‘Roz, the last thing I feel like dealing with today is Mummy and Aunt Elspeth, sparring at each other, and as for Aunt Margaret——! Can’t you …‘?’
‘No, Nicky,’ Roz said gently. ‘It’s too late for that. Just be cool, calm and collected and mention Adam frequently. That always does the trick.’
Nicky looked at her with a suddenly speculative gleam in her, and Roz held her breath, but her sister-in-law said with a grin, ‘I’ve heard that somewhere before. Oh well, I suppose it could be worse. Lucia could have come too!’
* * *
‘Oh, Roz,’ said Nicky hours later when the protagonists had departed, ‘you must admit we’re a, mad family. I nearly died when Mum and Aunt Elspeth got into that conversation about the merits of Anglo-Saxon qualities of character over Latin ones. I mean, I nearly died trying not to laugh. They were so polite and so lethal—and they’ve been fighting that particular war ever since they met, can you believe it?’
‘I can now,’ said Roz with a grin.
‘But you were great, you really gave them something to think about when you said you thought they mixed marvellously well and wasn’t Adam living proof of it. That stopped them in their tracks!’
‘I suspect not for long,’ Roz said wryly. ‘As soon as I said it I could just picture Elspeth saying—yes, but it’s his Anglo-Saxon genes that have tempered his Latin ones. Or your mother saying—ah, but he might have turned out to be a real cold cod without my genes!’
‘Cold cod!’ Nicky started to laugh again.
‘Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make fun of your mother,’ Rog said ruefully. ‘I like and admire her.’
‘Do you, Roz?’ said Nicky slowly.
Roz hesitated, then said honestly. ‘I was always rather nervous about how she—well, viewed me. Now I know she … doesn’t disapprove of me I suppose it’s easy to say I think she’s very human and warm and funny and caring, but l do … I’ve thought that for some time. Why do you ask, Nicky?’
‘No reason. It’s just that if she were younger she might…’
‘Fifty-five isn’t terribly old, Nicky.’
‘No, but if I was her first child she might only be thirty-eight… Nicky stopped and looked conscience-stricken and anxious. ‘It’s not that I don‘t love her and admire her and respect her, Roz, but some of her ideas are terribly old-fashioned.’
‘I think,’ Roz said carefully, ‘most mothers are like that, or seem to be. By the time we’re mothers,’ she bit her lip, ‘we’ll probably be the same. I suppose they do know all the pitfalls.’
‘They can certainly think of plenty—behind every tree, they are, if mothers are to be believed,‘ Nicky said darkly.
Roz waited with a feeling of inevitability, but Nicky only remarked, ‘Aunt Margaret was quiet today.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, what’s on tomorrow? When’s Adam due back, by the way?’
‘The day after tomorrow. And Les is taking Nimmitabel to the races tomorrow, just to accustom her to all the noise and excitement.‘ How would it be if we got out our glad rags and went along?’
‘I didn’t really bring anything in the glad-rag line,’ Nicky said, ruefully.
‘Then let’s go and inspect my wardrobe this minute!’ said Roz. ‘We’re not much different in size.’
She couldn’t help feeling relieved when Nicky jumped up enthusiastically, all her problems seemingly forgotten. But she did wonder if it wasn’t cowardly to be hoping against hope that Nicky wouldn’t confide in her.
Her hopes were dashed the next evening.
Nicky appeared to enjoy her day at the races and she looked stunning in a rose pink tunic outfit of Roz’s. Roz herself wore pale ice blue, and at one stage Nicky even said to her, with her dark eyes sparkling wickedly, ‘You and I are creating a lot of interest, Mrs Milroy!‘ Male interest. Isn‘t it lucky we contrast so well?’
Roz agreed, and immediately thought that perhaps Nicky’s problems weren’t so serious after all.
But when they got home, Nicky seemed not to be able to sit still after dinner, and she finally dragged Roz out for a set of tennis under the floodlights. ‘We can have a swim afterwards,’ she said energetically, and added teasingly, ‘What’s the point of having all these! Floodlit facilities if you don’t use them?’
‘Adam and Roz use them frequently,’ said Milly,