‘Sit down. I’ll put the kettle on.’ Ellen brushed a pile of crumbs off one of the chairs, and I perched on the end, trying to make sure none of the food remains on my jeans rubbed off. She kicked a path through the toys to the back door, letting the triplets into the garden, and dashed about chucking dirty pots into the Belfast sink before rummaging in an enormous freezer. She put a plastic tub in the microwave to defrost, poured the tea and offered me a doughnut.
‘You have a lovely house,’ I said, admiring the walls covered in children’s artwork, the pots of herbs lined up on the counter-top and the brightly coloured window seat.
‘It used to be. Lately it feels like the chaos is winning.’
‘Chaos?’ I laughed. ‘You want to see my cottage. Actually, you probably don’t.’
‘Is it that bad?’
‘Worse. Chaos and mess I can live with. Filth and animal infestations have been more of a challenge. I don’t know whether to be worried or pleased about not gagging at the stench any more.’
‘Are you sure it’s safe to live there?’
‘Right now, I don’t have any other options.’
‘Where were you before?’
‘Living with my sister in Edinburgh.’
‘So why tackle the cottage now? It’s been empty for years.’
I shrugged. ‘I needed to move on. When my mum offered me the cottage it seemed like the perfect answer.’
Before Ellen could ask me anything else, the door burst open and Dawson and his sister ran down the hall, Dawson elbowing his way in front as they approached.
‘She’s lying! I didn’t do it, she pushed me first. And then she called me a brain-dead cyberwimp who doesn’t even know the genetic code for E. coli. And Austin says he won’t walk home with me any more if she’s there, even if he is my cousin, cos she didn’t shut up thewhole wayabout bacteria and micro-things.’
‘Not true!He’slying! He threw my bag over the hedge, and made me give him my crisps. He said he’d tell Austin I wet my pants in the car if I didn’t.’
Dawson interrupted her. ‘LIAR!’ They carried on arguing at full speed, voices growing louder.
Ellen stood up, pushing back her chair, and placed one hand on each child’s arm. ‘Excuse me?’ Her voice was quiet, but by golly it sent shivers down my spine. ‘I think we’d better start again.’
* * *
After another ten minutes of he-said, she-did, Ellen wangled an insincere apology from both the children, and they stomped off to other parts of the house. She stood there, hands tugging at her hair. ‘Sorry. Dawson walking Maddie home from drama club was supposed to solve one of my childcare headaches. It’s a five-minute walk with no roads to cross, but Dawson is anxious about me not being around so much and he’s resisting responsibility. I don’t blame him.I’manxious about it. In a couple of weeks the course properly kicks in, and the nanny I’d hired has taken an au pair job in California with an only child and a swimming pool instead.’
The back door crashed open and three stick-brandishing four-year-olds came hollering through, knocking over a chair, stepping on the cat’s tail and leaving a trail of mud and leaves behind them.
‘I can`t imagine why.’ Ellen shook her head, righted the chair and glanced at her watch. ‘Oh boy.’ She eyeballed the mess, the uncooked dinner, the mud. ‘It`s days like this I wish I had a wife. Sorry, Jenny, I don`t mean to be rude, but I really need to press on. Do you mind if we chat while I get things sorted?’
The sounds of battle wafted in from the hallway, followed by a loud thud, a high-pitched scream and a wail. Ellen closed her eyes and sucked in a juddery breath.
‘I`ll see what`s happened. You carry on with dinner.’ Before realising what I`d said, I was following the sobs to where Maddie stood in a bedroom doorway, clutching the broken pieces of what had once been a microscope. Her brothers were nowhere to be seen.
I pointed at one of the doors, questioningly. Maddie shook her head, extending one trembling finger to the door behind me. Opening it up, I entered an empty room. Empty apart from three pairs of muddy feet poking out from beneath the curtains.
I summoned up my best impression of Zara facing an opponent`s client. ‘Which one of you broke Maddie`s microscope, and why are you hiding here instead of out there telling her how sorry you are?’
Silence.
‘Believe me, it`ll be a lot nicer if you make a voluntary confession.’
‘Jonno did it.’ Two voices chorused from behind the curtains. ‘I did it.’ Another voice, raspy with emotion, echoed them.
‘Right.’ I pulled back the curtains to reveal three very contrite little boys, holding hands and wondering what on earth this scary lady was going to do. ‘Who`s Jonno?’
I`m not quite sure how it happened, but I bundled the triplets – or as I now knew, Jonno (with the freckles), Billy (with the curls tumbling well past his ears ‘`cos he`s scared the scissors will chop off his head’) and Hamish (with a front tooth missing from falling out of a tree) – into the shower, out again and into some clean clothes. I managed to re-connect Maddie`s microscope, and gather up the pieces of glass from the shattered specimen slides. I cheered her up with a promise of some bacteria-riddled samples of dirt from my cottage, and even coerced the four of them into tidying up some of their toys while I wiped the mud from the stairs and hallway.
