I must be going soft. Here's another fluffy chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Five
Saturday afternoon was spent at the Village Fete, for which Mycroft was nominally the host, since it was held on his land, but he had very little to do with any of the planning. The village had a Fete Committee, who handled all the preparations, and they liaised with Charles Meadows, the Estate Manager.
It was a very traditional fete, with all-age attractions like an Aunt Sally stall, Guess the Weight of the Pig, Tombola and Wellie Wanging. There was a mini Gymkhana, a Dog Show and a little Sports Day, for the younger children, with novelty races, such as the Egg and Spoon, the Sack Race and the Three-legged Race. For the adults, there were the more serious competitions for flower arranging, fruit and vegetable growing, jam-making and baking. For entertainment, there was a Punch and Judy puppet show, a brass band and a cream tea tent which, as well as serving the traditional scones and jam, also offered strawberries and cream. And the local ice cream van always put in a profitable appearance.
Previously, Mycroft had attended as a matter of duty, being the local landowner, but since the twins arrived – and then Arthur – it had become a very popular point in the family's social calendar. Katy and Charlie absolutely loved the event and looked forward to it for days, especially now that they were more able to participate, actively.
In the past, Mycroft had been required to present the prizes for the adult competitions, but he had happily delegated that responsibility to Arthur, who was so much better at it than he was, as he could always think of the right thing to say to the runners-up. Mycroft preferred to officiate at the Sports Day prize giving, because the children were usually happy just to get a prize, regardless of the place.
The village fete went off swimmingly. The weather was perfect, the brass band played cheerful tunes and the ice cream van sold out – always a good indicator of a successful show. Then Sunday was a family day, with a visit to Red Post Farm, a Rare Breeds Centre, of which Mycroft was patron, where the children could see rare breed farm animals, including pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, equines and poultry. So it was two very tired little tots who were put to bed by Daddy and Poppah, on Sunday night.
On Monday morning, life returned to normal, with Mycroft and Arthur being driven to London by Mr Orgreave, the family chauffeur, Mycroft to his office and Arthur to the Regents Campus of the University of Westminster, where he was three weeks into a six week summer school, in preparation for beginning his post-graduate Cognitive Rehabilitation MSc course, in September.
His Nursing Degree and clinical practice had qualified him for acceptance on the MSc course but he had been advised to complete this short prep course on research skills, to gain some experience of experimental design, statistical analysis and report writing, and fill certain gaps in his knowledge and experience. The cost of both the MSc and the Summer School had been met by Mycroft – a pre-wedding present to Arthur.
The first two weeks of Summer School had been taken up with attending classes; the third was a study week. He had come to regret using two days of that week to go 'up north' – but that was water under the bridge, now. The next two weeks would be spent in class and the final week was set aside for the completion of the course assignment. Arthur was really enjoying studying again and the short course had whetted his appetite for the one-year full time MSc course, to follow.
The working week passed by fairly routinely, with both men returning home to Colbert House in the evenings and travelling back to the city in the mornings but Friday afternoon saw a sudden change of plan, when Mycroft was advised that emergency meetings had been arranged, probably taking up most of the weekend, to deal with the latest scandal.
It had come to light that, during the 1980's, a dossier alleging the existence of a paedophile ring, right at the heart of Westminster, had been submitted to successive Home Secretaries during that era but no action taken. It appeared that there had been a monumental cover-up. Many years later, in the aftermath of the exposure of a high-profile TV personality as a serial sex offender, the dossier had resurfaced and been submitted for a review but, once again, no action had been taken on its contents. Now, the dossier had come to light once more and it had been found that over a hundred very significant files were, mysteriously, missing – possibly destroyed.
The news media were on the story like a pack of hounds, and the government needed to come up with a satisfactory response. Mycroft's skills were urgently in demand, once more, so a family weekend in the country was out of the question.
'That's OK,' Arthur replied, when Mycroft rang him with the bad news, between classes in the middle of Friday afternoon. 'I'll call home and ask Sara – or Michele – to bring the children into town. We can all spend the weekend in London. I'll do something fun with them, while you're saving the PM's bacon, and they'll still get to see you, in the evenings, perhaps, even if it's only for a bedtime story.'
'An excellent plan,' Mycroft agreed.
So, later that day, Mr Orgreave brought Kay and Charlie, chaperoned by both nannies, Michele and Sara, and delivered them to Daddy's apartment in Cadogan Square. The nannies then took a welcome weekend break in the capitol, which gave them the opportunity to catch up with friends and have a couple of nights out, and Poppah took charge of the twins.
The children rarely came to London so this was quite an adventure for them. Saturday morning, they were awake bright and early, charging into the master bedroom, squealing with excitement and scrambling up onto the bed. Arthur hid under the duvet and pretended to be asleep but neither Katy nor Charlie was taken in by the subterfuge.
'Wate UP, Poppah!' Charlie insisted, peeling back the duvet to expose Arthur's head.
'Opet your eyes!' demanded Katy, using her thumbs to try and prise his lids open.
Arthur screwed up his face and resisted their combined efforts as long as possible then, with a sudden roar, he opened his eyes and sat up, scooping up both children and hugging them to his sides.
'I've got you now, my little pretties!' he cackled, giving a creditable impression of the Wicked Witch, from the Wizard of Oz. 'Now, I'm going to EAT YOU!'
The two children shrieked and struggled, but could not escape 'the witch's' clutches, as Arthur made 'Nom, nom, nom' noises and rubbed his face on their little bellies.
