* * *
‘Together again for Christmas, Ruddy!’ Trix was standing by the drawing room window, looking out. ‘And it’s almost like when we were small, with Aunt Georgie and Uncle Ned only just across the green!’
She watched as her parents emerged from the porch of The Elms, the house Ruddy’d taken in Rottingdean. Arm-in-arm, they were on their way to spend the afternoon with Georgie and Ned over at North End House. Both were wrapped about with scarves over their topcoats, her mother stooping a little.
A dull sinking in her chest. They were growing old.
It would be a good thing if she could come Home like this more often.
She’d been about to remind Ruddy of the first Christmas they’d spent at the Grange, how he’d lifted her up to reach the bell-pull. But turning back to the drawing room, sh
