Red Phoenix

and pay you a visit.’
    ‘Sure, go right ahead, it’s not far.’ The smile in her voice was clearly audible. ‘Plenty of room. Bring the boss.’
    Good God, Mum and Dad had told her. I shook myself. Oh well, I was planning to ask her if it would be okay to bring them anyway. This was just my toe in the door for what I wanted.
    ‘I’d love to bring my boss, Jen,’ I said, trying to be as cheerful as possible. ‘Can I bring his daughter as well?’
    ‘Sure, the more the merrier.’
    ‘Well, how about his nephew and the driver too?’ I said, pushing it. ‘The driver will drive us down, and Mr Chen’s nephew is staying with us, so he’ll have to come too.’
    There was a short silence. ‘He has a driver?’ ‘He’s really nice, he’s American.’
    ‘Oh well, no trouble fitting five extra here, we have loads of room, our house is huge. How long will you stay for?’
    ‘Just for the day. We’re flying out tomorrow, so we need to be back here to pack.’
    ‘You can stay over if you like. We can take all of you. We have buckets of room.’
    ‘No thanks,’ I said firmly. ‘No need.’
    ‘Oh, okay then. When do you think you’ll be here?’
    ‘After lunch. Two-ish. We’ll stay a couple of hours, and then head back up here.’
    ‘Sounds good,’ she said, the smile still in her voice. ‘See you then. The kids can’t wait to meet you.’
    ‘I can’t wait to see them either.’
    I nodded to John. His eyes sparkled at me. He was enjoying this far too much.
    There was a tap on the door. Leo came in with Simone and Michael. He guided them and they sat at the table. Family meetings with all of us together weren’t common and they were both very serious. Dear, but they were adorable. From the look on John’s face he was thinking the same thing. We shared a smile. He gestured slightly to me and I nodded. I would take over.
    ‘Do you need me?’ he said quietly.
    ‘I think you’d better stay, we need to work on our story,’ I said. ‘You can help.’
    He shrugged. ‘Good idea.’
    Leo sat next to Simone and Michael without saying a word.
    ‘Simone, Michael, I have a sister here in England and we’re all going, as a family, to visit her today. After what happened a couple of days ago, we don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up right now. So we’ll all go together.’ I turned to Simone. ‘This is also a good chance for you, Simone,’ her eyes went wide, ‘to try out being…’ I searched for the right word. I didn’t want to use it, but it was the only one that would do the job, ‘…a normal person.’
    ‘I am a normal person, Emma,’ Simone protested, eyes still wide.
    ‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, but your dad is a Shen, and a Wind, and…’ I stopped there. I didn’t want to say it.
    ‘Say it,’ John said quietly.
    ‘No,’ I responded, just as quietly. Not in front of Michael. ‘Let it go.’ He didn’t move.
    ‘You’re half Shen, Simone,’ I said sadly. ‘What is perfectly ordinary for you is really weird for other kids. You already know that…’ I hesitated. ‘But now you’re going to look it right in the face, ‘cause you’re going to meet some ordinary kids.’
    ‘Can I make friends with them?’ Simone said softly.
    My heart ached for her.
    ‘If you don’t do anything really weird and freak them out,’ I said as gently as I could, ‘I’m sure they’ll be glad to be your friends.’
    ‘I’d like that,’ she said in a tiny voice.
    Michael glanced at her sharply. Then he looked down at the table and some of the emotion leaked out.
    Yes, that’s right, Michael, I thought at him. She doesn’t have a single friend her own age in the whole wide world.
    ‘We’re going to visit my big sister. Her name is Jennifer. You call her Mrs Black. Okay?’ Both of them nodded.
    John smiled. I wondered what was so funny, then I understood. My sister’s name was Mrs Black. I shrugged. ‘Hopefully one day there’ll be two Mrs Blacks in the same family.’
    John and Leo didn’t move but it was obvious what they were thinking.
    ‘Okay. Simone, she has two little boys. One of them is the same age as you, six, the other is smaller, four. Ihonestly don’t know what they’re like, but the little one is Andrew and the big one is Colin. Okay?’ Simone nodded.
    ‘This is the hard bit, Simone, listen carefully.’ She nodded again. ‘You want to hear something really weird? They’ve probably never heard of martial arts.’
    Leo moved to say something and