A Mother's Love(7)
“Okay.”
She left the room feeling guilty that she wasn’t being more helpful. Should she have taken his clothes out for him?
Bruno perked up over breakfast as Robert talked to him about soccer. The two of them already had a good relationship, and Celeste couldn’t help but feel jealous—jealous that Robert seemed to find it so easy to get over Jack’s death and jealous of his ability to endear himself to his nephew. When Bruno looked at her, his eyes darkened with apprehension. It appalled her that she could inspire such a negative reaction. She hadn’t cared that she had alienated her friends and cold-shouldered her in-laws, but she cared that she caused a child to feel fearful. A child she was meant to be looking after. What if the shoe was on another woman’s foot and the child was Jack?
After breakfast Celeste watched her husband leave, then wondered what she was going to do with Bruno all day. She was suddenly besieged by a wave of apprehension. What used she to do with Jack? Suffocating in panic, she tried to remember the things Jack had liked to do. If she couldn’t think of anything today, how was she going to entertain him for five days?
“Can I go and play in the garden?” It was Bruno. He was standing in the doorway in his boots, his face solemn.
“Of course you can. Do you want me to come with you?” she offered, trying to inject some enthusiasm into her voice.
“I’m fine. I like exploring.”
“Okay. It’s a big estate. Don’t get lost, now, will you?”
“I won’t.”
“Why don’t you take Tarquin with you?”
He smiled. “Can I?”
“You’ll be doing me a favor. That way I won’t have to walk him.” Celeste put a couple of dog biscuits into Bruno’s trouser pocket. “In case he doesn’t come when you call him. He’s a very naughty dog, you know.”
Bruno laughed and the shadow of unease seemed to lessen slightly. “Okay,” he said.
“Marigold, will you come out of the bush!” Huxley hissed at his wife.
“I need to make sure he’s okay,” Marigold replied, parting the branches to get a better look into her son’s garden.
“She won’t have eaten him for breakfast, you know,” said Huxley.
“Well, of course she won’t. I just need to be sure that she’s looking after him. You know how fragile she is.” At that moment the door opened and Bruno wandered out with Tarquin. “Ah, there he is!”
“Alive and well?” Huxley asked.
“Very,” she replied, satisfied.
“Two arms and two legs?”
“Now you’re being silly.”
“One can never be too sure.” He chuckled as he watched the dog prick up his ears. “You’re going to be discovered now.”
“Damn it. Well, don’t just stand there like a lemon. Help me out of this bush!”
Tarquin spotted the bush moving and trotted over, wagging his tail in anticipation of finding a large rabbit. He found Marigold instead, backing out big, round bottom first.
Bruno went after the dog, which had now begun to bark with excitement. When he saw his grandparents, he smiled happily. “Hello, Grandma. What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Bruno, darling. I was just looking for the soccer ball,” she replied hastily.
“Do you want to play?”
“Goodness no! I don’t play. Grandpa does, though, don’t you, Grandpa?”
“I don’t suppose I have any choice in the matter,” Huxley replied drily.
“Don’t worry, Grandpa. I want to explore,” said Bruno.
“Do you need a guide?”
“I’m on a mission,” the child informed him importantly.
“What sort of mission? I’m good at missions.”
“To find things.”
“What sort of things?”
“Lots of things.”
“Ah, I know where to find lots of things,” said Huxley knowledgeably.
Bruno grinned. “Then you can be my guide.”
“What a good idea. Why don’t you two go off together?” Marigold suggested.
“The ball is over there,” said Bruno, pointing to the bottom of the garden. “Uncle Robert and I played yesterday.”
“Ah, so it is,” Marigold replied. “Silly me, all that searching in the bush for nothing!”
She watched the child and his grandfather wander off through the orchard, followed by Tarquin. She turned her attention to the cottage for a moment and wondered how Celeste was. Before Jack died she would have gone in for a cup of tea and a gossip, but things had changed. Celeste avoided her most of the time. She sighed heavily and turned back towards her house. Jack had taken not only his mother’s heart, but the heart out of the whole family.