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“Nice lion,” Alice says with a smile.
“Pax won it for me. And Ambrose won me the duck. Ambrose, this is Alice. And this is Ambrose, my…er, boyfriend.”
Ambrose beams at the word, and the way he lights up almost makes it easier to say.
Almost.
“Ambrose Hulme, pleased to make your acquaintance.” Ambrose holds out his hand.
“Alice.” Alice shakes it, eyeing him up approvingly as he turns back to wait for Pax to get back with some cotton candy for him.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Ambrose thrusts his hand out in front of him, his elbow remaining at his side, as Mina had taught him. “I’ve heard so much about the famous Alice and Dani.”
“All good things, I hope?” Alice smiles.
Dani steps forward and wraps Ambrose in a hug. “I’m so happy that you finally got her to admit her feelings,” she whispers. “Don’t tell the others, but you were always my favourite ghost.”
“And you were my favourite Living,” Ambrose beams. “After Bree, of course.”
“Of course.” Dani pulls back with a smile. “Ambrose is doing tours at the cemetery, too. He’s made the place quite famous thanks to some viral videos about a little-known Victorian blind adventurer.”
“That sounds fascinating. We shall have to come along to one of your tours. So you’re Bree’s boyfriend?” Alice gives me an appreciative nod. “What happened to the tall, loud one with the impressive muscles?”
“Pax, oh…he’s over there, at the fruit stalls.” I point to where Pax is holding up a pair of melons to his chest and doing a dance that has my father practically on the ground in hysterics. “He’s also my boyfriend. I guess…I guess I have two now.”
“Hmmph,” Edward pouts, but the twinkle in his eye tells me he doesn’t need me to answer.
I wish I didn’t have to leave him out. I wish we’d been able to figure out his unfinished business. But we’re not giving up. Ambrose is deep in research, and I’ll help just as soon as I know that Jack the Ripper is gone for good.
“I want you to meet someone, too.” Alice turns around and tugs a man who was enraptured by Pax’s dance. “Dad, this is Bree, Ambrose, and Pax. This is my father, Richard.”
“Hello!” the man says brightly. “How are you today?”
“We’re good, Mr. Agincourt. We’re enjoying the festival. How are you? You’re an archaeologist, aren’t you?” I remember what Alice told me the first time I visited her at the museum. “We really enjoyed visiting the Roman exhibit the other week.”
“I’m so happy you liked it.” He beams. He looks a lot like Alice with his severe features, but his whole face lights up when he smiles. “It’s decades of work cataloguing those finds and building a picture of the Roman settlement at Grimdale, but I’m proud of what we accomplished. It’s lovely to see young people take an interest in history.”
“Your daughter is a big part of that. She’s done amazing things – she introducing a whole new generation to the history of the area.”
“How do you know my daughter?” His face crumples in confusion. “You’re a bit old to be her friend – she’s thirteen. She just started at Grimdale Comprehensive and she wants to be an archaeologist like her old man. I think you’d really like her, but she’s fallen in with these bad girls lately. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I suppose she’ll figure it out for herself—”
Behind his head, I see Alice’s smile wobble. My heart opens for her. I know all too well what it’s like to see your parents getting older and know that your relationship to them is changing.
But while my dad’s body might be betraying him, he still has his mind. I can’t imagine the kind of cruelty the dementia has wrought on Alice and her family.
Dani sees Alice’s face and comes running over, two small cotton candy cones in her hands. She throws them at me and takes Mr. Agincourt’s hand.
“Oh, there you are, Mr. Agincourt.” Dani beams. “I’m Dani. A friend of your daughter. Do you want me to take you to get a cup of tea and a scone?”
“Yes, please. That would be lovely.” He lets Dani lead him away.
Alice’s shoulders sag. “I’m sorry about Dad.”
“Don’t be.”
“He has good days and bad days. Today is actually a good day.” Alice’s eyes mist over as she watches Dani and her dad exclaim over a display of knitted tea cosies. She plasters a smile on her face. “He may think I’m thirteen, but at least he still remembers me. How’s your dad?”
I point to the competition tent. Dad is now standing outside in a circle of amateur gardeners waving their arms about as they compare the girth of their vegetables. He’s got cotton candy stuck to his cheek. “He’s hoping to win the vegetable festival with his enormous phallic cucumber.”
