CHAPTER THREE
Later, we all gather in the Brambleberry Manor drawing room for a game of Charades.
We’re all flopped out on the big, squashy sofas and chairs, stuffed full of festive food, as the light fades on the romantic snowy scene beyond the tall windows. Candles glow in little pots all around the room, casting a rosy glow on people’s faces – although that could have more to do with the pre-lunch champagne, the wine and the very more-ish chocolate liqueur we’ve just sampled with our mince pies.
The game is in full swing.
Mick is currently acting his heart out, trying to get his team to guess the well-known Christmas movie that I wrote down on my scrap of paper and put into the pot.
He’s had a go at looking grumpy, which of course makes everyone think of Scrooge. He runs his hands through his white hair in despair and straightens his quirky tartan waistcoat. A look of inspiration crosses his face and he reaches for Sylvia’s hand, pulls her to her feet and into the sort of hold that makes everyone whistle and suggest they get a room. Then he mimes the sign for ‘sounds like’.
‘I know what it is,’ says Jaz, who’s sitting next to me and is on my team.
‘Only because you saw me write it down.’
‘True.’
‘Last Tango in Paris!’ shouts Ellie, to which Mick patiently repeats the sign for ‘two words’.
‘Fifty Shades of Grey!’ yells Mum, as Mick slides his hands over Sylvia’s rear end then pulls her towards him, making her and everyone else snort with laughter.
There’s a chorus then of, ‘Two words! The first word is “The”.’
‘The Slippery Pond!’ shouts Maisie excitedly, bouncing up and down on the armchair she’s sharing with Summer, making the older girl lean to the side and roll her eyes to the ceiling.
Everyone laughs and Summer says, ‘Honestly, she’s obsessed with sliding on that frozen duck pond. I think you should just let her, Ellie, then she might stop going on about it.’
‘Can I, Lellie? Can I have a slide on the duck pond?’ pleads Maisie. ‘I promise I’ll be careful.’
Ellie shakes her head. ‘The ice might crack, my love. We don’t want you to hurt yourself.’
Maisie frowns, folding her arms in frustration. ‘I fell off the wash basin in the school toilets and I didn’t even cry even though I hurt myself!’
Zak hides his amusement with a stern look. ‘Maisie, what on earth were you doing climbing onto the wash basin?’
She gives a dramatic sigh. ‘I was only trying to see out of the window because Holly was hiding from the horriblest girl in our class and I didn’t want nasty Jessica to find her.’
Zak nods solemnly. ‘So you were looking after your best friend? Well, that was good.’
Ellie sighs. ‘Yes, but you still shouldn’t be climbing up on wash basins. Or sliding on frozen ponds.’
‘I’ll be okay, Lellie,’ Maisie assures her earnestly. ‘Daddy says you fuss too much because you love me like I love Goldie.’
Ellie laughs and turns to Zak, who’s next to her on the sofa. ‘Oh, does he, now?’
Zak grins. ‘It’s true. I’m not sure anyone could love a hamster quite as much as Maisie loves Goldie.’
Maisie shakes her head. ‘They couldn’t, Daddy.’
‘I can look after her, Ellie, and make sure the ice doesn’t crack,’ says Summer, sounding more mature than her ten years.
‘That’s so kind of you, Summer. Thank you.’ Ellie smiles at her. ‘But it’s probably best if you help Maisie make a snowman instead? Could you do that?’
Summer nods.
I glance at Jaz. She’s gazing with pride at Summer, the little girl who came into her life as a toddler and who couldn’t be more special to her if she were Jaz’s own daughter. Summer’s mum died when she was a baby and her dad, Grant, started a relationship with Jaz. But it all went to the wall because of Grant’s addiction problems. He’s now serving time for fraud, and Summer lives with her grandmother. But with the full blessing of Grant, she now spends most of the school holidays with Jaz.
‘A silly snowman’s not very exciting,’ mutters Maisie and everyone laughs.
Jaz, who’s curled up contentedly in the corner of the sofa next to me, groans and says, ‘I couldn’t find the energy to build a snowman if you paid me a thousand pounds.’ She pats her stomach with a frown. ‘‘Your mum certainly knows how to serve a proper Christmas feast. I won’t be able to eat for at least a week now.’
I grin at her. ‘There’s turkey with home-made pickles and relishes, and crispy potato wedges for the buffet later. And no guest is ever allowed to leave without sampling Mum’s festive boozy raspberry trifle and my special Madeira Christmas cake.’
Jaz yawns happily. ‘I guess I could be persuaded.’ She smiles slyly. ‘I couldn’t possibly offend your mum, could I?’
‘Definitely not. It’s your absolute duty to hoover up vast quantities. And you’ve never been the sort to shy away from a challenge.’
‘That’s for sure.’ She looks pointedly at Harry, who’s sprawled on the floor at her feet.
We look at each other and burst out laughing.
Harry definitely posed a challenge in the early days of their romance, clinging to his ‘single bloke’ ways and spending far more time at the pub with his mates than with Jaz. But it seems he’s slowly coming round to the idea of a grown-up relationship.
‘The Toy Boy,’ shouts Rob and everyone hoots and whistles, knowing that Sylvia, at seventy-four, has a thing about Mick being two years younger than her.
Smiling happily, I catch Rob’s eye, and my heart flutters. I still can’t believe that after all the heartache over my disastrous crush on bad boy Ethan Fox, I’m finally with a man who makes me want to smile all the time.
