Page 30 of The Last Casterglass
After a few more minutes the babies were whisked away for somebody else’s turn, and Seph breathed a silent sigh of relief even as her arms felt weirdly empty. Like Oliver, she had no experience with babies, no reference for them. She’d been ten when Althea’s youngest Tobias had been born, but as she’d rarely visited, Althea had hardly seen him, at least until the last year, when he’d been a far more reasonable twelve.
“I’m glad that’s over,” Oliver said under his breath. “I was afraid I was going to crush her. Which one did I have? Bea or Michaela?”
Seph shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea.”
He grinned at her again, and she gave a little laugh. “Guess I’m not very maternal.”
“And I’m not paternal, if that’s the thing. But we are young, after all.”
“Yes, I suppose.” Although Seph had never been able to visualise herself with a husband, children, the whole family thing. She’d never even tried, probably because her family had been so scattered, except now they weren’t.
She glanced again at Rose and Sam; her brother had his arm around her, and she was cradling one of the babies. Violet was holding the other, inspecting her quite closely.
“I think she has a widow’s peak, just like my father,” she declared triumphantly.
What would it feel like, Seph wondered with a sudden, fierce surge of longing, to be like Rose and Sam, or Althea and John, or Will and Olivia? They’d all found love in coming back to Casterglass; could she find it, even though she’d never left? Did she even want to?
Making a friend had been scary enough. Daring to try for more was downright petrifying. In truth, she wouldn’t even know where to begin.
And yet…
“I suppose I should get back to work,” Oliver told her, startling her out of her jumbled thoughts. Rose was going to put the babies down for a nap, and everyone else was drifting away, back to whatever they had been doing before the big arrival. “I’m working on marketing today,” he continued. “I’m trying to convince Althea to run a Groupon deal but she’s not sure about it.”
“A Groupon deal? For what?”
“Two-for-one on candlelit ghost tours, led by your mother. I think she’d be fantastic, and she knows all the legends.”
“That’s true.” Althea seemed discreetly determined to keep their slightly batty mother out of the way, but Seph saw how Violet could be an asset to the castle. “You should be thinking about things like this for Pembury,” she told Oliver. “Not just Casterglass.”
“Sadly, Pembury has no ghosts. But I might manufacture one. I’m sure I’ve heard some creaking in the attic on occasion, although itmightjust have been old plumbing.”
“A ghost could definitely add some attraction,” Seph agreed, smiling. “What would you name it?”
“Hmm.” Oliver put his hands on his hips as he cast his eyes to the ceiling. “Male or female, do you think?”
“Why not both?” she suggested. “A lovelorn couple, even. They broke each other’s hearts in life.”
“And now reside in the same attic?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Maybe they found happiness in the afterlife?”
“A happy couple residing in the attic.” He nodded slowly. “I like it. They could host tea parties.”
Seph laughed and with one last quick grin and a salute, Oliver headed to the office while Seph decided to go back to her workshop. Yet as she walked slowly through the courtyard in a misting drizzle, she found she didn’t want to work on yet another planter, or perhaps a cute sign for the garden or gift shop. The quaint but slightly kitschy stuff she’d been making so far had entertained her for a little while, but now she found herself longing for something more—in all sorts of ways.
She thought of how Oliver had told her how much he’d likedOut of the Wild, and how he thought she could exhibit artistic pieces, not just the run-of-the-mill useful stuff. She’d dismissed the notion almost immediately, because she didn’t think she was that talented, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to exhibit anything so personal. It would be like tearing off bits of her soul and scattering them like confetti.
And yet…was this another way to try? To be? Once more she took the dust sheet offOut of the Wildand studied it critically. It had been challenging, in an invigorating sort of way, to meld the rough wood with the smooth, the untreated with the carefully sculpted, so the whole thing looked natural yet designed. Judging by Oliver’s reaction, she had succeeded, and yet did she have any other inspiring ideas inside her?
She’d like to do something triumphant, Seph thought suddenly. Something victorious. Already an idea was forming in her mind, and she fumbled for a stub of pencil, a piece of paper, and began sketching, the lines bold and dark on the sheet.
“Seph?”
Seph jerked her head up to see her father, of all people, poking his head into her workshop. She didn’t think he’d been in here once since she’d started. Quickly she stuffed the paper in her pocket and threw the sheet over her sculpture.
“Dad?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Why should something be wrong?” he asked, smiling, although she thought he sounded slightly hurt. “I thought I’d visit you, to see how you were doing.” Which happened just about never.