A:Lots.
Lacey, who had up to now kept Randal warm by frequent phone calls, suddenly fell silent on the day she was supposed to travel to Godsend to spend Christmas with us.
When she didn’t arrive by evening, he started to get worried and phoned her flat.
‘There’s only her housekeeper there,’ he reported, coming back with a face like thunder. ‘But she left a message for me: “Tell Randal if he calls that I’m not coming for Christmas after all.”’
‘Short and to the point,’ I said, and he gave me a glare.
‘Could she have been called to her parents’ house?’ suggested Mercy. ‘Perhaps one of them is ill?’
‘I thought of that and rang them, but they didn’t seem concerned – they said she was so impulsive she’d probably decided to go and stay with some of her friends, instead.’
‘I suppose she might,’ I said. ‘It certainly sounds as if she suddenly changed her mind about coming here.’
‘It seems I’m never going to meet this mysterious Lacey,’ Liz complained.
‘You’re not missing anything,’ Silas told her.
Randal looked exasperated. ‘It was her idea to come for Christmas in the first place, so I don’t know what she’s playing at! And what am I supposed to think of that message?’
‘There might be a good reason she dashed off like that, Randal. I’m sure she’ll let us know where she is tomorrow and explain everything,’ Mercy said gently.
‘She’d better,’ he said.
But there was no explanation – no more messages at all. Randal was both angry and concerned, until her parents passed on the news that they’d had a brief text from her saying she was having a lovely time, though she didn’t say where. After that, Randal was just angry.
We’d long since stopped expecting Lacey to call and explain herself when the phone rang after dinner one evening. We all looked at each other and then Randal got up and went into the library, grim-faced.
But to my surprise he came back and said the call was for me. It was Emma, sounding so distressed it took me a few moments to get the gist of what she was saying.
‘Des got back this morning and we argued about living in Qatar. He insisted we were going and that he even hoped we might make our home out there, in which case we’d send Marco back to boarding school when he’d turned eight. I said: over my dead body!’
‘And then you said he actually hit you?’
‘Not right then: it was later, after my neighbour’s son dropped in to see if my kitchen tap was all right. The washer went yesterday and I hadn’t got one, so I popped next door to see if he could fix it. He’s an apprentice plumber.’
‘Don’t tell me Des was jealous of him?’
‘Oh yes, and he’s only about twenty; I’m almost old enough to be his mother! You wouldn’t believe the things he accused me of and then … well, he lost his rag totally and backhanded me and I went flying. His signet ring’s caught my face, too. I look a bit of a mess.’
‘Where is he now – and more importantly, where are you and Marco?’
‘We got away in my car. By sheer good luck, his mother’s nursing home called just after he’d hit me, because she has pneumonia and he needed to get over there fast. It’s the kindest thing she’s ever done for me,’ she added. ‘He locked me in and took the keys and my car keys, too. Only of course, I have spares and keep a back door key in the dresser drawer, so I could get out.’
‘Where are you now, then?’
‘Parked in Sticklepond, near the church. I woke Marco up and we just tossed a few things into bags and left. He’s got his headphones on at the moment, listening to a book … but I’m sure he heard what was going on earlier. I don’t know what to do and the rain’s torrential,’ she added desperately.
‘You’d better come straight here and we’ll think what to do next. But you’ll need to be careful, because Job says there’s flooding on the bottom road.’
‘Won’t Mercy won’t mind us just turning up at this time of night?’
‘I’m positive she won’t, and I’ll go and tell her now. Drive carefully.’
Randal had vanished when I went back to the drawing room, probably in a huff that it hadn’t been a call from Lacey.
‘Poor thing!’ said Mercy when I told the others about Emma and Marco’s imminent arrival and the reason for it. ‘Of course they must come and stay here and for as long as they want to.’
‘She was already in Sticklepond when she rang, so she should be here very soon,’ I said. ‘Twenty minutes, at most.’
‘Then, Liz, do go and stand by the front door and look out for the headlights turning in by the garages.’
‘If I put on my mac and take the big golf umbrella, I could help them in with their things?’ she suggested, calm as always. ‘If they had time to pack, that is.’
