Second Night by Gabriel J Klein

parent thing and how we go about it. Your mother isn’t just a mother. She is a whole person who needs to be with interesting people with similar values.’
    â€˜Well, this family’s going to stay together,’ said Jemima doggedly. ‘We’re all going to live here with the horses forever.’
    â€˜That won’t be enough for Maddie.’
    â€˜But I don’t go anywhere to meet interesting people,’ said Maddie. ‘I have to work.’
    â€˜Then your lover will have to come to you,’ declared Sara. ‘Maybe he’ll come to the pub.’
    â€˜Except that no one new ever goes to that pub,’ said Jemima complacently.
    A tiny, secret smile touched Maddie’s lips. They do sometimes, she thought. They have red hair, and this time brown eyes, not grey. Tom would laugh – me and the vicar.
    She realised both girls were looking at her. ‘It’s so hot in here,’ she said briskly, and turned to open the window before they saw her blush.
    But Jemima wore her wary face and Sara had seen the smile.

CHAPTER 13
    Caz smelled bread baking when he came around the path to the back door at the lodge. He heard the women talking and the clatter of cutlery in the sink, and was comforted.
    I have come home after a long day working in the fields. The bread is baking and the meat is roasting on the spit. There’s a tankard of ale ready for me on the table and the women are at the hearth tending the fire. He stood back from the open door, admiring them. They are the three Fates at the roots of my little life in this world of shadows. Will they find my body hanging in the tree at Thunderslea if I die in that other place on Hag Night?
    Sara saw him first – unshaven with the dark rings around his eyes and his shoulders bowed in complete exhaustion after a night without rest. She threw her arms around him and walked him over the threshold. ‘Come in and be loved! We’re being domestic this morning.’
    â€˜I can tell,’ he said, laughing as she dragged off his jacket and pushed him into the rocking chair.
    â€˜Get completely comfortable. You’re not to move an inch unless we tell you to.’
    The women asked no questions of him on this quiet, autumn morning of ragged mist and pale sun. His mother brought him cushions and coffee. Sara scooped up Kresh and laid her in his lap, and pulled off his wet boots. Kush curled around his neck, licking at the stubble on his throat as he swallowed the coffee. Jemima took the cup and filled it again.
    â€˜It’s brewed to death, just how you like it.’ She was trying not to sound anxious. ‘And I’ve made teacakes. You can have them with peanut butter or jam and cream.’
    â€˜I’ll have three tonight,’ promised Caz.
    â€˜Couldn’t you try just one now and tell us if they’re okay?’ wheedled Sara.
    He grinned. ‘I’m okay with coffee.’
    Sara made a little moue of disappointment. ‘We could split one between us.’
    â€˜Where’s Jas?’ he asked, changing the subject.
    â€˜Working. Didn’t you see him up at the house?’
    â€˜No, I didn’t go in.’
    I didn’t need any more of Daisy’s questions , he thought wearily. He had spent time checking out the swans, recognising all of them from the year before. Sadly, white-eyed Delilah was not among them. He decided not to tell Jemima. It was best to let her find out for herself. She bent over him, teasing out a twig tangled in his hair.
    â€˜We ride wild horses together,’ she whispered in his ear. ‘You can’t be not well.’
    â€˜I am well, little sister.’
    â€˜You’re just tired then?’
    He nodded. ‘That’s all.’
    â€˜Jas will be home soon,’ said Sara, with one eye on the clock. ‘We should check the hugely hungry stew.’
    They each took a spoon and stood around the pot, tasting the bubbling