Marcus Attwater

The Chapter of St Cloud


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Anna replied, 'But also very nice. I came from a large family myself - four girls - but that was very different. I was used to always being Emma-Sophie-Jilly-oh it's you. And here suddenly everyone made a fuss of me. It was different, though, back then. More formal and old-fashioned, like you would expect in a house like that.' She gestured behind her, and a few orange petals drifted away. 'I think maybe I left more of a mark on my kids than Edie did on hers.'

      'Looks like you did a good job.'

      Anna's mouth curled in a small, almost sad smile.

      'If I hadn't seen the way you look at Simon, I'd say you were flattering me.'

      'I mean it,' Claire said, 'Not just Simon, you should be proud of your children.'

      'Oh, I am. I am.' Anna dropped the wilting bloom and set off again, leading the way through a shadowy trellis. 'So tell me about your family, Claire. Do you have brothers and sisters?'

      'Just a younger sister. Francesca. We were never close, but things got better when we grew up. In fact, we get along very well now.'

      Claire thought of Gina's prickly relationship with her mother-in-law, of Bryony's formal cordiality towards hers. And here she was talking to Anna almost as she would to Gina or Bry. As if they were friends. They walked back towards the house in comfortable silence.

      She was soaking in the bath when a tinny rendition of O frondens virga alerted her to a call.

      'Hey Claire, it's Bryony.'

      'Bry! How are you? You know I'm staying with Simon, right?'

      'Yes, yes, I know. I'm fine. Look, about staying with Simon. I wanted to say, I mean, I wanted to ask you something.'

      She sounded strangely hesitant, for Bryony.

      'What's wrong?'

      'Has he told you how old he is?'

      So it was about that. 'I haven't asked. Look, I know you and Julia think I'm a bit of a cradle-snatcher, but it's not-'

      'He was at school with Luke,' Bryony interrupted, 'You know, Paul's brother. That's why he was at the wedding. They were best mates. Luke's only twenty-one, Claire.'

      Oh.

      'Fuck.' Claire said quietly.

      'Well, that's legal,' Bryony said, apparently relieved to have got it off her chest. 'I thought you should know, I mean, if you didn't know already.'

      'Yes, yes you're right Bry. Thanks, I suppose. I'll have to think about this.'

      'Of course. You'll be all right, Claire.'

      It wasn't clear whether that was a question and Claire didn't know what to answer if it was.

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