‘I’m not sure what they’ve got. I don’t think Emma lingered long enough to pack properly.’
‘The Blue Room is always made up for unexpected visitors, dear,’ Mercy said to me. ‘Perhaps they could share that just for tonight and Marco might like to move into the adjoining small room tomorrow.’
‘That would be wonderful, thank you,’ I said gratefully.
I gave Emma a hug when she arrived – I’d never seen her look quite so distraught and poor Marco was the quietest I’d ever known him. Their luggage seemed to be Emma’s handbag, a backpack stuffed with soft toys and several bulging bin sacks.
‘I’m so glad you’ve come, my dears,’ Mercy said welcomingly. ‘I’ll let Liz and Tabby show you to your room and by the time you come down again I’ll have hot soup ready to warm you both up.’
‘I can stay tonight?’ Emma said hopefully.
‘Of course: you’re very welcome to stay for as long as you want to,’ Mercy assured her. ‘Isn’t she, Silas?’
‘What?’ he muttered, waking up with a start, then opened his eyes wide and said, ‘All these people coming and going lately – the place was a haven of peace and now it’s turned into bedlam.’
‘I thought you were dead,’ Marco said, sounding relieved. ‘You looked dead and I couldn’t see you breathing. That’s a pretty good sign.’
Silas said, ‘Well as you see, I’m not. Are you both coming to stay for Christmas? I’d sooner have you than that brass-haired hussy of Randal’s.’
‘I suspect that might be ex-brass-haired hussy of Randal’s,’ I said, or at least, I hoped it was.
When I took them up to the Blue Room, Emma said, ‘It’s so kind of Mrs Marwood to let us stay here tonight. I wasn’t thinking straight when I phoned you. Really, I suppose we should have found a women’s refuge or something … but I didn’t want to involve the police … and who’d have thought it would have come to this?’
She sobbed and Marco looked worried. ‘Don’t cry, Mummy. I like it here. Am I going to sleep in that big bed?’
‘We both are,’ she said, blinking back tears. ‘Just for tonight, at least.’
‘For as long as you want. Mercy invites all kinds of random strangers to stay here, so she’d be perfectly happy to have you stay over Christmas. And Randal’s fiancée isn’t coming after all, so there’s loads of room.’
‘I’ll take Marco downstairs now,’ Liz suggested, dumping the bags by the door, ‘and you can come down when you’re ready. Come on, Marco.’
When they’d gone, Emma said, ‘Goodness knows what I’ve got in those bags. I told Marco to pack his favourite things while I went round the house with the bin bags tossing in clothes and shoes and stuff. I knew it would take Des twenty minutes just to get to the nursing home, so even if it was a false alarm and he turned back again, we’d have a good hour to pack and get away, but I wasn’t thinking straight.’
She went over and looked in one of the bags. ‘I seem to have swept half the contents of the bathroom into here, but at least my make-up’s in there, too.’
‘All is not lost, then,’ I said, and she gave a weak smile.
I stowe
d away what there was in the wardrobe and drawers while she brushed her hair, dried her eyes and sponged off the small cut on her cheek.
‘Come on. You’ll feel better after a drink and some hot soup,’ I said.
Marco was already drinking his from a china beaker, watched by Pye and Pugsie, who seemed in favour of the new arrivals.
Randal had reappeared and clearly had been updated on the situation, because he said hello when Emma came down, but barely glanced at her bruised and cut cheek.
‘I hope you don’t mind our being here,’ she said to him timidly.
‘Oh, it’s always been open house at Mote Farm,’ he said. ‘Goodness knows who else Mercy’s invited for Christmas and forgotten about.’
‘Only Ceddie. And your friend Charlie.’
‘What? Charlie’s coming?’ he said, looking astonished.
‘Didn’t I mention it? It was when he rang a week or so ago to talk to you and while we were waiting for you to come in, we had a little chat. His parents are in New Zealand visiting his sister and he was going to stay in his flat alone, so of course I insisted he come here.’
