198 -199wivesbehavingbadly

and i was not going to let poppy get away with it ." actually . he worried about you too ,"
"did he ?"
" you know he did . i told him nothing , but i know he thought you were in some kind of trouble ." i laid a hand on poppy's arm . " going off tilt ? isn't that the term for poker players when luck has packled its bag ?"
rose emerged from the cloakroom , and poppy looked me in the eye , " thank god we don't have to see each otheragain ,  " she said .
thank god hovered on my own lips . once uttered , there would be a sundering , a clean one , and it would suite both of us . but as the words formed , i remember my boys . the casual manner in which poppy was ready to abandon them was as wounding as anything  i had ever felt . they loved their big half sister  . naughty , naughty poppy . she offered them laughter , fun , exoticism .
poppy was their family . the might be a nest of vipers , but the vipers were their vipers , unlike the vipers elsewhere .
i swallowed  , and felt exhaustion clamp down hard . " nathan would have wanted us to be polite , at least . and it would distress your mother ."
"my mother ..." rose was walking toward us ." my mother is the best . the best ."
theo packed up his briefcase . i gestued to the half-eaten plates of sanwiches , dirty glasses an empty wine bottles .
" we're te only ones left ."
theo surveyed the empty room ." who 's taking you back to london ?'
my lst hadn't specified that . ihad forgotten to think about it ." i don't know ."
he glanced at his watch ." i'll give you a lift ."
" thank you ."
and that was that . we had buried nathan .