Parts one, two, three and four for anyone who needs to catch up.

Jack nudged Philip sharply in the side, careful not to let Dinah see what he was doing, then made a show of scratching the side of his neck, trying to let the other boy know that there was a whiskered nose poking out the collar of his white shirt. 

Philip hastily dislodged the mouse from his collar, feeling its little paws scrabbling down his front as it looked for another comfortable spot, giving Dinah a winning smile as she looked at him suspiciously.

“Philip… you haven’t!” she hissed.

“Haven’t what?” he asked innocently.

“Mother told you that you weren’t to bring ANY pets with you today!”

“What makes you think,” began Philip. He was ready to remind her that sometimes Kiki just remembered old phrases and it absolutely didn’t mean that she had seen a mouse, when his new companion decided to betray him completely by darting out of his cuff to grab a large bread crumb off the table. As quickly as it had appeared it disappeared back in to eat its prize, but not before Dinah had seen it. “She didn’t say I couldn’t pick up any new ones today,” he called over his shoulder as he hurried from his seat, though he had spared a second to take his plate so he could refill it at the buffet.

Dinah glared at her brother and shuddered a little as she thought about the mouse that Philip must have picked up in the hall. What a beastly thing for him to do when he knew she didn’t like mice. 

“How tiresome,” she sighed, sitting back in her seat. “I suppose we shall have another mouse running about the house for the rest of the holiday.”

“At least it’s not a snake, or some sort of bug,” Lucy-Ann said in agreement. “But I don’t mind Philip’s mice friends. They are so sweet.”

“As long as Kiki doesn’t think that they are lunch,” Jack chuckled. He stroked Kiki where she rested on his shoulder.

“Keep that bird under control,” Bill said, appearing by the children and putting his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Are you lot having a good time? Enough to eat?”

“Philip has just gone up for another plate of food,” Jack said jovially. “It really is a marvellous spread, Bill.”

“Everything is scrumptious,” Lucy-Ann agreed. “I can’t wait for the cake! Aunt Allie is very proud of it!”

“I vote that we give Philip a slice of the top tier,” said Dinah with a suspiciously bright smile.

“Be nice,” Bill warned her with a laugh, knowing that the top tier was actually made of cardboard decorated to look like cake, rationing not allowing for more than one tier even for a wedding.

Jack looked quizzically at them. “What’s wrong with the top layer? Did Aunt Allie mess up the recipe or something? You were just saying how pleased she was with it.”

Bill and Dinah both laughed, entirely unsurprised that Jack was oblivious. It wasn’t bird-related, after all. “It’s not cake,” Bill explained.

Jack leaned back in his chair, forcing it onto two legs as he strained for a better look. “It looks like cake,” he said at last.

Philip returned with his second plate laden with food. “You’ll split your head open, Mannering,” he barked, imitating their form-master, and even going as far as using his free hand to shove the back of Jack’s chair as the master regularly did.

The front legs of Jack’s chair slammed back down on the floor, making the cups and saucers of the table rattle. A few people looked around to discover the cause of the disturbance, and one or two at the same table began mopping up spilt tea and coffee.

Bill gave Philip a stern look, one that was mirrored by Mrs Cunningham. He then winked at his new wife, a wink that said he had it all in hand, and she returned to her conversation with Aunt Polly.

“Yes, Dinah,” he said carefully. “Make sure that Philip does get a slice from the top.”

“I was wondering when we’d get cake,” Philip said obliviously, thinking that his new mouse would probably enjoy some too.

“I’d be surprised if even you had room for cake after those enormous platefuls,” said Dinah, while Lucy-Ann sat quietly, her head turning back and forth like a spectator at a tennis match.

There was no real malice in their teasing, and she knew that Dinah was just trying to needle Philip for breaking the no pets rule. She wouldn’t cause a scene by tattling on him, but she would try to get even in other ways.

Still, Lucy-Ann didn’t like any tension between them, especially on such a happy day as this. She had been overjoyed, when, a few years earlier, Aunt Allie had taken her and Jack in, giving them a warm, loving home and a mother figure. Now she was to have a father figure too, and she couldn’t be happier. Just the thought of them all living together as a family in the next school holidays was enough to make her beam. 

