"I'll just give him a hint. You wait here. He always has his milk in the kitchen and I usually have tea with him. Good gracious, I forgot all about the tea."
"I'll make it. You run along and hint. If I don't see Rogie in a minute I'll be howling like that dog myself."
As she made the tea Anne's hands shook with excitement. It was all so strange, filled with a vibrant livingness it had never had before. In a few moments, she heard them coming along the hall, the tap of her father's canes, his shuffling step, Hilda's gleeful laugh, as they stopped just outside the kitchen door.
"No, I'm not joking, papa, we've got company to tea. I can't help it if you didn't hear them come. No, it's not Charlotte and I'm not going to tell you who it is."
"You can't fool me. When your eyes shine like that it's something good. Do you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see Annie come in most any day."
"Now—how—on earth—did you——"
James laughed. "We've been married more than thirty years and you never put one over on me yet."
He turned the knob and came shuffling into the kitchen. Hilda followed with Rogie. Anne had a passing flash of her father, thin and gray, but with a happy twinkle in his eyes; Hilda smiling behind him and Rogie clinging tightly to her neck, before her eyes filled with tears and they all blurred together.
Leaning unsteadily on one cane, James Mitchell put his arm round her.
"She tried to fool me, Annie, but I smelled the rat. I knew you'd get lonely and come running back when we didn't expect you."