Chapter Twenty-Eight

Evie got out of bed and threw back the curtains. Flurries of snow drifted past the window and as the lights from the inn lit up the ground, it was obvious there had been more snow sometime during the night. After everything that happened yesterday, she had wanted an early night but that hadn’t worked out and when she finally fell into bed, despite being tired, she had hardly slept a wink.

That was partly because she was concerned about Raven, and had persuaded her niece to spend the night in the attic with her. They had chatted about everything except Severine – a topic Raven was clearly trying to avoid and it had been almost midnight when Raven had finally fallen asleep.

Evie had not heard from Juniper so had sent a text at midnight. She had not liked the reply. Despite Darren saying he would be home, he had texted to say he was running late. Juniper had a long bath, read a book and waited. He’d texted again to say he’d be home soon. At some stage Juniper had dozed off and hadn’t woken up until Evie sent her text.

Evie had phoned her and they’d chatted, but Juniper was growing ever more anxious and Evie didn’t know what to say. Should she tell her best friend what she’d seen? Or should she trust Darren for a little longer and hope he was telling the truth when he said it would be settled by Christmas?

The room was chilly and Raven shivered when she woke.

‘It’s freezing in here. But thanks for letting me stay the night. I didn’t want to be alone. I know that sounds wimpish.’

‘It doesn’t. I didn’t want to be alone either. It was lovely having you share my room.’ Evie threw on her dressing gown, grabbed Raven’s from the back of a chair and tossed it at her. ‘It’ll all be OK, Raven. I promise you. No matter what, Severine loves you and she’ll only want what’s best for you. I know she will. I know I’m mean about her sometimes, but I do love her too. We’ll sort something out. Trust me. And if you can’t trust me, trust Mum and Dad and Gran. They’re pretty formidable when they need to be.’

Raven smiled. ‘I know. I trust you and I trust them. And I’m not going to worry about any of this until the New Year. I know Mum loves me and when she comes home we can sit down and talk about it. I’m hungry. And it’s the TV show today. I’m really excited, aren’t you?’

‘Absolutely. Let’s get going.’

They showered, dressed and ran downstairs. Evie wasn’t surprised to find Zachary and Brandon in the kitchen and when Zachary popped back to his room to get something he’d forgotten, Evie sat next to Brandon.

‘You and Zachary seem very close. Have you known him for long, or just since the show began?’

Brandon smiled. ‘We’ve been friends for years.’

‘So you knew him before he became a big TV star?’ She sipped her coffee and tried to sound casual. ‘What was he like before?’

‘He was the same as he is now.’

‘He was in the SAS, wasn’t he?’

‘We both were.’

That was a surprise. ‘Oh. I didn’t realise that.’

‘No reason why you would.’

‘How long for?’

‘Me for ten years. Zach for eleven.’

‘And … did you leave at the same time?’

Brandon stiffened, slurped his tea and eyed Evie over the cup. ‘I left a few months later. I don’t know what you’ve heard, or think you know, but Zach did nothing wrong. In fact he did everything right.’

‘Oh, I’m sure he did. I haven’t heard anything – other than he resigned and then due to his heroism, he got the TV show.’

‘But you want to know more?’

She shrugged nonchalantly. ‘I suppose so. But not particularly. It doesn’t keep me up at night.’

‘That’s good. It doesn’t keep him up at night either. As I said, he did nothing wrong.’

‘I believe you.’ She smiled. ‘It’s obviously a sensitive subject. Sorry.’

Brandon smiled back a little warily. ‘It’s a classified subject. I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.’

Oh, that old line. He was joking, of course. Wasn’t he? Perhaps when the ex-SAS say it, they mean it.

She smiled more brightly. ‘We wouldn’t want that, would we? Let’s change the subject. What’s the plan for today?’

Brandon leant back in his chair. ‘To get through it without too much going wrong. It snowed overnight so we’ll have pristine conditions again today. We’re opening the show with a montage of shots from the inside and outside of here. The Christmas trees, the reception, having breakfast in the dining room. Then outside. The frontage, the trees, the bridge, the view of the bay and the village. Then we’ll cut to the live feed with Zach in Michaelmas Bay, meeting people in the town. We’ve got a couple of segments of him visiting the local school, followed by Santa’s Grotto with some of the kids. After that we’ll be live again, from the local Children’s Hospice, filming Father Christmas arriving and handing out some of the presents to the kids. We’ll do a piece about the importance of thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves and how even giving one pound to your local charity can make a difference because it all adds up.’ He took a large swig of tea.

‘It sounds really good. We’re so grateful to you all for including the inn in the show, but now I feel guilty. The Michaelmas Bay Hospice for Children is far more deserving than us, obviously. We’re not taking any filming time away from the hospice, are we? Because we’d all hate it if we were.’

Brandon shook his head. ‘No. As awful as this sounds, the show never focuses on just one place, however deserving it may be. Joshua has made a substantial donation, so much in fact that the hospice will be able to build and equip a new wing, have a specially fitted out playground and a swimming pool added, and care for even more kids than it does now. That’s what the show is all about. Making good things happen and dreams come true.’

‘Oh. That’s wonderful.’ Evie fiddled with her coffee mug, rubbing the red nose of the cartoon reindeer on the front of it.

‘It’s an anonymous donation,’ Brandon said, as if reading her mind. ‘No names are mentioned. Just the fact that Christmas is a time for giving, but also that donations are required throughout the year, not just at Christmas. Then we have a segment on a couple of local businesses, the tree in the centre of town with all the carollers around it, singing their hearts out. Then meeting a few more people and finally, back here, where we’re going to film a snowball fight – that we’d love all the residents of Snowflake Cove to be in. Then we have Zachary sitting in the lounge in an armchair by the fire, a mug of hot chocolate on a table at his side, with one of the Christmas trees in shot behind him.’

‘Hot chocolate? I assumed he’d be drinking something stronger, like whisky. Or wine at the very least.’

Brandon smiled. ‘It’s a family show. Zach signs off by saying he hopes the only fights people have this Christmas will be snowballs fights. Tells them not to forget those less fortunate than ourselves. Wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and then he bites into one of your gingerbread reindeers. We then have a scene where it looks as if we’re flying in Santa’s sleigh, from the outside of the inn, back to the hospice, accompanied by Christmas music and jingling sleigh bells. We’re hoping to have everyone from Snowflake Cove standing by the tree outside, all looking up and shouting, Merry Christmas. We then ‘fly’ over the bay and people wave from the marina and say the same, then over the town, where lots of people do the same, then to the hospice. We close with a montage of several of the kids meeting Santa and the joy on their faces, and their parents’ faces, as the kids open their presents.’ He grinned. ‘There. You don’t even have to watch the show now, do you? I just hope it all goes to plan with no major cock-ups.’

Evie smiled. ‘I’ll not only watch the show, I’ll record it.’

‘I hope you’re game for the snowball fight and the Merry Christmas slot. Even Felicia’s agreed to be in both.’

‘Really? I am surprised. You can definitely count me in.’