‘They’ve been outside in the snow.’
‘Well, take them back into the house and we’ll watch them.’
‘Why does Dad have to go?’ Alfie looked miserable. ‘What if the kittens are poorly when he’s gone?’
‘Then I’ll fix it,’ Daniel said firmly, still holding Posy.
Alfie looked at him doubtfully. ‘You don’
t know anything about kids or kittens. I heard you telling Dad.’
‘Well, I…’ Daniel cleared his throat, ‘I don’t know much, that’s true, but I’m learning fast. In the last five minutes I’ve learned not to turn my back on Posy when she has a paintbrush in her hand.’
‘I could have told you that.’ Alfie looked at his sister. ‘And you can’t turn your back on her in the bath because she likes to splash all the water onto the floor.’
‘I’m expected to bath you?’ Daniel’s handsome face lost some of its colour. ‘That sounds complicated. Maybe we could skip that bit.’
Alfie held the kittens against his chest. ‘Dad’s away for four days. We’ll be smelly.’
‘Smelly, but in one piece,’ Daniel muttered under his breath. ‘All right. Fine. I can lead a trauma team. I’m sure I can manage to bath two kids.’
‘I can bath myself. It’s just Posy that needs help.’
‘That’s what’s worrying me.’ But his hand was still stroking Posy’s back and his eyes were fixed on Alfie’s face. ‘How am I doing so far? Have I forgotten anything? Done anything wrong?’
‘You’re doing OK. For a beginner. You didn’t cook the pasta for long enough but I don’t mind it chewy.’ Alfie shrugged, but his eyes were just a little too bright. ‘Is Dad going to say goodbye before he goes?’
‘Of course he is.’ Daniel watched his nephew. ‘Are you worried about him going?’
‘No. I’m not a baby.’ Alfie’s tone was fierce. ‘It just feels a bit—weird, him leaving this close to Christmas. There’s stuff we should be doing. Stuff he should be here for.’
‘Stuff.’ Daniel looked out of his depth and cast a helpless glance at Stella. ‘What stuff?’
‘Christmas stuff.’ Alfie held onto the wriggling kittens. ‘Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to do it. I know you didn’t do much at Christmas when you were kids. Dad told me it was always a pretty rough time for you.’
Stella hid her surprise. She knew that Daniel’s childhood hadn’t been happy, but she hadn’t known that Christmas had been particularly bad.
The sudden tension in Daniel’s shoulders made Stella want to question exactly what Daniel’s Christmases had been like as a child. In all the time they’d been together, he had never mentioned Christmas to her. In fact, he’d said very little about his childhood, except to intimate that his parents’ relationship had been grim. Whenever she’d tried to probe, he’d changed the subject.
‘This “stuff” you’re talking about…’ Daniel held Posy close ‘…we can do some of that while your dad is away, if you want to. You just have to tell me what you want to do.’
‘You mean that?’ Alfie’s face brightened. ‘Can we go and buy the tree? Dad was going to take us to the forest this afternoon but then he didn’t have enough time and he said it would have to wait.’
Daniel nodded. ‘We can go and get a tree.’ He gave Stella a faint smile. ‘Might be easier to be outdoors than indoors with these two.’
‘Don’t you believe it,’ she murmured under her breath, but Alfie was already fizzing with excitement.
‘The forest will be so cool after all that snow. Can Stella come with us?’
Daniel looked at Stella and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was thinking. That neither of them wanted to go on a trip together. And neither of them wanted to disappoint Alfie.
Daniel gave a lopsided smile. ‘Will you come?’
She ought to say no. After what had happened between them this week, they needed to spend as little time together as possible.
‘Pleeease,’ Alfie begged, his eyes wide with hope and his arms full of kittens. ‘Please come, Stella. It won’t be any fun if you don’t come.’
‘How can I say no?’ Stella gave a weak smile and the tiny kitten she was holding climbed up her jumper and rubbed itself against her face. ‘It sounds like fun.’ If one’s definition of fun was spending an afternoon doing something guaranteed to cause significant mental anguish.