Away With the Fairies (The Swallow Barn Cottage Series, Book 2)

Prepare the Sand Bags

In about fifteen minutes John called from the kitchen, "Girls, it's dinner time."

Fiona lifted her eyes off the paper she was colouring with Imogen, who was now sitting on her lap. The girl was sturdy and heavy, and smelled like vanilla and something citrus. Freddy had slowly shifted toward Will on the sofa, and was now sitting near him. They'd been reading a book titled That's Not My Llama - and Fiona had lost count, but it must have been at least the seventh time. She kept throwing the looks at the two of them, bewildered. At each page the girl would say, "Mouse," and he'd say in the same sincere surprised tone, "Where?" and Freddy pointed. And then at the same page on the same spot he'd read that the llama's nose was 'too fuzzy,' and the girl would say, "Too fuzzy," and he'd touch the page with his index finger and the girl would repeat the gesture. The two of them seemed perfectly happy to go through the same actions again and again - and Fiona suddenly realised she loved him.

"Eat!" Imogen yelled, dropped the pencil, and dashed to the kitchen.

"Freddy, come eat," John called.

The two Holyoakes on the sofa finished their book, and rubbed the tuft on the head of the llama on the cover - and Freddy carefully slid off on the floor and walked to the kitchen. Will smiled, watching the toddler - and then his eyes met Fiona's.

If I mouth 'I love you,' he'll understand, she thought - and then the bedroom door opened upstairs, and Clementine was walking down the stairs.

"The gingers are back to sleep," she said quietly. "We had a rough night. I doubt they'll be up any time soon. Mmm, smells good. Is there food?" she asked.

"I'm working on it," John said, sticking his head out of the kitchen. "I thought I'd feed the langoliers first," he said.

"Sure, sure," Clementine said in a tired voice and sat heavily on the other end of the sofa. "I apologise for the intrusion," she said to Fiona, "but we properly need to eat. The girls are going through a growth spurt, and I–"

John showed up from the kitchen with a mug of tea and an avocado toast on the plate. He handed it to Clementine and went back.

"I eat all the time," she said apologetically and sank her teeth into the toast. "We'll be out of your hair very soon."

"So, when are Di and George coming?" Will asked nonchalantly, and she choked on her nosh.

Clementine gave him a gingerly look, and he raised his eyebrow. Fiona sighed. She was still sitting on the floor, when Imogen had left her, distractedly moving a pencil on a piece of paper.

"You know Di. Even John can't say 'no' to her when she gets into her 'steamroller mode,'" Clementine said in a small voice. "She just kept– expressing concerns, and we were going to go skating anyroad."

"So, you drove for two hours to skate here,'" Will said, and Clementine chewed a giant bite of toast she'd just taken.

"But you don't really care, do you, Will?" she said in a pacifying tone. "C'mon, I know it's like a background noise to you. If you cared, you'd tell us to naff off."

"Fiona does," he said gravely, and Clementine whipped her head.

"Oh, Fiona, please ignore all this– malarkey! In a month or two they'll leave you two alone," she said and cringed. "It's just all this is a bit... sudden."

"And still no one's business," Will said sharply, and Fiona unconsciously touched his knee.

He looked at her, and she gave him a soft smile.

"Gossiping without me?" John said showing up from the kitchen. "More toast?"

Clementine shook her head. "Maybe once the girls are done, we should go."