84 wivesbehavingbadly

" thanks , mrs lloyd ." a rate , pale smile stretched her mouth ." this is big night ."
best not to inquire . from the window of the boys
 bedroom . i watched her clatter down the street on a cheap pair of heels . she looked released , happy , her hair loosed from its customary prison wardress clamp , and it occurred to me that i must never forget that eve was entiled to an off-duty life .
" you are a busy mummy ." lucas 's fair hair - which was beginning to darken - was tumbled and mussed , and he looked the image of his father .
the thomas the tank engine clock clicked on the chest of drawers . two pairs of socks , two  t-shirts , and two pairs of underpants dripped off the chair stenciled with dragons . under their duvets . i could see the boys had a long way to grow before they reached anywhere near the end of the bed . years and years , in fact .
"never too  busy for you two ." i tried to remember whose bed i had sat on the previous evening , and chose the opposite . felix smiled shyly , his gaze flicking up to a point above the bed where he had stuck a drawing onto the wall . i was about to expostulate  " felix , the wallpaper " when it dawned on me that felix's drawing was of a large cat with black and white stripes . underneath it he had written " my lost cat " in blyue crayon .
when they were asleep - felix curled up on his right side , lucas spread - eagled over the entire bed - i turned on the nightlight and left them to dream .
then it was i found myself slipping upstairs to the spare room , where the white rose in the painting appeared to leap out of their dark background . there i searched through nathan 's shirts for his notebook .