18

Diana

3 August 1962, 10.15 p.m.

The longcase clock in the hallway chimed and Diana crept downstairs. She could hear music coming from the smoking room. No one was in the hallway. The small kitchen was in darkness and totally cleared. She checked the refrigerator and found the bowl of whipped cream. But she couldn’t dig into that without the evidence showing. That had happened before, and she’d been caught.

Back in the corridor, she raced upstairs then down the hall to the back stairway. She liked these stairs best. They had a lantern light above them, looking out to the sky. Right now, because of the lights on inside she couldn’t see the sky, but on many nights she and Daddy had stared up at the stars and sometimes the moon. He would tell her stories while sitting halfway between up and down. It was their special place, a place of magic.

She stopped briefly, wanting all the guests to go so she could have Daddy on her own, but it was his birthday weekend and he wanted his friends around. She sighed then continued downstairs to hide against the doorframe at the bottom. The record player was on and Frank Sinatra was singing about night and day. Mummy was dancing with Uncle Tom and she looked so beautiful. Her dress was all shimmery. When he spun her, her dress became like mermaid skin. Daddy put his drink down and cut in, taking Mummy in his arms. Uncle Tom laughed. He walked towards the door and she pressed herself against the wall.

Looking down at her, he whispered, ‘Hello, Diana.’ He put his finger to his lips and she smiled. He pointed to the big kitchen and she nodded, leading the way. He covered her dash down the hall. Once there, she peeked out. Uncle Tom was running his finger across the inside cover of his cigarette case. He looked up and winked at her. In the darkness, she found her way around the large table in the centre of the room to the larder. On the thick slate shelf were all the scones that Mrs Hoskine had made for tomorrow’s adventures. No one would notice just one missing. But she would eat it here so that her escape upstairs would be easier.

She broke the scone open, longing to layer it in homemade jam and clotted cream, but they were both in the other kitchen and it might not be Uncle Tom who caught her next. It could be Lady Fox, who scared her. No matter what Diana did or said, she frowned at her and turned away.

The scone finished, she took a glass and filled it. The water was cool and sweet, unlike Moscow water. Diana had got very sick when she’d tried it when Mummy hadn’t been looking. But apart from that, Diana liked Moscow. It was filled with palaces of gold. Mummy said they were churches but churches in England didn’t have gold domes. The palace, in her favourite bedtime story about the princess who was loved, had many gold domes. Daddy changed the number every time because he couldn’t remember, and it always made her laugh.