The Little Cottage in the Country. Lottie Phillips

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СКАЧАТЬ Anna said.

      ‘I’ll keep her happy.’ Diane skipped out of the room, drink in hand, and Anna waited for her mother’s presence to be made known to the entire village and beyond.

      ‘Dee-Dee,’ came the booming voice that was her mother’s. ‘Cocktails! How wonderful.’ She paused. ‘I’m so glad you phoned!’

      Diane’s voice, by comparison, was surprisingly soft and Anna sighed, heading in to the twins. They were growing sleepy and she undressed them and soon had them submerged in bubbles. She watched as a full-blown attack took place whereby Freddie’s Transformers head-dunked Antonia’s My Little Ponies.

      ‘OK, you two, Grandma’s here. You’re going to be good for Grandma, aren’t you?’ She just hoped Grandma would be good for them.

      Anna plucked them out of the bath and wrapped them each in huge, freshly laundered bath sheets before hugging the sweet-smelling, damp, fluffy cocoons that were now her children. ‘I love you both and…’ Sometimes this happened and it was always when she was least expecting it; her heart wrung with sadness at the lack of a father figure in their lives. She wondered if they would grow up resenting her for not chasing after Simon; and if she was, in fact, enough for them.

      ‘Mummy, you’re crying,’ Freddie said, wiping a tear from her cheek.

      ‘You silly bean,’ Antonia said and hugged her, setting Anna off again.

      ‘Mummy,’ Freddie said, earnestly, ‘how long we stay in this home?’

      ‘Well,’ she paused, looking into his big blue eyes, ‘for as long as we can.’ She thought about Horatio’s words regarding the house and how much she had risked moving here. Irritation fizzled in the pit of her stomach. She wouldn’t just give the cottage up. She couldn’t. Her heart twisted at the thought of having to go back to London already. She needed it to work. She needed her children to be happy. ‘Do you like it here?’

      He appeared to be thinking deeply. ‘I just want to play with friends.’

      Anna nodded, a fresh tide of guilt sweeping over her. ‘Yes, and you’ll both make lots of new friends at your new school.’ She smiled encouragingly. ‘And they can come and play here whenever you like. OK?’

      ‘OK,’ he said and they both nodded.

      ‘Annnnnnaaaaaaaaaa.’

      The moment was broken by her mother singing her name and she took the children into her room, found their favourite PJs and dressed them.

      ‘You go down and see Grandma, OK?’

      They nodded and walked to the top of the stairs, sitting down on their bottoms so they could slither safely to the ground floor. The stairs were steep and Anna had decided this would be the best option.

      ‘My dearest children,’ her mother called to them, ‘you’ll get dirty botties.’

      ‘Mum.’ Anna crouched down at the top of the landing, so she could be seen by her mother, and smiled. ‘Hi.’

      ‘Bananna.’ Her father’s nickname for her growing up had stuck with her mother, despite the fact it had to be pronounced funnily because ‘banana’ didn’t even rhyme with her actual name. ‘Why are your children coming down the stairs like strange, snake-like things?’

      ‘Because I told them it was safer. There’s no rail and, until I get one put in, I don’t want them falling down.’

      ‘It’s unhygienic,’ her mother announced.

      ‘We cleaned today.’

      Luckily, Diane arrived and broke up the impending argument on stair hygiene and safety by offering Linda a cup of tea.

      ‘Only if you put a wee bit of that in it.’ Linda swept off in the direction of the kitchen. ‘My stepsister always had a strange affection for this place. Never could see it myself.’

      Diane flashed Anna an apologetic look. ‘I’ll set up a DVD on my laptop for the kids.’

      Anna headed back to her bedroom and grabbed the far-too-short black dress, slipping into it. With no full-length mirror, she had no way of checking on her appearance before she quickly brushed her hair out, applied some mascara and lip gloss and headed down the stairs.

      Diane let out a low wolf-whistle and nodded approvingly; her mother, however, gave her that look, the one that said I did not bring you up to dress like a tart, and sipped her tea. Anna thought she might have got away with it when her mother opened her mouth and said, ‘I think you’d suit the tartan dress I gave you better.’

      ‘Right.’ Anna ignored her. ‘So what do you think you might play with the children?’

      ‘Ah, I thought we could watch Sex and the City reruns.’

      ‘Uh, Mum…’ Anna started panicking. ‘They’re not really old enough to be watching them. Just yet.’ She thought of Mr Big and the drinking and the talk about… ‘No, Mum, you can’t.’

      Her mother pouted. ‘Fine.’

      Diane whisked Anna towards the door, clearly sensing an imminent crisis. They put on their coats and Anna blew the twins kisses before stepping out into the October chill.

      ‘You know, I’m not sure this is such a good idea.’ Anna looked back at the closed front door. ‘I mean, Mum, she’s a bit off with the fairies.’

      Diane linked arms with Anna, propelling her forward. ‘How old is she again?’

      ‘Sixty.’

      ‘Wow. She’s very…’

      ‘Full-on? Sexual? Bonkers?’ Anna shrugged. ‘Your choice.

      ‘All of the above.’

      In heels, the walk to the pub was a good fifteen minutes longer than they had anticipated. Half an hour later, with feet that suggested frostbite and jaws truly locked into place, they breathed an audible sigh of relief at the light streaming from the pub window.

      Anna had a quick look inside and, as yet, it appeared no one else had arrived. ‘It’s very quiet,’ she said, trying to hide her relief. They could just have a quick drink and head home.

      ‘Yeah, but it’ll fill up. Come on.’ Diane dragged her inside.

      They tottered through the door and looked around. The pub was decked out in oak panelling, photos of Trumpsey Blazey through the ages adorned the walls, and a roaring fire brought welcome warmth to the women. However, one thing was missing: punters.

      A balding man with a stomach that met them first came through a door on the other side and waddled up to the bar.

      ‘Can I help you?’

      Diane started, ‘Yeah, we, um, thought there was some sort of event here tonight. Only, there’s no one here.’

      ‘Wrong,’ the man said. ‘I’m here and, if you look past the beam, here’s Nigel.’

      Anna СКАЧАТЬ