Chapter 34 #2
‘Genius! And… it will be OK, won’t it, to move back to my room until I’ve saved up some money? I’ll look after the kitten… and the twins. But mainly the kitten,’ Lauren said with a laugh.
‘Yes, of course.’ Annie smiled at her daughter. ‘Of course it will. It will be lovely to have you back. It feels like you’ve been gone forever.’
One out, one in – Annie couldn’t help thinking to herself. And it would be lovely to have this sensible, grown-up Lauren back in the house for a while. Even if they did have a disagreement every second day.
‘Can I take a peek?’ Lauren asked, hands on the flaps of the box.
‘No! Let’s get the poor mite inside,’ Annie insisted, as they each took hold of the box and began to carry it to the house. ‘Do you really think Ed will like having a kitten?’ Annie worried as they negotiated the back step.
‘Are you kidding, Mum? He’s going to love it, adore it! Remember when we first moved in with him and he had those two saggy old cats? He was so nutty about them. Even if they hated us and had to go to a new home. This is a lovely thing to do for him.’
‘Good,’ Annie felt a burst of happiness at these words, ‘because I really do love that man. So, tell me about the new job.’
So, in just a few sentences, Lauren gave her the top-line highlights.
‘Sounds amazing and perfect for you! And I think Svetlana and Elena are going to be fine about it, aren’t they? Especially if you tell Svetlana tomorrow, when she’s still on a total high about her raging success of a show,’ Annie advised.
‘Your raging success of a show,’ Lauren said with a burst of laughter.
How good it was to hear that laugh again, Annie thought.
Lauren had been all sad and subdued, but she was coming round.
‘Yeah, Svetlana and Elena are going to be fine,’ Lauren said.
‘They’ll find someone new in a flash and they are going to be very busy with their Schiaparelli homage dress…
have you heard about this? Svetlana cut a deal with Carina before the sale went through. ’
‘Perfect Dress is allowed to do a version of the lobster?’ Annie asked, with everything going on, no, she had not heard about Svetlana’s clever arrangement.
‘Yes! A homage to the homard – which is French for lobster, by the way,’ Lauren told her.
‘Very clever. I am so putting my name down for a lobster dress.’
‘No I’m putting my name down for a lobster dress!’
‘No, me! I brought them that lobster!’
They were at the door to the sitting room now and couldn’t help exchanging smiles.
‘Fingers crossed,’ Annie whispered.
‘Oh! Ed and the twins… the twins are going to go crazy,’ Lauren whispered excitedly.
‘OK…’ Annie called out, ‘open the door for us and get ready for the big reveal.’ She could hear Max and Min’s voices, fizzy with excitement.
‘What did Mummy get Daddy?’ Minnie wondered.
‘Maybe a new piano?’
‘No, silly, she couldn’t carry a piano even with Lauren.’
‘Yes, she could,’ Max insisted, ‘Mummy is very strong!’
Annie and Lauren carefully carried the box into the middle of the room, setting it down beside the coffee table. Everyone was craning forward to look. And this time, there was no giveaway sound from inside the cardboard.
‘Daddy opens this,’ Annie commanded, as the twins approached with excitement.
‘This is his present, so he’s in charge.
’ Annie closed the sitting room door as a precaution against the kitten bolting out and exchanged a look with Ed.
His eyebrows were right up in his hair and that bemused smile was on his lips again.
Maybe he’d spotted the air holes, maybe he had a suspicion…
‘OK,’ he said, going over to the box and kneeling beside it. ‘What has Mummy got me to say thank you for putting up… no, sharing, these glorious first years of married life!’ He looked at her and gave her a tiny wink at this.
‘Putting up with is fine,’ she told him.
He untucked the cardboard flaps and a look of such astonished delight passed over his face, that Annie’s heart swelled and she knew she had done absolutely the right thing – which is how it usually turned out when you acted a little crazily but completely out of love and devotion to someone else.
‘Oh… twins,’ Ed said and his voice was all shushed, caring and low, just like he used to speak to them when they were babies, ‘no rushing, no crushing, but in here, fast asleep is the most gorgeous little kitten you’ve ever seen.’
The shriek of delight and the thundering of toddler feet towards the box probably gave the kitten something of a shock, because now, it’s tiny pixie face was peeking over the top of the box in surprise. The sight of this made Max and Min squeal with excitement.
‘Shhhhhh!’ Ed ordered. ‘The poor baby doesn’t know where he or she…?’ he glanced at Annie.
‘She… I think,’ Annie replied.
‘You don’t know where you are, little poppet, do you?
’ Ed now had one twin peering over each shoulder.
Lauren and Owen were standing over the box too now.
Ed very gently stroked the kitten’s head and made soothing noises.
The kitten, to everyone’s delight, crawled daintily out of the box, dropped straight into Ed’s lap and seemed to pad around there for a few moments before deciding it was warm, safe and she needed to curl up and get straight back to sleep.
‘Has it been a long day, little poppet?’ he asked the kitten, as everyone crowded around to get in just a tiny gentle pat.
‘She’s so soft,’ Max cooed, ‘like a little feather.’
‘Will she wake up soon?’ Minette wondered, probably quite prepared to stay up all night if required.
There was no point in sending anyone to bed, Annie realised. Absolutely not one wink of sleep would be had until everyone had enjoyed some kitten bonding time.
‘OK, people, snuggle up on the sofa and let’s get her blanket out of the box,’ Ed suggested. ‘Then we can all take turns to give her a cuddle. We can see if she wants a drink and some food and when we’re all exhausted, then we can go to bed.’
Turning to Annie, he asked a touch anxiously, ‘Did you get any kitten food?’
‘Oh yeah – and bowls, and a kitty bed and some toys. All organised,’ she assured him.
‘Can she sleep in our room?’ Max suggested.
‘Or we can sleep here,’ Min improvised. ‘Mummy can get our duvets.’
‘What’s her name?’ Max asked.
‘Good question.’ Ed held the sleeping kitten in his hands up to his face, so he could have a good look at her. ‘She’s so pretty.’ And this was totally true. She was a pale, sandy white with grey ears and a grey nose with baby kitten pink on the very end. ‘A Siamese?’ he asked. ‘Like my other cats?’
‘Yes,’ Annie confirmed, ‘a royal princess.’
‘How about Pixie, because of her little pixie face?’
‘Yes!’ Max and Min chorused, while Owen grinned and Lauren agreed with, ‘Love that.’
* * *
With Lauren’s help, Annie brought down duvets, then made some hot chocolate and then her whole family tucked up on sofas and chairs in the sitting room with the kitten.
Annie managed to find her own spot underneath Ed’s arm, where she closed her eyes and felt absolutely worn out and completely happy.
‘Best anniversary ever,’ she told him. ‘I don’t know if we’ll top this.’
‘We will, every year,’ he assured her. ‘Thank you for inviting me into your very busy life,’ he added.
‘Thank you for agreeing to be in it.’
‘Thank you so much for my baby cat,’ he said. ‘I have everything I could ever want.’
‘Me too,’ she said.
This made him laugh slightly. ‘Mmmm… for the moment maybe.’
‘So true,’ she had to agree with him. ‘Love you, love you all. But… if I’m going to be dressing the nation…’ she began, ‘I do think there may have to be a new handbag…’
Her entire family, even, she was convinced, the kitten, looked at her, groaned and rolled their eyes.