Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

other about their
    dresses, jumping up and down on their chairs, insisting Kael say which dress was
    the prettiest.
    “Uncle Kael likes my dress best.”
    “No, he likes mine best.”
    “Don‟t they have an Off switch?” he asked, beginning to feel desperate.
    “‟Fraid not, old chap.” Freddie and Adam seemed able to ignore the noise and
    continue to eat without indigestion.
    “Do you like the quiche, Daddy? What about the chicken? Is that good?” Angel
    shouted over the noise. “I made it from a Foodwishes recipe on YouTube.”
    Desperate for the girls to shut up, Kael raised his voice above the din. “You
    both look nice. Now sit down!”
    The girls sank quietly into their seats and began to eat again, seemingly
    content.
    Adam watched them obey before saying, “We‟ll have to take you home with us,
    Kael. I can‟t get them to do that.”
    Kael looked at Angel. “Everything is very tasty and very beautiful.”
    The table was a polished oak frame with a beveled glass top, making it
    possible to see from where Kael sat how much food the girls had dropped on the
    floor. Beginning again to argue about their dresses, Amelia picked up her sippy cup
    and threw it at her sister. The top popped off, spilling the remaining juice on the
    table.
    “Oh my God.” Kael began to get up, grabbing his napkin to clean up the mess.
    Then he thought better of it. The napkins were very expensive damask.

    Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

    71

    “Daddy, it‟s okay. Calm down. It‟s a party, not a crime scene. We can clean up
    later.” Angel ran to the kitchen for a cloth while Kael knocked back a full glass of
    wine.
    For the remainder of the meal, the girls were relatively quiet except when they
    said confusing things. “Uncle Kael, my teacher likes you,” Zoe said.
    “I‟ve never met your teacher.”
    “I showed her the picture,” Zoe said. She had cream sauce from the pasta dish
    all over her face. Kael fought a constant inner battle just to keep from rounding the
    table to wipe it off.
    “What picture?” He looked at Freddie. “I told you at Christmas there were to
    be no pictures. Did you take one?”
    Freddie laughed. “You big eejit. She drew it in class.”
    The girls began screaming, “You big eejit,” over and over again. Kael gripped
    the arms of his chair until his knuckles turned white.
    When they finished eating, Angel began to clear the dishes. Zoe got down from
    her seat and pulled her plate off the table as Kael watched in horror. She was going
    to break it, and it was part of a set from Harrods. Each dinner plate cost £50. Angel
    must have seen the terror in his eyes and quickly took the plate from Zoe. “Girls, I
    need your help in the kitchen.” He shepherded them out of the dining room.
    With relief Kael watched them toddle off and grabbed the wine bottle to refill
    his glass. “How can you stand it?”
    Freddie and Adam burst out laughing. “I always knew you weren‟t the fatherly
    type,” Freddie said. “Even when we were kids, all I wanted was to be a dad and
    have a cozy home to rest my weary pegs at the end of the day. All you were ever
    interested in was sex and getting top marks and being the best player on all the
    sports teams.”
    “College Grange won the all-schools rugby trophy every year I was there,” Kael
    pointed out—then wondered if he sounded obnoxious. He was getting a bit drunk to
    combat the stress of having two children in the flat.
    “It was certainly down to you that we won those trophies,” Freddie admitted.
    “But you were nice,” Kael said quietly. “Everyone liked you. They hated me.”
    Freddie reached over to grab his hand and squeeze it. “They were just scared
    of you, mate. They didn‟t know you like I did.”
    Voices rose up from the kitchen, and all three men watched as Angel carried in
    a chocolate birthday cake on a glass cake plate with two candles blazing on top. The
    girls ran on either side of him, and all three sang “Happy Birthday to You.” Freddie
    and Adam joined in, their voices octaves deeper. When they got to the name part,
    Angel sang clearly in his high, sweet voice, “Happy birthday, dear Daddy,” the girls
    sang, “dear Uncle Kael,” and Freddie sang, “my old mate.”
    With the birthday cake glowing in front of him, Kael felt his eyes prick with
    emotion and said more gruffly than he intended, “I don‟t really eat cake.”

    72
    Fyn Alexander

    A split second of heavy silence followed. He met