Just A Kiss Goodnight

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next week was a busy one for me filming two TV shows, the last bit of voice work for the UNICEF documentary and a few promotional interviews. Tom and I had dinner with Our Gang one night and his sister Emma another, and at the weekend Matt and Molly came over. I took them to a magic show in the Heath on Saturday morning and was annoyed to see a couple of photographers follow us. I had a quiet word with them about privacy and protecting the children, which thankfully they understood and then left us alone. Tom joined us just as we were getting back to my flat and rain started pouring.

"What will we do now Aunty Kate?"

"How about making some biscuits?"

"Yeah!" Tom's eyes lit up just as brightly as the children's and I had to hide my smile. We made up a batch of dough, split it between us and everyone added their choice of confectionery; smarties, cherry chips or tiny marshmallows – or in Tom's case, all three. Once they were cooked we demolished half of them with glasses of milk as we sat and watched a movie.

At bedtime we discovered that Tom shared Matt's love for The Jungle Book and when he started singing 'The Bare Necessities', it took no time at all for us to join in; soon we were all dancing around the room imitating Baloo and Mowgli. Settling the two hyped-up children for sleep took a little longer than usual that night.

When I went out to the kitchen after tucking them in I found Tom's back to me as he made a cup of tea and I slid my arms around his waist. "You're a big hit with those two." I told him with a smile into his shoulders. "I think Matt would take you home if he could – first Loki and now Jungle Book!"

He put his hands over mine and my smile widened, only to be stilled when he said wistfully, "Molly is a mini you Kate." Not again. Small steps Tom. Please don't rush me! I didn't respond but he seemed to sense my disquiet, turning in my arms and adding, "She even snorts when she's giggling like you do!"

Grateful for the lighter tone, I feigned indignance, "I do not snort!"

"You do love. It's adorable." I punished him for his teasing by kissing him quiet, which he didn't seem to mind at all.

We took our tea – and another biscuit for Tom – to the living room and he told me how flat hunting was going. He'd offered to take on the task as he had much more free time than I did at the moment, but I was conscious that in a week he'd be leaving for location shooting. I was keen to find something we could both agree on before he left, if that were possible. Unfortunately there didn't seem to be much around that met our wants and it was looking likely that I'd have to continue the search while he was gone.

"What's your next week like?" Tom asked.

"Tuesday and Thursday are full but the rest is fairly free if you need me."

"Keep Wednesday night free for dinner with my mum and Friday night for me – I have something special planned."

"Dinner with your mother?" I hadn't met Diana yet but had spoken to her on the phone a few times.

"Are you nervous about meeting her? You shouldn't be, she already adores you from what I've told her about you, and Emma too." Tom hugged me tighter in reassurance.