Family Portrait (Kingsley Family Trilogy Book 1)

by Rebecca Paulinyi

  “Bye, Imogen.” She grinned, and said goodbye to him too, before leaving in the direction of Kingsley Mansion. She felt a little guilty – she didn’t want to leave, and although she’d left Abby for a whole night, she hadn’t really thought about her much. Grabbing her MP3 player from her bag, she decided to walk the long way, around all the houses, to get home, listening to some music whilst she did so. Then she could think about what she was going to do about what had happened the previous night – and if what she wanted to do (which was to repeat it over and over again!) was really a very sensible idea. He seemed like the type who could end up letting her down…

  What was she going to do? He’d said they’d talk, but she didn’t know what she wanted to say. She’d known him for how long now – two weeks? She wasn’t even sure, but it seemed she’d fallen fast and hard – but she was hardly going to tell him that. That looked weak; clingy.

  “Shit!” she shouted, as someone came up behind her, making her jump. A woman with a young child looked disapprovingly at her as she removed her earphones and turned round to see who her attacker was. It was him. Of course it was…how could she not have guessed?

  He was grinning, and although she considered being mad at him for a moment, for scaring her, she couldn’t help grinning too. He looked so cute; tousled hair, faded jeans, a black t-shirt and brown eyes she couldn’t help staring into.

  “What are you doing? Stalking me?” she asked, with a small smile, as she continued to walk home, pretending she didn’t care he was there. But oh god, she did care. Her heart - racing from the surprise of him behind her - was not slowing down any time soon, and when she looked at him all she could imagine was his lips like they had been on hers last night.

  “I said we’d talk today,” he said, and as he walked along side her, he slipped his hand into hers, making her stop with shock. She hadn’t expected it. Could this mean that the previous night wasn’t just a one-off? “Then you disappeared before we had a chance. What was all that back there? I don’t play games.”

  “Nor do I!” responded Imogen hotly, in her usual manner, facing him now, her eyes blazing slightly with anger. How dare he suggest she was playing games with him?

  He merely smiled in a way that would normally have infuriated Imogen, but instead seemed to calm her slightly.

  “I’m nearly home. “ She pointed in the direction of the Kingsleys’ home.

  “Well, we’ll have to walk around the block again then, won’t we. Unless you want me meeting the family already?” The ice broken, Imogen laughed and nodded.

  “Sure, you can meet them. I’m sure they’d been ecstatically happy about my choice of company. Perhaps for today we’ll just walk around the block again?”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” Neither saying anything, they walked on – still holding hands. It was an intimate gesture, to Imogen at least, and she worried whether or not she was reading too much into it. It felt natural, it felt right, and yet it also felt special and as though there was more to all this than just a one-time kiss. But maybe it wasn’t so intimate to Zach, maybe he was just a player – in which case she didn’t want to be disappointed. Or maybe she was just thinking about all this too much. When they were out of sight of both the Kingsley and Monroe dwellings, Zach stopped once more.

  Pulling her close, their lips met, and unusually for Imogen, she didn’t care if anyone was watching this rather public display of affection. This time, there was no-one to interrupt – until Imogen did. Breathlessly, she asked him a question that she thought she might end up regretting.

  “Are we…” What? Are we… she didn’t know how to finish it. Dating? The sentence seemed so stupid she wished she hadn’t started it – clingy and pathetic. Why couldn’t she just leave it at having fun, rather than having to make it something else, having to know where she stood?

  “Official?” supplied Zach, equally breathless. “If you want to be.”

  “Do you?”

  “Well, I guess everyone knowing I’m with the best looking girl in school wouldn’t damage my reputation too much…” He gave a cheeky grin, and Imogen smiled. She couldn’t help it – life with the Kingsleys was turning out to be better than she expected. How could she have predicted she was going to meet a cute guy within a few days – and that he would actually turn out to like her?! He kissed her gently again, before they walked on, in the direction of the Monroes’, still hand in hand.

  “Look,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve really enjoyed the last two weeks. And there’s definitely been something between us…”

  “I’ve enjoyed it too,” Imogen found herself saying. She hadn’t expected to admit it so easily, but it was true, and now it was out there. He grinned again, that boy-ish, cheeky grin that made her feel almost dizzy.

  “Well then, let’s give dating a try then. I can’t say I’m any expert…” Imogen smiled, but didn’t respond. She was hardly an expert at dating either – although she would have wagered he had ore experience with girls that she did with boys. But he wanted to date her – that was what mattered. And she found herself wanting to date him, despite the fact that she had never wanted to date anyone before.

  “How will your sister take it?” Imogen wondered, not wanting to lose the friendship she was building with Eve.

  “She’ll have to deal with it,” was Zach’s reply, before softening slightly. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. She had a word with me the other day, told me how obvious it was I liked you.” Imogen blushed.

  “She said something similar to me,” she replied, and as they reached the house, Zach gave her one, final, parting kiss.

