with bad dreams. You know how it is.’
‘You were just like that! Up and down all night when you were little. I’ve been very lucky with Rufus – he sleeps like a log.’
Miranda smiled and Sylvie recognised that same echo of mother-love that burned so strongly in her own heart.
‘I was watching him at lunch time,’ she said. ‘He’s grown so much recently – he’s going to be tall.’
‘Like his father, no doubt,’ said Miranda, without any bitterness. ‘It’s becoming more obvious now he’s reaching puberty. I can’t believe he’ll be thirteen at Imbolc and not my little boy any longer. But he only takes after Magus in looks – he’s such a sweet child and I’ve been really blessed with him.’
Sylvie nodded; despite the awful way Magus had treated Miranda and the fact that he’d been born posthumously, Rufus had grown up as a sunny and loving boy, if a little shy.
‘That’s actually what I wanted to ask, Sylvie. I know Yul’s busy, but do you think he’d spend a little time with Rufus this winter? He could really do with a bit of male bonding now he’s growing up. They’re kind of double brothers, aren’t they? The same father and being linked through us as well. Rufus really looks up to Yul, you know. There’s a bit of hero-worship there I think.’
Sylvie grimaced; they’d all like to spend a little time with Yul, his daughters included.
‘I’m sure he’d be happy to, Mum – I’ll mention it. But he’s so busy working and we hardly get to see him ourselves. Celandine was only asking this evening why he doesn’t read their bedtime story any more, and I never seem to have him to myself nowadays.’
Miranda eyed her daughter carefully. Sylvie had always been pale and slim but her face looked drawn and there was a sadness about her eyes – very different to the sparkling girl who’d spent such happy teenage years growing into a woman with her handsome young man by her side. Even though Sylvie and Yul had been separated when they went off to different universities, their joy in each other on every return to Stonewylde was very evident. When had this sadness crept in?
‘You’re not feeling ill again, are you?’ she asked, anxious as ever not to pry, but unable to completely let go. ‘Hazel’s keeping an eye on you?’
‘Yes, Mum, I’m fine. You know that was just a hormonal thing after Bluebell was born and it won’t come back again, especially not with the implant. No, I just feel … a bit at a loose end, I suppose.’
She swallowed, annoyed at the catch in her throat. Her mother was not going to see her cry.
‘I guess you have more time on your hands now that Bluebell’s in the Nursery every day,’ said Miranda gently. ‘But there must be so much for you to do in the running of the estate, surely?’
Sylvie shook her head. This was the problem. She’d been the one to study estate management and agriculture, whilst Yul had been persuaded to broaden his world by studying the Arts. Yet as soon as she’d fallen pregnant with Celandine, not long after graduation and marriage, Yul had begun what she now saw as a careful process of protecting her from the exhausting demands of Stonewylde. And her dreadful illness after Bluebell’s birth had sealed her fate – Yul was in charge and her role was simply to be wife and mother.
‘Yul has it all under control, he says. It’s hard to find something that I can organise without treading on anyone’s toes.’
Miranda smiled and patted Sylvie’s arm.
‘You can always help in the schools,’ she said. ‘Either up here with the seniors or even down in the Village with Dawn. It’s not so bad in the primary school, mind you, since Yul insisted on cutting back on the birth-rate – that’s helped tremendously. But up here we’re bursting with teenagers. You know I’ve had to employ two more teachers recently, and we could still do with an extra pair of hands if you wanted to help.’
‘I’d be useless at teaching,’ said Sylvie, ‘and I find all those teenagers a bit terrifying, to be honest. You’re better off with properly trained teachers. What are the new ones like?’
‘They’re lovely and so in sympathy with the Stonewylde ethos. Do you remember some of the disasters we had in the early days, trying to find suitable teachers?’ Miranda chuckled, warming to her favourite subject. ‘But recruiting from