MARA
I could hear them coming up the stairs.
‘It’s my turn first!’
‘My turn, my turn!’
‘MUM, it’s my turn! Tell Rosie that!’
‘Luke, cut it out, will you? He might not even be around. Now pipe down, we’re almost there. Look, there’s Aunty Mara now.’
‘Hello, Luke. Hello, Rosie!’
I knelt down to give them a big hug each but Luke powered straight past me into the flat.
‘Sorry about him, he’s got some bee in his bonnet about finding George.’
‘That doesn’t matter. Now little Rosie-Posie, you can’t get away from me.’ I reached out and grabbed my niece. She let me hug her squidgyness and she giggled appreciatively. And then she said, ‘Nanty Sam?’
‘Not again. You’re going to have to learn to say hello, not just ask for Sam the minute you see me, you know.’ I kissed her and she ran off down the hall, calling for George.
The first time she’d said that to me – the day after they’d been lost – it had not only stung, it had worried me. Rosie shouldn’t be asking for the very person who would lose her given half a chance. But she’d kept on saying it over and over, as had Luke, every single time I’d seen them.
Kate and I followed Rosie down the hall to the kitchen. Both children were under the table.
‘Why the aunty bit? They never used to call her that – she was always just Sam.’
Kate shrugged. ‘I don’t know, maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder?’
‘And I suppose you think that should apply to me too?’
Kate gazed in her peaceful way at me. She didn’t have to answer that with words; her position was clear.
‘Well, it feels like emotional blackmail to me.’
‘They’re just children, Mara.’
‘I know. It’s the most effective sort, coming from them.’
We got lost talking about Dad for a bit after that. The kids were under the table for a while and then they weren’t. Then it was much quieter.
‘I might just go and check what those monkeys are up to.’
‘I’ll come with you. I don’t really want them in my room disturbing George – oh.’
They were in my room, leaning on one side of the bed. They were gazing at George, who was a fluffy circle right in the middle of my pillow. He didn’t look like he was about to run off at all.
‘We’re being very gentle, Aunty Mara,’ Luke said. ‘Just like Aunty Sam taught us.’
‘Nanty Sam,’ echoed Rosie.
‘What do you mean, Luke? What did Sam teach you?’
Luke’s face was serious. ‘She taught us how to say hello to George. You put your hand out like this and put it on him, very slowly and quietly. Oh, Rosie, it’s my turn. It was your turn last time!’
Rosie had stretched out her pudgy arm to put her hand on George too. But Luke wasn’t shouting, he was saying it all in a whisper so he didn’t disturb George. George was staying perfectly still.
After a bit Luke took his hand away, followed by his little mimic Rosie.
‘I think George misses Aunty Sam too,’ he pronounced.
‘Nanty Sam.’
Both children gazed at me solemnly.
‘You’ve done it, you two. Pass me the box of tissues there, would you, Luke? Thanks.’
Kate was right about the absence thing.