  “I’ll see you in school then.”

  “See you then.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Immy!” called a voice which made Imogen smile, as she walked in the door of the Kingsleys’. Scooping the young girl up, she laughed.

  “Hello Abby…” she murmured, “Did you miss me?” Abby nodded, before jumping down and grabbing Imogen’s hand, trying to drag her over to where she and Dana had been playing.

  “One second sweetheart. I’m just going to put my stuff in our room first, all right?” The young girl didn’t argue, but went back to playing contentedly. As she watched them for a second, it hit her that there was an awful lot she would go through – including living with the Kingsleys – to keep Abby that happy. As she made her way up the stairs, the slightly tired looking figure of Ella was coming down, carrying a full washing basket.

  “Oh, hi! I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I only just got back,” Imogen informed her.

  “Oh right. Did you have a good time?”

  “Yes, thanks.” The speech wasn’t very forthcoming, but Ella hadn’t expected it to be easy with Imogen; she was older than anyone she’d ever fostered or adopted before.

  “Need anything washing?” she asked, indicating the basket.

  “Oh. Actually, yeah, this stuff’s all dirty.” She emptied the clothes from her overnight bag into the basket. “Thanks.”

  Imogen continued to her room, their short conversation over, and Ella continued to the washing machine. It seemed that the relationship between the two was not getting any easier…

  ***

  Ma famille. What a fun essay to complete, Imogen thought to herself, as she chewed on the end of her pen in an attempt to come up with some half-decent French to satisfy her French teacher enough that she wouldn’t end up with a detention. She hadn’t written much in the lesson, as she was a little too busy flirting, and now that it had been set for homework, it was the same boy on her mind who was distracting her.

  So lost was she in thought, she didn’t even notice Sara calling her from the hallway, and when she did, she didn’t even remember to answer in the tone of contempt she usually saved just for speaking to her.

  “Hello? Imogen? We’re going out for dinner. Do you want to come?”

  “Oh, what? Oh right, no thanks.” Imogen was too tired to go anywhere, and be
sides, she needed to finish this essay.

  “She’s not coming. Now can we get a move on?” called Sara. Abby ran into the room, arms outstretched and Imogen lifted her onto her lap.

  “Immy not come?” she said, a quizzical look on her innocent little face.

  “Did you want to go?” she asked, surprised – Abby didn’t usually want to do anything without checking if Imogen was going to be doing it too. Abby nodded solemnly.

  “That okay?” Imogen nodded, a little hurt, but what else could she say? Abby was happy – that was the main thing. With a kiss goodbye, the little girl disappeared with her ‘new best friend’ – Dana – and Imogen turned back to her essay as the chorus of goodbyes left the house. She looked at her watch; perhaps there would be something on the television that would be more interesting than homework. Either way, Imogen was pretty sure the sofa would be more comfortable than this chair, and so she made her way to the family’s large living room.

  Assuming she now had the house to herself, she jumped slightly when Ella walked in, wearing tracksuit bottoms and a comfortable hoody, and sat down with a tub of ice cream.

  “Want some?” she asked. “There’s another tub in the freezer.” Imogen considered making some form of sarcastic comment, but if it was only the two of them tonight, maybe it was best to stay on good terms.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, as she went to the freezer and grabbed a tub for herself, before sitting back down to eat it, the essay forgotten.

  “So, Ella,” she began, thinking that she could ask Ella the question that had come to her a few nights previously. “How did you manage to afford this place on a supply teacher’s wage then?” Ella could’ve been offended, but she merely laughed at Imogen’s direct question.

  “Well. This was my parent’s house, when they lived here for a bit – when I was younger. There was sort of a…falling out, between my parents and William.” Ella’s gaze flicked away from Imogen momentarily. “So, when they decided to move to Italy, they said I could have the house. They’re not too happy that I let William live here, but that’s my choice – they signed the house over to me.” She smoothed down the cover of Imogen’s French book, which had somehow already ended up very bent. “So really, to answer your question, I certainly couldn’t have afforded to buy a place here on my salary.”

  Imogen sat up a little straighter. “Falling out?” Was there a chance this family was actually interesting? Surely not. “What sort of falling out?”

  Ella debated whether or not to tell her. On one hand, they were talking now more than they had in the past couple of weeks put together, but did she want to let her into this stuff? She was family now – it didn’t really matter if she knew family secrets…right?

  “Sara’s mum, Amorette, wasn’t exactly the…type that our parents wanted William to marry.” It was clear from her tone of voice that she didn’t hold her parents in very high regard. “She didn’t have a lot of money, and her dad had been in prison. So, when William insisted he wanted to be with her, they cut him out of their lives, and their wills. Then, when Amorette got pregnant before they were married, they gave me the house – out of spite I think. They’ve never really spoken to him since.” She shrugged, as if in dismissal, but her eyes told a different story; they were not as relaxed as her body language.

