THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 74

Yemi arrived at seven.

I heard the gate bell from upstairs where I was changing my shirt for the third time. I had told myself I was not going to change my shirt. I had said it out loud to myself in the mirror like a man making a serious promise to himself and then I changed it anyway.

Twice.

I settled on a simple dark shirt. Not too formal. Not too casual. Just a shirt.

I heard Lily screaming downstairs the moment the gate opened.

I shook my head and went downstairs.

Yemi was in the hallway when I got there. She had changed from her work clothes. She was wearing a simple brown dress with a cream coloured cardigan over it and her hair was down the way she wore it at Fenwick Street. She was holding a small paper bag that she had brought with her.

Lily was already beside her talking at full speed.

Yemi was listening with her full attention and nodding at the right times and asking the right questions. She had this ability to make whoever was talking to her feel like they were the most interesting person in the room. I had noticed it many times.

She looked up when she heard my footsteps on the stairs.

Our eyes met.

She smiled.

Not the professional smile. The real one.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," I said.

Lily looked at me. Then at Yemi. Then back at me.

"You changed your shirt," she said.

I looked at her.

"I always wear this shirt," I said.

"No you do not," she said simply and went back to talking to Yemi.

I stood at the bottom of the stairs feeling warm in my face for no reason at all.

---

Dinner was ready by seven thirty.

Mrs Park had made the chicken stew exactly the way it was supposed to be made. Rich and thick with the kind of smell that fills a whole house and makes everyone feel like they have been hungry all day even if they had not been.

She had made extra rice and there was salad on the side and cold drinks and she had arranged everything on the table like it was a proper occasion even though it was just dinner on a Wednesday evening.

Lily sat in her usual seat with her rabbit on the chair beside her. She had insisted on getting the rabbit a small plate as well which Mrs Park had provided without question.

Henry was at the table again which made two evenings in a row which was unusual for him. He sat in his usual corner chair and looked at his food with the quiet satisfaction of a man who knew the meal was going to be good.

Yemi sat beside me.

The same spot Lily had drawn in the picture.

Nobody said anything about that.

But I caught Lily looking at the drawing she had left on the kitchen counter and then looking at the table and then looking at me with the smallest smile.

I said nothing.

I just passed her the rice.

Dinner was warm and easy in the way that only the best dinners are.

Nobody was performing. Nobody was trying too hard. It was just people at a table eating good food and talking about ordinary things.

Lily told Yemi about school. About Mia and the butterfly project and how Jasper had still not learned to share his pencils. She described the whole pencil situation in great detail as though it was an ongoing international crisis that required urgent resolution.

Yemi listened and said: have you tried bringing your own extra pencil so you never need his.

Lily looked at her.

She thought about this for a very long moment.

Then she said: that is the smartest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Henry looked up from his food briefly.

I looked at Yemi.

Yemi was trying not to look too pleased with herself.

Mrs Park brought more stew from the kitchen and put it in the middle of the table without being asked. She looked at the table. All of us sitting there. She had the expression she always had when something was exactly as it should be.

She went back to the kitchen.

"The stew is perfect Mrs Park," Yemi called after her.

"Thank you my dear," Mrs Park called back from the kitchen.

Lily looked at Yemi. "She only calls people my dear when she really likes them," she said seriously.

"Is that true?" Yemi asked.

"Yes," Lily said. "She has never called me my dear."

"She calls you sweetheart," I said.

Lily considered this. "That is better actually," she said.

Henry made the sound that was almost a laugh but held itself back just before it arrived.

After dinner Lily asked if we could all sit in the garden.

It was cold outside but she said she wanted to show Yemi the butterfly garlands at night. She had discovered recently that they looked different in the dark with the house lights catching them from behind and she had been wanting to show someone for days.

I looked at Yemi.

Yemi looked at me.

"Get your coat," I told Lily.

She was already running to get it.

We went outside together. Henry came as far as the garden door and then said he had some things to finish in the study which I suspected was his way of giving us space. Mrs Park brought out a tray with hot tea and then also disappeared back inside.

Lily stood in the middle of the garden pointing up at the garlands.

"Look," she said to Yemi. "See how the light comes through them from behind?"

Yemi looked up.

The butterfly garlands were moving slightly in the cold evening wind. The lights from the house windows were coming through from behind them and making them glow softly. Purple and gold catching the light.

"They are beautiful," Yemi said. And she meant it. Not the polite kind of meaning. The real kind.

"I made them," Lily said. "With Yemi." She paused. "I mean with you. We made them together."