Finders and Keepers Read Free Page A

room.
    â€˜Please, not near Edyth,’ Harry begged.
    Edyth was flinging around her one good arm and both legs under the pretext of teaching her younger sisters the Charleston. Harry felt sorry for Maggie, Beth and Susie, who all received a couple of inadvertent kicks from her. He also noticed Bella dancing a practised and more expert version with the boy who’d helped her from the car.
    â€˜Bella has a boyfriend?’ Harry asked his mother as soon as the dance was over and he’d managed to shake off Alice.
    â€˜Gareth Michaels.’ Sali glanced across the room at them. ‘He’s seventeen and so smitten it’s painful to watch the way she treats him.’
    â€˜Isn’t she a little young to be going out with boys?’
    â€˜The protective older brother.’ Sali looked amused. ‘So far he’s only taken her to the church social. Perhaps I should remind you how old you were when you escorted your first girlfriend to the theatre.’
    â€˜Point taken.’ Harry followed Sali back outside. She retrieved Glyn, who was sitting on the grass watching Joey’s youngest son and daughters play ball.
    â€˜Too much cake isn’t good for one small boy, Glyn.’ She took an iced bun from him and wiped the crumbs from his mouth. ‘I hope everyone is enjoying themselves.’
    â€˜Judging by the smiles on their faces, they seem to be. It was a brilliant idea to hold a last party here.’ Harry looked up at the house. ‘It’s a pity it had to be sold but Dad and the trustees were right – a house this size needs an army of servants to run it. And in this day and age it’s simply not practical.’ He smiled wryly. ‘Despite Dad’s Marxist ideals, we enjoyed the best of the vanishing world of the privileged.’
    â€˜We did.’ Sali pressed a plate of sandwiches on a group of colliers who were hanging back diffidently from the table.
    â€˜From that look on your face, I can see that I’m not the only one who’s sorry to leave,’ Harry commented.
    â€˜We all are. The girls didn’t stop crying for days, and although your father would deny it, I caught him wiping away a tear or two.’
    â€˜While you, of course, were indifferent,’ Harry teased.
    â€˜You know me. I’m sentimental at the best of times. Don’t forget, I knew and loved this house long before we lived in it. Some of my happiest times were spent here with Great-aunt Edyth before you were born.’
    â€˜Is the new house easier to run?’
    â€˜Much,’ she said brightly. ‘Mari and I manage it with the help of two dailies, although it has almost as many rooms. But they are a lot smaller. Your father sold two of the houses he owns in the Rhondda and paid the builder to extend the original plans so each of your sisters could have their own bedroom. As he said, it’s worth the extra expense to stop their squabbling. Now, when they start, we just say, “Go to your rooms” and peace is instantly restored.’
    â€˜It’s good to be home.’
    â€˜You’ll be in Paris this time next week.’
    â€˜I’ll write,’ he promised.
    â€˜Like you did in Oxford? Letters that ignored the questions I asked in mine,’ she reproached. ‘You never did tell me how much you drank at the party after your graduation.’
    He adopted what he hoped was an innocent expression. ‘Not that much.’
    â€˜You expect me to believe that?’
    â€˜Of course.’
    â€˜And Anna?’
    â€˜Anna?’ He looked blank.
    â€˜She’s the reason I only allowed two of the girls to drive to the station with me. I thought you might bring her home. You introduced her to us before the ceremony,’ she reminded him.
    â€˜Oh, that Anna.’
    â€˜Given the way and the number of times she kissed you, I assumed it was serious between you two.’
    â€˜She’s a poet who believes in free