Civvy Street by Fiona Field

into the garrison, he’s getting more staff. He needs the space.’
    ‘Fair enough. But even so, they’ll only need the one room, everyone else can take turns using the other rooms. We’d just book them in to the available space on a rota system, surely. None of those groups meets more than once a week, do they?’
    ‘The choir meets two nights a week to rehearse, but no, you’re right about the others.’ Maddy wandered into what had once been a dining room. ‘There’s acres of room here,’ she said, her voice echoing slightly in the empty room. ‘Plenty of room for the thrift shop. All we need is to get a lock put on the door.’
    She strolled into the drawing room. ‘If we built cupboards in round the edge of this room, each group could have their own storage space for any kit specific to them.’ She went into the kitchen, where she scooped up Nathan – the incessant banging of cupboard doors had got too much, even for her high-tolerance threshold – and looked about her. The kitchen was big, twice as big as hers, and it had a huge utility room opening out from it. ‘We could make this into a little café and meeting place.’
    Camilla looked unconvinced. ‘And who would run it? And what about food hygiene?’
    ‘I bet there’s an enterprising wife who would jump at the chance – especially if she was allowed to turn a profit. Anyway, it’s just an idea.’
    Beyond the kitchen was a snug or den. It was a reasonable size and had the downstairs loo leading off it. It also boasted a door into an old conservatory. Maddy unlocked it and went through. An idea began to form in her head. She turned back to Camilla. ‘What’s upstairs?’
    ‘The master suite with its own dressing room and bathroom, five other bedrooms and a second bathroom.’
    ‘Six bedrooms, blimey.’
    ‘It was a brigadier’s house,’ said Camilla.
    Maddy thrust Nathan at her. ‘Can I just have a quick look, if you don’t mind...’ She glanced at Rose who was, as always, being angelic. ‘If you could just keep an eye on these two.’
    Maddy didn’t wait for an answer as she bounded up the stairs. It certainly was pretty palatial. She had an idea about a use for that ‘master suite’ and she wanted a quick look to suss out the possibilities. She threw open the doors on the upstairs landing one after the other before she found the right room. Wow! A big bay window flooded it with light and the room was huge, far bigger than the poky bedroom she had in her quarter. She crossed the empty floor to one of the two doors on the far wall and investigated what was behind it – the en suite. Dated and tatty but big enough for what she had in mind. The other room, the dressing room, was more of a cubbyhole with a built-in wardrobe but still a useful space. Delighted with her find, Maddy skipped downstairs to relieve Camilla of a struggling and uncooperative Nathan who was hell-bent on following his mother upstairs.
    ‘OK,’ said Maddy, ‘I’ve got some ideas. We’d be better off discussing them back at mine, if you’d like to come back for a cuppa.’
    Camilla nodded. ‘Oh, that’s such a charming offer.’
    Maddy held her tongue – again. ‘Charming offer’? It was only going to be a mug of tea, when all was said and done.
    They trailed back to Maddy’s with Nathan, now bored and tired, wanting to be carried, even though he could see his mum was holding his sister. Camilla, Maddy noticed, didn’t offer to take either Nathan or Rose. They finally reached Maddy’s front door and she was able to herd the group in. Nathan, once home, made a remarkable recovery, his tiredness forgotten, and ran off to find his toys while Maddy dropped a protesting Rose in her playpen before hurdling the stairgate across the kitchen door to go and put the kettle on.
    ‘A sensible mother,’ said Camilla. ‘I do so approve. It’s so easy for accidents to happen and we wouldn’t want that to happen to your kiddies.’
    Maddy gritted her teeth.