‘It’s a new rule,’ Max added gravely. ‘And I try very hard to never break rules.’
Having so much to do to start getting the children settled into what was going to be their new home was helpful for the next few hours. Having Emma there to answer the questions James and Max kept coming up with was also very helpful.
‘Should we put Alice’s cot in the same room as Tilly and Ben?’
‘It might be better to put it in your room to start with. That way, if she wakes up, she won’t wake up the others.’
‘But…what will I do with her if she does wake up?’
Emma’s smile was kind enough not to make Max feel inadequate in any way. ‘Give her a bottle of milk. Change her nappy. Cuddle her.’
Ben and Matilda ate enough of their dinner for Emma to be looking pleased when Max went to tell her that he had unpacked the suitcases to find pyjamas.
‘Shall we go up those big stairs?’ She made it sound like an adventure. ‘I know where there’s a bath that’s got feet.’
Ben shook his head. ‘A bath doesn’t have feet,’ he told Emma. ‘It can’t walk.’
‘No. This one just stands there but it really does have feet. Like a lion’s paws. Do you want to see?’
Max watched her go up the stairs with a child on each side of her, holding her hands. Ben still had the little Christmas tree in his other hand, he noticed. And Tilly was holding her rabbit by one foot so that its head, with those chewed ears, was bumping on every tread. James was coming down as they reached the halfway curve.
‘Have you got hot-water bottles?’ Emma asked him. ‘It would be good to put them in Ben’s and Tilly’s beds. And put some of their toys there too, so it’ll feel more like home.’
The men didn’t get the distribution of stuffed toys quite right but it was easy enough to fix as the children climbed into the twin beds that were side by side in one of the smallest bedrooms. It was James who agreed to read a bedtime story to his grandchildren while Pirate lay outside the bedroom door. Max was learning how to bath Alice and get her ready for bed. At six months old she was nothing like as fragile as a newborn, of course, but she still felt very small in Max’s hands and it was fiddly enough to get her into her nappy and her stretchy sleepsuit to make him break out in a bit of a sweat.
‘So you’ve put her cot in your room?’ Emma asked.
‘Well…the room I use when I’m staying, yes. It might be a good one for the nanny to use when she gets here.’
‘Have you plugged in the baby monitor?’
‘Yes. And, if I leave the door open, I should be able to hear if Ben or Tilly wakes up too. You don’t think they’ll sleepwalk or anything, do you? What would I do if they did?’
‘If they do get up, they’ll just be looking for comfort,’ Emma told him. ‘Cuddles. You could stay with them until they go back to sleep. Or let them share your bed.’
There was a hint of mischief in Emma’s eyes as she made that suggestion. As if she knew perfectly well that sharing a bed in order to comfort small children was a totally alien concept for Max. As if she was trying to lighten the atmosphere a little too, to defuse some of the tension of the evening. The idea that Emma might be at all concerned for his own wellbeing did make him feel rather a lot better, in fact.
‘Are you hungry?’ she asked. ‘There’s plenty of pie and chips left.’
‘And red sauce?’
The smile he received from Emma felt like a reward for what seemed like a major achievement in caring for the children for the first time. Glancing at his watch, Max was astonished at how much time had gone by. ‘It’s late,’ he said. ‘No wonder I’m starving.’
‘Let’s see if we can get Alice settled properly. Your dad should be back from taking Pirate for a walk by then and we can all have something to eat.’
James came back with the news that, while the snow had settled in places, it seemed to have stopped and the roads were still clear enough to be safe for Emma to drive back into Cheltenham in the morning.
‘And they’re very good about getting the snow ploughs out on our road first,’ he told her as they ate dinner together at the old table in the huge kitchen. ‘One of the perks of being the only local doctor.’
‘Do you do nights as well?’ Emma asked.
It was Max who shook his head. ‘Theoretically, that’s covered by an afterhours service from town,’ he told her. ‘In reality, though, Dad often gets called.’
‘I don’t mind,’ James said. ‘I’ve known these families for a long time. They trust me. Thanks for taking care of Terry today, Emma. Jenny’s still overanxious about his angina.’
‘It was a pleasure.’ Emma sounded as though she meant it.
James stood up to take his plate to the sink. ‘Might turn in,’ he said. ‘It’s been a big day.’ He snapped his fingers and Pirate jumped out of his basket near the Aga. ‘Can you look after the fire, Max?’
‘Of course. Sleep well, Dad.’
The huff of sound was doubtful and the words were an under-the-breath mutter as James left the room. ‘Let’s hope we all get some sleep.’
Emma stacked the dishes into the dishwasher but Max wouldn’t let her do anything else in the kitchen.
‘Maggie will be back in the morning. Being used as a housekeeper or a nanny is not part of your locum contract, you know.’
Emma shrugged. ‘They say that variety is the spice of life. To tell you the truth, I’ve never been in a house like this before and it’s amazing.’ Which it was. Every room she had seen in this old house was beautiful but her favourite so far had to be the kitchen, with its old range and the dresser with the antique china and an ancient scrubbed table that reminded her of outside terraces in Italy because it made her think of generations of extended family gathering to eat together. The time had flown, as well. They’d been so busy with dinner and baths and getting everybody settled into bed that Emma hadn’t had time to worry about how it could potentially be messing with her head and, in fact, now that she did have the time to think about it, she was confident that she could deal with it.
‘The children really haven’t been much trouble, have they?’ she said aloud. ‘And the way Ben tries so hard to help look after Tilly is just gorgeous.’
‘Mmm…’
The tone in that sound gave Emma’s heart a squeeze as she pushed the door of the dishwasher closed. It was a note of trepidation. Fear, almost.
She caught his gaze. ‘It’s going to be okay, Max,’ she said softly. ‘You’ll work things out. I know it feels huge and scary at the moment but just take it a day at a time. An hour at a time, if you need to.’
‘Is that your strategy for when you find yourself in totally unfamiliar surroundings in your locum work?’
Emma smiled. ‘Sometimes I’m taking it a second at a time. Oh…did you want some dessert? Ice cream, like the kids had, maybe?’
Max made another huff of sound. ‘I think I need something a bit stronger than ice cream. Do you fancy a small whisky?’
Emma wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t do whisky. A glass of wine would be nice, though. White, if you have any.’
‘There’s