I walked through the kitchen and out to the conservatory—or sunroom, as my mother liked to call it—and kept my distance. Neither of them had recognised me, so I took a moment to eavesdrop on what they were doing.
“Oh, my gosh.” Adelaide giggled. “Look at those dungarees!”
Mum sniggered. “His father hated those. I deliberately put them on after our Sunday lunch. You see that red bit there?”
Adelaide nodded.
“That’s a stain. He knocked over a paint tin and it went all over him—three of us tried to get it out but it was stubborn! A bit like him. Mind you, I’m not terribly sure that’s a trait he’s grown out of.”
I took offense at that.
I was not stubborn.
“I agree,” Adelaide said. “Oh, what’s this?”
“I remember that! It’s the day we finally got him a puppy. He’d been begging for months, and we thought it might be good company for him since he was an only child.”
I pressed my lips together. I’d never known that was the reason we’d gotten a dog. I always thought it was because my father wanted one.
“Poppy was the best dog,” Mum said sadly. “She only lived for ten years, but it was the best ten years in the world. I have so many fond memories of her and Alex chasing one another around the garden. They really did grow up together. I was ever so grateful for her the day we found out we couldn’t have more children.”
I closed my eyes.
I’d never known that, either.
Shit.
Now her reason for not taking the cats back made sense.
“Is that why you didn’t take the cats back?” Adelaide asked as if she’d read my mind. “For Olympia?”
Mum nodded. “Partially. I… I think I’ve been too hard on her sometimes and I haven’t always done everything right, by either of them, where their learning difficulties have been concerned. After you said about that special reading font, I did some research on autism. She has friends, but I don’t think they’ll ever truly understand her. A cat doesn’t need to understand her. It’ll just be there, regardless.”
Adelaide reached over and covered Mum’s hand with hers. “For what it’s worth, I completely agree with you. Plus, she’s been looking after the baby rabbits for a long time. She does a lot more with them than anyone gives her credit for. I think she’s responsible enough to have one, and I do intend to speak to Alex about it.”
Mum sighed, placing her free hand on top of Adelaide’s and patting it. “Oh, my dear. Do you really have to leave at the end of the month?”
Adelaide dropped her head and nodded. “I do. Olympia will be back in school, and my work here will be done. I have no reason to stay in Whitborough.”
“Are you sure about that?” Mum asked slowly, glancing at her.
I waited for an answer.
It never came.
Instead, she cleared her throat, breaking through the heavy silence that had momentarily hung in the air. “What’s this one?” Adelaide asked, pointing at a photo.
“Ah!” Mum brightened. “That, my dear, is Alexander running naked down the driveway.”
And that was my cue to break this little shindig up.
“Mother! Must you get those things out all the time?” I walked into the conservatory as if I hadn’t been eavesdropping for the past five minutes. “I’m sure Adelaide has better things to do than look at me naked as a toddler.”
Like look at me naked now.
Adelaide looked over her shoulder and grinned at me. “No way. I’m having the best time. Your escapades are totally inspiring a character in my book.”
“I was going to show her the photos of you climbing the apple tree and falling in the pond,” Mum said, flipping several pages of the photo album.
“Ooh, that one!” Adelaide clapped her hands. “How does that even happen?”
“Arthur’s father put a small orchard by the wildlife pond. When he was about six, Alexander thought he’d climb the tree.”
“Please don’t,” I mumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes.
“Of course, being a boy, he decided it was best to do so in his underpants.”
“Mother.”
Adelaide bit the inside of her cheek and peered over at me, and if the glint in her eyes was anything to go by, she was desperately trying not to laugh.
“He climbed the tree to fetch some apples we hadn’t been able to reach as the branches overhung the pond. Alexander being Alexander climbed along the branch, reached for the apples, and the branch cracked.”
I dropped my chin to my chest.
She was telling it.
“He and the branch smashed into the pond, sent three ducks quacking, four frogs, and came out covered in algae and all sorts of pond scum.”
Adelaide pressed her hand to her mouth and nose and glanced at me. “Oh, my.”
“Yes. The biggest shock was the small frog in his underpants, though.”