Page 96 of Ivy's Arch

I folded the paper over and put it back in the envelope. My brother didn’t say anything for once in his life.

The envelope went back in the box. I put the lid back on top and stood up, holding it safely in my arms.

“Show me exactly where you found this.”

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then sensibly changed his mind.

I followed him into the garden, down the path towards the bottom where Mum had a photography den built so she could develop and process prints the old fashioned way for some reason.

It wasn’t somewhere we usually ventured, mainly because she’d had it built after we’d left home, apart from Jasper who’d lingered in the town for longer than either of us, because of a girl, of course.

“It was over there.”

I knelt down under a worktop. “There are two more, Detective Ash Arsehole. One’s got your name on, one’s got Jasper’s name on. Good observational skills. Nob.”

“Shall we open them?”

I put mine back and stood up, shaking my head. “No. I’ll tell Mum we found them. She might have a reason why she’s not given them to us yet or she might’ve forgotten.”

“This is Mum. She doesn’t forget anything. Ever.”

“Including when you ran out of socks because you kept using them for other things than your feet.”

“You inherited her memory, didn’t you?”

“Yep. And her intelligence.”

“I got Dad’s good looks.”

I laughed at Ash and he joined in. We could pass for twins, we were that alike, as was Jasper. Triplets.

Kind of triplets.

It was complicated, but then wasn’t everything.

The End