177 WIVESBEHAVINGBADLY

there was a clatter by the front door , the hissed admonition ." that is not the action of a well- behaved person ." and paige shuffled bulkily into the kitchen holding lara's hand and carrying the baby in a sling . " minty , minty , i cause as soon as i could manage ." she abandoned lara . the baby bumped between us as paige crushed her face to mine ." what can i say ?" her cool flesh introduced a note of sanity ., and i had never been so glad to see anyone in my life ." i used my key to get in ." she held it up ." but i see you have company . i can always come back ."
dear paige . it must have been such an effort to get over here ." you remember paige ." i made the introduction to richard and poppy ." she 's just had a baby . and this is lara ."
lara was wearing a smocked blue dress and woollen cardigan . she looked cross and uncomfortable . the baby snuffled paige cupped a hand over his head ." shush , charlie , " she murmured ." i'm so sorry about your father ." she said to poppy ." he was such a fine man . he will be missed ."
" he was wonderful , wasn't he ?" poppy cried .
the grief in her outburst made us wince . richard put his arm around his wife ." perhaps we should go ." he said .
ppoppy ignored him ." minty , we need to ask you something "- she shot a look at paige - " but it's private . family private . some tjings need to be decided .
paige took the hint ." lara , darling why don't we find some of lucas and felix's toys for you to play with ?" she cocked an eyebroe in my dirrection , which meant call if you want reinforcements , and disappeared ." come along , lara , " we heard her say .
poppy took a deep breath ." about where dad is buried .