rest of the afternoon, speaking to everyone in muffled mumbles through his speaking tube, and peering at them myopically through the lens.
Molly had bought him (or chosen with Aleksey on a secret shopping trip) aWorld’s Best Daddybracelet, a rather beautiful item of leather and hammered metal. Ben fastened it next to his AK47 one, and Aleksey knew by his expression that it had been a good choice. Of Molly’s.
Tim and Squeezy had bought him a drone, which Aleksey had to admit was a superb surprise gift. It had a camera which could take video or photos, and a screen on the handset. Flown over the valley, everything precious it contained—the house, tennis courts, garage and cottages—was fantastically clear. Everyone wanted a go, and when Aleksey flew it, he sent it over Horse Tor. Hovering above the granite rocks, he was fascinated by the view of their bedroom. He wasn’t entirely sure he liked being visible from space, given what frequently went on in that bed.
There was a small mishap on Ben’s turn when he decided to spy on Radulf’s secret doings behind the chapel, but apparently the rotors were easily replaceable.
Once more, Aleksey was deeply pleased with the mental connection he shared with Ben now, for as soon as they were out of everyone else’s hearing, Ben murmured something he’d already considered, ‘Next time we go to the island, we can fly it up to look in the lighthouse.’
Aleksey turned onto his back, arm over his eyes. ‘Miles can hunt down the two squirrels he wants to kidnap.’
‘How are you feeling?’
Aleksey moved his arm a little and gave him a look. Ben chuckled and shifted a little closer. ‘That will teach you to stay up all night having sex.’
‘Hmm. I think it’s more our…style of that activity that’s done me in.’
‘You’re having sex with a very old man now, so I don’t see why.’
Aleksey quirked his lip and put his hand on Ben’s thigh, idly smoothing the soft denim with his thumb. ‘How does it feel to be thirty-eight then? As bad as you were anticipating?’
Ben returned his concentration to his bracelet, twisting it around, admiring it on his strong wrist. ‘We both know what it’s like to be in a thirty-eight-year-old body. You spent many hours last night in one.’
‘I did.’
Ben lay back, resting against him, their warmth transferring through cotton. ‘Do you remember once asking me what I would give the army up for?’
Aleksey caught at Ben’s arm, so he could admire the World’s Best Daddy, too. ‘No.’
‘Yes you do. And I couldn’t really tell you then. How could I have ever imagined this…?’ He swept his free hand over the scene: the children and dogs, the friends, the situation, but mainly the happiness which was evident in them all.
‘When I asked you that question, I was exactly the same age as you are now.’ He slid his hand unobtrusively up under Ben’s shirt, spreading his fingers on the warm skin over his spine. Then he gingerly sat up, putting his mouth to Ben’s ear. ‘I told you, our song…looks like we made it, look how far we’ve come; we’re still together, still going strong…’
Ben laughed and hung his head, responding equally quietly, if not so tunefully, ‘You’re still the one I run to. The one I belong to.’
Delighted, Aleksey fell back on the rug. ‘Yes. Owning things, especially you, Benjamin, is extremely pleasant indeed.’
* * *
Chapter Nine
