Thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive support, I really appreciate it. Thanks also to the reviewers who have pointed out similarities between my story and the excellent "Lunch?" by VAWoolf. This is merely the type of happy coincidence which occurs when writers draw from the same material. Here the book, which resets the storyline from series three, is a small device, and not the crux of the story. It's presence and potential is well established in canon. Having established it's role, let's get on with finding out what's going on with Caroline, et all.
Chapter two
"Has he gone?" Kate calls over her shoulder as the front door slams.
Caroline pushes the bolt across and walks back along the hallway, leaning around the sitting room door, her voice is heavy, tired. "yes" she sighs. Kate pats the sofa next to her and moving her feet from underneath her, rests them on the edge of the coffee table, and then the floor. Caroline lands heavily beside her.
"What was all that about?" Kate asks, careful not to sound like she is feeling a little left out, even though she is. John has only just moved out again, and now he seems to be back here all the time.
"Oh…" says Caroline, trying to sound casual when she feels very far from it, "just…John's book." She's hoping they can leave it at that. It's been a busy day and the green lights on the baby monitor suggest that Flora is asleep. A rare opportunity for Caroline to spend some time with the woman she adores has presented itself, and she doesn't want to waste the time talking about John.
She leans into Kate, resting her head on her wife's shoulder, Kate lifts her arm and let's it settle, lightly, around Caroline's tired shoulders. She breathes Kate in, she smells of soap, her moisturiser and the milky baby smell she thought she'd seen the last of years ago. And the particular scent of her neck, that warm, familiar smell, is still there. Caroline settles there for a moment, she makes a tiny involuntary sound, a languid, guttural groan. She feels Kate shiver.
Placing a gentle kiss on Kate's neck. "Cold?" She asks.
Kate shakes her head. She arches her long, perfect neck and meets Caroline's lips with her own. "Not cold," she says, her words disappearing into Caroline's mouth, mingling with her tongue, her breath.
There's a quiet tap at the kitchen window and Kate, engrossed in the newspaper, warm tea cup in her hand, looks up. Celia. Did she roll her eyes, she hopes she didn't roll her eyes. She slides off her stool and goes to let her mother-in-law in.
"Is she here?" Celia asks quietly, leaning over the doorstep into the house but not daring to enter. It'd been like this since the wedding. Celia refused to attend because she was upset with Alan, and Caroline paid the price. Having not long lost her Dad, Kate felt torn between her own need to build the family around her, to accept them for who they were and make the best of them whilst they were here, and how protective she felt of Caroline. Strong, resilient Caroline who cried on their wedding night because her mother's apology for missing their joyous day was a thinly disguised enquiry into who thought what about her, in her absence.
"She's taken Flora out for a stroll, she had a bad ni…" Kate stops short, feeling disloyal, feeling exhausted by this feud. She tenses her jaw in that subconscious way she does that means she can't fob Caroline off with an insincere 'I'm fine' when she isn't. "Did you want to speak to her – she'll be back soon?" Kate knows the answer to that one, but the older woman looks troubled and Kate feels for her, so she stands aside, offering the open doorway, she takes a deep breath, "Would you like some tea?"
"Alan's gone to the farm," Celia announces, wrapping her hands hungrily around the mug Kate hands her. Ah, Kate thinks, she's been left on her own, that's usually what prompts these little visits. They've been happening for months. Since the wedding, since Flora was born. Caroline has no idea.
"How's the wedding planning going?" Kate asks and Celia's demeanour immediately brightens. Dresses and flowers and the politics of guest lists are safe topics, and the two while away the morning.
"Celia." Kate interjects just as Celia tries to explain why Robbie's best man and the chief bridesmaid should probably not be left alone together.
"Yes, Love."
"Caroline'll be back soon." She says gently. "I'm not saying you should go. I'm not. In fact, I'd like it if you'd try to talk to her…sometime, maybe not today, but…well, she'll be back by eleven."
"I think I should go." Celia is resolute. "Thanks for the tea and the company, love."
"Give my best to Alan when he's back." Kate calls down the hall as Celia retreats. Kate rinses Celia's mug swiftly, and tucks it into the back of the dishwasher.
