After that, they seemed to run out of things to say to each other. Kate muttered a perfunctory, ‘Love you,’ and said she had better hang up before her paintbrush hardened. He said he would ring her after the funeral and that he loved and missed her. He put the phone down.

The room felt oppressive. She had made it plain that she had been dreading him bringing his niece to England with him. And again, no ‘I love you, Bear.’ It was something she always said. The call had left him feeling sad, empty. Will stood up. Damn it! If Kate was enjoying herself, then so would he. He burst through the door to Matt’s room. ‘Okay, buddy, let’s ring Mitch and say we’ll take him up on that offer of seeing the sights, and we’ll have a bloody good dinner. I feel like a drink.’

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

Matt walked back into his room, shut the door and exhaled noisily. He loosened his tie, wrenched it off and threw himself down on the bed. He had no idea what time it was in England, but he didn’t care. He needed to talk to Liz.

‘Mattie! Is it all over? How did it go? Are you alright?’ Liz said.

‘Sweetheart, I’ve been to quite a few funerals in my life, but that was one of the most distressing and most beautiful I’ve ever attended. Simply hundreds of people came to say farewell to the pilot and his wife.’

‘And Will? How did he cope?’

‘Brilliantly, all things considered.’ Matt got up, went to the minibar and took out a small bottle of bourbon. ‘I think he held it together for Sophie’s sake, and it’ll probably hit him later.’

‘I can’t say I’m totally in agreement with young children going to funerals,’ said Liz softly. ‘It’s so traumatic for them.’

‘She was about as brave as a child could be.’ He took a swig of the bourbon. ‘It was pretty heart-wrenching, especially when she laid a rose on each casket.’

‘Glad I wasn’t there, Mattie. I’m sure I’d have cried my eyes out.’

‘A lot of people did. I guess it was all those uniforms that made it so powerful. And there was a military band and a choir to add to the charged atmosphere.’ He gave a little chuckle. ‘On the lighter side, the chaplain painted such a glorious picture of life in heaven that I quite expected the entire congregation to agree one massive suicide pact and all march off to the promised land!’

‘Stop it, Matt! That’s awful.’

He chuckled. ‘Enough of funerals. How did your visit to Holland House go?’