Anna stood transfixed in the hall, her mobile clamped to her ear while Grania poured out her story. After a difficult marriage, she’d divorced and married James and this was her first Christmas without her own children and with her stepdaughters.
Anna was aware that Freddie was frantic to open the rest of his presents.
‘Oh, Grania, I’m so sorry. Come, of course, tell me all then, but we’ve just got back from lunch in the castle and…’
‘In the castle?’ Grania’s voice rose in surprise. ‘I thought you’d be in a little bungalow or somewhere hidden away on the estate.’
‘No, we live in a flat in the castle itself, to the left of the courtyard when you come over the drawbridge, and we had lunch in the castle. Long story, will tell you when you get here.’ Anna felt rather exhausted and couldn’t explain everything just now. ‘So looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.’ She managed to end the call having briefly warned Grania about the flood, and joined Freddie in the living room. ‘That was Grania; she’s coming to stay tomorrow, just for a day or two. That will be fun, won’t it?’ she said, though thinking of it she wondered if she really did want her here. Much as she loved her, Grania could be quite bossy and Anna hoped she wouldn’t be tiresome and try to suss out a dad for Freddie.
They both sat on the floor under the Christmas tree and opened their presents. Freddie, to his delight, had a lot more Lego, and he’d made Anna a flowerpot out of clay at school; it was painted red and slightly lopsided and she loved it.
‘We’ll buy a plant when the shops open again; it will look wonderful,’ she kissed him and he giggled with delight.
After Freddie spent a little time playing with his presents, he was ready for bed and Anna was about to read to him when the doorbell went.
‘Who’s that?’ Freddie looked alarmed.
‘Could be someone who’s sleeping in the castle, forgotten their key or something,’ she said with more bravado than she felt. She opened the door cautiously and Felix dashed in.
‘Come out, Felix,’ Julius called. ‘So sorry, I was just passing and…’
‘Do come in, it’s so cold out there.’ Anna opened the door wider to let him in, wondering why he was here.
Freddie, in his pyjamas, came into the hall. ‘I’ve opened the rest of my presents and I’ve got lots of Lego and an electric car that I’m going to run outside tomorrow.’
‘Sounds wonderful, I’d love to see it,’ Julius said, staying on the doormat in his boots while Felix did the rounds hoping to find Philly and Sidney, taking no notice when Julius called him to heel. While Freddie was fetching his car, Julius said quietly, ‘I’ve dealt with it, but one of the people in the castle has drunk too much and was banging on the castle door trying to get in to his room. Mattie rang me in case he’d disturbed you, so I thought I’d just reassure you, he’s back in his box.’ He smiled and said gently, ‘I just wanted to make sure you’re both OK.’
She was touched by his concern and was about to thank him when Freddie appeared with his new car still in its packaging.
‘It’s from my uncle Robert, we don’t really know how to work it, it needs batteries and things,’ he said, lifting it up for Julius to see.
He took the box off him and peered inside. ‘I think I know how this works, I’ll come by tomorrow and we’ll put it together,’ he said, handing it back, much to Freddie’s excitement. ‘It’s too late and too dark now to do it outside.’ He called for Felix and turned to open the door. ‘I hope you both enjoyed today.’
‘Yes, thank you, we did, despite the flood and all, it was a lovely day.’
‘Goodnight then,’ He opened the door and went out into the night.
‘Does Julius live in the castle too?’ Freddie asked.
‘No, he just came to see Mattie and say goodnight to us,’ Anna said, feeling strangely light-headed. He was just checking she hadn’t been bothered by whoever this overindulged person was, she told herself firmly, just doing his job.
Anna settled Freddie in his bed and read him a story; he was very sleepy and once or twice she thought he was asleep and she stopped reading, but he opened his eyes again and told her to go on.
When she’d finished, she shut the book, made sure he was warmly tucked it and hugged him to her. ‘Have you enjoyed today?’ she asked him.
‘Mmm, I have, but I didn’t get a dad, s’pose I’ll have to wait until my birthday now,’ he said sleepily, tearing at her heart.