  “But at least we get a home out of it!” She started on the ice cream again, and Imogen smirked. Getting pregnant out of wedlock? She could never have imagined the Kingsleys could be so adventurous. All right, it wasn’t that shocking, but it was more than she’d expected from her new ‘family’.

  “So, why aren’t you out for the family meal then?” she asked, before taking a large spoonful of the ice cream.

  “I’ve got work early tomorrow morning, and Daisy was up ill half of last night – I’m exhausted. You?”

  “Late night last night,” she answered, before deciding she and Ella had ‘bonded’ enough for that night, and going back to the essay. The rest of the evening passed in relative silence, but it wasn’t an awkward silence, unusually – it was quite a comfortable one. Ella watched television whilst Imogen tried to complete her homework, and if you’d have looked in the window then you’d have been forgiven for thinking that they were just a normal mother and daughter, on a normal school night.

  ***

  Having hurriedly finished the essay (in poor French and, to be honest, by lying about her family) Imogen was in bed by nine – and was annoyed that the rest of the Kingsley clan were not yet back. After all, her sister was only four – they should not have been keeping her up so late. The evening hadn’t been as bad as Imogen expected, but she was quite happy to turn in early and have some time to herself.

  She planned to perhaps read for a bit before going to sleep, but once she’d packed her bag for the following day at school and crawled into bed, she felt herself drifting asleep almost immediately. She didn’t try to fight it, and soon enough, the heavy breathing of the sleeping fifteen-year-old was all that could be heard.

  All, that is, until the Kingsleys returned. Not expecting anyone to be in bed, they didn’t worry about being quiet, but Imogen slept through it anyway, not hearing the commotion downstairs…

  “Is she all right?” Ella’s worried voice rang out, and the deep, calming voice of William could be heard trying to keep her from panicking.

  “Don’t worry. Millie called, they said it was fractured but-”

  “Fractured? You mean she’s broken it? Oh no…”

  “I’m tired!”

  “Me tired!”

  “No, don’t worry Ella, please. It’s a simple enough fracture, she told me that. Yes, Dana, Abigail, I know you are. Just a few minutes so I can explain all this to Aunty Ella please.”

  “What happened then? What exactly happened? I need to get to the hospital.”

  “Yes, okay, we’ll go now. It was just – Dana and she were talking, and Daisy didn’t see a step and tripped up – come on, I’ll fill you in on the way. Sara, are you all right to put the kids to bed?” William asked her, and she nodded.

  “I’ll be back sometime later-”

  “And Imogen’s in her room if you need her.”

  “You two go; I’ll be fine with them.” The two sleepy youngsters didn’t even listen to what was going on; as William and Ella left, Dana tugged sleepily on Sara’s hand and Abby sat on the floor and began to cry softly to herself with tiredness. Sara lifted her up, and sat both children on the sofa.

  “Me want Immy!”

  “Me want mummy!” The two children clearly weren’t happy at the situation, but Sara wasn’t too fazed – she’d been brought up helping out with little kids.

  “Right then. We’re gonna get ready quickly, and then off to bed, ok? So, let’s get ready as quick as we can.”

  Upstairs, Sara took them into her room to get them ready. “You two sit on the bed, all right, and I’ll go any get your pyjamas.

  Creeping into Imogen’s room, she was pleased to find that Imogen had left Abby’s pyjamas out on the bed, and was extremely pleased to find Imogen soundly asleep. She didn’t fancy any of Imogen’s sarcastic comments that evening. She returned back to the room with both sets of pyjamas to find both of the girls asleep on her bed, not caring that they were still wearing all their clothes and shoes. Sara sighed with a small smile; they did look sweet there.

  Whilst she did consider leaving them both there, she didn’t want to deal with Imogen the next morning when she found that Abby had not been returned to her room – honestly, sometimes Sara thought Imogen believed Abby to be a possession, rather than her little sister. Lifting the sleeping girl, she didn’t bother to put her pyjamas on, but made her way back into Imogen’s room and placed the little girl in her bed, covering her over and removing her shoes.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” came an angry voice, and Sara didn’t need to turn round to see who it came from.

  “I was just putting Abby-”

  “Abigail.”

&
nbsp; “-to bed. Daisy’s had to go to the hospital; she fractured her arm, so Dad asked me to put them to bed. But she fell asleep before I had a chance to put her pyjamas on.”

  “Fine. I’ll sort her out now, if you’d care to leave our room.” Sara couldn’t even be bothered to argue, and left without a word. She decided to leave Dana on her own bed – it was less hassle – and removed the little girl’s shoes, before taking her bed.

  It seemed to Sara like she would never be able to get on with Imogen; it had been three weeks now, and they’d barely exchanged a civil word. She was just so difficult!

  Abby didn’t awake and so Imogen left her in the bed where Sara had laid her, kissing her goodnight before crawling back into her own bed and sleeping soundly until her alarm blasted out the next morning – much to her annoyance.