‘This is weird,’ muttered the Dreamer, so wide-eyed it was hard for him to remember that back in the past he was asleep. ‘Can they see us?’
‘Unlikely. Possible, but unlikely. So long as we don’t want to be noticed, we tend not to be. You didn’t see me that often. Even when I was trying to get your attention.’
The Dreamer threw the Ghost a hopeful glance. ‘Mam looks happy.’
‘Aye, she was. She was much better mentally. Well, for a few minutes she is, but you’ll see.’
‘Oh no. Jesus. Do I have to see it?’
‘Yes. Yes, you do. There is nowhere else to go. Not until the train comes.’
‘But I don’t think I—’
‘Shush now and let’s listen.’
‘All right …’
And so he listened. And gazed at Maggie’s face, tentatively.
Edith chewed her food with some consideration. ‘These carrots are good, Maggie. Lovely flavour. What’s your secret?’
Maggie smiled, politely but warmly.So beautiful, both the unseen Wilburs thought. ‘Actually, Edith, Wilbur did the carrots.’
Edith seemed a little disappointed with this development in her enquiry.
‘A bit of nutmeg before we roast them,’ the actual Wilbur in the room said.
The Ghost watched with interest. ‘I forgot there was a time I helped with the cooking.’
‘Really? But you – we – like cooking. It’s relaxing.’
The Ghost gave a wry smile. ‘The problem was that I gave up relaxing as well …’
Wilbur stared at his mother for a little while, waiting for his moment. ‘Mam, we brought you round to tell you something.’
Her eyes lit with interest. ‘Is there a little one on the way?’
Wilbur smiled. ‘No, no … we’re not in any big rush in that department.’
Maggie raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh, that’s good to know.’
Wilbur flashed her anot nowglance. ‘We’re moving to London.’
There was a pause so strong his mother stopped chewing. ‘London?’ It might as well have been Neptune.
The Dreamer looked at the Ghost, as worried as a lost child. ‘London? Really? Was Maggie okay with that?’
‘She tried to be. But no. Not really. Or she might have been if we’d truly acknowledged the sacrifice she was making …’
Edith wasn’t taking this well. ‘But you’re based in Sheffield … The shop’s in Sheffield.’
‘We have others though now. Manchester. Edinburgh. And we’re opening one in Leeds and two in London. And many more tocome. The bank is on our side. I take a loan and pay it back with interest within twelve months so they give me another. I’ve employed the very best team of people and I am working every hour God sends.’
Maggie’s nod was accompanied by a silent sigh.
‘We’re going from strength to strength,’ Wilbur went on, ‘but we need to be based most of the time in London. That’s where the action is. We have a disadvantage being stuck up here.’
Maggie raised her eyebrows a little but the only Wilbur that noticed was the dead one.
