"Well, that's the rub of it there old chap" Bob announced to Peter as they sat in the back garden of the rented Chelsea property, taking in some late afternoon sun. "Ronnie said the very same thing. Was he having it away with the staff before Ma popped off?"
"Camilla did mention that one of the reasons she left him was his other interests" Peter replied, trying to keep his voice muted to ensure his wife did not hear as she sat with her sister in law on a bench at the other end of the garden. The children had been running rings around them all since that relaxed luncheon a few hours ago and the adults had decided that a rest was in order.
Bob took another drag of his cigarette. "Doesn't necessarily mean he was playing away you know. He spent most of his time permanently attached to the golf course when we last visited and that wasn't too long ago", Bob recalled, thinking back just to that Summer when they had taken the girls for a short holiday. It must just have been before the separation, or rather their Mother's desertion, and Bob would freely admit that the atmosphere was no more stilted than usual.
"You can be so attached to other things that you can lose sight of what is dear to you" Bob continued. "Doesn't necessarily have to be another person".
"Camilla's worried and wondered if you knew anything" Peter enquired, recalling many a conversation since that invitation arrived, mostly in the middle of the night when he could feel her churning matters over in her mind.
"I know" his brother in law replied. "She asked me when she telephoned the other day". Bob raised his hands, palms up in surrender, cigarette smoke drifting away behind him. "I know nothing about it. It was as much as a surprise to you pair as it was to us".
Peter nodded, digesting that Bob seemed to be as much at a loss as they were. "I do suppose we will find out in a while. Are you leaving at the same time as us?" Peter asked.
"Not sure" Bob replied, quickly. "Need to pop down and book the passage this week. Tell me which boat you are on though and one will see what one can do".
Peter hesitated for a moment, frowning. "He didn't send you tickets too?"
Before Bob could reply in the negative, there was a rush to his side and Rosie landed squarely on Peter's knee.
"Rosemary, be careful" her father cautioned; a warning that his middle child entirely ignored and threw her arms around Peter's neck.
"Are you coming to Madeira with us?" she asked, delightedly considering the boat trip. "You and Aunty Chummy?"
"We are" Peter replied, smiling back her, half squinting in the sunlight at his dark haired niece as the sun could be said to have adorned her with a bright halo.
"And is Freddie coming too?" she asked enthusiastically.
"He is".
"Can we look after him for you when we're all there?"
"I think that can be arranged" Peter replied, before Rosie slithered off his knee back to her siblings who were trying to teach Freddie 'Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man' or at least a variation of it that was not too confusing. Peter heard his nieces' findings being reported to her siblings and took another sip of tea.
"I do tell her to be more careful and that she cannot simply start running around and jumping all over people", Bob said, seeing Peter straightening his jacket.
"It's fine" he replied, dismissing the concern. "I woke up this morning with Fred trying to stand on my chest. It's nothing new…"
"So they are all coming?" Chummy asked as she and Ronnie basked in the sun, watching the cousins play on the lawn, seeing Rosie shoot away from Peter.
"So Bob says" Ronnie replied before pausing, sipping tea too. "Well, all except Harry and his two. He won't make it from Australia, but no, Will is already there and George, Ted and Jeremy are apparently making special exception, so it would seem that Pa-in-law will have a full house".
"And all the children as well?" Chummy asked, still slight perturbed that her father had readily invited the whirlwind of an almost two year old that had taken over her house together with all of his cousins.
"Every single one of them", Ronnie replied before pausing. "It does make you suspicious doesn't it?"
"All those children and Pa in one place", Chummy mused, staring skywards shaking her head.
"And another half!" Ronnie replied gesturing towards Chummy, who had subconsciously crossed wrapped her arms around what little bump she sported.
"Yes of course!" Chummy smiled.
"Are you feeling any better?" Ronnie inquired.
"So so" Chummy replied. "One has felt better since Sister Julienne cut my hours down. Lord knows how one will be on the boat though".
Chummy remembered the last time she had sailed. Freetown to Cadiz after one of the most fulfilling periods of her life, but barely able to move without a twinge or a kick. Pregnant but crammed into the smallest cabin alive, baby, husband and wife fighting for space in the tiniest bed imaginable. How big and uncomfortable and obvious she felt, perhaps for the first time in a long while, knowing and feeling the anticipation of home.