‘Well, let’s hope he brings a canoe, unless this rain stops,’ Randal said. ‘The ground’s soaked up as much as it can take.’
Marco was bathed and put to bed with his soft toys around him, and Emma, exhausted by tension and trauma, soon followed.
‘Mercy’s so kind, but I can’t stay here imposing on her for ever,’ she said as I made sure she had everything she needed. ‘I suppose I should have rung the police really and had him arrested for assault, but I just wanted to snatch Marco up and run.’
‘Let’s worry about it tomorrow, because things always seem better in daylight,’ I suggested.
When I went downstairs, Mercy and Silas had gone to bed and Randal was locking up.
‘I’ve put everything in the dishwasher,’ he said. ‘And don’t look so worried,’ he added, ‘your friend and her little boy are safe here and welcome to stay as long as they want to.’ Then he smiled, said goodnight and went upstairs.
I don’t know why that little bit of kindness should bring tears to my eyes, but it did.
And it was a very watery night, because when I was tucked up in bed, the hissing waterfall roar of the seemingly endless rain carried on into my dreams.
Chapter 54: Box of Delights
Q:Why don’t ducks tell jokes when they’re flying?
A:Because they’d quack up!
All that emotion must have worn Emma out, because she and Marco had only just come down when Randal, Liz and I were leaving for the mill. At least it had finally stopped raining.
Emma looked much better and Marco had certainly got his bounce back.
It was going to be another busy day, but Mercy said she had baking and other things to do at the house and would bring Emma and Marco down later, to visit Santa.
‘You and Randal are so efficient, you don’t really need me there all the time now. I’ll see you later and we’ll bring you some stollen.’
I’d just taken Father Christmas a cup of tea and a mince pie to sustain him when it was Marco’s turn to go in. I couldn’t resist lingering to listen.
First Marco asked Santa what it was like living in Lapland most of the time, which was clearly a curveball Nick hadn’t prepared for, because he took a moment or two before he replied.
‘Eh, it’s a grand place if you like snow and reindeer,’ he said finally.
‘Your elf is very big,’ Marco said. ‘I thought elves were little tiny things.’
‘They’re magic, so they can appear big or small,’ Emma said quickly.
‘And she looks like Liz,’ he said, undeterred.
‘I get told that all the time,’ the elf said gravely. ‘Now, tell Santa what you’d like for Christmas and then the other children can have their turn.’
‘I’d like lots of books about history. I like history. And a big box of dressing-up clothes.’
‘Ho, ho, ho,’ Santa said, looking slightly baffled, and then his elf handed Marco a present and ushered him out, to Nick’s evident relief.
The gift was from the shop’s Christmas stocking range and was a Mr Potato Head, something I’d had as a child. Mercy promised they’d go right back to the house and find Marco a lovely big potato, but Emma stayed for a while.
‘It was lucky I remembered to put all Marco’s presents from under the tree into a bag when we were leaving, but I forgot the stocking fillers, because they were hidden in the wardrobe.’
‘There are plenty more in the Christmas shop,’ I assured her. ‘And maybe we might pop up to the village store, because Oriel Comfort stocks all kinds of little gifts and I’m sure I saw a jar of sugar mice in there last week, too.’
‘That sounds great – and luckily I did get him one or two books, though not the box of costumes he asked Santa for … and Mercy seems to be taking it for granted I’ll be staying right over Christmas.’
‘Of course you must, and now horrible Lacey has taken herself off somewhere and I’ve got you and Marco here instead, I’m expecting it to be a whole lot more fun!’
‘I have an idea,’ said Mercy later, when Marco was in bed and Liz had told her what he’d said to Santa. ‘There are two or three trunkfuls of old clothes in one of the attic rooms and I’m sure there’s a tin toy box up there too, so you could fill it with anything you think he might like to dress up in. Then he’ll get everything he asked for!’
‘He’d love that more than anything else,’ Emma said gratefully and, together with Liz, we went to see what we could find – and had to come back and fetch Randal to carry down the green tin trunk, filled with all kinds of treasures: a plume of feathers, a red velvet fez with a tassel, a Victorian beaded cape, an embroidered waistcoat, a tawny velvet mantle with a silk lining and a fur muff.
