Chapter Text
***
The futon in Ellie and Penelope’s guest room - which was really not much more than a tiny storage room - was not the most comfortable place to sleep, particularly if one was over six feet tall. Colin, however, had slept in far worse places – including hard benches in noisy South American airports, sagging hammocks in tropical locations rife with mosquitos, and swaying bunks below decks on clanking Eastern European ferries which stank of diesel – and he had long ago developed the skill of falling asleep pretty much anywhere. That said, while the futon-on-the-floor was fine for a few nights, he wondered how much he was going to enjoy it if he was likely to be a lockdown resident of the flat* for weeks or even months to come. Ending up with back problems was not something he wanted.
He had been woken by the sound of his phone buzzing with a text alert. Groggy with sleep, Colin had remained lying down with his eyes shut and his hand over his face for at least ten minutes before rousing himself enough to check his phone. The text was probably from his mother again. After Boris Johnson’s address to the nation announcing lockdown the previous night, all their phones had gone into meltdown with friends and family comparing their feelings about the new situation. Violet Bridgerton had not been happy with the idea that she would not be able to enjoy visits from her beloved children or grandchildren any time soon. There had been a long exchange of messages on the Bridgerton WhatsApp group chat during which Violet had failed to grasp this notion completely. She seemed to think that exceptions could be made. After most of her children had tried to explain the lockdown rules to her several times, Ellie had flung down her phone and huffed off to watch a film, muttering that her family were hopeless. Colin had continued to follow the chat, enjoying the text arguments as they escalated to the point when Anthony had started sending increasingly exasperated and lengthy explanations to their mother laying out exactly what he wanted her to do and not to do.
Order your shopping online and get it delivered, Anthony had told Violet, we DON’T want you going to the supermarket and exposing yourself to germs.
Those websites are very confusing. And I don’t like it when those delivery people choose my shopping for me, I like choosing my own fruit and vegetables, Violet had responded. Surely if I just pop down to Waitrose once or twice a week no one will mind.
It’s not a question of MINDING, Anthony had responded, it’s about keeping you SAFE. People of your age are VULNERABLE, as I’ve just explained.
There’s no need to KEEP going on about my age, Anthony, I hardly have one foot in the grave. And don’t shout at me.
Anthony had not responded to this message. Instead, a soothing message from Kate had appeared. Sorry, Violet, Anthony didn’t mean to upset you. He’s just concerned about keeping you safe. The new rules are going to take a lot of getting used to, for all of us.
Colin suspected that Kate had wrestled Anthony’s phone out of his hand before he could get even more exasperated with his mother and send something he would later regret.
Now, Colin prised his eyelids open and groaned at the bright sunlight filling the storage room. The door could not be closed when the futon was unrolled and, although there were curtains at the small window, the boxes and suitcases piled up between the futon and the window made it impossible to get close enough to draw the curtains and block out the light. Colin made a resolution to shift some of the boxes and create an access path to the window, now that he was here for the long-haul.
He fumbled for his phone and looked for the recently-arrived text. It was not from any family member, but was an official UK Government text which had been sent that morning to every user of every mobile phone network in the country.
GOV.UK CORONAVIRUS ALERT. New rules in force now: you must stay at home. More info and exemptions at gov.uk/coronavirus. Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.
Colin blinked. Wow. The powers-that-be were doing their best to make sure that everyone in the UK got the message. Even his mother.
***
“I think I’ll order myself a new laptop,” Colin said, through a mouthful of toast. “I’ve decided that if I can’t travel anywhere for a while, I might as well get some writing done. Simon reckons that I should try my hand at a book instead of just articles, and I’m going to have plenty of time to work on it.” Simon Basset, Daff’s husband, worked for Hastings Wexford, the well-known London publishing house which had been co-founded by his grandfather.
“Just goes to show that anyone can get a book published these days,” Ellie muttered, her gaze fixed on her phone. Despite not having to travel to work at school this week, Ellie was still not at her best first thing in the morning. “Reality TV stars. Idiots. Anyone.”
Colin opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again without speaking. It was too early in the day to let Ellie pick a fight with him. Much as he enjoyed winding her up, they had to try to get along with each other if they were going to be housemates for an extended period. It probably wasn’t the best time to complain to her about the lack of comfort her futon guest bed offered, either.
