Phoebe plopped herself beside Harriet, but Theodore moved with his characteristic grace and elegance, lowering himself onto the picnic blanket and unpacking the basket of food.
“We have tea, biscuits, ham, scones, jam, bread and even a little cake.” Harriet helped herself to a bread roll, and leaned back, feeling the warmth of the sun against her skin.
She closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the gentle swish of the grass in the breeze, and the movement of bodies around her. When she opened them, Theodore was leaning towards Phoebe, helping her split her bread roll apart.
Harriet felt a warmth spread through her that had nothing to do with the sun. She sat up a little straighter, watching as Theodore packed the roll with ham and a few slices of cheese.
“Thank you.” Phoebe smiled as she took a bite of her roll.
“It is my pleasure.” Theodore smiled as he took a bite of his own roll. “When you finish that, I can make you another or you can have some cake if you prefer.”
“Maybe an apple?” Phoebe shifted closer to her uncle.
“Would you like me to cut it for you?” Theodore reached for the fruit. “Or would you prefer it whole?”
“Cut. Please.” Phoebe smiled, and Harriet felt as though she could fly.
As they ate their food, they chatted of little things. Phoebe showed Theodore some of her drawings and Harriet told Phoebe all about their time in London.
When they had finished, Harriet stood up and started searching through the games bag. She pulled out three mallets and several balls for Pall Mall. She had managed to find one she thoughtwould work for Phoebe, the girl seemed to be growing by the second.
I wonder if she will be as tall as her uncle.From what she had learned of Rose, she had not been far from her brother’s height.
“Pall mall?” Theodore’s voice broke into Harriet’s thoughts.
“Sort of.” Harriet shrugged. “It is a version Fiona and her brothers taught us. The aim is still to get your ball through this hoop, but we create obstacles between us and the hoop.”
Harriet stood up and picked her way across a patch of very uneven ground, stabbing the hoop behind a fallen tree. She wiped her hands off and walked back to Theodore and Phoebe.
“We each pick a ball and set it up, like so.” Harriet demonstrated with her own balls. “Then we take turns to strike. However, you can of course, distract one another, interfere with another player’s ball though you must never strike someone with your mallet. That last one we added after Fiona’s brother broke his nose. Oh, and you cannot interfere with the hoop.”
Harriet looked at Theodore and Phoebe. “Does that make sense?”
They both nodded. Phoebe pointed to her chest and then held up her mallet. Harriet understood. “You may go first, then me and then your uncle.”
Harriet watched as Phoebe lined up her shot, striking her ball as hard as she could. Then she went, the ball sailed straight, hit a bump and spun away from the hoop. “Drat.”
Theodore took his place and struck his ball. It sailed into the air, arcing gracefully before it landed just beside Harriet’s. Harriet watched Phoebe stalk towards her own ball, striking it but sending it wide and scowling after it.
Harriet moved to her own ball, with Theodore’s resting beside it. She looked up at him, and grinned. He froze part way through a step.
She raised her mallet.
“You would not.” Theodore shook his head.
“I would.” She struck her ball, sending it careening into his.
As she had hoped, when her ball struck his, her ball spun towards the hoop while his tumbled further away. Her ball struck a bump and changed course, landing beside Phoebe’s feet.
Harriet saw the impish determination in Phoebe’s face, saw the way the girl’s eyes darted towards the bushes. “Phoebe.”
“Sorry Auntie.” Phoebe grinned at her and hit Harriet’s ball as hard as she could, sending it tumbling into the brush.
A booming laugh filled the meadow, mingling with Phoebe’s giggles as Harriet walked towards the bush. She could not find it in herself to be cross, not when Phoebe was clearly enjoying herself. As she got on her hands and knees to peer under the bush, a shadow fell across her.
“Lost something?” Theodore’s voice still held the edges of his laughter.
“You know, the chivalrous thing would be to help me search,” Harriet said, kneeling in front of him and glaring up at him.
