went into the kitchen with the others, to be given tea and cake and all the latest news of the family. Shortly afterwards her father came in from walking the dog, and Adam fended off the excited retriever while Tom Dysart held his daughter close and demanded all the latest news from Foychurch. Kate sat patting Pan’s golden head while she regaled the family with the events of the night before, then sent Adam out to her car to fetch the flowers and explained that her pupil’s uncle had given them to her by way of thanks.
‘Goodness, how extravagant,’ said Frances Dysart when she saw them. ‘Enough to make two arrangements for tomorrow, Kate. I’ve done the church, but I hadn’t got round to the house yet. You don’t mind if we use them, darling?’
‘Of course not. That’s why I brought them home.’
‘I hear you refused Alasdair’s invitation to dinner, by the way,’ accused Adam.
Kate wrinkled her nose at him. ‘I had other commitments.’
Her brother eyed her warily. ‘You know I’ve invited him to the christening on Sunday?’
‘Yes. Though I can’t imagine why.’
Adam shrugged. ‘When he put some of his grandmother’s furniture into auction at Dysart’s he stood me lunch at the Chesterton. I asked him if he’d like to come, and he accepted like a shot. I thought you’d be pleased.’
‘He means well,’ said Gabriel indulgently, smiling over her son’s head.
Kate nodded, resigned. ‘I know. And that’s quite enough about Alasdair Drummond. Give me the important news. Who else is coming?’
‘Leo and Jonah, of course,’ said Frances, ‘but without the children for once. Jonah’s parents are taking them to Paris to Disneyland this weekend.’
‘Greater love hath no grandparents,’ said Tom piously.
‘How about Jess?’
‘Not this time,’ said Frances, filling teacups. She smiled at Kate. ‘She confirmed last night that she’s pregnant again.’
‘And Lorenzo’s keeping her wrapped in cotton wool!’ Kate grinned, looked at the downy head cradled close to Gabriel’s breast, intercepted the tender look Adam gave his wife and felt a fleeting pang of envy. But dismissed it. The increasing number of her siblings’ progeny was quite high enough without adding to it herself.
‘How about Fenny?’ she asked. ‘Is she going to make it?’
‘Someone’s driving her down this evening, apparently,’ said Tom, shaking his head. ‘She won’t take her car to college.’
‘Because there’s always some clown on hand ready to ferry her wherever she wants to go,’ said Adam, grinning.
‘More than one,’ said Gabriel. ‘And she doesn’t care a fig for any of them. Just good friends, she says.’
‘At her age,’ Frances said thankfully, “‘just good friends” sounds very comforting to me.’
Soon afterwards Adam and Gabriel took their son off to the Stables for his bath and supper, promising to return with him later for dinner.
‘Though whether Fenny will be home in time to share it is uncertain,’ said Frances, chuckling. ‘But she’ll ring at some stage. Fen tries not to worry me too much.’
‘Your ewe lamb,’ teased Tom.
‘Come over with us, Kate,’ said Adam. ‘I’ll show you the jug I found for you.’
She looked at her mother. ‘Unless there’s anything I can do to help?’
‘No, darling. It’s a very simple meal tonight.’
Adam took charge of the buggy as the three of them walked briskly to hurry the baby into the warmth of the stable block which had been Adam’s private quarters since his eighteenth birthday.
‘I’ll look on while you do the hard part,’ Kate told Gabriel. ‘Or is Daddy going to do bathtime?’
‘We share the process unless I’m late home,’ said Adam as they went upstairs. ‘Actually, I wanted a word on the quiet, Kate,’ he added, cuddling his son while Gabriel filled the baby bath. ‘I take it you weren’t too pleased to see Alasdair?’
‘Not at first.’ She wagged a finger at him. ‘Nor with you, either. You might have warned me! After all this time it was a bit of a shock to find him waiting for me outside school, of all places.’
‘He wanted to surprise you.’
‘I’ve never met this Alasdair, of course,’ said Gabriel, undressing her squirming baby, ‘but I gather he’s done well for himself.’
‘Unlike me, he’s done what everyone expected of him. And now he’s here to run the UK operation of the pharmaceutical giant who head-hunted him from Cambridge,’ said Kate. ‘Gosh, the baby does wriggle, doesn’t he?’
‘Terrified me the first time,’ agreed Adam, and hooked his hands under his kicking son’s armpits while Gabriel did the sponging—a process Hal objected to at the top of his voice.
‘Pass him over quickly,’ begged Gabriel, and hastily wrapped her son in a warm towel to cuddle him. ‘Dash down and get his bottle, darling, please.’
‘You’re not feeding him yourself, then?’ said Kate, mopping up splashes.
‘No. Not that I’m sorry. This way we can share the night-time feeds. At least that’s the theory,’ added Gabriel, chuckling. ‘But I wake up anyway.’
‘I bet Adam doesn’t when it’s your turn!’ Kate watched while her nephew was fastened into a stretchy sleepsuit. ‘Do you enjoy motherhood, Gabriel?’
Her sister-in-law turned with a smile, cradling her restless son against her shoulder. ‘Just between you and me, Kate, I hadn’t thought to go in for it quite yet, but now he’s here I wouldn’t give him back.’
‘Neither would I,’ said Adam, as he joined them. ‘We never get enough sleep any more, but this, we’re assured, will improve with time.’ He kissed his wife as he handed over the bottle of formula. ‘We’ll leave you to it, sweetheart.’
When Adam unwrapped the silver-mounted crystal jug he’d found on his travels Kate stroked it with pleasure.
‘Perfect. But how much would you have got at auction for a beauty like this?’
‘Irrelevant. You can have it for the money I gave for it,’ he assured her. ‘But look, if you can’t afford it—’
‘I most definitely can. I’ve been saving up ever since Gabriel told me she was pregnant.’ Kate smiled. ‘I rather took it for granted you’d ask me to be godmother.’
‘You knew I would,’ he said gruffly, and gave her a searching look. ‘Now we’re on our own, is everything all right with you, Kate?’
‘Always