“What have you got to do today, Ellie?” Penelope interrupted quickly. Colin had noticed and appreciated Penelope’s frequent efforts to keep the peace between the Bridgerton siblings.
“I’ve got an English department meeting on Teams at ten o’clock,” Ellie said. “Then I’ll be carrying on with going through the curriculum and prepping online learning activities for the different year groups. Then there’s some training this afternoon on how to use Google Classroom. I’ve never used it before but you’re supposed to be able to use it to teach online and set work and the kids can submit their work back to you on it.”
“Isn’t it lucky this pandemic didn’t happen twenty years ago?” Penelope mused. “We’ve got the technology now to do so much stuff online. A few years ago you would have been having to send home pages and pages of work on paper instead, if schools were closed.”
“True.” Ellie stood up and went to put her plate and mug in the sink. “But there are still quite a few families at our school who don’t have access to laptops and tablets for their kids to learn at home. Or they don’t have enough tech for different-aged siblings to work at the same time. The DFE* are supposed to be looking at paying for some more Chromebooks or such that we can give kids to use at home.”
“I thought I’d go and ask Mrs. Danbury if she wants us to get her any shopping,” Penelope said, finishing her own mug of tea. “You know she doesn’t really do computers so she’s probably not set up for online food shopping. We might be able to help her out.”
“That’s kind of you,” Colin said. “I thought she was terrifying when we went to tea with her last Thursday.”
Penelope laughed. “She does take a bit of getting used to. But she liked you. I could tell.”
“I don’t see why we shouldn’t count ourselves as one household with Mrs. D,” Ellie said thoughtfully, pausing on her way out of the room. “I know that technically we’re two separate flats, but this used to be one house. And if we are one household we can still invite her downstairs to sit in the garden, if the weather gets nice. Imagine being stuck in a flat during lockdown and having no outside space at all. Lots of people round here will be stuck like that.”
“That’s a good idea. Shall I ask her what she thinks when I go and find out about the shopping?” Penelope offered.
***
Colin coughed on the dust which rose in clouds around him, disturbed by his movements. Somehow he had ended up offering to climb into the loft at the top of the house, which was accessed by a wooden ladder from the hallway of Mrs. Danbury’s flat.
“It’s over to the left! No, your right – my left!” Looking down through the hatch to the hallway below, Colin saw the elderly lady waving her walking stick imperiously as she directed him. Beside her, Penelope’s face wore a faintly worried expression as she gazed upwards at him – probably concerned that he and half the contents of the loft were about to come crashing down at her feet.
Colin looked across the cluttered space under the roof tiles which was filled with boxes and piles of assorted who-knew-what, along with a few larger objects which were shrouded under dustsheets and plastic covers. Over to his right was a large rectangular object under a sheet which might possibly be the item he sought. Gingerly – because although the floor of the loft had been boarded over, he was unsure how solid the surface was – he began to pick his way towards it. When he reached it, he lifted one edge of the dustsheet, stirring up another cloud of dust which made him sneeze. “I’ve found it!” he called in the direction of the hatch.
When Penelope had dropped off Mrs. Danbury’s grocery shopping to her that morning, the old lady had kept her trapped in a long conversation about the likely impact of life under lockdown, that man Boris Johnson and how everyone they both knew would cope with the situation. This had led on to the subject of Colin being forced to stay with Ellie and Penelope for the time being, and to Mrs. Danbury offering him the use of a folding camp bed which was in the loft. “Might be more comfortable than that futon-whatsit,” she had proclaimed. Deciding that wrestling something the size and weight of a camp bed down the loft ladder was not a job she fancied tackling single-handed, Penelope had fetched Colin, which was how he had come to be stumbling around the dusty loft.
“It’s fairly heavy,” Colin said, pulling the folded camp bed over towards the loft hatch. “Pen, I think it might be better if you came up here to pass it down and I got below to catch it.”
He liked the way she didn’t start arguing with him. His brother Anthony and sister-in-law Kate would have spent the next twenty minutes bickering over Kate’s ability to catch a heavy object before getting on with the task. Penelope merely said, “OK, shall I come up now?” and climbed the ladder quite agilely. As she reached the top, Colin stretched out a hand and provided a steadying grip on her arm while she clambered through the hatch and got her footing on the loft boards. At one point, the cluster of coppery curls at the nape of her pale neck was right under his nose, and he found himself inhaling a light floral scent – Was it her shampoo? Whatever it was, he liked it – Colin blinked, shook his head at himself and climbed down the ladder.
