Donald and Caroline's car pulled up outside. The weeks between Amy's visit in the summer, and the start of her term at uni, had gone more quickly than I'd expected.
Amy was first out of the car and up the path. "Hi, Aunty Pam," she said, "Hi, Tim." She gave Pam a hug first, then squeezed me till I thought my ribs would crack.
"She's been talking about nothing else since she got her results," said Caroline, walking up the path with a large rucksack. "Going to uni, staying with her aunt and uncle, getting to see where Tim works."
"I'm sure she'll miss us when the excitement's worn off a little," said Donald. He put down a heavy-looking suitcase on the path; I tried the handle.
"Goodness, Amy, what have you got in here?" I teased. "If you want some bricks to make bookshelves, I've got some in the garage – you didn't need to bring your own." She stuck her tongue out at me and I pretended to be shocked. "Now see here, young lady." She feigned a chastened look, and I remembered all over again why I loved this young woman.
Donald and Caroline made their farewells, hugging their daughter. "Call us when you get back from registration day," said Caroline, as they drove off.
Amy waved at them as the car disappeared down the road, then turned back to us. "Here's your house key," said Pam. Amy took the offered keyring and said, "Thanks, Aunty Pam. I promise I'll take care of it."
"I have a key for you too," I said. I looked across at Pam and she smiled. Amy took the key, puzzled.
"Look in the garage," I said.
Amy went round the corner of the house and lifted the garage door, then squealed with delight at what she saw. She raced back round and stood on tiptoe to kiss me right on the lips. My look of dazed confusion wasn't in the least feigned; I looked over at Pam, but she just raised her eyebrows, as if to say, 'What can you expect? She's young.'
"A Mini! Uncle Tim! They're my favourite – thank you so much."
"Well, you have to get to and from the campus somehow," I said. "At least this way we know you're not going to be hassled by some stranger on the bus, or get lifts from older students with less than honourable intentions."
"Come on in," said Pam. "Tim will take your things up to your room and we'll leave you alone to settle in."
I hauled Amy's luggage up to her room, and stood there getting my breath back. Amy came up the stairs and into the room, standing out of sight of the landing. I put my arms around her and squeezed, feeling all of my affection for her come flooding up out of my heart.
"Mmm," she said, "that's good, but don't forget we have to be careful."
"I haven't forgotten," I said, "I just needed to hold you for a moment."
She buried her head in my shoulder for a few seconds, then released me.
"Later," I said. She nodded.
I went back down the stairs to the kitchen. Pam was making dinner. She said, "Do you think Amy will want to eat with us every night?"
"She's a thoughtful girl – I'm sure she'll let us know when she won't be coming home for dinner any evening. Let's talk about it while we eat."
Amy came down the stairs. "I've got most of it sorted out," she said. "Mmm, that smells good."
"Come and sit down, dinner's ready," said Pam. We went into the dining room, and Pam served.
"We should probably talk a bit about how things are going to work," I said. Amy nodded.
"You can come and go as you please," I said. "But we'll assume you're coming in for dinner unless you call us to say otherwise. There's no curfew, and we won't wait up for you to come home, though if you plan to stay out late – or all night – we'd prefer it if you mentioned it beforehand."
Pam chipped in, "It'd be nice to have some help with washing up, and you can cook if you like, but I won't expect you to do any other housework, or food shopping, or your laundry – I'm used to sorting clothes. We don't mind you bringing people back, and you can use any room, including your bedroom –" at this Amy's face went pink – "but I think we'd prefer you didn't have anyone to stay overnight – that can wait until you get a flat on campus next year or the year after, if you want to. Of course you can stay with us the whole three years if you like."
"Does that sound OK?" I said.
Amy grinned. "More than OK – you two are the best! Now, where do I sign up to do these dishes?" She practically skipped into the kitchen.
"I think this will be OK," said Pam. I nodded.
We all sat in the living room and talked for a while longer, then Amy said, "Well, it's registration day and freshers' fair tomorrow, big day. I'd better get some sleep." And she went upstairs and closed the door.
I yawned. "Time for us all to be asleep, I think."
Pam nodded, and we climbed the stairs, got ready for bed, and were quickly asleep.
I woke the next morning, and for a moment couldn't place the reason for the rush of happiness I felt. Then I remembered. I went down the stairs and found that I was last up, and that Amy and Pam were already sitting at the breakfast table.
"My two favourite girls," I said, kissing Pam on the lips then tousling Amy's hair with my hand. She pretended to look annoyed.
"What? You were going to do something with it before you went out anyway, weren't you?"
She stuck out her tongue again, and I reflected that there were benefits to teasing her.
"Anyway, I have to go to work," I said, gulping down half a cup of coffee rather too hot.
Pam leaned over for another kiss, and I patted Amy's shoulder.
"Good luck with registration day," I said. "Don't join too many societies at the freshers' fair." And I headed for my car, looking forward to hearing Amy's eager recounting of the day's events over dinner.
The next few days seemed to race by; Amy started on all her classes, and spent a lot of time at the study desk we'd set up for her at one end of the dining room, chewing on the end of a pen and absent-mindedly tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. I had long days at work, and Pam took on the extra effort of having a third person in the house. Amy helped as much as she could, but I knew Pam had deliberately held off asking her to do more so that Amy could spend her time studying. All in all, the household worked, though I did begin to wonder when Amy and I would get to spend time alone, and enjoy more than our occasional snatched kisses and caresses in moments when Pam was elsewhere.
Then almost at the end of Amy's first term, Pam said, "I have to go on a training course, and it means staying away, just one night next week."
"Ok," I said. "I think we can manage to cope for one night without you."
Amy chipped in, "I'll cook something for Uncle Tim." I thought back to last Christmas when Amy had cooked a meal for me; the scent of the perfume I'd bought her, mingled with the herbs she had used in her cooking, came sharply into my memory.
The next day I went into work and booked the two days off either side of Pam's trip. The night before she left, when Pam and I went to bed, she said, "D'you want to make love tonight? I'll miss you."
"You bet," I said, and did my best to give my wife an evening she would remember with pleasure when she lay alone in her hotel room the next night.
In the morning, Amy and I saw Pam off for her trip, then went back into the house. I'd expected Amy to grab me the moment the door closed behind me, but instead she put her arms around me gently, even tenderly.
"I know we've waited a while for this," she said, "but I want to enjoy the time we have, not eat you all up at once as though I was starving."
Again I couldn't help but be surprised at the maturity of the young woman before me. "So how would you like to start?" I said.