‘He’s going to love these,’ Emma said.
‘We can hide it in my room and you can wrap it up and put it under the tree with his other presents tomorrow,’ I said, and Randal took it through for me.
‘Randal’s very kind, isn’t he? Emma said.
‘He has his moments,’ I admitted.
Chapter 55: Hasty Pudding
Q:What’s the best thing to put into a Christmas cake?
A:Your teeth!
It being the last Saturday before Christmas the next day, the mill was likely to be even busier so Randal and I went down there early.
Mercy planned to drive Emma and Marco up to the village shop in Little Mumming, to find a few more things for Marco’s Christmas stocking – or rather, Emma would find them, while Mercy diverted Marco by showing him the interesting stained-glass windows in the small church.
At Friendship Mill the tills jingled faster than sleigh bells all day, so that Randal and I were completely shattered but happy when we finally locked up and went up to the house.
On my way through the kitchen to change I found everyone gathered around a large mixing bowl on the kitchen table, including Ceddie, who’d been collected from the railway station earlier by Job. Liz and Marco were eating mixed dried fruit straight from the jar and Emma was sitting with Pugsie on her knee and Pye draped along the back of the chair like a fur headrest. He’d always liked her.
‘I’m just about to finish stirring a really hasty Christmas pudding,’ Mercy said. ‘I can’t imagine how I forgot! Of course, it should have been made weeks ago, but it will be just as nice, you’ll see. You must stir it and make a wish, Tabby – we all have.’
‘There are lots of silver things in it,’ Marco told me gravely. ‘They’re wrapped in greaseproof paper so we can find them easily.’
‘Good idea, because it wouldn’t be lucky if you broke a tooth on one,’ I said. ‘I’ll just take my coat off and wash my hands. Randal’s changing; I expect he’ll be down in a minute.’
In fact, he was quicker than me and had already taken his turn when I got back, so I took the big wooden spoon and stirred, closing my eyes.
What should I wish
for – a place of my own? But I hated the idea of leaving Mote Farm!
For love …?
Then my inner voice whispered, I want to stay here with Randal at Mote Farm for ever!
I stirred again quickly and added a second wish. Let Lacey be safe, but don’t let her ever come back here.
Randal, Ceddie and I went to the Quaker meeting next morning with Silas and Mercy and no one said a word for the whole hour: it was very peaceful.
When we got home we found Charlie had arrived, along with a hamper of Fortnum and Mason’s goodies to add to our already overflowing food stocks.
I found myself pleased to see him and he was soon proving useful, since he seemed happy to play endless games and playact with Marco. He wasn’t just doing it because he wanted to please Emma, either … though I think he did and he went out of his way to clown about and make her laugh, so I thought Randal had probably told him why she was staying with us.
After lunch we went for a walk and you could feel the air growing chillier by the minute, so that the cold snap that was predicted for Christmas might actually be on its way.
Emma checked her mobile when there was a signal, half expecting a stream of messages – even apologies – from Des, but the only one was from her neighbour, asking her to ring back, which she did.
It seemed that she’d spoken to Des the morning after Emma had left, when he was loading bags into his car, and he’d said he was going to his sister’s in Scotland till he flew back to Qatar after Christmas.
‘And then she looked through the cottage windows, because there’d been a lot of crashing noises the night before,’ Emma said. ‘And it looks like he’s trashed the place.’
‘Oh, no!’ I said. ‘That’s so petty and spiteful.’
‘I think I’ll just try and forget about it till after Christmas, since Mercy says she’d love us to stay till then,’ Emma said. ‘I’ll be able to face it, then. And start divorce proceedings,’ she added.
‘Attagirl, and I’ve got holidays due, so I’ll come and help you clear up the house,’ promised Charlie.
‘We’ll all go, because the mill will be closed till New Year after tomorrow morning,’ Randal said. ‘We don’t usually open on a Monday, it’s just because it’s so close to Christmas and we’re closing at noon.’
A Christmas Cracker Page 34
