I smiled, as I knew exactly what she meant. I had spent countless hours watching my daughters, nieces and nephews sleeping and still did. She stood and we moved to the kitchen to avoid waking them, because as peaceful as they were sleeping there were few things less peaceful than six children waking up demanding breakfast.

————–Andy———–

“So Tina can I get you something to eat? Although to be on the safe side I could tell you where everything is and you could make what you want or you could wait for Rach to get up. Last time I cooked I gave us food poisoning for a week.”

Tina opted for a coffee only and said she would wait for the others before breakfast. Our plan was to let everyone except Bette sleep until they woke, Bette had to get up to take James to the airport so would have to be up fairly soon.

Our plan was scuppered as I nearly jumped out of my seat at the pounding on the front door.

Andy got up to answer it before the noise woke the kids. She returned with Libby and Karen behind her. She handed out coffee to them and then we all sat and I could tell Andy was anxious as she waited to see what had bought them back so early.

It was Karen who spoke.

“Andy we never got around to explaining everything to you last night and I felt the need to tell you why I kept you in the dark so long about so much before we expected you to do anything that may just lead to more heartache.”

She paused and waited until a surprisingly calm looking Andy nodded her head for Karen to continue.

“When you left and asked me to keep an eye on Libby I was so proud that you would trust me in that way, and to be honest it wasn’t a chore after the first few months Libby and I became friends, we grew close and I made sure she had all she needed to get into NYU to study. It was all she ever wanted to do, as you know.