After ten minutes of wrangling the heavy, awkward old-fashioned camp bed through the loft hatch opening, he and Penelope managed to wrestle it down the ladder to floor level, watched with interest by Mrs. Danbury and two of her cats. Fluffy grey Hardie and tabby cat Engels both seemed to think that the humans were carrying out some strange performance for their entertainment. Engels had to be forcefully dissuaded from trying to go up the ladder and explore the dusty loft.
“Needs a bit of a clean,” Mrs. Danbury observed, looking at the camp bed. “I’d take it out in the garden and knock the dust out of it, if I were you. It’s a bit old, but it served me well in the old days.”
The door to the book-lined spare bedroom Mrs. Danbury used as a study was open, and Colin’s attention was caught by some framed photographs and newspaper articles visible on the wall just inside the room. He stepped closer to have a look at them while Penelope was climbing down from the loft and fending off cats. “You were at Greenham Common*?” he asked, fascinated.
“Spent half of 1981 and 1982 there,” Mrs. Danbury confirmed, following his gaze. “Those were good times. A real sense of community in the peace camp. Made some great friends there. Of course, we all got arrested a few times, but it was well worth it.”
Colin’s eyebrows rose sky-high. “You have got to tell me more of your stories, Mrs. Danbury. Have you ever thought of writing a book?”
“Thought of it. Might do it one day. Of course, that was really Gareth’s department – my husband, you know. He wrote half a dozen. So I left that sort of thing to him. But it might give me something to do, if this lockdown goes on and on.”
“Colin’s writing a book,” Penelope told her, suddenly appearing next to Colin’s elbow. She had picked up Hardie, who was now kneading her shirt and purring in her arms. “About his travels.”
“Ah! Is that right?” Mrs. Danbury peered more closely at Colin. “Interesting! You’ll have to let me read your manuscript some time.”
Colin smiled weakly, slightly terrified by the idea of exposing his writing to Mrs. Danbury’s criticism. “Well, thanks very much for the bed,” he said, lugging the heavy item towards the staircase and almost tripping over Engels. “I’ll let you know how I get on with it.”
***
“I can’t get the Zoom app to work properly on my tablet,” Colin complained, several days later. “It looks like it’s installed, but then nothing happens when I open it. Ellie! Can I try and get Zoom working on your laptop for tonight’s meet-up? My new one hasn’t come yet.”
“No, you can’t. I need my laptop for other stuff.”
“You’re just being awkward. You’ve got to join in anyway, Kate said so. Mum will want to see everyone.”
“I’m busy. Anyway, I bet Mum won’t be able to work out how to do the Zoom thing.”
“Hyacinth will sort her out – remember, she’s back home now.” Eighteen year old Hyacinth, the youngest Bridgerton sibling, was halfway through her first year at the University of Manchester. The university had given students the choice between being put in lockdown in their student halls of residence or going home to continue their studies online. Hyacinth had sensibly decided that keeping her mother company at Aubrey Hall, where she would have some freedom to roam around the grounds and countryside, was preferable to being pent up in a small flat in the middle of Manchester. Her older brothers and sisters had been quite relieved to know that someone would be at home to keep their mother company and handle things Violet found tricky, such as online shopping and communications, not to mention restraining Violet from popping down to Waitrose whenever she felt like it. However challenging Hyacinth’s siblings sometimes found her, no one could deny that she was both confident and capable.
Ellie only grunted in response to this, and walked out of the living room, her eyes fixed on her phone. Colin stood up and pursued her into the hallway. “Oh, go on, Ellie, it won’t kill you to let me have the laptop for half an hour, you can’t have that much lesson planning to do, you’ve been on there all day –“
“Stop doing my head in, Colin! God, I’m going to be glad when you’re abroad again instead of us being stuck with you –“
“You can use mine,” Penelope put in quickly, seeing another argument about to break out between brother and sister and trying to keep the peace. “Use my laptop, if you want, Colin. I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure? Thanks, Pen, that’d be great! At least someone’s being helpful!” This last comment was aimed at his sister’s back. Ellie half-turned and flicked up her middle finger at him before disappearing into her bedroom.
