Chapter 2

Hannah arrived if not exhausted then very, very tired despite the best efforts of Qantas and their staff. But immigration formalities were easy and her monster suitcase did eventually show up just when she thought she had to go and report it missing. As she exited the restricted area, her heart was beating fast - she was more excited about seeing Uncle George again than she had thought - and she was wondering who 'we' covered. She got an answer to that first, spotting Colin. At 12, he was more than ever a small male version of his mother and her heart ached at the thought that he was now motherless. She looked up and saw George - and once more her heart went through a wringer. He had always been if not fat then thick-set and merry. He looked lean and drawn and must have lost at least 3 stone. But his grey-blue eyes were the same. They were looking straight into hers and she felt lost. She left her suitcase and trolley right there and flew into his arms.

The tall lean black-haired woman with the narrow, curiously attractive face was observing the scene. She noted how George's embrace of the pretty Australian girl seemed to cause her oldest daughter - a few weeks from 13 - almost physical pain. 'Oh my, ' she thought, 'Catherine's affection for George runs deeper than I realised.' A moment later she saw a similar reaction in her younger daughter when Hannah embraced Colin. 'Fiona is not keen on competition either, but she at least only looks peeved - not pained.'

Introductions were made. "Hannah, this is Joanna," George said. "She and her then boyfriend, now husband Dave knew Helen very well when she was on sabbatical in Oxford. They have visited us in Norway and we have kept in touch over the years whenever we were in London. We are staying with Joanna and Dave and the kids until the apartment is set up."

"That is really sweet of you. Thank you," Hannah said, smiling to Joanna.

Joanna nodded, momentarily distracted by a mutinous look on her elder daughter's face. "I'm glad to meet you and happy to be able to help. George has told us so much about you," she said. That statement was met with a positively murderous glance from Catherine.

George noted it too and hastened on with introductions. "Meet Liam, Fiona and Catherine. Liam and Fiona fight over Colin's attention whenever we're here. And Catherine is my closest and dearest friend in all of England. Aren't you sweetheart?" he asked and pulled the girl close to kiss her - and not in an avuncular way either. Catherine blushed scarlet, her heart was beating fast and she felt warmth at the pit of her stomach.

Hannah, who had also noted Catherine's very obvious emotional turmoil, wrapped her in a tight embrace. "I'm so glad he has you," she said. Then she took Catherine by the hand and started walking towards the exit where the impatient troika of Colin, Liam and Fiona had run to and were already waiting. "You and I must work out how we get him to start eating again," she said in a conspiratorial voice. Catherine looked up sharply, made a complete mental U-turn and decided she loved this Australian girl. She launched into a long rambling monologue about how worried she was for George that lasted all the way to the car.

George and Joanna made up the rear - with the huge suitcase and a trolley loaded with 'hand luggage', duty free bags and so on. "You handled that well," Joanna said to George. "And so did she. Turning herself from Catherine's deadliest enemy into her best friend in two sentences is a miracle. What a honey!"

"Yes," said George - with a somewhat distracted tone of voice. "She is lovely, isn't she? I'd forgotten quite how lovely. And the last couple of years she has matured a lot..." He trailed off, lost in some inner thoughts.

Joanna did some thinking too. She loved George and always had. Not in a sexual way, or indeed in any way that could threaten her marriage to Dave, but like an older brother perhaps. She wanted him to be happy. She knew George's daughters had been urging him to date; Helen had been dead for nearly 10 months now and given the nature of the disease that killed her, there could have been no sex for at least twice that time if not longer.

But he hadn't dated. She had herself invited eligible singles over the last couple of times George and Colin had visited - something that happened quite frequently for business reasons - and one of her divorced friends in particular had been completely taken by the handsome and distinguished looking Norwegian businessman with the cute son, but it had come to nothing. George was friendly, amusing, urbane - and completely uninterested. 'Well, maybe he is just waiting for the right woman, ' Joanna thought. 'And maybe she just arrived.'

The car George had hired was a 'people mover' - very practical for a party of 7 (or 8 with Dave), and even more so for the shopping expeditions planned for the coming days to furnish and equip the apartment. Most of the furniture had already been ordered - in fact Dave was at the apartment to receive it, but George wanted Hannah to select her own bedroom furniture, and they had to buy everything, as in everything, in fittings, lamps, kitchen gear, bedding and towels and so on.

"We'll head to the apartment right away and get an overview," George said to Hannah. "If Colin, Liam and Fiona can entertain themselves then Dave and I can set up the furniture while you, Joanna and Catherine make the shopping lists. Afterwards the four of us will head out to buy as much of it as possible while Dave takes the younger kids to a park or something."

Joanna nodded assent and Catherine beamed at being included in the adult party.

Hannah was not so sure. "I wanna sleep," she said in a little-girl voice - eliciting giggles from all the children, including Catherine.

"Yes," George said sweetly. "Tonight."

"It's tonight NOW!" Hannah said in a mock whine that none of the kids could have bettered; making Colin, Liam and Fiona laugh out loud while Catherine looked concerned. Perhaps her new best friend really was very sleepy?

"Yes, in Australia, but you're in England now so I will be a Gruesome Uncle and keep you awake until tonight here!" George mocked her.

Hannah pouted - Fiona couldn't have done it better. She managed to stay awake for the drive though and when they parked in a parking house in a side-street near Shad Thames she was wide awake, keen to see the apartment. She was not disappointed - it was nothing short of fantastic with sweeping river views including Tower Bridge from a long balcony. It had a large kitchen/dining/entertainment area, three bedrooms - one with river views and an en-suite bathroom - and another very big bathroom with laundry facilities. A spacious entrance - a small hall, actually - rounded it off.

Hannah nearly forgot to breathe. "Do you think you can live here?" George asked. Hannah could only nod.

A cheerful blond Englishman, so very obviously the kids' father, was in the process of unwrapping a lot of furniture in the main room. He looked every bit the respected but popular school master he was, and he made Hannah feel at ease at once. "You must be Hannah. I'm delighted to meet you, and listen - if you can't stand this place then I just might consider swapping with you."

"You wish!" his wife said, but she too was astonished by the place and took it in much in the same way as Hannah. It was almost a crime it had been empty for so long. The kids were unimpressed, as only kids can be. Until they spotted a boat on the river - now that was cool.

While the women wrote endless lists, Dave and George - helped, or rather hindered, by the smaller fry - got the living area set up, starting with a huge modern carpet, then a sofa group of soft black leather and then a number of low and high book shelves. A gigantic television and home cinema sound system went in next and when a game console was dragged out of a box, the kids took interest. Having the kids entertained, Dave and George moved on to the larger of the ordinary bedrooms, setting up two single beds, a dresser and a few other items. This was to be George's and Colin's bedroom when they were visiting. "You should have the one with the river view," Hannah protested when she discovered it.