The Hunters. Kat Gordon

– you’re meant to plant them around your doorway.’

      ‘Thank you,’ my mother said, accepting them.

      ‘The smell repels the puff adders.’

      ‘Oh goodness.’ She looked down at the pot in her hands. ‘The agent never told us about that. Would you like a drink? I’m afraid William isn’t at home.’

      ‘Wonderful,’ Edie said. ‘We brought some champagne for the road, but I finished it a few miles ago.’

      ‘Please sit.’ My mother put the flowers down on the porch table and disappeared inside.

      Edie grinned at me. ‘Freddie, I’m bloody exhausted,’ she said, lowering herself onto one of the chairs. ‘Can you bring me my cigarettes from the car? Would you like one, Theo?’

      ‘Does that repel puff adders too?’

      She smiled again. ‘Good, you’re funny.’

      Freddie brought her cigarettes over and she lit up. ‘They’ve all been talking about you non-stop, you know,’ she said. ‘Sylvie especially.’

      My skin tingled the same way it had when she’d touched me at the races. ‘Is she still staying with you?’

      ‘They’ve just moved out,’ Freddie said.

      ‘Oh.’

      ‘They bought a spot nearby – fell in love with it. They’ll be building that for a good few months.’

      I looked at the table, trying to hide my smile, but I felt it radiating from me anyway.

      ‘Here we are.’ My mother appeared again, with Abdullah behind her carrying four glasses of white wine on a silver tray, three full and one half-full. Behind him, Maud trailed, looking sleepy as she was introduced. The half glass was placed in front of me and I looked sideways at my mother, who nodded.

      ‘Cheers.’ We clinked glasses. The wine tasted heavy in comparison to champagne. I swallowed it quickly.

      ‘How about a quick tour of the garden?’ Edie asked. ‘I’m crazy about gardening.’

      ‘Of course,’ my mother said. She led the way down from the veranda, looking uncertain. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know where everything is.’

      ‘The roses are at the bottom of the hill,’ Maud said. ‘Next to the hydrangeas. The gardener puts coffee in the soil so they turn blue.’

      ‘You show us, darling.’

      Maud led us down the lawn and stopped in front of a rose bush. ‘This one’s my favourite.’

      ‘I can see why.’ Edie leaned forward, eyes closed, and sniffed the biggest flower. ‘It’s so good to be able to bend over without a giant belly getting in the way.’

      ‘Edie gave birth to our daughter on the fifth,’ Freddie said.

      ‘Congratulations,’ my mother said.

      ‘Nan,’ Edie said, opening her eyes. ‘She’s called Nan.’ She put out a finger and gently touched the rose, which bowed slightly then sprang back up. Her expression was blissful. ‘Isn’t this beautiful?’

      ‘She’s beautiful,’ Freddie said, and kissed his wife. ‘And what a pair of lungs.’

      ‘Where is she?’ Maud asked.

      ‘She’s at home with her nurse,’ Edie said.

      ‘Probably making this face,’ Freddie said, and scrunched up his nose and eyes.

      We laughed, even my mother, and Freddie turned and winked at me. I wished the boys back at school could see me now. They’d never have believed that someone so charming, so attractive, could be friends with me. It was intoxicating, and I almost forgot Sylvie wasn’t with us.

      ‘So you’ve just got these two beautiful children?’ Edie said. She moved on to the hydrangeas and repeated the smelling and touching routine. We stood behind her in a semi-circle. Maud watched her with a serious expression.

      ‘Yes,’ my mother said.

      ‘You must have been terribly young when you had them.’

      ‘I’d been looking after my little brother for a few years by then – I didn’t feel young.’

      ‘And where’s he now?’

      ‘In a field in France.’

      Edie pulled a face. ‘I’m so sorry. That bloody war.’

      ‘He was at university when it started – Edinburgh. His tutors all said he was doing very well, but Percy always had such a clear sense of duty.’

      Freddie looked sympathetic. ‘I’m sure we would have loved him.’

      ‘Everyone did,’ my mother said. She smiled – a different smile to before, but it reached her eyes. I felt dizzy all of a sudden and realised I’d been holding in my breath.

      After we’d finished looking around the garden I walked Freddie and Edie to their car. My mother and Maud had already gone back inside, leaving the front door open for me. I could hear my mother calling to Maud from one wing to another, and the cook, in the kitchen, clanging pots and pans together, preparing supper for that evening.

      ‘It’s beautiful here,’ Edie said, ‘Aren’t you glad you came?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Africa suits you,’ Freddie said.

      I opened the passenger door for Edie and she slid in gracefully.

      ‘We’ll have a get-together soon,’ she said. ‘You’re invited, of course.’

      ‘Thank you,’ I said.

      ‘What’s wrong? You don’t look very sure.’

      ‘Carberry won’t be there, will he?’

      She laughed. ‘No. I hear you’re not exactly firm friends.’

      ‘Someone should shoot him.’

      It came out less witty than I’d hoped, and Freddie raised an eyebrow, but Edie laughed louder. ‘Not you,’ she said, ‘or you’ll miss all the fun at the party. Do come.’

      ‘As long as you stay away from the gin,’ Freddie said, wagging his finger at me.

      ‘And the champagne,’ I said.

      ‘Oh darling, we’re not barbarians,’ Edie said. ‘It’s a party – of course you’ll have champagne.’

      Freddie grinned. ‘See you around, Boy Genius,’ he said.

      He started the engine, reversed the car up the driveway, and then they were turning the corner and out of sight.

      I couldn’t sleep that night, and around eleven I got up to fetch a glass of milk. My mother and father were talking on the veranda, and I paused in the sitting room when I heard Freddie’s name mentioned.

      ‘Just turned up,’ my mother was saying. ‘I don’t even know who he was here to see. He seems pretty experienced for a twenty-five-year-old, too experienced for Theo.’

      Freddie’s face danced before me – his wide smile and straight white teeth, his raised eyebrow and smooth skin. My heart thumped painfully in my side, and I moved closer to the screen door, staying out of sight. It would all be fine, I tried to tell myself – Freddie didn’t think I was too young and immature. My mother couldn’t stop us being friends if we both wanted to be.

      ‘He’s changing.’

      ‘Well that’s natural, my dear. I know mothers want their children to stay children forever –’

      ‘You know Theo’s different. I don’t want him influenced in the wrong direction. Not when I’ve worked so hard