‘Would you care to start, Christina?’ he said.
‘We just thought we’d like to try our hands at a game of cards,’ said Christina thereby revealing which one she was to Peter.
‘Try a game of cards?’ he demanded. ‘You took over one hundred thousand dollars off that man.’
‘We were lucky,’ said Alexia.
‘Lucky? Lucky‽ Bloody hell, that’s some run of luck,’ Peter stormed. ‘You were counting cards…no, don’t deny it: you were counting cards!’
‘Well, Peter, that’s not against the law is it?’ put in Bobby. Peter glared at her, she was still wearing her disguise and it was so good that it still felt like he was talking to a stranger rather than the woman who shared his bed. He had to be very careful, he wanted to tell her to keep out of it but he could easily hurt her badly that way. Bobby was trying very hard to be part of his family.
‘It’s against the rules,’ he said. ‘It’s tantamount to stealing!’
‘No Peter, that’s not fair,’ said Bobby. ‘The odds in those casinos are so stacked against anybody winning that the girls had every right to use their brains to level the playing field.’
‘Well, whatever…you’re going to give Mr Martin all his money back and you can go around there tomorrow and apologise!’
‘We can’t,’ said Christina. ‘We’ve already given the money away.’
‘Who to?’
‘Oxfam,’ supplied Alexia.
‘Oxfam! Why?’
‘It’s our favourite charity,’ said Christina.
‘That’s not what I meant and you know it,’ said Peter. ‘Anyway, what about the money you won this afternoon?’
‘We had the casino pay it by cheque and we posted it to Oxfam before we came to…’ Alexia gave a shudder but Peter was too stressed to notice how she couldn’t say the name. ‘That man’s office,’ she finished lamely.
‘So you thought I might be there?’ he demanded. Their silence told him he was right. There was a long pause as Peter considered his options.
‘Well, tomorrow you can come with me to Oxfam, if there’s a local office and you can explain exactly how you came by that money and request its return.’
‘No,’ said Christina quietly.
‘What do you mean, no?’
‘She means no,’ said Alexia, the more submissive twin. She walked forward, reached up and kissed his cheek before he could stop her. ‘Dad, we’re sorry you got involved, really. We know how much you hate a scene but it’s something we had to do.’
‘You two young ladies will do as you’re damn well told,’ he stormed.
Christina held up her hand, ‘Just give me one minute,’ she said to him and Peter watched in bewilderment as she disappeared into his and Bobby’s bedroom. She came out a couple of seconds later and handed him one of his slippers.
‘What?’ he demanded.
‘If you feel you have to use your slipper on us then we will accept your punishment,’ said Alexia meeting his eyes. ‘But we are not going to return the money to that man.’
‘And we’re not going to apologise to him either,’ said Christina. She came and stood alongside her sister right in front of him.
Peter’s face was working furiously as he tried to get hold of the situation. Bobby made it worse. She stepped forward in between the two girls:
‘Absolutely,’ she said. ‘I’m quite ready to accept your punishment as well.’
‘Oh don’t be so ridiculous!’ said Peter crossly.
‘I’m not being ridiculous,’ she said. ‘I’m as much to blame as the girls are. More, I’m an adult. I went with them, I sat across from them and when they were confronted by the security guard I lied my head off to protect them…you slipper them you slipper me! It’s only fair.’
