‘Mummy, Mummy, look!’
‘Mummy, we’ve been waiting for you to come home for ages.’
They had seized her hands, pulling her over to the basket of flowers, their small faces alight, and over their heads her mother mouthed silently, Mitch?
‘There’s a card, Mummy, but Grandma wouldn’t let us open it.’ Georgia was hopping from one foot to another in an agony of antici
pation. ‘Look, there.’
Kay obediently extracted the small envelope from the profusion of cream and yellow rosebuds, carnations, orchids, daisies and freesias, hoping her mother wouldn’t notice her hands were trembling. It was addressed, ‘Mrs Kay Sherwood, Ivy Cottage, 24 Bishops Road’. She stared at it for a moment before turning it over and carefully slitting the top open. The small card inside read, ‘I enjoyed last night. Can we do it again some time? M.’
She read it twice and then handed it to her mother who was at her elbow, before turning to the twins and saying, ‘It’s a present to all of us from Mr Grey, the gentleman you met last night? Isn’t that kind of him?’
‘For us too?’ Georgia and Emily were enchanted.
‘For all of us,’ Kay repeated firmly. ‘Can we do it again some time?’ What did that mean? Was this an extravagant brush-off or did he really mean to contact her? And if he did, what was she going to do? It would be utter folly to see him again; it would give all the wrong signals. But perhaps this was how he always gently let a woman down? She had no idea of how men in his position of wealth and influence behaved.
She glanced at her mother and the older woman’s eyes were waiting for her. ‘They’re beautiful flowers,’ Leonora said impassively, handing Kay back the card as she spoke.
‘Yes, they are.’
‘And there’s so many of them,’ Leonora pointed out.
‘Yes.’ She stared at her mother and Leonora stared back.
‘I’ll see to our dinner while you shower and change. The girls have already eaten but I said they could stay up a while, okay?’
‘Yes, fine,’ Kay agreed quickly. Anything to prevent a cosy chat over dinner.
She asked the twins about their day and admired some paintings they had brought home from school for her before going upstairs, angry with herself for the excitement bubbling in her veins. She had to get a handle on this, she told herself, stripping off her clothes in the bedroom and padding through to the bathroom in her robe. She hardly recognised herself any more.
Once in the shower she let the warm water wash the tension away, standing under the flow for longer than usual. She thought she heard the telephone ring at one point but, when no one called her, assumed the call was one of her mother’s friends.
By the time she had dressed in a light jumper and old jeans she felt more like herself again. She stared at the face in the mirror. Her freckles seemed to stand out even more tonight and she was sure she was getting a pimple on her chin. Mitchell Grey interested in her, indeed! She must have been mad. But no more, she was quite sane again. The flowers were his way of saying goodbye. He could have asked to see her again last night if he’d been interested, or written something specific on the card.
Her mother called to her from the kitchen as Kay walked downstairs. ‘There’s a sherry by the sofa for you, and one for me. I’ll come and join you in a minute.’
‘Thanks.’ Kay sat down and immediately Georgia and Emily climbed either side of her, snuggling into her like two small puppies. She stroked their curls, still damp from their evening shower and smelling of baby shampoo. Her precious babies, how could she want more from life than having them close to her? she asked herself guiltily. And she didn’t, not really. She didn’t.
The phone rang and her mother appeared like the genie from the lamp. ‘That’ll be Mitch,’ Leonora said casually. ‘He called earlier when you were in the shower. I told him to call back in a few minutes.’ She didn’t meet Kay’s eyes as she spoke.
Georgia had already lifted the receiver, speaking the number as Kay muttered, ‘Mum!’
Then the little girl said brightly, ‘Yes, Mummy’s downstairs now,’ holding out the phone as she called, ‘Mummy!’
Kay’s heart had begun a wild hammering, the palms of her hands suddenly damp. She stood up, walking over to Georgia and taking the phone from the little girl as though the receiver were red hot. ‘Hallo,’ she said weakly.
‘Kay? This is Mitchell.’ It was soft, darkly seductive, and she shivered.
‘Mitchell?’ She hoped her voice sounded stronger than she felt. ‘Thank you so much for the flowers; they were a lovely surprise but you really shouldn’t have.’
‘My pleasure.’
His cool, easy tone made a mockery of her racing pulse and Kay made a huge effort to pull herself together.
‘I was wondering if you’re free at the weekend?’
‘I…um…’ She had never felt so confused in her life. If she said no he probably wouldn’t bother again; if she said yes…