Magnus says he loves me, not my brain, and that I’ve got to ignore his parents. And Natasha said, think of the rock and the Hampstead house and the villa in Tuscany. Which is Natasha for you. Whereas my own approach has been as follows: Just don’t think about them. It’s been fine. They’ve been safely in Chicago, thousands of miles away.
But now they’re back.
Oh God. And I’m still a bit shaky on Proust. (Proost? Prost?) And I didn’t revise the Latin names for bones. And I’m wearing red woolly reindeer gloves in April. With tassels.
My legs are shaking as I ring the bell. Actually shaking. I feel like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. Any minute I’ll collapse on the path and Wanda will torch me for losing the ring.
Stop, Poppy. It’s fine. No one will suspect anything, My story is, I burned my hand. That’s my story.
“Hi, Poppy!”
“Felix! Hi!”
I’m so relieved it’s Felix at the door, my greeting comes out in a shaky gasp.
Felix is the baby of the family—only seventeen and still at school. In fact, Magnus has been living in the house with him while his parents have been away, as kind of babysitter, and I moved in after we got engaged. Not that Felix needs a babysitter. He’s completely self-contained, reads all the time, and you never even know he’s in the house. I once tried to give him a friendly little “drugs chat.” He politely corrected me on every single fact, then said he’d noticed I drank above the recommended guidelines of Red Bull and did I think I might have an addiction? That was the last time I tried to act the older sister.
Anyway. That’s all come to an end, now that Antony and Wanda are returning from the States. I’ve moved back to my flat and we’ve started looking for places to rent. Magnus was all for staying here. He thought we could continue using the spare bedroom and bathroom on the top floor, and wouldn’t it be convenient, as he could carry on using his father’s library?
Is he nuts? There is no way I am living under the same roof as the Tavishes.
I follow Felix into the kitchen, where Magnus is lounging on a kitchen chair, gesturing at a page of typescript, and saying, “I think your argument goes wrong here. Second paragraph.”
However Magnus sits, whatever he does, he somehow manages to looks elegant. His suede-brogued feet are up on a chair, he’s halfway through a cigarette,17 and his tawny hair is thrown back off his brow like a waterfall.
The Tavishes all have the same coloring, like a family of foxes. Even Wanda hennas her hair. But Magnus is the best-looking of all, and I’m not just saying that because I’m marrying him. His skin is freckled but tans easily too, and his red-brown hair is like something out of a hair ad. That’s why he keeps it long.18 He’s actually quite vain about it.
Plus, although he’s an academic, he’s not some fusty guy who sits inside reading books all day. He skis really well, and he’s going to teach me too. That’s how we met, in fact. He’d sprained his wrist skiing and he came in for physio after his doctor recommended us. He was supposed to be seeing Annalise, but she switched him for one of her regulars and he ended up coming to me instead. The next week he asked me out on a date, and after a month he proposed. A month!19
Now Magnus looks up and his face brightens. “Sweetheart! How’s my beautiful girl? Come here.” He beckons me over for a kiss, then frames my face in his hands, like he always does.
“Hi!” I force a smile. “So, are your parents here? How was their flight? I can’t wait to see them.”
I’m trying to sound as keen as I can, even though my legs are wanting to run away, out the door and down the hill.
“Didn’t you get my text?” Magnus seems puzzled.
“What text? Oh. ” I suddenly realize. “Of course. I lost my phone. I’ve got a new number. I’ll give it to you.”
“You lost your phone?” Magnus stares at me. “What happened?”
“Nothing!” I say brightly. “Just … lost it and had to get a new one. No biggie. No drama.”
I’ve decided on a general policy that the less I say to Magnus right now, the better. I don’t want to get into any discussions as to why I might be clinging desperately to some random phone I found in a bin.
“So, what did your text say?” I quickly add, trying to move the conversation on.
“My parents’ plane was diverted. They had to go to Manchester. Won’t be back till tomorrow.”
Diverted?
Manchester?
Oh my God. I’m safe! I’m reprieved! My legs can stop wobbling! I want to sing the “Hallelujah” chorus. Ma-an-chester! Ma-an-chester!