'Have they been there all night?'
'All night,' he agreed. 'Two more will relieve them any minute, I gather.'
'I should think they could do with some tea and toast, too, after standing around all night.'
'They sat in their car on the drive, taking turns to stay awake and on watch,' Daniel told her. 'And they've had some tea. They had sandwiches with them—they're used to this sort of work, they came prepared.'
'Like the Boy Scouts,' Lindsay remarked, finishing her toast. 'Is Alice up?'
He shook his head. 'I gave the children their breakfast at seven o'clock—they wake up early. I heard them squeaking and went in there, they seemed surprised to see a strange man, but luckily they didn't make much noise.'
Lindsay was taken aback. 'You fed them and got them up? All by yourself?'
He gave her a derisive look. 'It wasn't that difficult—women make too much fuss about looking after kids. The boy told me where to find their clothes, he dressed himself more or less while I dressed his sister, then I carried her downstairs and he told me they both wanted rusks in warm milk. They seemed quite happy with them.'
'Where are they now?' Lindsay had visions of Matt electrocuting himself by sticking his finger into the wall points, or Vicky eating one of her shoes, something Alice was always worrying about. Vicky had a habit of putting everything into her mouth, and Alice permanently fretted in case her baby died a sudden death by accident. Children, she often said to Lindsay, seem to be fascinated by fatal objects, you have to watch them twenty-four hours a day.
'I belted them both into high-chairs in the sitting-room and left them staring at the test card on the TV.' Daniel seemed pleased with his achievements as a baby-sitter, he grinned at her in self-congratulation.
'That must be exciting for them,' commented Lindsay, on the point of getting out of the bed to go and rescue the poor children when she realised she was practically naked under her sheet.
Flushing, she said: 'I want to get dressed—would you mind?''
'Not at all.' Daniel said smoothly, settling himself more comfortably on the bed. 'Carry on, don't worry about me.'
Eyeing him with distaste, she said: 'Oh, but I do worry about you—I'm not getting dressed in front of you, so go away.'
'You know your problem?' Daniel asked slowly uncoiling himself with reluctance.
'Yes, it's standing in front of me and it's six foot tall.'
'Apart from me,' he said, moving to the door. 'Your trouble is, you're no fun any more. You've lost your sense of humour.'
'I didn't lose it, I still laugh at you,' she assured him from behind her veil of sheeting. 'All the time, believe me.'
He gave her a look which was not amused and went out. Lindsay waited until she heard him going down the stairs, then she slid out of the bed and picked up her clothes. Opening the door, she risked a quick dash to the bathroom, showered rapidly and got dressed. When she had brushed her hair and applied a little make-up she went downstairs to say hallo to Matt and Vicky, who were, as Daniel had told her, deeply engrossed in the test card, but were also playing with some toys arranged on the trays of their high-chairs. At the sight of her, Vicky threw a yellow wooden brick at her, beaming, and Matt gravely offered her one of his miniature cars.
Lindsay gave them both a kiss. 'Having a good time?'
'Mumma get up,' said Vicky, hurling some more bricks at her while she displayed all her pearly teeth in a wide grin. 'Up, up, Mumma get up, bad Mumma.'
'We had rusks,' Matt announced. 'And blackcurrant juice and banana, and Vicky ate mine, she ate my banana.' He looked at Lindsay with his father's eyes and she kissed his nose.
'Too bad, darling, I'll get you another banana.'
'I don't like bananas,' he said. 'Vicky ate mine.'
'Oh, I see, it was a friendly arrangement, was it?'
He looked vague. 'Vicky ate my banana.'
'Don't let it weigh on your mind,' Lindsay advised. 'If you don't like bananas, that's okay by me.'
Daniel came in and grinned at her. 'I'm relieved to discover other people have the same inconsequential conversations with them that I had—I thought it was me, I just wasn't on their wavelength.'
'Vicky ate my banana,' Matt told him.
'He's obsessed with that damned banana,' Daniel said to her. 'I offered him another one and he refused.'