Ronnie smiled. "One does suppose you will have to stop working when you have two to contend with".
"Yes" Chummy replied matter of factly; the thought an unspoken one between her and her husband for some weeks. "One thinks Peter won't mind one bit but one has to be sensible about it one supposes and he.. we…did want more than one child so that day had to come when perhaps one would…..step back".
"Wean oneself off, wouldn't you say?" Ronnie suggested, to which her sister in law laughed, seeing Bob and Peter walk away back into the house and almost simultaneously Freddie plonk himself on his eldest's cousin's knee. "Peter just tells me I have too much energy and I need to slow down. I think we were lucky though. Freddie was, is, such a good little chap, always slept".
"Lissy was like that" Ronnie replied, referring to her youngest daughter. "I never thought I would see the day where one of my children slept for a stretch without waking up. Genevieve and Rosie were up and down like yo yos with the Nanny when they were babies. One felt so very bad for her to be up and down all day and night". She paused. "You never had anyone helping did you?"
"No, not really. Mrs Torpy helps once in a while but no. Imagine having a Nanny in Poplar!"
In reality Ronnie could not visualise it at all. It had been par for the course that her children would have a Nanny and whilst she adored her offspring, it would be abnormal to not have a help with the children. Indeed, although she had spent some time in the district she had only really had a taste of Nonnatus, rather than the real Poplar that Chummy saw day and night.
"One is starting to tire of night shifts though" Chummy continued genuinely. "I love what I do, but I love them more. Perhaps when this one is born, I won't know what's hit me and I will need more hours in the day!"
Ronnie laughed. "You might just!"
They had been so absorbed in conversation that neither saw the figure arrive in front of them.
"Mummy. Me tired" a plaintive little voice piped up.
"Oh dear!" Chummy said, putting her arms out to the boy. "Come and have a nap". With sleepy glee Freddie climbed up and settled quickly across her knee, hanging onto her thumb. "And it's 'I'm' tired young man" she scolded playfully, getting herself comfortable on the wooden bench.
"Does he know he's going to be a big brother yet?" Ronnie asked, straightening the boys once white socks that were now looking decidedly grubby since he had decided to remove his shoes.
"We did tell him. It went straight over his head though", Chummy replied, smoothing her fingers gently over his forehead as his eyes rapidly closed. "He might notice when he can't sit on my knee any more in a few weeks or there's another person squealing for attention".
"How were the girls when they were added to?" Chummy asked curiously. She had not really thought about how Fred would react to a brother or sister quite yet, still instilling in him the concept of sharing.
"I think Rosie passed Genevieve by. You know Ginny was barely a year old when she became a big sister. Lissy put them both out something extraordinary though! Never have I seen more disgruntled faces when they realised that she was staying put!"
Chummy smiled, noticing Veronica's three daughters playing quietly now on the lawn, their mother grateful that the spats that they had as youngsters seemed now, hopefully to have dissipated.
"Ronnie!" came Bob's voice from across the lawn. "Mr Hollis is here!"
"Mr Hollis?" Chummy inquired.
"The girls music teacher. Ginny has her Grade 2 just before we go to Madeira and we are trying desperately to teach Rosie and Lissy too but they are more interests in dolls than pianos!"
Ronnie stood up. "Come along, you three! Say goodbye to your aunt and uncle and then go and wash your hands!"
Chummy and Fred were engulfed in three girls before they trudged off back up the grass, saying goodbye to Peter on the way to their lesson.
"One must go and make sure that they actually do as they are told!" Ronnie said before she too trotted off passing Peter who came to sit beside his wife, carrying his son's shoes from where they had been discarded on the lawn.
"Bob said the bus goes from the end of the road. He thinks" Peter added quickly, knowing from his brother in law's own confession that he had not been a bus since he was at school.
"I was rather thinking we could take Freddie on the underground" Chummy offered, feeling her son stir at hearing his name. "He's never been".
"What do you say then Freds?" Peter asked, swiftly doing up his son's shoes, causing him to wake a little more. "Bus or train to go home?"
He could see the thought was whirring in his son's mind.
"Chain"...
