“Great. Thanks, Laura. And thanks for the trip to the beach the other day—it was fun.”
I scored a deep gray groove into the pad of Post-it notes.
“Yep. Okay. Bye.” I hung up.
Alex at cottage, I wrote on the pad.Party tomorrow night?
Ruth stalked into the day nursery to find us when she and Vera got back.
“How was gym, darling?” she asked Edwin, bending to kiss him.
“Good, Mummy.”
She had bright red patches high up on her cheeks, and she narrowed her eyes at me over Edwin’s head.
“Get rid of her, please,” she hissed.
“Who?” I asked.
“My mother. Persuade her to go home. She’s going on and on about us making a fresh start, moving into Winterbourne. I can’t bear to sit next to her at dinner. Please, Laura.” She gave Edwin another kiss and marched out of the room. I trailed after her.
Ruth headed directly upstairs. Vera was leaning by the back doors in the kitchen, gazing out at the garden.
“Is everything all right, Mrs. Blackwood?” I asked. She straightened and smiled at me.
“Absolutely. Quite all right, thank you. I don’t think I will stay for dinner after all, though, my dear. Would you mind phoning for a taxi for me?”
I went out to the hall. The block of Post-it notes displayed a fresh blank sheet.
The following morning, Edwin and I had clomped into the hall from the garden, shedding wellies and coats and bundles of autumn leaves, before we realized we were interrupting Ruth on the phone. She held her hand over the mouthpiece and waited for us to take our finds through to the day nursery before she resumed talking. A while later she wandered through to admire Edwin’s collage.
“Laura, I know I said I’d take him to the Halloween thing in the hall this afternoon, but I don’t suppose you’d take him for me, would you?”
Edwin looked from her to me, his glue stick poised in midair.
“Yeah, of course,” I said.
“Oh, thank you. You’re a lifesaver. I want to nip into town and buy a costume for the village do tonight. Lots of the neighbors are going, apparently.”
Edwin said, “Can I come?”
“Tonight?” Ruth ruffled his hair. “No, darling. Sorry. It’s for grown-ups only. Laura will look after you here—maybe you could do apple bobbing or something?” Her vague tone sharpened as she met my eyes. “That is, if you don’t mind babysitting?”
I shook my head. “That’s fine.”
Edwin put his pirate costume on after lunch, and I drew him a curly mustache and dots of stubble with a black eyeliner pencil. I dropped a flashlight into my bag before we set off. It was the half-term holiday, and the village hall was overrun with children in fancy dress, from pillowcase ghosts to red-horned devils, and everything in between. Helen Luckhurst introduced me to Kemi Harris, Joel’s mum, recently returned from Nigeria. Kemi thanked me for the biscuits I’d helped Joel bake to welcome her home, but Edwin was tugging at my arm, so I left her chatting to Helen and accompanied him on a tour of the hall.
He gripped my hand hard as he queued for games, his eyes wide as he watched the shrieking gangs of children rocketing around the echoing space. He had a turn at biting doughnuts hanging from strings, and then a go at sliding his hand into the lucky dip barrel where slimy toy bugs hid among the sawdust. Two little wizards who pounced on him turned out to be Joel Harris and Ralph Luckhurst, but Edwin hid his face in my cardigan and didn’t want to join in their play.
I wrapped his scarf around his neck and pulled his hat tightly over his ears before we set off for home, but the sharp air crept underneath our layers and pinched at our skin. I stopped to wipe his nose as we passed the last house before our lane, and a car slowed to a halt. It was Ruth.
“Good timing!” she said as we clambered in. I fumbled to do Edwin’s buckle up with my numb fingers. “How was the party, darling?”
Edwin jutted his lower lip out.
“I found the most marvelous witch costume,” she said. “And Alex has some floor-length black cloaks for us. It will go perfectly.”
Later, when I had made cheese on toast for Edwin and bathed him and was reading him stories in bed, Ruth danced into his bedroom. She wore a pointed black hat and a maroon and black velvet dress, and when she spun around, the skirt whirled up into ripples. Her nails and lipstick were bloodred, her eye shadow was dark, and her eyes shone.
