‘And what about you?’
‘What about me?’ His voice had taken on an edge, warning me to tread carefully.
‘Don’t you want to return to practicing medicine, or to have some time for yourself?’
‘My work as a surgeon took me away from home too much, and often at odd times. I’d get a call at two in the morning and have to rush to the hospital. I can’t bring that kind of uncertainty back into Theo’s life. And before you come up with a million solutions, I don’t want to hire someone to live in or, God forbid, get married again, just so I can be a surgeon and palm my son off on someone else when he’s inconvenient. I don’t need or want the money or the status and by teaching students I’m still useful.’
I didn’t say anything, but bent and scooped up Runcible, who was shivering by my feet. I cuddled her close to me, burying my face in her neck. Alexander spoke again, his voice more gentle this time.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out onyou. I’m just so used to people trying to fix me, I try to pre-empt it now.’
‘It’s okay. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think you need fixing at all.’
He looked into my eyes and for a moment I was transfixed, my stomach leaping around all over the place, defying my head which was screaming at me to remember the conversation we had been havingthirty seconds ago, Fallon!I was first to look away.
‘So, which way are these pine trees? I think Runcible is going to go on strike if we don’t get moving again.’
We walked a little further until a scene from a picture book met my eyes: a little copse of Christmas trees, about twenty of them, all different sizes and sparkling from the chilly touch of winter.
‘You planted all these?’
‘Me and Dad and Theo together, yes. We still don’t have one big enough for the hallway – we buy that in – but we’ve dug one up for the Hall now for three years. And after Christmas we put them back out here to continue growing.’
‘Oh, I love that. It does seem sad that so many trees are thrown away.’
‘It does. Our problem in a few years is going to be too many trees, and trees that are too big for us to handle, but we’ll worry about that when it happens.’
‘So you don’t want me to offer any solutions now?’ I asked, grinning. ‘I’m sure I could come up with some ideas.’
He laughed.
‘No, you’re all right. If I’m stuck in ten years’ time, I’ll ask you then.’
‘Do you think our parents will get married?’ I asked him suddenly.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I think it’s looking likely, don’t you?’
I nodded. ‘Funny how differently people’s lives work out, isn’t it? It will be Mum’s first wedding, but Douglas’s third.’
He visibly stiffened.
‘She can trust him, you know. Remember that he was widowed once, and he still gets on well with Coco’s mother.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that at all. Douglas is wonderful and I’d be delighted if they got married. I’d be more concerned that you wouldn’t want him to marry her.’
‘Why?’
‘Nothing sinister. I mean, she’s refused hundreds of proposals over the years – according to her, that is – and I can see that she feels completely differently about your dad. It’s just, well, I know how she can be with her soap career and her Instagram page and now all this wellness stuff.’
‘Honestly, Fallon, I don’t know much about that. I just see someone who clearly loves my father. Okay, so she has her own agenda sometimes, but from what I understand, she’s a self-made woman, and obviously an extremely successful one. She’s never going to be some sort of surrendered wife, but that’s a good thing.’
‘You won’t mind that she will almost definitely want a magazine taking photos of the wedding?’
He shrugged.
‘I may not know much about celebrity or soap operas, but I know how the world works.’ He paused. ‘Fallon, I hope you don’t mind my asking, but what’s it like for you having Jacqueline Honeywood as your mother? I must say, when Dad said you were coming with her, I expected somebody very different.’
‘Somebody more like her?’