After the first week of national lockdown, most people were starting to adjust to a new way of life. One of Ellie and Penelope’s neighbours had already started a Locals Help group to recruit volunteers to do helpful things like getting shopping and collecting prescriptions for the elderly and infirm. The news had announced that nearly 10,000 people in the UK were already hospitalised with Covid-19. Prince Charles, Boris Johnson and the Health Secretary were some of the most famous names to have caught the virus so far. The previous Thursday had seen people across the UK coming out on their doorsteps for the first national “Clap for Carers” event, clapping and banging pots and pans to show support for the NHS and keyworkers. It was planned that this would become a weekly event every Thursday night.
Ellie was on a rota which meant that she was going to go into school for one week in three to teach keyworkers’ children, spending the other two weeks planning work or teaching online. She also had to try to keep in touch with the students in her tutor group, as the school policy required the staff to try to make weekly contact with every student or family either by email or phone, to make sure they were safe and well. Luckily, some of the school support staff were also involved in making these contacts, which took some of the burden off the teaching staff.
Penelope was continuing to work from home, but she had admitted that she was quite enjoying her new routine. She still had to take part in a few online editorial meetings each week, but otherwise she had the freedom to arrange her working day to suit herself, so long as she submitted her assignments on time. She had told Colin and Ellie that she certainly did not miss getting up early each day to jam herself into a crowded Tube or train compartment and fight through the rush hour to the Guardian offices in Kings Cross. The weather had been sunny, and she had been able to spend some time relaxing in the garden and watching the birds on the feeder. Under lockdown rules they were allowed a daily outing for exercise, and if Ellie was not in the mood for joining Penelope on her walks around the neighbourhood, or slightly further afield into the nearby areas of Epping Forest, Colin was always very happy to accompany her. He had been putting his cooking skills to good use catering for the household, too, and he and Penelope had started experimenting with baking different types of bread. Despite the Covid-related anxiety hanging over everyone, Colin was not finding lockdown life too onerous and, despite the occasional tensions between himself and Ellie, he was enjoying having the company of two of his favourite people. He had always excelled at being able to feel comfortable in unfamiliar territories, and yet there was something about being stuck in this little flat during this weird lockdown which made him feel that he had come home.
***
“Hi!” Colin sat on one of the stools at the kitchen counter with Penelope’s laptop in front of him, pleased that he seemed to have got into the Zoom session successfully. Suddenly, or so it seemed from the British media, everyone seemed to be having Zoom get-togethers but Colin, although he was familiar with FaceTime and Skype, hadn’t tried using Zoom before now. He couldn’t help thinking that his sister-in-law Kate was rather ambitious in expecting to get all the Bridgertons organised into one session, but after entering the chat he could see that several of his relations had got there already. There were five boxes visible on the screen – one showed Colin himself, but he could also see his oldest brother Anthony sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Kate in their study and his mother Violet peering curiously at the screen from her dining room. In another box Daff was looking effortlessly elegant as usual, despite wearing an old sweatshirt and having her hair in a ponytail. Francesca looked delighted to see her family, although her picture was a little fuzzier than the others. The Wi-Fi signal was rather patchy in the remote area of the Scottish Highlands where she lived.
“Hi Colin!” Daff was waving at him. “It’s so great to see you! Where’s Ellie?”
“She’s in a mood, but I’ll get her later,” Colin replied.
Their mother smiled happily into her webcam and started speaking, although no one could hear what she was saying.
“Violet, you’re on mute,” Kate said, and then, when Violet didn’t seem to take any action, “Hyacinth, are you there? Can you unmute Violet?”
After a few seconds, Hyacinth’s exasperated face appeared over Violet’s shoulder, and she solved the problem. “Sorry, I thought I’d got her set up already – Mum, don’t touch anything. NO, not the microphone symbol. Don’t click on ANYTHING.”
“Yes, all right, dear – Darlings! How lovely to see you all. Daff, you look so well. Colin, you’re so suntanned. Is Ellie looking after you?”
There were snorts from several of her children at this. “Do you really think Ellie’s looking after me?” Colin asked, amused. “She’s given me a roof over my head, but if I had to rely on her cooking, I’d be starving.”
“Yes, God forbid YOU should ever go short of food,” Anthony put in sardonically.
“Where are the others?” Violet asked. “Where is Ben – or Greg?”
“I’ll message Greg and tell him to get his arse into gear, the dopey git,” Hyacinth said, disappearing from the screen. Her mother looked pained at Hyacinth’s language.
