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Elsie nodded as she popped the interior door handle open and swung her good leg out into the cold.
‘Wait for me,’ said Anna, jumping out and wading through the packed drifts around the front of the Land Rover, its engine ticking quietly in the subdued ambience of the midday air.
She reached into the front seat for Elsie’s hands and then helped her stand upright, wavering in the deep snow as she regained her balance.
‘Can you get to the door?’
Elsie laughed. ‘I’m not sure I can.’
‘Ok, let me get the girls inside first. Give me your keys, and then I’ll come back for you.’
Elsie dug into her zipped pocket and handed over the front door key and then sat back down sideways on the passenger seat, resting her leg and feeling more than a little silly as Anna plucked Amabella up and released Marlie who leapt out and star-fished into the fresh deep snow of the driveway, waving her arms around to make an angel imprint.
‘Get up, you’re going to get soaked,’ shouted Anna from the other side of the car, wading round as Marlie shuffled upright, following dutifully as the three of them headed towards the door.
‘Push as you turn the key, it get’s stuck sometimes,’ shouted Elsie after her.
It struck her for a moment that all of this could be some elaborate robbery. Knock down the oblivious woman on the icy lake, incapacitate her, separate her from her husband and then rob her blind whilst she sits helpless in her own driveway.
She laughed at the sudden bout of paranoia, shaking her head at her own imagination. What kind of crazy thieves would bring their own unpredictable children along for the ride?
‘Stand there and don’t move, it’s not your house remember?’ she heard from just inside the porch.
As Anna made her way back over toward the Land Rover, Elsie smiled and waved at little Marlie’s face as she peered toward her from the wooden frame.
‘She’s cute,’ said Elsie.
‘She’s a terror,’ laughed Anna, nodding. ‘Right, come on then. Let’s get you standing.’
Anna reached around Elsie’s back and hooked one arm underneath her shoulder, supporting her as she stood up, her boots sinking deep into the snow.
As they slowly waded along the route of the covered path, a second Land Rover pulled up behind them, stopping just behind Anna’s and the two of them turned to look.
‘Who this?’ said Anna.
‘I’m guessing this is Alice’s sister?’ she shrugged.
The beautiful woman who stepped out of the vehicle was the spitting image of her best friend, but with long blonde hair that she’d tied back in a very organised and neat ponytail instead of the graduated bob that Alice had rocked for several years now.
It occurred to Elsie, as the younger and somehow even more beautiful version of Alice walked rather anxiously across the driveway, that it seemed odd that Alice had never introduced them before.
‘Hi, I’m Emilia,’ she said, beaming with the disarming friendliness of a nurse that instantly put both of them at ease. ‘I’m guessing you’re Elsie?’
’Thank you for coming so quickly,’ she nodded.
‘It’s not often my sister asks for my help, it’s usually the other way around so you must be very important to her. Can I help?’
Elsie blushed as Emilia hooked her arm around her other side, walking awkwardly as her two new acquaintances half carried and half supported her over to the two waiting children tucked inside the porch.
‘Speaking of my sister,’ said Emilia. ‘Where is she? Wait. Don’t tell me, she’s been whisked away to Moscow on a helicopter at short notice? Or is it Bahrain this time?’
Elsie laughed as the two of them helped her over the threshold and into the warmth.
‘I’ll see where they’ve got to,’ said Anna, taking her phone out of her pocket. ‘GPS tracking my husband comes in handy more often than you think.’
Emilia laughed as she helped Elsie hop into the lounge. ‘You have a beautiful home,’ she said as she set her down on the closest armchair.
‘Thank you,’ she smiled. ‘You have an amazing sister.’
