name Lee,” I said. “It does sound like a man’s name, you have to admit. Well, in England anyway, and let’s face it, sexist or not, there are a lot more male architects than female. And to be fair, I do remember googling the architect when we bought the house and finding no information.”
“That’s because this house was the only building she ever designed. A bit like Harper Lee with To Kill a Mockingbird? That was before they forced her into being a two-time novelist, of course. I mean, she was a one-time deal for all those years. My mom was the same. Also named Lee.”
“Your mum?”
Kate glanced at me then back at the road and said, “My mom’s name is Lee le Sueur. She took my grandmother’s last name. So you see why, with Mom being the architect of this house, Cliffside’s part of our DNA.”
This news left me speechless. A childhood home is a powerful enough force at the best of times, a place that forever remains part of your psyche—for better or worse—but a house designed and built by your own mother? This was a full-on magnet, a force so strong it would hold power over you for life. No wonder the triplets were drawn back here. Cliffside was the only home the triplets had ever known. I’d had a life—a shitty time at school, yes, but then university and Juan. A career. New York. Marriage. There was a big world out there, something the triplets hadn’t really experienced yet. Cliffside was their cocoon. How could I, as owner of this house, deny them the loving embrace of their true home? Cliffside was too big for one person anyway. They’d been so helpful, especially Dan with all his fixing and window cleaning, and Kate, ferrying me about all over the place. They practically lived here anyway. I felt I owed them one.
“Kate,” I said.
She kept her eyes on the road. It was raining again. “What is it? Everything okay?”
“Would you three like to move in with me?”
Her eyes misted. “Oh my God, are you serious?”
So the triplets all moved in the next day and commandeered their old bedrooms. At first Dan refused to accept, told me I was being way too generous and they’d be fine, but I insisted. It was my idea and my idea alone for them to live here full-time, to have their old rooms back, to ensconce themselves at Cliffside once again. I admit, my decision was not out of pure generosity. I wanted them to live with me for selfish reasons.
“It’s okay,” I told Kate, as I walked with her down the hallway, carrying an armful of clothes. “I’ll move out of my bedroom. It was Juan who wanted this as the master anyway. Really, take your old room back. Too many memories, I’ll be glad for the change.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Honestly. I want you to feel completely at home.”
She hugged me. A great big bear hug. In that moment I felt I had absolutely made the right decision. “Thank you,” she said. “You’ve been so amazing to us. We’ve told Mom all about you; she’s so grateful, you can’t imagine.”
“What’s life if you can’t share it, right?”
“Right.”
“You know, I think it would be a great idea if I had a chat with your mum. Let her know you’re here. Let’s set up a Skype call.”
Kate shrugged and touched the stud on her nose. “Sure, why not?”
I was still waiting for one of them to bring up the “pregnancy,” but nobody had. Had they forgotten? Or did they know I’d been lying? I made up my mind to nip it in the bud myself so as not to lose face or embarrass them.
“Anyway,” I said. “I’m glad you’re taking my old bedroom. The privacy of my new room will work better for me.”
Kate smiled, her eyes twinkling, the dimple in her cheek showing me how thrilled she was to be invited to live here as family. “I get that. We’re all a pretty noisy bunch, right? Please shut us up if we go too far.” She took some of the weight from my arms. A coat dropped to the floor and I bent down to pick it up.
“It’s not that,” I said, my eyes cast down.
“What?”
“I just need time to rest a little, get my energy back.”
“Oh, yeah, right… the baby.” Had she just put “baby” into quotation marks?