‘Yes, Chase has mentioned that you might.’ Alex smiled a familiar smile at her and Marion giggled,giggled, back. ‘But I’m afraid you’re wrong in this instance. Sylvie has made it quite clear that that sort of thing won’t be happening.’
‘Please. The children are right here.’ Was anyone other than her thinking this was not an appropriate conversation to have? Ever? Let alone in front of their children. Sylvie had never thought of herself as a prude but for goodness’ sake!
‘Hoho, Sylvie, life is life, they do need to learn…’
‘Not at four and five years old! Sam, here, I think they’re selling drinks over there, would you like to…’
‘No.’
‘Ellie?’
‘No, we’re OK here.’ She managed to squeeze the words out between giggles. ‘Are you going to be my daddy’s girlfriend after all? Like I said to Angelina.’
‘No, I am not! Mrs Marksharp here has made a mistake.’ Sylvie sent Marion another very pointed look to reinforce what she was saying and rubbed her arm just to show how unimpressed she was with being manhandled to the front of the queue.
‘You’ll see, I’m always right. Now, Alex darling, where’s Hector? You haven’t left him unattended, have you?’
‘He is a grown adult, perfectly capable of taking care of himself.’
‘I know exactly what he is capable of, that’s the problem. Now I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone but I will need you Alex, in ooh…’ she glanced at her watch, ‘…half an hour, for fire-safety duty. See you in a bit.’ Marion scurried off, mustard dress and minions, leaving an amused Alex, a furious Sam, a smirking Ellie (neither of the children should have understood any of that but seemed to have done) and a mortified and enraged Sylvie.
‘Honestly, that woman…!’
‘…is an absolute hoot, no one takes her seriously. Now, let’s go get ourselves some burgers, hey, kids? Hmm? Come on.’
Alex carelessly threw his arm around Sylvie’s shoulder as if they had known each other for ever, and gave her a reassuring squeeze, before leading them all towards the tempting waft of the barbecue.
Marion and the PTA had decorated the marquee beautifully, it was as ifHomes Beautifulhad stepped in and designed the perfect setting for a Bonfire Night party. Red, orange and yellow bunting fluttered in the light breeze, all lit with subtle orange fairy lights and with strings attached to the roof of the marquee, floating down and across, featuring some of the children’s work on Guy Fawkes, and firework pictures in paint, chalk and pastel demonstrating the range of age across the school. As well as long queues at the barbecue stall there were even longer ones near the mulled cider where the spices and smells, and alcohol content, were putting warm smiles on parents with every sip. In the corner of the marquee was a human-sized Guy, seated in a wheelbarrow, a jam jar on string hanging off its hand and pictures of an orphanage in Africa scattered discreetly about, informing parents that this was the charity the PTA was collecting for this year alongside raising funds for the school.
‘Look, Daddy! It’s the Healing Hearts Orphanage. Like you said. Now we can get the Penmenna children to help too. Wecan give them loads of books. This is awesome.’ Sylvie watched Ellie’s face turn to her father’s, pride flitting across it.
‘We can indeed. Miss Winter thought this could be a start tonight, and then we could tell the rest of the children much more about it next week. You up for that?’
‘Damn straight!’ Ellie jumped up and high-fived her dad with her free hand.
‘Ellie! That’s another bad word.’
‘Sam says it.’ Both Sylvie and Alex’s heads shot around to look at Sam, who merely shruggedà laEllie. She exchanged a look with Alex, both parents more amused than cross. It would appear their children were sharing their skills.
‘Can we put some money in as well, Dad? Look, Sam, look, that’s where I used to live before I came here with Daddy.’
Sylvie looked at Sam’s face and was so grateful she had had the chat with him before about Ellie’s adoptive status and she wasn’t going to have to do it again in front of the girl in question or her father and make some hideous faux pas by not choosing the right word and unintentionally offending the both of them.
‘Cool. I’ll put my pocket money in. Mum, can I?’
‘Of course. Here you are, you can have it now.’
‘Thanks, come on, Ellie.’ Sam looked at Ellie and waited for her to start walking with him towards the Guy.
‘That’s kind of him. Thank you, Sylvie.’
Alex smiled at her, that smile he had that made the whole marquee melt away and Sylvie gulp and have to think really hard to ground herself and remember what they were talking about. That smile. The dangerous one. The one that didn’t make her think of children and responsibility but of crumpled duvets and tumbled bodies, piles of clothing and blissed-out morning smiles.
‘I didn’t know that you had involved the school with your foundation. That’s a brilliant idea. I presume this is to do with that.’
‘Yes, this is the orphanage Ells was put in after… well, when she lost her family, and they were amazing. I’m using them as a blueprint for another that we’re building and sending funds to them so they can continue to grow. And help lead the way for the others. Matt told Rosy about the foundation and she suggested this as a tiny start and is apparently going to tie in a lot more in the build-up to Christmas. She’s booked me in to do an assembly in a couple of weeks! I’m a bit scared.’
‘You’re so awesome, it’ll be fine. You really are the best man I’ve ever met. You don’t need to do any of this, and yet you do.’
