We had a pleasant meal and quite a few giggles, even though Alexander thoroughly inspected his food several times for any signs of sabotage before he ate it and Oliver spilled his Coke all over the table twice.

“Damn the gravity!” He swore.

When we got home, the four of us sat in the dining room and played cards until Lucy couldn’t keep her head up. Refusing to go to bed, she followed Alex into the living room and sat down in front of the tele, staring at the screen with eyes I am not sure were actually seeing.

Oliver led me by the hand through the kitchen and out into the garden to look at the stars. That lasted about fifteen seconds. After an extended groping session on the bench in the back garden that was ended when his mother let the dog outside, I woke Lucy, who was now zonked on the sofa, and brought her upstairs where I tucked her into bed with me in the guest room.

We lie there whispering to each other in the darkness.

“I'm so glad you're here,” I told her honestly.

“Me, too. You know Oliver loves you?”

“Do you think so?” I could see her in the moonlight. Her face was turned toward me, but her eyes were closed and her mouth was slack.

“I know he does.”

“Go to sleep, Lucia,” I giggled and kissed her cheek.

I lie there awake for a long time after she took my advice, listening to the sounds of the house and wondering what it must have been like to have grown up there.

The next morning the four of us took the car to Brecon Beacons and spent the day wandering the trails. We had dinner in a lovely little pub in Llangynidr. We then journeyed South to Ebbw Vale to meet up with the twins’ cousin, Karenna, who had rang the boys the night before and invited us to a do her friends were having in the middle of an empty sheep pasture. “It’s going to be banging!” I could hear her voice over the phone, even though I was a chair away from Alex, who was speaking to her. “Everybody’s coming! I haven’t seen you two in forever! I can’t wait!”

I had never met Karenna before, although she had been mentioned from time to time with fondness by Ollie and his family. She was the same age as Oliver and Alex, the oldest child of Ana’s younger brother and she turned out to be one of the nicest people I had ever met. Short, light haired and sweet natured as she could be, she looked similar to Ana with her baby doll complexion and a lovely smile, although she was already a bit pissed by the time we go there.

“My God!” She exclaimed, looking me up and down, “You’re fucking gorgeous, Love! Look at you! You look like bloody Kate Winslet or something!” I didn’t look like Kate Winslet at all, but it was a good compliment, so I thanked her. “What are you doing with these two pieces of crap?” She demanded as she laughed and hugged Alexander, “I’m glad you’re with Oliver and not this one! Oliver’s bad enough, but this one’s awful!” She turned and drew Oliver into a deep embrace, but she turned her face to me, “No, really, they’re wonderful chaps, aren’t they? Both of them! My two favourite scuzzes…I mean cousins…”

I’d never seen so much liquor in one place. There were literally barrels of it lying about and tubs filled with ice and bottles of all sorts. People had driven their cars up into the grass and were sitting on bonnets and rooftops with their radios going, shouting and talking and laughing with each other. Loads of couples were getting off all over, writhing in the grass.

“Isn’t their sheep shit on the ground?” I asked Ollie as we walked hand in hand around to see who was attending.

Oliver laughed, “Drink enough alcohol and I don’t think you’d consider it.”

We made our way around the lot. It was astounding how many people Oliver and Alexander knew. A lot of them were former Bennington students or rugby opponents from different schools. We were hailed to chat several times. I was surprised to see so many of our classmates there as well, including Josh McGuigan, who was drunk off his arse. He ran up and threw his arms around Alexander, “No bangers on you tonight, Buttie?” His heart was obviously overflowing with intoxicated infection. He turned to Oliver, “And buttie! Which one of you is which? Do I care? Not really!” He let go, shoving him by the head, “Aren’t you going to have a drink, Mate?”

“I’m Oliver and no,” Ollie shook his head, “I’m driving.”

“Good man then!” Josh grinned, drooling slightly, “Well, what about you, Alexander?”

“Nope,” Alex had his hand on my sister’s shoulder, “I’ve got to keep an eye on my girl.”

The smile that spread across Lucy’s face could have lit the night ablaze. Oh, no! I remember thinking, Lucy really has fallen in love with Alexander! Oh, the thought was terrifying. I thanked God she was only eleven years old. Four more years and Alex might have had her pinned down in the back seat of the car. The thought gave me shivers.

We sat for quite a while with Joshua and some mates from school, Connor and Malcolm McCrary. They were brothers who had relocated from Ireland, not twins, but born on the same day a year apart. They were nice boys and I was glad that they were there because Peggy McGhee was as well. She sat in the bed of someone’s truck with Amber Monahan and Serena McLaughlin, staring me down as much as they could without giving themselves away as bitches in front of the boys. I stared right back, not a bit afraid of giving myself away as a bitch to anyone.

“You could take any one of them,” Malcolm whispered to me at one point with a half-cocked grin. He seemed to be the only one who noticed the non-verbal showdown.

“Thank you,” I returned the smile.

He saluted me with his bottle and shrugged another grin.

“Sil,” Lucy came trotting up to me after a couple of hours. She’d been off with Alexander in a different clutch, “I have to pee so bad! Can you take me?”

Having a pee where we were at meant walking away from the crowd out into the darkness and then squatting in the field. I had to go myself and took her, thankful that I always wore skirts. Lucy, on the other hand, had to strip off her shoes, socks and jeans. The process took a while.

I had never known before I returned that I was the jealous sort, but as Lucy and I re-entered the party, I stopped dead in my tracks. Serena, Amber and Peggy had circled Oliver like three vultures. I had an impulse to go running up and club them over the backs of their heads, but I didn’t. Instead, I hung back and watched.

Oliver was still sitting where I had left him. He laughed at something Joshua said and shook his head in response. It appeared that the McCrary brothers had found another place to go, as they were absent. Amber was sitting on the ground where Con had been and Serena was on her knees beside her. Peggy was off to the side, staring at Oliver like a disregarded puppy stares at someone who is teasing it with a scrap of meat.

Amber said something else and Oliver laughed again, but looked away from her. He glanced at Serena as she spoke. I couldn't hear what she said, but I heard him reply, “No, I don’t think Sil’d want to go.”

I began walking toward them slowly, listening carefully as I went.

“Well, who said Silvia was invited?” Amber asked.

“So rude!” Joshua cooed.

Oliver raised his eyebrows, “Really?” He climbed to his feet, peering down at her, “Well, who says I would go even if she were?”

“Oh, come on, Ollie!” Serena moaned, “You used to be so much fun!”

“No, I wasn’t,” He told her, speaking very slowly the way the Welsh are known to do,

“Alexander was fun. If you check the record you’ll see I’ve never been any fun at all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I see my Sil.”

“Come on, Oliver!” Amber ran her hand down his leg as he passed. I wanted to bad to run up and kick her, especially when she turned and saw me. She actually had the nerve to smile.

Ollie was oblivious to everything. For as bright as he was, he was certainly stupid when it came to the games girls play. He just pushed past them as if nothing were happening and walked over to me. Boy, did they give me three dirty looks, moving together like a solid brick wall of bitches. The urge to beat them up didn't pass, but I did them one worse instead. I embraced Oliver and kissed him deeply while I held my middle finger up at them over his shoulder.