Page 66 of You Only Live Once
She was out of the door before you could say tally-ho.
‘I want to ride too!’ Freddy said, charging out after them. Moments later, Jack was tramping about on his hands and knees with both the children on his back, geeing him up to go faster.
‘I think he might be regretting coming back from New Zealand right about now,’ Felix said, standing at the threshold of the bi-fold doors.
I went to stand beside him. Jack was a big bloke, but the two children together bouncing up and down were definitely no lightweights. The smile on his face and the deep laughter that rang across the garden, mingling with theirs, gave me the impression that he was enjoying it almost as much as they were.
Hurrying upstairs to change, I pulled on an old pair of jersey shorts instead of my jeans and relished the moment that all women do, the removal of the bra. My top was loose, and I wasn’t endowed enough to make it a problem. The relief was bliss. When I came down, Jack was still out in the garden, but obviously tiring. Poppy and Felix were busy setting out bowls and drinks. I stepped out into the garden towards the giggling mass being circled and danced around by Clive. ‘I think it’s about time this horsey was taken in for stabling, don’t you?’
‘Noooo! Just a few more minutes.’
‘Come on,’ I said, leaning over and lifting Ruby off. ‘It’s time for dinner anyway, you need to go in and wash your hands, both of you. Come on, Freddy.’ He dismounted as reluctantly as his sister but they were soon distracted by Clive’s antics and ran towards the house with the dog.
Once they were out of sight, Jack collapsed in a heap and rolled onto his back, his arms out at his side like a crucifix. ‘I think you may have just saved my life.’
‘Well, we can’t be sending you to the glue factory just yet, can we?’
He laughed, warm and melodic. ‘You say the nicest things.’
‘Thanks. I try.’ I crouched down next to him, my back to the kitchen. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’
His hand moved along the grass and touched mine where it was resting in order to prevent me overbalancing. ‘I’m fine. Really. I love spending time with them. I feel like I’ve missed out on so much. Not such a great godfather, eh?’
‘You’re a brilliant godfather. Just because you weren’t actually in the country a lot of the time doesn’t mean anything. People can be just down the road and still not do half as much as you’ve done for them or take half as much interest. They’ve always known you were there, and if needed, you’d have been here in a flash. Don’t ever sell yourself short by thinking that you haven’t been fulfilling that role well enough, because you have.’
‘Thanks, Lily. That means a lot, especially coming from you.’
I knew exactly how Jack felt. Ihadbeen just down the road and still felt like had missed out on so much. He’d had the excuse of thousands of miles’ distance, but I didn’t. Mine was a choice not to go to nativity plays, or birthday parties or any of the other things that I’d been invited to and felt like I couldn’t face. There wasn’t really any excuse for that.
‘That’s a serious expression,’ he said, still lying on the grass.
‘No, not really,’ I said, trying to brush it off.
‘Fibber,’ he said. ‘I know you better than that by now. You can’t fool me.’
I gave him a prod in the side. ‘Don’t be so smug,’ I said, trying to stop the smile from breaking on my face. ‘Come on, up you get.’ I stood up and put down a hand to help him up, which he took. I heaved but not much happened. Placing my other hand over the one already wrapped around his I pulled again, this time really putting my back into it. ‘Bloody hell, you’re heavy.’
Now upright, probably due more to his own effort than mine, Jack looked down at me and grinned. ‘Like I said, you say the nicest things. Shall we go in to dinner?’ He offered his arm as though we were at some grand function being held at the manor, where he would be dressed in a tuxedo rather than jersey shorts and the well-washed T-shirt he was currently sporting. His face was so serious, I couldn’t help but laugh, quickly covering it to join in with the joke. ‘That would be lovely.’
‘I do hope it’s not turtle soup again.’
‘Yes, it does get rather a bore, doesn’t it?’
‘Perhaps we could have oysters tomorrow? I’ll send a note to the housekeeper.’ He gave a grin so wicked it could probably challenge the alleged aphrodisiac properties of the oysters.
‘You could, but I’ve heard that the housekeeper is used to her own way of doing things. And you may find that note returned somewhere a little more uncomfortable than your hand.’
Jack threw his head back, laughing as we entered the kitchen, and I pretended not to notice the look exchanged between my brother and his wife.
* * *
‘How are you feeling about the premiere now?’ Jack asked.
‘Nervous but a tiny bit excited too.’ I grinned.
He smiled back. ‘You’re going to do great.’
‘Thank you. And thank you again for agreeing to come. I really do appreciate it. Things are a little less scary when you have backup, aren’t they?’
