carefully on the carpeted stairs, but then I noticed that a light was on in the kitchen. Someone else was up. For a second, I froze on the bottom step, wondering if I had the energy to make conversation with one of the family at this hour. I was working out what to do when Eva came out into the hall.
‘Ah! It’s you, Megan. I thought it must be. Nothing wakes Rowena up but sometimes Bridie has a nightmare …’
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.
‘No need to apologize. It’s often hard to relax on your first night in a new house. Come and have some camomile tea. That’s very good for getting you to sleep.’
I followed her into the kitchen, and wondered how I could get out of drinking camomile tea. She must have read my mind because she turned to me and smiled.
‘That’s if you feel like camomile tea. Hot chocolate is also good.’
‘Thanks, I’d much rather have that. Would you like something? I can make it.’
She waved in the direction of the table. ‘I have my coffee already. Decaff at this hour, of course, but always coffee.’
As Eva showed me where to find what I needed, for a moment I had a strange feeling of being in someone else’s life:
I’m in Eva Conway’s kitchen making hot chocolate
, I thought to myself. It was like acting in a film when I didn’t quite know my part. I waited for the milk to heat up.
Eva said, ‘You don’t have to stay and talk to me, you know. You can take your chocolate back to your room if you’d like to. I often wander about in the middle of the night. Old people need less sleep, they say.’
‘That’s okay. I’d rather stay here, if you don’t mind.’
‘Not at all. It’s a funny time of the night, isn’t it?’
‘The house feels a bit different.’ I was thinking of the draught around my legs and I nearly said something about it and then didn’t. Eva looked much older in her nightclothes. She was wearing a greyish hooded velour robe which I recognized from the White Company catalogue. I’d wanted the very same one but could never afford it.
‘The girls are so excited that you’re going to be taking them to school tomorrow,’ Eva said.
‘I’m a bit nervous, actually. Maybe that was why I couldn’t sleep. Mr Fitzpatrick’s coming with us, to show me the way and what to do when I get there.’
‘Mr Fitzpatrick? Conor, surely. Eva, Rowena and Conor from now on.
Mr and Mrs
sound so formal.’
Rowena had made a point of telling me that too. Calling the girls’ father by his first name was going to be hard for me till I’d got used to it. Even saying
Eva
and
Rowena
sounded funny, like using the first names of your teachers at school. We sat in silence for a few moments and I felt more and more as though it was up to me to find a topic of conversation. In the end, I said, ‘Dee and Bridie seem to get on very well, don’t they?’
‘They do!’ Eva smiled. ‘Well, that’s important, I think. I told Rowena when they were both very young that it was the most important thing … sisters. They should be friends. Look after one another. Rowena was an only child but as soon as Bridie was born, I did everything I could to make sure that the two of them got along well together.’
‘Not all siblings do, though, do they? Get on, I mean.’
Eva didn’t answer this but asked, ‘Do you have brothers and sisters yourself?’
‘No,’ I answered. ‘I’m an only child.’
‘Awful. It’s not good being an only child. I’ve always thought so. Sisters … well, that’s a very special relationship, isn’t it?’
‘Have you got a sister?’ I asked. Eva looked at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. She didn’t answer me. I didn’t feel I could repeat the question and was just about to say I was going back upstairs when she said, ‘No. No, I certainly don’t have a sister.’ She was almost whispering, as though she didn’t want anyone else to overhear but there wasn’t anyone there except me. She’d chosen an odd way of saying
‘Ah! It’s you, Megan. I thought it must be. Nothing wakes Rowena up but sometimes Bridie has a nightmare …’
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.
‘No need to apologize. It’s often hard to relax on your first night in a new house. Come and have some camomile tea. That’s very good for getting you to sleep.’
I followed her into the kitchen, and wondered how I could get out of drinking camomile tea. She must have read my mind because she turned to me and smiled.
‘That’s if you feel like camomile tea. Hot chocolate is also good.’
‘Thanks, I’d much rather have that. Would you like something? I can make it.’
She waved in the direction of the table. ‘I have my coffee already. Decaff at this hour, of course, but always coffee.’
As Eva showed me where to find what I needed, for a moment I had a strange feeling of being in someone else’s life:
I’m in Eva Conway’s kitchen making hot chocolate
, I thought to myself. It was like acting in a film when I didn’t quite know my part. I waited for the milk to heat up.
Eva said, ‘You don’t have to stay and talk to me, you know. You can take your chocolate back to your room if you’d like to. I often wander about in the middle of the night. Old people need less sleep, they say.’
‘That’s okay. I’d rather stay here, if you don’t mind.’
‘Not at all. It’s a funny time of the night, isn’t it?’
‘The house feels a bit different.’ I was thinking of the draught around my legs and I nearly said something about it and then didn’t. Eva looked much older in her nightclothes. She was wearing a greyish hooded velour robe which I recognized from the White Company catalogue. I’d wanted the very same one but could never afford it.
‘The girls are so excited that you’re going to be taking them to school tomorrow,’ Eva said.
‘I’m a bit nervous, actually. Maybe that was why I couldn’t sleep. Mr Fitzpatrick’s coming with us, to show me the way and what to do when I get there.’
‘Mr Fitzpatrick? Conor, surely. Eva, Rowena and Conor from now on.
Mr and Mrs
sound so formal.’
Rowena had made a point of telling me that too. Calling the girls’ father by his first name was going to be hard for me till I’d got used to it. Even saying
Eva
and
Rowena
sounded funny, like using the first names of your teachers at school. We sat in silence for a few moments and I felt more and more as though it was up to me to find a topic of conversation. In the end, I said, ‘Dee and Bridie seem to get on very well, don’t they?’
‘They do!’ Eva smiled. ‘Well, that’s important, I think. I told Rowena when they were both very young that it was the most important thing … sisters. They should be friends. Look after one another. Rowena was an only child but as soon as Bridie was born, I did everything I could to make sure that the two of them got along well together.’
‘Not all siblings do, though, do they? Get on, I mean.’
Eva didn’t answer this but asked, ‘Do you have brothers and sisters yourself?’
‘No,’ I answered. ‘I’m an only child.’
‘Awful. It’s not good being an only child. I’ve always thought so. Sisters … well, that’s a very special relationship, isn’t it?’
‘Have you got a sister?’ I asked. Eva looked at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. She didn’t answer me. I didn’t feel I could repeat the question and was just about to say I was going back upstairs when she said, ‘No. No, I certainly don’t have a sister.’ She was almost whispering, as though she didn’t want anyone else to overhear but there wasn’t anyone there except me. She’d chosen an odd way of saying
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