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Daisy stared around her at the dusty stone walls and the cru mortar ‘Does this place look much like anyone’s fantasies?’

‘Well, no,’ Oliver ad to a castle in France thing One of those once in a lifetiured that if they didn’t do it now, they never would?’

Daisy sighed, and sank down onto the bed, a cloud of dust rising around her ‘Perhaps Do you think my parents are okay with the twins down there?’

‘Isn’t the question more whether the twins are okay with your parents?’ Oliver abandoned his hunt for the sheets and sat beside her on the bed

‘Possibly’

‘Still, it is nice to have a few quiet moments alone, isn’t it?’ His arm crept around her shoulder ‘And with a four poster bed, to boot’

Daisy raised an eyebrow at hi what I think you’re suggesting’ That sort of thing was how they’d ended up with the twins in the first place None of their children could really be considered ‘planned’, but the tere definitely more accidental than most

Oliver’s arht’

‘We need to call Mrs Templeton, anyway,’ Daisy reminded him

Oliver collapsed back onto the bed with a groan, which quickly turned into a coughing fit as the dust overtook him

‘We need to make sure that Claude’s okay, and she’s our best shot’ Daisy waited for the coughing to subside, then handed him her phone ‘Go on’

‘Whyat the phone in her hand ‘Why can’t you do it?’

‘She likes you more’

‘She hates me I mow the lawn too loudly and don’t make pretty stripes when I do it’

‘She still likes you more than me Or any of the kids, for that matter’

‘You don’t know that,’ Oliver argued ‘You’ve never actually asked her outright which one of us she hates least’

‘I don’t have to,’ Daisy said darkly ‘She makes it very clear with her eyes’

‘Yeah, well, she still hates Claude the most’

That, unfortunately, was true Mrs Templeton had very little time for animals, Daisy had learnt over several encounters with the old battle-axe,poo on the pave

Never mind that Claude never ran anywhere if he could help it, or that Daisy paid Bella an extra two quid a week pocket money to pick up after him, or that he rarely barked Mrs Templeton was not to be reasoned with

But they were going to have to try

‘Fine,’ she said, snatching the phone back ‘I’ll do it’

Oliver looked relieved ‘I’ll hold your hand while you call, if you like For lared at him ‘Or I could check on the twins’

‘That sounds like a much better idea’

He was gone by the tih her contacts list on her battered old phone and found Mrs Tehbourhood Witch’ instead of her actual name

The phone rang for what seemed like forever before Mrs Templeton’s sharp voice came on the line

‘Hello? Do you realise it’s nearly nine o’clock at night? I do hope this is an eency’