“Sorry, just a moment, I can see Ben’s in the waiting room, I’ll let him in now,” Kate said, and a few seconds later a sixth box appeared on the screen. Ben had a streak of blue paint on his face and looked harassed. In the background they could hear the sound of several small children screaming.
“Sorry, I got held up,” he apologised. “Charlie found out that Alex had hidden his Lego sharks, and then William freaked out about not wanting a bath. Sophie’s dealing with it but I might have to take over from her in a bit.”
Anthony, Kate and Daff all looked visibly grateful that it was someone else’s offspring causing chaos and not their own. Violet beamed again, misty-eyed with pride. “Oh, bless them. I shall miss the children so much now that we’re not allowed to visit.”
Ben’s smile was strained. “I’ll get them to draw you some pictures,” he said. “We’ve been painting rainbow posters today for the NHS, to put up in the front windows. I thought it would give Sophie a break from the home schooling.”
“Oh, what a lovely idea.” Violet was touched. “And how are the rest of my grandchildren? Daff?”
“They’re fine,” Daff smiled. “Simon’s having a bit of a lie down, though. He’s finding the home schooling tougher than he thought. I think the novelty’s already started to wear off.”
“Kate’s doing an AMAZING job,” Anthony put in. “She’s turned the spare bedroom into a classroom and worked out a timetable and everything. She’s even got a sticker chart going for rewards.” He gazed proudly at his wife.
“Dear Kate. Always so capable,” Violet smiled. Colin thought he could hear the sound of Ben grinding his teeth, although surely no laptop microphone could be powerful enough to pick that up.
“I’ll go and get Ellie,” he said hurriedly, standing up and leaving the kitchen. As he walked down the hallway he could hear his mother asking Francesca how she was getting on in Scotland. When she was at university his sister Francesca had met a Scottish student called John Kilmartin, whose family owned a whisky distillery in the Highlands. Francesca had followed him back to Scotland, where only a year later John had been killed in a motorbike crash on the A82, Scotland’s most notorious road for accidents. Francesca had been devastated, but she had already fallen in love with the Highlands and with her job in the distillery’s visitor centre so she had stayed in Scotland. Now, several years on, she ran the visitor centre and was the distillery’s publicity manager. Although they tended to see Francesca more on FaceTime than in person because of her remote location, Colin and his family had suspected for some time that she had grown quite close to John’s cousin Michael Stirling, who was now in charge of the family business. Unlike his mother or Daff, Colin thought that Francesca and Michael could probably sort their own lives out without any meddling from the Bridgertons.
“Just come and say hello to Mum,” Colin nagged his sister, and Ellie rolled off her bed with a resigned huff. Colin knew that, although Ellie was still feigning reluctance, once she joined in the conversation she would have plenty to say.
Back in the kitchen, Colin and Ellie squeezed on to adjoining stools and jostled shoulders for a moment until they could fit both their faces in the webcam shot. “Hi, mum,” Ellie said.
“Oh, Ellie darling, how are you? I know you’re working so hard, it’s marvellous what all the teachers are doing, having to try to teach all the children by computer, I wouldn’t know where to start –“
“Hey, Ellie,” Daff broke in, “Simon wants to know if you’ve got any tips for home schooling. He’s trying to get Mia and Bel to learn their times tables, and he thought you might know some good games or some websites to try?”
“Like I keep telling everyone,” Ellie said resignedly, “I’m not a primary teacher! I’ve got no idea what to do with tiny tots. Ask me about teaching GCSE or A level English and I’ll be right on it.”
“Hey.” A seventh box had finally appeared on the Zoom screen. Twenty year old Greg was visible, slouched in his gaming chair in a dimly-lit room full of posters and indescribable mess. In his third year reading Computer Science and Electronics at the University of Bristol, he had chosen not to retreat home during lockdown but to stay in the house he shared with four student mates, where they were probably planning to spend more time gaming than studying online. Colin just hoped they wouldn’t starve now that McDonalds and KFC had both closed during lockdown. Greg wore a black T shirt which said in white lettering I Paused My Game To Be Here and his chestnut hair was now chin-length.
“Greg, darling, how are you?” That was Violet, of course.
“He’s fine, he just couldn’t get his act together to be here on time.” That was Hyacinth being acidic as she peered over Violet’s shoulder again.
“Shame all the hairdressers have shut down,” Ellie said sardonically. “By the time they reopen again Greg’s hair will be down to his waist.”