Rob is funny, thoughtful and caring – and he’s also tall, with dark blonde hair, a heart-stopping smile and deliciously hard muscles in all the right places. Just seeing him over there, lounging on the sofa recently vacated by Sylvia and Mick, makes me feel weak with longing. It’s so lovely, that stage in a relationship where you just can’t keep your hands off each other. I give a happy sigh. Hopefully that stage will never end for Rob and me.
‘No, wait a minute,’ Rob shouts. ‘You’re in a clinch, which sounds like Grinch. The Grinch!’
Everyone laughs and applauds, and Rob gets up for his turn, executing a few bows for the benefit of his admiring audience.
Dad catches my eye and winks, transmitting without words his deep pleasure that I’m with Rob and so happy. He must have despaired for me over the years. Just like the rest of my family and friends. I was Fen, the shy one. The loner, only interested in losing herself in a book. Now everyone can relax, including me.
‘Your dad looks well,’ says Jaz.
I nod. ‘Thank God. I can’t believe it was only ten days ago that he had his heart attack.’ I shiver at the memory of that horrible, bleak time when we honestly thought we were going to lose him.
A shaft of familiar anger pierces me. ‘I’d still like to know which bugger told Ethan’s ex, Alicia, that he was here with me at the Snow Ball that night. If they hadn’t made a point of telling her, which made her come hot-footing after Ethan, Dad might never have had his heart attack.’
Jaz sighs in sympathy. ‘I know it bugs you. But it’s pointless getting agitated about it. The main thing is your dad seems to be making a good recovery.’
I nod reluctantly, knowing she’s right. The trouble is I can’t seem to get the puzzle of who it was out of my head. If Alicia hadn’t turned up at the ball so unexpectedly, looking for Ethan, I wouldn’t have dashed off in a taxi to find out what was going on - and I’d have been there to help Dad move all the snow-machine equipment. That’s what he was doing when he had his heart attack.
I frown at Jaz. ‘I still feel so guilty that I wasn’t there for Dad when he needed me. Mum asked me to help him and I didn’t, I was so focused on Ethan and Alicia.’
At one point, I thought it might have been Ellie who spilled the beans to Alicia just to ruin my night. Ellie and I fell out in the lead up to Christmas and I hated us not speaking. But thankfully, we’re fine now and she’s assured me it wasn’t her.
‘Fen, your dad’s heart attack wasn’t your fault,’ says Jaz gently. She lays a hand on mine. ‘It’s probably best just to try and put it all behind you. It doesn’t matter who told Alicia to come here that night. You should just forget about it and move on.’ She smiles. ‘Let’s face it, your dad’s certainly moving on. For a man just out of hospital after a major op, he looks amazing.’
I squeeze her hand in return. ‘I know. You’re right.’
If only it would stop niggling at me.
Whatever Jaz says, I do blame myself for Dad’s heart attack.
And I also blame the mystery person who directed Alicia to the Snow Ball that night and set off such a devastating chain of events . . .
I have my suspicions. I’m almost certain now that it was Cressida, a member of Ethan’s amateur dramatics group. It turned out he was having a fling with Cressida, all the time he was supposedly getting closer to me. She’s just the sort of sly, scheming woman who’d totally get off on doing something so underhand and spiteful, sending Alicia to ruin my night with Ethan. But I’ll never be able to prove it. And even if I did, what could I do about it?
I give myself a little shake. Jaz is right. I just need to try and put it all behind me . . .
Rob, about to perform his charade, sends me a look of mock fear, and I smile and hold up both thumbs in support. With a happy sigh, I settle myself back among the cushions to watch Rob. I couldn’t have a better distraction to help me forget the past and move on with a new adventure!
It’s quite a thing, sharing the festivities with your girlfriend-of-one-day, surrounded by all her friends and family, but Rob is taking it all in his stride, charming everyone with his quiet humour and willingness to join in with everything.
I know it’s too early in the relationship to entitle me to feel proud of him. But I do. Every time our eyes meet, a little thrill of wonder at my luck in finding Rob zips through me. Christmas Eve will always be so special to me now. The day we got together . . .
When the game of Charades finishes, Mum announces the buffet, which is laid out in the kitchen. This is the cue for us all to start murmuring that we couldn’t possibly eat another thing after the fabulous lunch – but well, okay, there’s probably room for something very small.
As everyone starts moving from their seats to go and help themselves, Rob comes over and murmurs he’s got something to show me. Taking my hand, he leads me out into the hall.
‘Oh look, it’s snowing again!’ I stare out at the beautiful scene beyond the windows. It’s almost entirely black outside, but the big porch light is casting a lovely glow on the gravelled area beyond the front door, and catching the glint of gently falling snowflakes. ‘It’s like that scene in the Christmas Downton Abbey when Lady Mary and Matthew go outside and finally declare their love for each other!’
Immediately wishing I’d kept that schmaltzy nugget to myself, I blush awkwardly. But Rob just grins. He doesn’t seem to mind my tendency to live my life through the romance books I read and the chic flicks I soak up.
He tells me to wait here and he disappears, returning with our coats.
‘Where are we going?’ I ask in surprise.
‘Outside. Let’s do the whole Downton Abbey thing.’
I laugh, thinking he’s making fun of me. But he takes my hand and leads me firmly outside.
‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to propose,’ he says, looking a little sheepish, as if it’s just occurred to him that’s what I might think. ‘We probably need to be going out with each other a little longer than twenty-four hours for that! I just wanted to give you this.’
Snowflakes drift down around us as he pulls something out of his pocket and hands it to me. ‘Your Christmas present.’