A Chance to Explore

The first week past by rapidly, filled with an almost dizzying array of trips as far as Maddy was concerned. Her father, along with one or more of her aunts and sometimes also her uncle, took her all around the local area. Showing her things like the glacier at Wahlstein and the falls at Lauterbrunnen and taking her around Interlaken. There had been a lengthy day trip to Bern and another to Lucerne -- on that one, they had been joined by Marie Couvoisier, who had regaled the whole party with a tale her mother had told her, about Margot falling in the lake.

"I can't imagine Auntie Nun doing that," Maddy had said to Reg that night as he tucked her into bed.

"Oh, she did it all right," Reg had replied. "It and a lot of other wild stunts."

"But she's a nun!" Maddy had exclaimed.

"And before she was a nun," Reg answered with a smile, "she was a mischievous school girl, like a certain Little Miss I know."

At that, Maddy had giggled and snuggled down to sleep. Secretly, though, she was delighted to be compared to her Auntie Nun, who had always been something of a heroine to her and who seemed to have done so much and been to so many exotic sounding places.

Needless to state, throughout each and every trip, Maddy learned more about her mother. Things she'd done as a child and as a teenager. Some of them she learned from the aunts, but most she learned from Reg and for the first time in her life, Maddy started to feel an affinity for the mother that she'd never known.

As she now dressed, ready for the first day of her second week in Switzerland, Maddy took stock of everyone that she'd met. She liked the aunts she'd met -- particularly Auntie Cecil, who, as befitted the newest member of the languages department of the Chalet School, was steadily teaching her German when she had the chance. Auntie Claire and Auntie Phil were nice in their own way, but as both were busily engaged in preparing for university, they didn't have a huge amount of time to spend with her. Uncle Geoff had also been busy in her first week, but he had promised to take her to somewhere called the Auberge the day after tomorrow.

Once she'd got over her initial shyness, she'd also liked her grandparents. Granddad Jack was a big, jolly sort of man. He'd intimidated her a little on first meeting, over the breakfast table on her first day, when he'd been scowling over some letters, but the instant he saw her, he'd set them aside and given her a smile and Maddy knew he'd be great fun, and so he proved. His contribution to the first week had been the trip to Bern -- seeing the bear pits and the fountains and the old cathedral and the natural history museum and much more besides. It had been a very long day and Maddy had been exhausted by the time they'd all returned to the Platz, but it had been tremendous fun.

She was a little more unsure of what to make of Grandma Jo. Maddy liked her, certainly, and it was sort of fun knowing that she was sharing a house with one of her two favourite authors, but there was something... Maddy frowned. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something in the way that so far, Grandma Jo had avoided being completely alone with her.

Not that Maddy realised it, but the answer was straight forward: Joey was terrified of being alone with Maddy. Part of it was that she didn't wish to overwhelm her first granddaughter. Part of it was that she didn't wish to tread on Reg's toes -- that was a relationship that was only just finally mended and she certainly had no desire to jeopardise that; truth be told, she had missed her son-in-law and she had very much missed being able to watch Maddy grow up. A large part of her reticence, however, was something that Jo was hard put to even admit to herself: She was shy. Maddy looked so much like Len and yet was definitely her own person and Joey was unsure of how to act around her.

It hadn't come to be a problem so far, thanks to the assorted day trips, but as Joey brushed her hair she fully realised today was going to be different. Today, it would just be her and Maddy. Cecil was over at the school busy attending to curriculum plans. Phil and Claire, with the long suffering Geoff in tow, were off to Bern for a final round of university shopping before the girls departed to spend some time in Armishire with Madge and Jem prior to the start of their respective university courses. As for Jack and Reg, both would be at the San today for today was the start of the interview period for the job.

"Chin up, Old Girl," said Jack as he put the finishing touches to his own outfit. "You and Maddy will be fine."

"Will we?" Joey echoed softly, meeting Jack's gaze in the mirror. "It's been so long."

Jack offered her a reassuring smile. "You will both be fine. Maddy is such a bright young thing -- and she's quite the fan of Josephine M. Bettany."

At that, Joey raised a chuckle. "I suppose, if all else fails, then, I can trot her out and we can talk books all day."

Jack grinned. "If all else fails, I dare say you can and will." He moved and gave her shoulders a squeeze. "But all else won't fail. I know you, Josephine Mary Maynard."

~*~

As breakfast finished, it slowly dawned on Maddy that only she and Grandma Jo remained at the table. She knew that today was the day for her father's interview, which explained where they'd both gone, but she wasn't sure where the Aunts and Uncle Geoff had departed to.

"So, Maddy," Grandma Jo began. "What would you like to do today?"

Maddy frowned for a moment. Grandma Jo sounded funny, almost as if she was nervous. "I don't know," she answered.

"How does a ramble and a picnic sound?"

Maddy shrugged a little. "OK." She hesitated a moment. Then: "Grandma Jo, why don't you like me?"

You could have heard a pin drop. Joey stared at her granddaughter, horrified. Finally she managed, "Why on earth would you think that, Maddy darling?"

"Well, cos I know you're not happy an' you look sort of scared," Maddy answered.

"Oh."

Joey chewed her lip for a moment, recalling that Jack had said Maddy was a bright child. Bright enough to sense her reticence. Bright enough that the only option was for her to give an honest answer.

"No, it's not that I don't like you, Maddy," she eventually replied. "I do like you. But I haven't really had a chance to get to know you yet." Maddy nodded slowly. "And...I'm a little nervous."

"But why are you nervous?"

Joey smiled. "You remind me of your mother -- but I don't want to treat you as if you were Len, because I know you're not her."

Maddy chewed that over for a few moments. "Fair enough."

"So, how does that ramble and picnic sound?" Joey continued. "You can tell me all about yourself, and we can get to know each other properly. Sounds fair?"

"Sounds fair," Maddy agreed with a smile.

"Then, if you go and get ready, I'll go and see if we can get a picnic from Anna, and I'll show you some of the Platz today."

"OK." Maddy trotted off, a broad smile on her face.

Joey watched her go and found the little knot of tension between her shoulders ease a little. Jack was right. Maybe she could do this...