Cover Your Eyes by Adèle Geras

Author:Adèle Geras
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781782066088
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Published: 2014-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

12

‘Granny, Granny!’ Dee came running down the steps and threw her arms round Eva as she made her way to the front door. ‘I’m an angel. I’m the Archangel. Isn’t that wonderful? I’m so, so, excited!’

‘Wonderful, darling,’ said Eva, sounding happier than she had all day long. She’d managed to calm down after her confession to Megan and was beginning to feel that maybe it was possible for everything to return to how it was before she’d let Angelika’s name slip. And now here was Dee, who was going to be an angel in the Nativity Play. Eva couldn’t help but make a connection. She said, ‘Am I allowed to make your costume?’

‘I’ll ask Mr Shoreley. Maybe they’ve already got an angel costume. Bridie’s a shepherd boy. She gets to carry a lamb. Not a real lamb, but a toy. Freddie’s got a really big furry lamb. It’s going to be cool. We’re having rehearsals every lunchtime and sometimes after school as well.’

Megan said, ‘Come on, girls. Let Granny get her coat off. Isn’t it nearly supper time?’

They went off together and Eva stood in the hall and ran her hands through the silk flowers. She could hear the girls laughing in the kitchen. The girls … she’d taken them for granted. What would it be like to live in a flat all by herself? Where would the laughter come from then?

*

‘Do you think Megan really likes Mr Shoreley?’ Dee asked. Because Megan was going to be out till quite late, Eva had volunteered to take the girls to bed and read them a story before they went to sleep. The three of them were sitting on Bridie’s bed, but Dee knew that if she raised an interesting topic of conversation, she bought herself a little more time. Bridie, who was usually half asleep by story time, perked up when she heard the question and said, ‘I think she’s going to marry Mr Shoreley.’

‘Honestly, girls,’ Eva said. ‘You mustn’t gossip. She hardly knows him.’

‘Yes she does,’ Bridie said. ‘She sees him every day at school. And Mr Shoreley is kind and handsome and he really likes Megan. I know he does.’

‘Well,’ Eva said, ‘we’re not going to discuss this now because none of us knows what Megan thinks. I think we ought to read our story because it’s getting very late.’

‘Tell us about your wedding,’ Dee said, in a last attempt to delay matters. ‘Tell us about Grandpa Antoine.’

They’d never known Antoine except through her stories and Rowena’s, which showed two very different sides to the man. Eva always spoke of how famous he was, and what wonderful photographs he took and how glamorous his life had been. Rowena told them about an ideal father, an indulgent man who’d taken her to the cinema, the theatre, out to meet interesting people in London. He’d bought her a kite and taught her to fly it. He’d been a good swimmer and taken her to the pool. He’d bought her pretty things

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