Mycroft was in the shower, so temporarily avoided the toddler onslaught but, when he emerged from the bathroom, wearing his dressing gown and rubbing his receding hair with a towel, he became the prime target. Arthur released the little terrors and they hurled themselves, mercilessly, at their new victim. But Daddy was ready for them. Bending down, he caught one in each arm and hauled them off the ground, whirling around in a spin, emitting a high pitched, 'Wheeee!', which had both children giggling, helplessly.
'No, Daddy, stop, I dizzy!' squeaked Katy, eventually, so Mycroft teetered across the floor and collapsed backwards on to the bed, with both children held to his chest.
'Where we dohin' today, Daddy?' Charlie asked, once they all got their breath back.
'I believe you're going to the zoo, my little man,' Mycroft replied.
'Iz u tummin' too?' Katy chimed in.
'Sadly, no, my darling girl. Daddy has to go to work' – Mycroft pushed out his bottom lip to mimic his daughter's response to that revelation – 'but Poppah has a lovely day planned for you and I will make sure I'm back in time to tuck you into bed.'
'Now, dat id a pwomise, Daddy! U hab to keep a pwomise,' she insited, shaking a finger at him for emphasis.
Mycroft drew an 'X' over his left breast.
'Cross my heart, sweetness,' he replied, solemnly, pressing a fond kiss to Katy's rosy cheek.
'What for bwekfuss?' Charlie enquired of Arthur, who had abandoned the bed and pulled on his own dressing gown.
'Let's go and see,' Arthur replied, taking both children by the hand, 'and leave Daddy in peace to get ready for work.'
ooOoo
When Mycroft came through from the bedroom, wearing his customary charcoal grey three piece suit, breakfast was well under way. He gave each of his three loved ones a goodbye kiss, wished them all a lovely day and left for the 'office'. He had a breakfast meeting to attend, with the Home Secretary, so he did not stop to eat – although he did steal a cheeky bite of toast from Charlie, to a howl of protest.
Once everyone was fed, washed and dressed, the hastily planned zoo trip got underway. Unlike his future brother-in-law, Arthur had no qualms about pushing a baby buggy. This one was a stylish three-wheel, all-terrain model, in-line two-seater, in rich tomato red. The children both liked to sit in the front seat so they had learned to take turns – poll position being decided by the flip of a coin.
On this occasion, Charlie won the toss and smiled smugly as the family set off on the first leg of their journey, the ten minute walk to Sloane Square to take the Circle and District Line to Victoria. Two minutes later, they were changing on to the Victoria Line, bound for Oxford Circus. Here, they emerged onto the street and took the short walk to Margaret Street, where they caught the Number C2 bus to London Zoo. For two children from the English countryside, who either walked or were chauffeured everywhere, this journey on public transport was all part of the adventure.
They alighted from the bus on Prince Albert Road, almost directly opposite the entrance to the zoo. Arthur had bought the entry tickets on line so they avoided the queue for the Ticket Office and walked straight in. Once inside, both children abandoned the buggy to take the tour under their own steam. Here, the Proximity Rule came into effect. The twins had to stay within three strides of Poppah, or they would have to hold onto the buggy. They rarely needed reminding to stay close.
In the matter of choosing which animals to see, the cuter the better was the only criterion. So the Oriental three-clawed otters were high on that list, closely followed by meerkats, monkeys and tropical fish. This brought them neatly up to lunch time. The Animal Adventure Café was conveniently situated right next door to the Children's Zoo so that, once the little ones had refuelled and visited the loos, it was an easy hop to a guided tour through the four zones – Tree Top, Root, Splash and Touch, for a hands-on experience of the various environmental requirements of animals.
The last zone – Touch – provided an opportunity for grooming the goats and sheep and to say hello to the donkeys, llamas and miniature pigs. Being quite familiar with farm animals, the children were a little confused as to why anyone would want to groom a sheep or even a goat, for that matter. They would far rather have ridden the donkey than speak to it and Katy surprised the keeper by asking if the mini pigs tasted like normal pigs. He commented to Arthur that young visitors rarely associated the living animals with the food on their plate but he explained that these kids were country born and bred.
The last visit of the day was to Rainforest Life. This was an indoor exhibit, which included a 'Night Life' area, inhabited by free-flying bats, floor-dwelling rats and other nocturnal animals, such as bush babies. Both the children were fascinated by the 'flying mice', as they swooped around, noiselessly. There were bats roosting and hunting around Colbert House but the twins were usually asleep in bed before they put in an appearance, so this was a fitting finale to the day at the zoo.
Both children fell asleep, on the journey home, which rather negated Katy's advantage of sitting in the front buggy seat. But she didn't complain. Once home, they ate supper, took their baths and were just about to retire when Mycroft returned – in the nick of time – to read them a bedtime story. When he eventually emerged from the children's room, he found Arthur dozing on the sofa and a bottle of Merlot breathing in the decanter.
'How was your day?' Arthur asked, pouring them each a glass of wine and handing one to his partner before curling up beside him on the chesterfield.
Mycroft sighed and rubbed his forehead, pensively.
'The depths of depravity to which some people can sink and still stand tall and proud and preach to others about how to live their lives will, I fear, never cease to amaze me!' he replied, ruefully.
'That bad, eh?'
'No, worse,' was the enigmatic response. 'But let's not talk about it. Tell me about the Zoo.'
Arthur leant back against Mycroft, who wrapped his arm around the other man, as he began his account of their fun day out.
ooOoo