It was indeed Antonia, sounding snappish.
“Alive and now awake,” Aurelia said, sitting down on the bed and looking at her bedside clock. “It’s only just eight. You couldn’t have given me another hour?”
“No, I couldn’t. You two didn’t call me yesterday and I was getting worried.”
“Oh, we’re fine,” Aurelia said. “I’m sorry, we got busy with things here.”
“Mmm.”
“Hang on, I’ll wake Julia so you can talk to her.”
“No, don’t. Let her sleep. Just have her call me later, alright?”
“Right, okay,” Aurelia promised.
They rang off and she climbed back into bed with Fezz tucked in next to her and Biscuit still passed out on the floor.
Later, at half past nine, Aurelia knocked on Julia’s door to wake her, their tea and toast ready on the table. Julia came out of the guest room with her hair piled on top of her head and plopped herself down in a chair.
“I have a crick in my neck from the window seat,” she complained.
“Just think how much worse it would’ve been if I’d left you down there.”
“Mmm.”
Julia’s noncommittal muttering reminded Aurelia strongly of Antonia.
“Your mum called this morning. We forgot to call her yesterday.”
“Oops. I’ll call her now.”
Julia stood and found Aurelia’s phone on the kitchen counter.
As soon as Antonia answered, Julia responded with a loud, “I’m alive, Mum.”
Julia put the phone on speaker and sat back at the table with Aurelia.
“Your aunt confirmed that earlier, thank you very much. What’s keeping you two so busy?”
There was a pause as Aurelia and Julia exchanged a look. Their faces slowly broke into smiles that soon led to laughter that neither of them could hold in.
“What? What is it? She didn’t let you pierce or tattoo anything, did she?”
“Please! Not on my watch,” Aurelia said disdainfully.
“It’s nothing, Mum. Just something funny that happened yesterday in the shop.”
“What?”
“Well, you sort of had to be there,” Julia said.
Aurelia didn’t want Antonia to feel left out, so she added, “Julia’s been finding out how unique some of the customers can be.”
“Yeah, the shop gets some interesting visitors,” Julia said, her eyes widening at her own daring to have come so close to the truth.
Aurelia’s heart skipped a beat as she tried to think whether she needed to say something to smooth over Julia’s comment. Then it skipped another when she realized that her secret was now in the hands of an indiscreet teenager.
“Oh—Aunt Aurelia, you didn’t tell me that Lydia got married at fifteen!” Julia said suddenly, seeming to forget that her mother was still on the phone.
