Page 41 of An Ill Wind in Seabury
‘No! I’m… Ireallydidn’t mean that!’ said Matt quickly.
‘I get it,’ said Claudia, grinning at him so that he knew he was off the hook. ‘You mean you can’t carry it all on your own?’
‘Yeah, exactly,’ said Matt.
‘And usually, the people you’re trying to protect know exactly what’s going on anyway,’ said Ewan, ruffling Matt’s hair. ‘Oh… and talking from personal experience as thelittle sibling… I just wanted Matt to open up so that I could talk to him about everything.’
‘You’re right,’ said Claudia. How was it suddenly so obvious?! She’d been dealing with this wrong foryears!‘I need to talk to Freya. I should have done it the minute Mother went on the warpath.’
‘Well, that’s easily solved!’ said Rosie, getting to her feet and making her way to the end of the table. ‘Everyone say cheese!’
Claudia looked up in surprise, only to find Rosie with her phone held out at arm’s length as she took a selfie with everyone around the table.
‘Can I send it to your sister?’ she said, holding the phone out to Claudia so that she could inspect the snap.
‘Sure,’ said Claudia with a shrug. She felt like a tight band in her chest had suddenly let go. ‘Why not?’
Rosie grinned and quickly typed out a message. ‘She’s probably mid-air right now, but it’ll be a nice surprise when she gets it.’
‘Tag, you’re it!’
George’s soft voice in her ear made Claudia jump, especially when it was swiftly followed by a loud, squawking cry.
‘You want me to take her?’ said Claudia, eyeballing the slightly damp, squealing baby in his arms..
‘Yep. My eardrums have reached their limit,’ said George. ‘And you need to meet Melody properly, anyway.’
‘Oh… okay,’ said Claudia nervously, getting to her feet to make the handover a bit easier.
As George settled Melody’s heavy weight into her arms, Claudia met his eyes. He smiled at her, and she knew right then that she’d already fallen right back in love with George Slatter.
‘Got her?’ he said gently, stepping back.
Claudia nodded and rested her cheek against the top of the baby’s head. Silence descended on the room.
‘Okay,’ said Connie in a whisper. ‘It’s official. You never get to leave.’
‘Baby whisperer, baby whisperer!’ chanted Ewan, doing silly little bows in her direction.
‘Erm… George?’ Claudia murmured, not wanting to wake the exhausted baby and set her off again.
‘Yeah?’
‘Can you reach into my back pocket?’
‘Now you’re talking,’ he chuckled, earning himself a swat around the ear from Rosie, who was passing on her way to the stove.
‘Behave,’ whispered Claudia with a grin. ‘It’s just… my phone’s vibrating.’
‘Probably your mother again,’ said George, making more of a meal than was strictly necessary as he extracted the phone from her pocket. ‘Want me to check?’
Claudia nodded, swaying from foot to foot as she hugged the baby.
‘If it’s your mum, we’ll talk to her!’ said Ewan.
‘Yeah!’ said Matt. ‘I’m sure we can make up all sorts of juicy gossip about Rory.’
‘So helpful,’ chuckled Connie.
