“Mummy missed you,” she said to him, grinning impishly when Jenny went bright red.
“Did she?” Gareth asked, staring at Jenny.
“Oh yes, there was hardly a day that went by when she didn’t think about you,” she said, and hastily jumped out of reach when she read Jenny’s mind again.
She giggled and ran over to where Charlotte was trying on a pair of shoes. Jenny felt her cheeks were red hot.
“You’re so beautiful when you’re embarrassed,” Gareth said softly.
Jenny was speechless, partially with anger at Amber for exposing her inner thoughts like that, and partly through the thrill of finding he was attracted to her.
“What are you two doing for the rest of the weekend?” he asked.
“Just sorting through the piles of junk. Why?”
“I was wondering if we could get together, for the girls’ sakes, of course.”
“Of course,” she repeated and laughed.
“Well?”
“If you want to help sort out, then you are welcome to come by. We could get some rolls and cold meat for lunch or something?” she asked, hopefully.
“Are you sure?”
Jenny nodded, never so sure of anything before.
They concluded their shopping trip, and then Gareth followed Jenny to the Gables. As soon as they arrived, Amber and Charlie disappeared up to Amber’s room, and Jenny was left feeling really strange with Gareth in the hall.
“Lovely home, why do you want to move?” he asked.
“It was Amber’s Granny’s home and it is far too big for the two of us. If Amber is going to go to the Manor, then I want to be in Abingdon.”
“You’re moving to Abingdon?” he asked, his voice registering pleasant surprise.
She blushed again.
“Yes, we’ve found a smaller place on the Radley Road.”
“My God, really? Then we’ll practically be neighbours.”
“Oh, really?” she replied, hardly daring to hope.
“Yup, we live on the Radley Road as well, at number fifty two.”
“Gosh, we’re buying eighty three.” Jenny smiled, and then proceeded to show him round the house, telling him which bits of furniture she was uncertain about.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and Amber were in Amber’s room going through some cases Amber had found in the attic. There were books and puzzles, dolls and toys going back to before the war.
“These were my mum’s and various uncles and stuff,” she said.
There were several Pip, Squeak & Wilfred annuals. Pip was a dog, Squeak was a penguin and Wilfred was a rabbit or hare. Most originated from the 1920s and early 30s. There were also some super stories and cartoon pages.
They found one story about a young French aristocrat who dressed as a girl to escape the Guillotine. After lots of adventures he was caught, but they believed him to be a girl, so as he was being taken to the square of execution in a cart, he managed to leap up and scramble along a flag rope that was draped across the street.
“Cor, I can’t imagine having to pretend to be a boy, can you?” Charlotte asked.
“Yeah, it’d be okay. Not as good as being a girl, but I could do it,” Amber said, with a small smile.
“You’d be no good as a boy. You’re far too pretty. No one would be fooled.”
“Neither would you,” said Amber, and both girls giggled at the thought.
Gareth was amazed at some of the furniture in the house and, although not an expert, he knew enough to see that there really were some fine pieces. Mostly English, but with some French items, they would make an antique dealer drool.
In a precise hand, he started to make a list, noting sizes and descriptions down on a sheet of paper.
“This way, we can measure the sizes of the new place, just to see what will fit where,” he said.
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Do you get a chance of getting in before the day?”
“Oh yes, the family has already left. They’ve gone to Australia, and the money is being wired out to them on completion. It’s empty now, and the estate agent holds the keys. He says if ever I want to go and take measurements, then just to drop in and borrow the key.”
“What a super situation to be in,” he said, as they moved into the dining room. The main table was a fine piece of old English wood. It extended to seat about twelve people and had a beautiful set of two carvers and ten plain chairs.
“That’s nice. Are you keeping these?”
“Oh yes,” she said.
So it went on, culminating in them gathering in the kitchen for lunch. The girls were relaxed and got on very well together. Gareth had not seen Charlotte relate to anyone as well as Amber, but then he was unaware of the mental stimuli that Amber had exerted to make this happen. She found Charlotte a very shy and rather hurting girl. She had never really come to terms with her mother’s death, and did not really like her grandmother that much, as the woman was rather smothering.
Amber had just given the other girl a mental tweak to make her feel very comfortable around both her and Jenny. Actually, after the first tweak, she didn’t need to try as Charlie actually did the rest herself.
But as for Gareth, Amber smiled, as she knew full well he had fallen in love with Jenny, and that the feeling was reciprocated. No tweaks were needed at all!
She was looking forward to the next few months.
PART TWO:
CHAPTER SIX.
AMBER’S DIARY
(Note by Amber:
I first wrote this a long time ago, and so some of it was, understandably, a little childish. As I am re-writing this with my grand-daughter asleep in her pram in the garden, and my own daughter sitting next to me, I have taken the liberty of making it a little easier for the adult to read. My memory is still as fresh, but I will try to illustrate my feelings in the terms that I experienced them.
Also, I have written it in narrative form for the most part, as I am sure that you don’t really want to know that on May 12th 1963 I had jam roly-poly for lunch, for example.)
December 1960. (Aged 8)
Christmas in the new house was lovely. I was so pleased we managed to move before Christmas, as the memories in the old house threatened to swamp me. Mummy (Jenny) was tired, but I could see she was happier now. As much as she had liked living with us at the Gables, she never really felt it was her home.
I call her ‘Mummy’ all the time now, as it gives her a boost of pleasure that I can feel. I also feel she is the nearest thing to my real mummy. I love her and I know she loves me, and genuinely wants me to be happy.
She is one person I never need to touch to make her like me, and I’ll never forget the first time I saw her at the little school.
As soon as she saw me, I sensed she found me different, and I think she started to feel love for me then. However, she knew that she had to be fair to everyone, so she managed to control her feelings.
Grown-ups are so odd sometimes.
They pretend that because they are all big they aren’t allowed to have feelings, and certainly aren’t allowed to express them. I suppose that is why so many of them get cross with each other and shout a lot.
Charlie and I are best friends, and she is so excited to have me going to the same school. I was a little afraid that I would meet some of the children from my old schools, but so far I have been lucky. I try to make my appearance as different from Andrew as I can.
I love being Amber, it feels right. Everything about Andrew was different, and I had never felt I belonged in that form. I sense lots of other people who feel that way about their own bodies, and wish I could change things for them. Maybe I can do that when I get older, but I can’t do it yet.