Julian was standing at the sitting room window when Sophie found him.
He had his phone in his hand but wasn't looking at it , just standing, his back to the door, watching the street below with the particular stillness of someone who had heard things moving in the kitchen and had decided, with characteristic composure, to wait until they were ready for him.
"How is she?" he said, without turning around.
"She's all right." Sophie came into the room, pulled the door closed behind her. "She's on the phone. She's calling Edmund."
He turned then, a slight frown. "Why is Charlotte calling my father?"
"Because she has something to say to him." Sophie sat down on the edge of the sofa and looked at her hands for a moment, then back at Julian. "And because I need to tell you something before h
