Olivia laughed in remembrance. ‘They were little terrors. How on earth did you manage to tame them?’
‘Tame them?’ Nina queried. ‘I don’t think I did anything to tame them.’
‘Then you don’t know your own magic!’ Olivia said.
‘I really don’t think there was any magic,’ Nina said honestly.
‘Ah, I miss those days,’ Olivia confessed. ‘My darling boys. Of course, it wasn’t the same when Billy went off to boarding school. That was the beginning of the end really, but Dudley insisted that it was the right thing to do and Alex and Dommie followed in their turn.’
‘But you missed them?’
‘Of course !’ Olivia said. ‘I drifted around this big old house like a lost thing, but then I began to fill my days with charities and local functions. Plus, looking after Dudley has always been a full-time occupation.’
There was a pause and Nina could hear the distant sound of a vacuum cleaner upstairs and the continuing soundtrack of Benji, who had transformed himself from an aeroplane to a train.
Olivia took a deep breath. ‘And it was secretarial work you said you did, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Nina said, biting her lip, and wondering what Olivia was leading up to. ‘But I’ve done a bit of everything really,’ she added quickly, trying to inject a little bit of colour into a rather bland CV. ‘Receptionist, sales, human resources, civil servant.’ She winced. That sounded anything but colourful. It was downright fickle and foolish; as if she’d never spent enough time mastering anything in particular.
‘That’s marvellous!’ Olivia enthused.
‘Is it?’ Nina’s eyes widened. Marvellous wasn’t exactly the word she would have chosen for her patchwork career. Dull, tedious, boring, monotonous, and every other word in the thesaurus, but never anything as grandiose as marvellous.
‘I have a proposition for you,’ Olivia said enigmatically, leaning forward in an eager manner, ‘and I do hope you’ll say yes.’
Dominic had almost tripped over in his Wellingtons when he’d seen Nina coming up the driveway, and it had been a stroke of luck that she hadn’t turned to see him standing in the middle of the garden like a scarecrow.
Somehow, he’d managed to manoeuvre himself to the back of the house without being seen, and had quickly extricated himself from the offensive boots before opening the back door into the kitchen, thinking that, if he was lucky, he’d have time to shower and change into one of Alex’s shirts. His brother, unlike himself, always had racks of immaculate shirts and never noticed if the odd one went AWOL.
Dominic felt sure that the little scene he’d created in his head was about to be enacted for real. He would walk into the living room with quiet confidence and greet Nina with a firm handshake and a smile that would begin the rest of his life. Goodness, he still couldn’t believe she was here. How many years had it been since he’d last seen her? He’d been so young, but he still remembered that great big crush he’d had on her.
Dominic took a deep breath to steady his nerves, knowing that he was ready to meet her once again.
‘What on earth is that racket?’ Olivia sprung out of her chair in alarm. ‘Benji? What’s the matter?’ She placed her hands around the boy’s scarlet face as he charged into the room and crashed into her legs.
‘Dom hit me,’ he wailed, his nose running.
‘Dominic?’ Olivia exclaimed. ‘Not on purpose, I’m sure?’
‘Hit me,’ the boy repeated, wiping his nose on Olivia’s skirt and putting Nina off her chocolate digestive.
‘ Dominic ?’ Olivia called. ‘Is that you? Come on through.’
Dominic stood stock-still in the kitchen. It was just his luck that Benji had been playing with the coloured letters on the fridge door. Just his luck that the ‘Q’ had taken flight from a grubby hand and had landed by the back door. And of course it was typical that Benji had gone to rescue the errant letter
‘Tame them?’ Nina queried. ‘I don’t think I did anything to tame them.’
‘Then you don’t know your own magic!’ Olivia said.
‘I really don’t think there was any magic,’ Nina said honestly.
‘Ah, I miss those days,’ Olivia confessed. ‘My darling boys. Of course, it wasn’t the same when Billy went off to boarding school. That was the beginning of the end really, but Dudley insisted that it was the right thing to do and Alex and Dommie followed in their turn.’
‘But you missed them?’
‘Of course !’ Olivia said. ‘I drifted around this big old house like a lost thing, but then I began to fill my days with charities and local functions. Plus, looking after Dudley has always been a full-time occupation.’
There was a pause and Nina could hear the distant sound of a vacuum cleaner upstairs and the continuing soundtrack of Benji, who had transformed himself from an aeroplane to a train.
Olivia took a deep breath. ‘And it was secretarial work you said you did, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Nina said, biting her lip, and wondering what Olivia was leading up to. ‘But I’ve done a bit of everything really,’ she added quickly, trying to inject a little bit of colour into a rather bland CV. ‘Receptionist, sales, human resources, civil servant.’ She winced. That sounded anything but colourful. It was downright fickle and foolish; as if she’d never spent enough time mastering anything in particular.
‘That’s marvellous!’ Olivia enthused.
‘Is it?’ Nina’s eyes widened. Marvellous wasn’t exactly the word she would have chosen for her patchwork career. Dull, tedious, boring, monotonous, and every other word in the thesaurus, but never anything as grandiose as marvellous.
‘I have a proposition for you,’ Olivia said enigmatically, leaning forward in an eager manner, ‘and I do hope you’ll say yes.’
Dominic had almost tripped over in his Wellingtons when he’d seen Nina coming up the driveway, and it had been a stroke of luck that she hadn’t turned to see him standing in the middle of the garden like a scarecrow.
Somehow, he’d managed to manoeuvre himself to the back of the house without being seen, and had quickly extricated himself from the offensive boots before opening the back door into the kitchen, thinking that, if he was lucky, he’d have time to shower and change into one of Alex’s shirts. His brother, unlike himself, always had racks of immaculate shirts and never noticed if the odd one went AWOL.
Dominic felt sure that the little scene he’d created in his head was about to be enacted for real. He would walk into the living room with quiet confidence and greet Nina with a firm handshake and a smile that would begin the rest of his life. Goodness, he still couldn’t believe she was here. How many years had it been since he’d last seen her? He’d been so young, but he still remembered that great big crush he’d had on her.
Dominic took a deep breath to steady his nerves, knowing that he was ready to meet her once again.
‘What on earth is that racket?’ Olivia sprung out of her chair in alarm. ‘Benji? What’s the matter?’ She placed her hands around the boy’s scarlet face as he charged into the room and crashed into her legs.
‘Dom hit me,’ he wailed, his nose running.
‘Dominic?’ Olivia exclaimed. ‘Not on purpose, I’m sure?’
‘Hit me,’ the boy repeated, wiping his nose on Olivia’s skirt and putting Nina off her chocolate digestive.
‘ Dominic ?’ Olivia called. ‘Is that you? Come on through.’
Dominic stood stock-still in the kitchen. It was just his luck that Benji had been playing with the coloured letters on the fridge door. Just his luck that the ‘Q’ had taken flight from a grubby hand and had landed by the back door. And of course it was typical that Benji had gone to rescue the errant letter
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