Chapter 4; Aunt Sarah

"Mother," Humbert started, still looking at that hunted look on Jemima's face. "I'm afraid I couldn't possible court Cousin Jemima," he said, carefully. He turned from the tremulously hopeful look on the tomboy's face to look at the woman who ruled the family.

She did not look particularly pleased to hear this.

"Why not?" Aunt Sarah wanted to know. "Is my girl not good enough?" she demanded, clearly offended by the idea that someone thought themselves too good for her girl, even if that someone was Andrea's eldest son.

"Nothing like that, Aunt Sarah," Humbert said kindly, though he was thinking fast. "Jemima is a wonderful person, and great company." This seemed to calm the senior relation. "She's also a free spirit," he added. "I wouldn't be able to keep up, I'd end up holding her back. I wouldn't want that for Jemima, I like her too much."

Jemima beamed a smile at Humbert, and he smiled back from behind his own teacup, hiding it from his mother. Andrea was sharp, if she caught that they had somehow agreed to not court, she could make them very sorry.

"I jump off cliffs for fun," Jemima quietly reminded her mother.

"And I make tea and scones," Humbert added, clinking his china cup onto the saucer.

Andrea sighed dramatically, and took Sarah's hand. The older women shared a look of forlornness and resignation.

"Besides, we're too closely related, it would be…" Humbert searched for an appropriate word. His mother would not accept "icky". "It would be inbreeding."

The clincher. Neither his mother, nor his aunt, wanted such a future for their children, or their grandchildren. Inbreeding, it was well known, produced idiots. It didn't matter if it wasn't true, it was well known, and was therefore fact among the old wives. They hadn't thought of that detail when they were setting up their offspring.

Conversation turned. They discussed Humbert's father, Jemima's job, the men Jemima worked with, the women who lived in Humbert's street – beyond Louise, and a few four-year-olds, there weren't any that were single – and they talked about Great Uncle Ferdy.

Great Uncle Ferdy was getting married again. It was amazing, really, that the old geezer was still able to seduce women. His last wife had been thirty, and had divorced him for someone younger after they had been married for only six months. This new one, according to Aunt Sarah, was fifty, which was more reasonable. The family had hopes that this marriage might last; one based on something other than looks and money.

Of course, the woman was still only half Great Uncle Ferdy's age.

The clock struck five o'clock and everyone stood up. It was time to go. Andrea and Aunt Sarah had husbands and still some children to feed after all, and Jemima had a work function to get to.

"Confidentially," Jemima whispered, as Andrea and Sarah walked to the car. "Apart from everything else, I also have a boyfriend. I just haven't told mother yet," she added.

Humbert smiled. It was hard to keep secrets from parents, but not living with them helped. Jemima had moved out of Sarah's house not long after Humbert had left Andrea's.

"I won't tell," he promised, helping his cousin on with her jacket.

"Of course, if you weren't my cousin, I might be tempted to try kissing you," she said, a cheeky smile on her heart-shaped face.

"Yeah, but you are, and we're more suited to being friends than lovers," Humbert pointed out, shooing Jemima out the door, his smile just as playful as the one on his cousin's face.

Humbert closed the door after much waving goodbye, and sagged against it, sliding down until he was sitting on the carpet, his head almost between his knees as his chin rested on his chest.