My Favourite Part

25: a world of our own

Things have settled down at the manor by the time we're back. There's a low and jolly buzz about the house, but it's coming from upstairs; when Magnus holds the door open, the incoming wind makes a whistling noise as it blows along the empty hallway.

Once the door's shut behind us, Jono's quick to make his exit, announcing that he's got a couple of calls to make and he'll be back down before dinner, but not before pressing a quick kiss to Kitty's cheek. Her lips tighten into a frown as he does, and I'm certain that under her bug-eyed sunglasses she's rolling her eyes.

"Right well, please make sure you wash up before you come down. That study absolutely reeks of mildew." She's already rounded the corner into the kitchen before Jono can respond, but his chuckle is resigned to the point of amusement as he jogs up the marble stairs.

"Yes, darling." With a grimace, and a 'good luck', Pip trots up the stairs too, to his room, leaving me alone with the ice queen. She flashes me one of her thousand smiles - this one's moulded and self-assured – and when she turns and heads down towards the kitchen, Louboutin's clicking beneath her, I get the feeling that I'm supposed to follow behind her. It's what everyone else does when she moves.

The girl pip pointed out as his sister Nelly is there, leaning against the island, working her way through a piece of cheesecake, its face crumbly and golden brown with some caramel-coloured sauce drizzled over it in a sticky zig zag. It looks and smells so good that I think I feel my mouth moisten on sight. Shit, have I eaten today?

"Now, Nell-nell," Kitty tuts, her voice taking on a low, babyish intonation, "supper's not far off – are we sure we need to be snacking?"

She's doing that thing Babe's mum does, saying 'we' when she means 'you', except with her faux comforting voice and insulting implication, she comes off as a lot more disparaging.

When Nelly's apathetic gaze meets her mother's disapproving one, her smile is sarcastic, and obviously so.

"Hiya, Mummy. Oh, my afternoon? It's been splendid, thanks, and yours?"

I mask my half-escaped chuckle with a little cough, but luckily Kitty's displeasure is the loudest thing in the white-tiled room.

"Oh, darling, you know I hate when you speak like such a shrew – I'm only trying to help. We can only get away with 'baby weight' for so long, Nells; I mean, the twins are almost 3."

By 'shrew', Nelly's already stuck her fork back into the buttery mound, and once Kitty's finished with what I sense is a regular tirade, Nelly looks up at me with narrow eyes.

"You're Auby's new girlfriend." Nothing about her expression implied that she was asking a question, but an expectant silence follows, and I feel obliged to fill it with a nod and a nervous clearing of my throat,

"Um, yeah, I'm Evangeline."

"Nelly," she pats an irritated hand on her chest and her stiff smile reappears, except it's slightly less spiteful this time, "care for some cheesecake, Evangeline? It's honeycomb."

Honeycomb's my favourite! ...Although I don't know if that'd be prudent to say at this moment.

As dramatic as it sounds, under both Kitty and Nelly's eyes I feel like I'm trapped in a chunk of frost, with the ice queens on either side. If I take Kitty's side, I don't get much; however, if I take Nelly's...

"I-I'd love a bit," I say shyly, approaching the glass dome of cheesecake on the island, "thank you."

I extend a smile to Ana too, whose hard, unrecognised efforts no doubt went into the gorgeous dessert. She's stood, in the corner, as awkwardly as I was, unsure of whether or not she's supposed to leave the room for the tiff, but when I smile at her, appreciation is clear in her big brown eyes.