The Family Tree (39 page)

‘Hello there, sweetheart,' said Kate, loving the pliable heaviness of the child. Emma blinked at her and then leant her head sleepily against
her grandmother's chest and put her thumb in her mouth.

Jacob and Caleb arrived back, carrying the belongings from the car which they piled haphazardly by the doorway.

‘Sustenance!' said Caleb succinctly, staring at the mud cake.

‘Just a minute.' Sam frowned as he opened a few drawers. ‘I'm sure we brought up some . . .
here
we go.'

‘Are we doing presents now too?' asked Shelley, sitting down next to Kate and drumming her fingernails against the table.

‘Yeah, the whole birthday thing.' Sam lit a match and held it to one of the candles. As it flamed, Jacob reached across and plucked it from the cake, holding it against other candles while his father used the match.

As her family started singing happy birthday, with a distinct lack of tunefulness, Kate gazed from one to the other, trying to control the smile that was spreading across her face. She still felt numb, but it was a delicious numbness that allowed through a filter of delight and deep appreciation. Halfway through the song, Emma took her thumb from her mouth and started to clap enthusiastically. Kate paused with her eyes on Sam, sitting on the other side of the table. The candle flames were now elongating upwards, casting his face in mottled light and shade. And she suddenly realised that this was as good as it gets. Which was just fine.

F
irst and foremost I would like to acknowledge my father, Maurice Vivian Evans (1927 – 1988), who was the inspiration behind the nucleus of this story, even though I wish it wasn't the case.

I would like to thank all the rest of the assorted relatives hanging around on my own rather misshapen family tree. Without you lot I would never have been able to write about families – warts and all!

And thanks also to my own little branch: Michael, Jaime and Caitlin. You guys are a never-ending source of weird and wonderful material. Keep it coming but maybe tone it down for a while – just to give me a break!

A big thank you to all the readers (from the website) who emailed to let me know their ideas on the title for this book. And thanks also to the friends and family who weighed in on the debate. We were really stuck for a while there, so your input was invaluable. Hope you all like it.

Thanks also to the real Angie (Storm) for lending me her name (guess who I merged you with?), and thanks to Mr Chris Egan from the titles office, who generously answered all my questions, and also to my agent Rick Raftos and his staff. Finally thanks once again, as always, to everyone at Pan Macmillan, especially Cate Paterson (whose patience is admirable, even when stretched!), Louise Bourke, Jane Novak and now also Julia Stiles (aka Edward Scissorhands), who was able to expertly trim away the dross and reveal the story beneath.