Then Mark dropped the metaphorical bomb.
"D'you know, I reckon Mum knows more about this business than we thought she did."
I stared at him, puzzled. "What makes you say that?"
"Something she said to me at the airport, just before I left. And you know what she does when she doesn't want to say anything more - her face kinda shuts down, and she gets this offended look. She did that. You just know something's going on when she does that."
"Oh, yes," I agreed. "I know that little manoeuvre of hers very well. She used to do it to me when I asked her about Dad. Drove me crazy. Still does, actually, which is why I eventually stopped asking." I paused. "So what did she say?"
"She said she knows what Angus is and that he will look after us."
"What? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Something cryptic and important. You know, Sis, I've been thinking for a while now that something's not right with Mum. She's been hiding stuff from us our whole lives, and getting freaked out by nothing, and now she finds out you're getting married in a few days and she doesn't bat an eyelid. And her reaction when you were kidnapped was weird. I mean, she was upset, but she never questioned our half-baked explanations about you not wanting the police involved. It was almost like she expected it. And this business with Angus is freaky, no offense," he said.
"Surprisingly, none taken, " replied Angus dryly.
I said nothing, just waited for him to continue. I'd been feeling the same way about Mum for weeks now, but I had only very recently acknowledged my own unease about Mum and her secretive and slightly unbalanced ways, and I had felt massively guilty about it. Now that Mark was voicing his concerns and suspicions, my own seemed vindicated. Mark glanced over at me and I nodded back encouragingly.
"Seriously, Rebecca's first boyfriend ever, and Mum, who in the past freaked out when she even mentioned going out with friends, smiles and nods and lets her hang out here and even sleep here, while she suns herself in Barbados. I'm telling you, she knows that Angus is an iron metaboliser and she suspects that we are too, Bex. I'll bet that's why she's always kept us so isolated with her alleged panic attacks, and why she's now all calm and collected. She's always known that we would be different, and now that we've found Angus, she's quite happy to let him take over, because he's different too. And he's the same different as us."
I squinted a bit with the last sentence, but the rest seemed to make complete sense. Mum's behaviour had always been erratic in the past, but this was taking it to a whole new level. There had to be some rational explanation. And this one fit perfectly.