Her youngest brother stuck his tongue out at her. “Fuck off, Ellie.”
“Watch your mouth, Greg. Mum’s listening,” Anthony said in a sharp tone.
Francesca jumped in to change the subject. “Are you all doing the Clap for Carers on Thursdays? We are, even though there doesn’t seem much point when our nearest neighbours are half a mile away and can’t hear us joining in.”
“Oh, and who’s “we”, Fran?” Ellie asked slyly. “You and Michael, perhaps?”
Francesca opened her mouth to reply, but Kate jumped into the conversation, probably to avoid awkwardness. “The children loved doing the first Clap for Carers, didn’t they, Anthony? Everyone along the road joined in. Ed and Miles got some saucepans to bang, and even Charlotte was clapping along. I was thinking of maybe taking my flute out next time to make some more noise. And Anthony could play his trumpet.”
Colin – and most of his relatives – flinched at this. Anthony and Kate were notoriously more enthusiastic than talented on their musical instruments. He felt sorry for their nearest neighbours if the Thursday night doorstep clapping and noise making was going to be rendered hideous by the flute and trumpet.
“So anyway,” Daff interrupted hastily, “Simon and I are really going to miss our pub quiz nights, and we were thinking that maybe we could do a weekly quiz on Zoom? As a family? Maybe every Friday during lockdown?”
“Oh yes, that would be fun!” Kate agreed eagerly, and Colin and Ellie both groaned. They knew how competitive Kate and Anthony were likely to get if there was any sort of prize at stake. Even a “fun family croquet match” on the lawns of Aubrey Hall had turned into a bloodbath in the past. “Who will set the questions?”
“Simon and I will do the first one. And then maybe we could take turns to be quiz masters?” Daff suggested. Violet thought it was a lovely idea and another chance for family togetherness. Hyacinth was just as competitive as her oldest brother so she was another one who agreed at once to take part. Ben said that he would ask Sophie – he gave another harassed glance off-camera towards the still-screaming infant as he said this – and Francesca smiled widely as she said she would definitely be up for some weekly quizzing.
“Do invite Michael to join us, won’t you, Fran?” Daff said sweetly. “And how about you, Greg?”
Greg muttered that he would make it if he could – presumably, if he did not happen to be in the middle of any important gaming on Friday evening.
“We’ll be there, Daff,” Colin said. “It’ll do Ellie good to get away from her school work for an evening. She’s just too dedicated – ow!” He finished with a yelp as Ellie elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
“And Pen can be on our team too,” Ellie said.
“Oh good, and how is Penelope?” Violet asked. “Is she there? Can I say hello to her? I was on the phone to her mother this morning, and we were just talking about her.”
“Pen!” Ellie shouted. “Come here a minute, Mum wants to say hi!” She stood up as Penelope entered the kitchen. There was not much room to manoeuvre with three adults in the small room, so Ellie moved back and waved Penelope towards the empty stool next to Colin. The stool wobbled as she sat down. Colin put out an arm and pulled her into his side, steadying her next to him. He got another whiff of the light flowery scent of her hair – or her skin, or whatever it was. She jumped slightly in surprise when he put his arm round her, but she smiled warmly into the webcam.
“Hi, Violet, hi everyone, how are you?”
There was a general chorus of “Hi Pen!” or “Hi Penelope!” from the assembled Bridgertons, who were all fond of her.
“In case you didn’t overhear already, Daff’s organising a Great Bridgerton Quiz Night on Zoom every Friday,” Colin explained. “You’re on mine and Ellie’s team, all right?”
“That’s not fair,” Hyacinth complained. “You’ll have three of you, and Ellie and Pen are both really clever –“
“Hey!” Colin said, indignant. “What about me?”
“You and I can be a team together, Hyacinth dear,” Violet said. Hyacinth did not look thrilled about this.
“Never mind how many people are on your teams, Kate and I are going to thrash you all,” Anthony said with a grin, and there were howls of protest from his siblings. Colin could feel Penelope laughing at them, still pressed warmly against his side as she did so.
As Violet started to tell Penelope about the face-masks she and Portia Featherington had decided to start sewing – to be sold at the village shop for NHS charities - Colin smiled to himself. Despite keeping in touch by phone, FaceTime or emails, he had really missed being in the middle of his boisterous family during his travels abroad. He had a feeling that these weekly Zoom get-togethers were going to be a lot of fun.
***