expression that worried Charlie. His words said one thing but his face said another.
‘Why didn’t you come to the funeral?’ Ted asked belligerently.
Felix went pale. ‘Your dad and I… didn’t keep in touch. I suppose it took the solicitors a while to find me and by then I’d missed it. I’m… so sorry.’
There was an uneasy silence before Felix spoke again. ‘I’m seeing Ruth later about the guardianship and the trust fund.’
Ted snorted and shook his head. ‘You know the money comes with strings attached and we’re those strings,’ he said, pointing at himself and the other children.
‘Perhaps this was a bad idea,’ said Felix, looking decidedly awkward.
Charlie raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
‘I am truly sorry about your mum and dad. I loved them too.’ He stood and left the room and Charlie felt she should see him out, so she shifted Millie off her lap and followed him.
‘Here, call first if you want to come again. It’s best they’re forewarned, okay?’ said Charlie, handing him the phone number she’d quickly scribbled on the back of an old envelope.
He nodded, turned up his collar and stepped out into a mild summery London.
Felix raced into the small coffee shop and immediately spotted a vaguely familiar woman, who was staring unblinking at the door.
‘Hello Ruth,’ said Felix, reaching forward to air-kiss her. ‘Really sorry I’m late, I was…’
Ruth recoiled. ‘Yes, well, I still need to be in a meeting at three o’clock, which means we only have thirteen minutes.’
Felix looked longingly at the conga-line queue for coffee and Ruth blinked hard. Felix’s shoulders sagged as he accepted his disappointment and sat down opposite her.
‘I’m truly sorry about your sister. Helen was such a genuinely lovely person, I remember when…’
‘Thank you,’ cut in Ruth, glancing at her watch, ‘I’ll keep this brief. The lawyers are going to keep burning money the longer they debate how we split the guardian role. I’ve spoken to Social Services and they would prefer us to work this out for ourselves and then they’ll review the candidate. I am very happy to take on that responsibility.’
Felix slumped back into his chair and clapped his hands. ‘That is great news. Thank you. The solicitor I spoke to implied you didn’t want to look after the kids but kind of made it clear that one of us had to. So that is a huge relief.’
Ruth scowled, ‘The responsibility of guardian enables me to ensure they have a financially secure future and appoint a childcare professional to administer their care. And let’s be clear, I do not mean the current incumbent.’
Felix looked like he’d just been beaten at Scrabble. ‘What?’
‘Their current nanny will be leaving as soon as I can find a replacement. She isn’t qualified and the children are out of control. She is some stray that my sister took in. I queried it with Helen at the time. I told her she should do proper checks, but Helen was always too soft and naive.’ Ruth’s voice caught in her throat. ‘Anyway, I’ve done some investigating of my own and she’s not fit to care for those children but I’m sure she’s already looking for another job, so we’ll soon be rid of her.’ Ruth checked her watch again and moved her handbag onto her lap. ‘If you could inform the solicitor that you concur, I will notify Social Services of the agreed approach, and we should be able to get things wrapped up quite quickly.’ Ruth stood to leave.
‘Hang on, hang on,’ said Felix, waving her to sit down again. ‘Let’s get this straight. You will be their guardian, and you’ll administer the trust fund. There will be a new nanny…’
‘A qualified nanny,’ interjected Ruth.
‘Yep, to do washing, cleaning and day-to-day stuff. But what’s missing is who is actually looking after them?’
Ruth pursed her lips. ‘A full-time nanny will be there to care for them, they’ll be fine. We could, of course, consider boarding school for the older children,’ said Ruth, with almost a smile. ‘I need to leave.’
‘Yeah, of course. Sorry I was late but I think we need more time to work something else out. I really don’t think Helen and Tobes would have wanted their kids to be left to manage by themselves like this, and certainly not just packed off to boarding school.’
Ruth stood up. ‘Very well, I’ll check my diary so we can discuss this further, but I assure you they’ll be fine. Children are very resilient. Good bye.’
Millie took a big breath for another rendition of the chorus. ‘All the birds of the air, fell a-sighing and a-sobbing, when they heard of the death of poor Cock Robin…’
‘Stop it!’ shouted Eleanor at close range before almost knocking over the high chair as she ran past. Eleanor’s temper had turned to tears before she’d reached the top of the stairs.
‘I’ll go,’ said Charlie, giving the others a wan smile.
‘Silly Billy,’ giggled Millie, thankfully oblivious to the impact of the upsetting faux pas before continuing with what she remembered of the old rhyme.
Eleanor lay face down on her bed, her small body shaking with the force of her sobs, her butterfly duvet muffling the pain. Wriggly sat on the pillow, looking worried and helpless, as he tilted his head from side to side and whimpered. Charlie got on the bed next to Eleanor, wrapped her arms around her and rocked her gently until the sobs turned to sniffles.
‘Mum and Dad…’ started Eleanor, but the noisy sobs returned and Charlie cradled her again until she could control them. At last they both sat up and Eleanor clung to Charlie, as she had done yesterday and the day before.
‘I know,’ said Charlie, ‘it’s total rubbish.’ She pushed a strand of damp hair off the eight-year-old’s face. Wriggly came to sit on Charlie’s lap and tried to lick Eleanor’s tears. A tiny smile appeared fleetingly on Eleanor’s lips.
‘That stupid song,’ grumbled Eleanor.
‘Granddad Roger taught it to her. She doesn’t know what it’s about, though.’
‘I know. Even Millie is being braver than me,’ said Eleanor, wiping her eyes with the tissue that was now permanently in her pocket.
Millie had been deeply affected by the emotions in the house and had cried constantly for the first few days after the accident. She had then moved onto calling out ‘My Mummy and My Daddy!’ and searching the house for them as if playing some twisted game of hide and seek. Thankfully, after repeated attempts by Charlie to explain that Mummy and Daddy had gone to Heaven, where they could see her but she couldn’t see them, she had calmed down a little and mercifully had now stopped looking for them and was very nearly back to her usual cheeky self.
‘You don’t
