A Mother by Nature

‘That’s what I felt. It’s why I bought it,’ Adam said with a smile, but then the smile grew wry. ‘Emphasis on ‘‘going to be’’, though. If and when I ever get the time and the money—not to mention the energy. Right, kids, upstairs and get yourselves ready for bed, please. It’s way past your bedtime. I’ll be up in five minutes.’

They ran up, and Adam seized several of the shopping bags from the hall floor and headed towards the back of the house. Anna picked up a couple more and followed him.

‘You’ll do it—don’t be so defeatist. It’s early days—heavens, most people wouldn’t even have unpacked yet!’

‘I haven’t, not entirely. The dining room’s still stacked up with boxes, but they’re mainly books destined for shelves that don’t yet exist and the dining room doesn’t really matter. We don’t exactly dine in style.’

‘Shame on you,’ Anna teased, then cocked her head on one side. ‘Can I help?’

‘Please—put the kettle on. I just want to put the frozen stuff away and check the kids, then we’ll sit down for a bit of peace and quiet.’

She looked around at the kitchen. It was lovely, but it needed help. The units were awful, but they were easily replaced, and if the doorway from the breakfast area could be moved to the other side of the chimney breast, then the table could sit by the window and that would be much better.

The house looked, from the little she’d seen, as if it had been ‘modernised’ in the fifties, and it certainly needed some sympathetic restoration, but the potential was huge. Her curiosity was running riot. What was the rest of the house like?

‘Right, that’s that lot. How’s the kettle?’

‘Not boiled,’ she told him. ‘Can I have a guided tour?’

His face fell comically. ‘Oh, lord,’ he groaned, rolling his eyes in obvious embarrassment. ‘I hate to think what a mess it is, and Helle’s rooms will be chaos gone mad.’

‘I’m not looking at the mess—I’m looking at the house, at the potential,’ she coaxed, her avid curiosity unwilling to remain unsatisfied. ‘If you really, really mind I’ll let you say no, but I’d love to see it if you can bring yourself to let me.’

He hovered, just for a second, then squared his shoulders. ‘Oh, what the heck, come on, then. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ he grumbled, and she laughed softly.

‘I promise.’

‘You can give me some advice. Skye’s bedroom is first on the list, and I don’t know what to do.’

‘Ask her,’ Anna said promptly, cautious of becoming involved. ‘It’s her room—she’s more than old enough to have ideas.’

‘If only she would share them,’ he murmured. ‘Come on, then, let’s get this over with.’

Anna went up the stairs after him and followed him straight down the landing and into Skye’s bedroom. It was above the kitchen and overlooked the back garden, heavily shadowed now in the dark but fascinating to Anna for all that. She’d glimpsed it from the kitchen and itched to explore it in daylight. Her own garden was tiny, and she’d always thought she’d love a bigger garden. She tried not to envy him.

Skye was sitting on the bed, still fully dressed, colouring in a book. She glanced up and then looked away, dismissing them.

‘I’m showing Anna the house,’ Adam told her. ‘Is it OK to come in?’

She shrugged.

‘I’m sorry, it’s an awful cheek—Skye, do you mind?’ Anna asked, wary of stepping on clearly sensitive little toes.

She shrugged again, noncommitally, and carried on colouring. Anna looked around. It was desperately in need of love and attention, but it was bigger than Anna’s sitting room, and way bigger than her bedrooms had ever been. There was a pretty little fireplace against one wall, cast iron and delicately patterned inset tiles, and Anna would have given her eye teeth for it as a child. As an adult, in fact!

‘What a wonderful room—it’s huge,’ she said with genuine awe. ‘My bedroom at home is much smaller!’

‘Before, I had to share with the boys,’ Skye said, clearly impressed that her room was bigger than Anna’s. ‘Well, after she went. First I had the little room, but then the au pairs had it.’

Au pairs? As in, lots of them? Of course, they didn’t come for long, Anna thought, and wondered if ‘she’ was their mother. Inevitably. And she’d gone somewhere. Where? It was suddenly a minefield, and she picked her way through it with enormous care.

‘Do you know what you want to do with it now you’ve got such a lovely room?’ Anna asked her. ‘It’s all yours—it must be wonderful, I should think, to be able to choose.’

Skye shrugged. ‘Don’t know.’ She seemed to withdraw into herself then, as if too much attention was focused on her, and Anna gave a slight smile and moved further away, giving her room.

‘I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun deciding. I always think that’s the best bit.’ She turned towards Adam and pushed him gently towards the door. ‘Come on, let’s leave her in peace. I want to see the rest. What’s next?’

He showed her the loo and bathroom, both in need of tidying up and probably refitting in a more sympathetic style than the ugly suite that was there. Still, it worked, she supposed, except for the dripping tap, although an Edwardian original would have been more attractive.

‘I’m going to refit it when I get time,’ he told her. ‘I thought I might rearrange it to fit a loo in here as well—it seems silly not to have one in the bathroom, and there’s tons of room.’

‘Can you do plumbing?’ she asked, impressed, and he laughed.

‘Me? I’m an orthopaedic surgeon, don’t forget. I’m a dab hand with a saw and a screwdriver, and I’m good at plugging vascular leaks, too.’

‘Hmm. Let’s just hope your pipes heal,’ she said with a smile, and he chuckled.

‘They won’t need to. You wait, it’ll be perfect. Come and see the rest.’

He took her into the boys’ room, and they were much more welcoming and extrovert than Skye had been. She was shown their toys, and how each of them had their own space in a corner of the even bigger room, and they bounced around and generally didn’t look ready for bed.