The sisters nervously rang the doorbell of the house that matched the address Peggy had given Katy. They had to wait a while until they heard footsteps and saw the outline of a figure approaching the door through the frosted glass.
"Listen, I told ya before, that bin has nothing to do with –" Peggy said loudly, throwing open the door. She stopped abruptly seeing her nieces and great-nephew standing on the doorstep. It was raining again and both women had their hair plastered to their heads. Ronnie was shielding James as best she could, but he was grizzling slightly as the rain soaked through his coat.
"Hey, Auntie Peg." Ronnie said quietly, smiling at her aunt weakly.
"Come in!" Peggy said, ushering them inside the house and glancing around. She shut the door firmly and showed them into the living room, before disappearing to get towels.
Katy glanced around the light, well decorated room curiously. It was so much better than the tiny, dark, damp flat that they were living in. On the mantelpiece were framed photographs of people she'd never seen before. Curiously she picked one up and looked at the face contained within the frame. A blonde teenager smiled back; she looked like the kind of person who Katy wouldn't get on with. Putting it back, the teenager turned guiltily as her Aunt entered the room once more.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, almost accusingly. Ronnie glanced at Katy. The teenager sighed, realising that it was down to her to explain.
"OK… you might want to sit down, Auntie Peg." She warned, waiting for the woman to perch on the edge of the pale pink sofa before she explained everything that had happened to her and her sisters since she'd seen Peggy last. Peggy listened, as she had done when they'd last met, silent until Katy had finished talking. Then she took a deep breath.
"Sounds like you've had a tough time." She said slowly.
"We were wondering…" Ronnie said slowly, bringing up the point that her sister had so far avoided. "Can we stay with you?"
"Well…" Peggy seemed hesitant. She looked around at the living room awkwardly. "This isn't even my house. It belongs to a friend of mine. She's away for a couple of months and I'm house-sitting."
"We'll be good." Katy promised, looking at her Aunt imploringly. Peggy looked between the two girls and then at little James, who was grinning at her. She sighed and nodded.
"Alright." She agreed with a nod and a worried smile. "Of course you can stay, my loves. Now… let me see my little nephew."
x
Katy left Ronnie and Peggy downstairs laughing together at whatever they were talking about. Under the pretence of needing the loo, she explored the house, opening doors and quietly looking around the rooms behind them. It seemed posh; not Glenda posh, proper posh.
It was bigger than it looked on the outside and Katy counted five bedrooms. One, probably the master bedroom because of the en-suite attached, had Peggy's things in it. The teenager crept across the room, sitting heavily on the end of the bed and picking up one of the photo frames from the dressing table.
She smiled, remembering when the photo had been taken; Katy, Peggy, Ronnie, Roxy, Amy, Sam and Louise outside the Vic last summer, just before Louise had left. Their Aunt had said that it was a photo of her and her girls and that she would treasure it for ever. Clearly that was true because it had taken pride of place on the dressing table.
She replaced it, running her fingers lightly over the other photos; Peggy and her sons; Ben and Louise; Peggy and Sal; Ronnie, Roxy and Katy. So many memories and not all of them were happy. Katy knew for a fact that just before the photo of Peggy and Sal had been taken, last Christmas, the pair had been almost screaming at each other. Then, as soon as the camera was pointed in their direction the smiles had been painted onto their faces and their arms had surrounded each other. As soon as the flash had gone off they'd been back to snapping at each other again.
Her family was so hypocritical that it made her want to scream. But, beyond that, they were fiercely loyal and would do anything for each other which, she supposed at least, partly made up for the hypocriticalness.
Looking away from the photos, Katy picked up the perfume bottle, spraying a little onto her sleeve and sniffing it. The comforting, unmistakeable scent of her Aunt entered her nostrils. With a small sigh she got up and left the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
Further along the corridor a door was ajar. Unable to resist such a tempting offer, Katy pushed it even wider and slipped inside the room, looking around. It was obviously a boy's room judging by the items strewn around, but the décor was very plain, even a little old-ladyish. Confused, she couldn't help herself rummaging around to see what she could find.
There wasn't much of interest; just a load of clothes, some books and DVDs and a couple of CDs. She looked through them. It may be a boy living in this room, but he had extraordinary taste in books and films. There was only one boy she knew who liked musicals.
Leaving the room quickly, after smoothing down the duvet to remove the imprint she'd left on it, Katy headed downstairs to ask her Aunt the question that was burning in her mind. She barged into the living room, causing both blondes to look up and jump. James seemed to have forgotten that he only liked his mother and his Aunt and was happily sitting on Peggy's lap trying to grab her large pearl earring.
"Auntie Peg… Is Ben staying here?" She asked quickly. The woman's eyes narrowed and she surveyed her younger niece suspiciously. Then she sighed and smiled.
"Yes… he and Phil… well, I suppose you heard."
The sisters nodded. They'd heard about Ben leaving home, but they hadn't been told where he'd gone. All they knew was that he'd left on a train and hadn't come back. But now they supposed they knew where Ben had vanished to.