Bill caught sight of her smiling face and grinned back at her. He was greatly fond of all the children, but Lucy-Ann in particular.

“The top tier is nice and light,” he said airily to Dinah before he moved on to speak to Anatoly, Johns and his other work colleagues, pausing only long enough to give Lucy-Ann a gentle squeeze on her shoulder.

“We’ll go and get the cake, once it’s cut,” Dinah said sweetly. “They should be ready to do that soon.”

It wasn’t long before there came the light sound of a fork hitting a glass to attract everyone’s attention and distract Philip from his thoughts of a third plate of food.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Bill said in a carrying tone. “Allie and I are about to cut the cake.”

Several people got to their feet and moved for a better view. “Keeping the top later for the christening?” one of Bill’s work friends called out teasingly as Allie removed it and set it to one side. 

Bill sent his colleague a glare as Allie blushed, and then quickly smiled again as Jack had raised his camera to capture the cake-cutting.

Deciding it would be too difficult to cut the cardboard layer and have it look convincing, Dinah decided to bring the whole top tier to the table. She checked first that her mother didn’t intend to use it again, then grabbed the spare knife that had been laid out.

She took the false cake, which really did look rather convincing, even up close, and put it down on the table close to Philip. “Don’t even think about cutting yourself a slice,” she said. “You’d cut massive slabs and there would be none left!” She knew that a direct order like that would be far more effective than asking her brother to do something, and so began to gather up the used plates and cutlery from the table. “Does anyone want a cup of tea with the cake?” she asked as she headed off.

Lucy-Ann had already collected four slices of cake from Mrs Cunningham and was over by the tea urn. Dinah joined her and together they watched as Philip picked up the knife and attempted to cut the cake. They saw his confusion as the top bent in a little, but did not cut. 

Anatoly watched him try again and smothered a laugh. Johns reached out and, with one large hand, lifted the cake off the plate. “Hey,” Philip objected before Johns solemnly turned it upside down and put it back, showing off the hollow interior.

Everyone began to laugh. “Dinah! Where are you, you beast!” called Philip.

“I told you not to cut the cake,” Dinah reminded him, passing him a real piece of cake as a peace offering.  

“Well it’s not cake,” Philip said, his crossness tempered by the generous slice of real cake on his plate. 

“Look, Kiki’s even more confused than you were,” Lucy-Ann said, distracting from the disagreement. They all turned to watch the parrot who had fluttered off Jack’s shoulder to examine the hollow cardboard cake, eventually pushing it off the edge of the table in disgust.

“Naughty bird,” Jack said, tapping her on the beak before picking up the decorated piece of cardboard. Kiki rustled her wings. “Poor old Kiki, poor old Kiki.”

The rest of the reception went off without a hitch, and once all the guests had left Bill drove Allie home and Anatoly brought the children. Bill had already moved most of his belongings into Allie’s house, it was larger and they didn’t want to unnecessarily disrupt the children’s lives. All that was left was some larger pieces of furniture and the few things he had needed for the morning of the wedding. 

“Now children, I don’t want to hear any arguments this evening,” Aunt Allie warned as they tumbled indoors, Anatoly following more sedately behind. He was to stay over in order to drive the children to the train station in the morning to begin their journeys back to school. Luckily the boys’ and girls’ schools resumed on the same day this term. “Everything should already be packed and all that should be left out are your wash bags and uniforms for tomorrow.” 

They all nodded tiredly. Lucy-Ann stumbled a little as she moved towards the stairs but Anatoly caught her before she could fall over. She smiled and thanked him before heading upstairs with the others to bed.

“They are going to be hard to wake in the morning I bet,” Bill said with a shake of his head.

It wasn’t the traditional sort of wedding night, not with four children, one parrot, one mouse and one junior agent/surrogate nephew clattering around the house preparing for bed, but once the children, parrot and mouse safely off to school Bill and Allie would be off to France for their honeymoon.

Allie just hoped that Bill wouldn’t drag her into another adventure this time. Getting married had been adventure enough!

The end