The Christmas Collection

by Victoria Connelly

  ‘Put the main lights out, Dad,’ Robbie said after every decoration had been placed on the tree and Niall got up to turn the main lights off and everyone gasped when they looked at the tree. It glittered, glistened and glowed and all three of them sighed and wowed in delight.

  ‘That’s the loveliest tree I’ve ever seen,’ Millie said.

  ‘It’s not bad, is it?’ Niall said.

  ‘It’s fantastic!’ Robbie said.

  The three of them stood in silent wonder, watching the golden lights twinkling gently amongst the foliage and decorations. It was a magical moment that Millie couldn’t remember experiencing since childhood. James had never been that bothered about Christmas and had either spent it with his family in Scotland or had persuaded Millie to go away with him – always somewhere warm and sunny like the Canary islands or Morocco – which had been very nice at the time but Millie realised now that she had forgotten the joys of a truly English Christmas with the crisp bright frosts outside and a roaring stove inside.

  ‘I promise I’ll never have another Christmas without a tree,’ she said and Robbie grinned at her.

  ‘More logs,’ Niall suddenly said. ‘Then lunch.’

  ‘Let me,’ she said. ‘Even I know how to make cheesy pasta.’

  ‘Yum!’ Robbie said as he collapsed onto the floor again with one of his comics.

  As Millie was preparing lunch, it crossed her mind that she was in the middle of nowhere with a stranger in possession of an axe but Niall had proved himself as much as a man could in two short days. He was kind, caring and, as far as she could tell, perfectly sane. Indeed, the compassion he’d shown her when he’d caught her crying had touched her deeply. She paused for a moment, a block of cheddar in one hand and a grater in the other. Niall Eastwood was a lovely man. A lovely man who also happened to be very handsome.

  Handsome.

  There was that word again – the word that was liable to get a girl into trouble because the last handsome man she’d been involved with had broken – well, bruised – her heart. There was no doubt in her mind that Niall was a handsome man with his brilliant blue eyes and thick dark hair but it was more than that. She loved watching him with Robbie. He was so kind and patient with his son and there was such an easy affection between the two of them that she’d never had with either of her parents. It was lovely to watch.

  Just then, he walked back into the living room, his arms full of chopped logs. Millie felt herself blushing as she stared at him. He looked so strong and earthy. She shook her head, embarrassed by her thoughts.

  ‘You okay?’ he said as he looked across at her. ‘You look very red. Perhaps I’d better not put any more on the fire just yet. Not if it’s warm enough already.’

  ‘Yes,’ Millie said, quickly busying herself with the cheese. ‘It’s quite warm enough, isn’t it?’

  *

  After lunch, there was a certain amount of lounging around on the sofas before Robbie came up with the suggestion of going out.

  Millie looked out of the tiny cottage window. The view beyond the faded chintz curtains wasn’t a tempting one. The sky had darkened since lunchtime and the wind had whipped itself up into a frenzy but the short days meant that one had to grab every opportunity of fresh air and they would have the whole of the evening to sprawl in front of the wood burner. So the three of them got up, shoved their feet into extra thick woolly socks and boots and quickly doubled their body sizes with the number of jumpers and coats and scarves they put on in order to protect themselves against the bitter cold. The north Devon coast could be a pretty unforgiving place weather wise at the best of times but, in the depths of winter, it could be positively brutal.

  Leaving the cosy warmth of the cottage, they headed straight down to the beach, following Robbie as he led the way with great determination, his hooded head bowed down as he pushed himself through the wind.

  They had the beach to themselves once again which wasn’t really surprising on a cold Christmas Eve. Most sensible people would be tucked up in their homes for the duration of the holiday. Millie watched as Robbie grabbed a long piece of driftwood and made three enormous circles in the wet sand before stomping in the middle of each one.

  ‘I wish we could get away together more often,’ Niall said, ‘but work is always so crazy.’

  Millie looked at him. ‘When was your last holiday?’ she asked him.

  ‘The summer before Emma died,’ he said. ‘We did a fly drive to the States. Saw all the famous places like Disneyland and Los Angeles and took a boat trip out to Alcatraz in San Francisco and then flew to New York and hit Broadway. Emma used to love musical theatre.’

  ‘Sounds like an amazing holiday.’

  ‘A once in a lifetime one,’ he said. ‘Only it seems a lifetime ago now. Another me, you know?’

  Millie nodded. ‘You okay?’ she asked as he gazed out into the grey depths of the wild winter sea, the dark clouds scudding fast and low across the horizon.

  ‘It was about this time of day two years ago that the accident happened.’

  Millie swallowed hard, not knowing how to respond to such a declaration. But she instinctively knew that it would be worse to say nothing than to say something clichéd.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Niall,’ she said and, before she realised what she was doing, she’d reached out towards him and had placed one of her gloved hands on his. He turned to look at her and she felt herself blushing. ‘What was she like?’ she dared to ask him.

  ‘Emma?’ he said her name slowly, as if lingering on it might bring her back. ‘She was warm and funny. She loved to laugh. She was always teasing me and playing practical jokes on me because I’m so serious.’

  ‘Are you?’

  He nodded. ‘I can be,’ he said. ‘I need loosening up every so often and Emma could always be relied upon to do that for me.’

  ‘Did she have a job?’ Millie asked.

  ‘She worked part time in a little shop in town. One of those places that women seem to love that sells nothing but crockery and cushions.’

  ‘Oh yes. I adore those kinds of shops!’ Millie said.

  ‘She was forever filling our home with teacups and candles. You can’t move in our house without knocking over something printed with flowers. It’s still so hard to look at all those bits and pieces because I know she chose them and handled them and placed them in our home with such care. I’m terrified of them sometimes. Robbie broke a little jug just a few days after she died and he wouldn’t stop crying for hours.’

  ‘But those things aren’t Emma,’ Millie said gently. ‘You mustn’t be so worried about them. She loved them – yes. But she loved you and Robbie more. Much more.’

  ‘What a sweetheart you are,’ he said and, once again, Millie felt her face flushing with colour. ‘Come on. Robbie’s leaving us behind.’

  She watched as he walked along the shoreline, his thick boots dipping into the water and she followed in his footsteps, the waves playing a dangerous game with the low cut of her wellies. Robbie was a little dot in the distance, his arms windmilling around his body as he moved across the sand in a crazy dance. As she watched him, she realised that she was becoming very attached to this broken family and she couldn’t help wondering if it was fate that had brought her to the cottage at the same time as Niall and Robbie.

  CHAPTER 6

  When Millie opened her eyes on Christmas morning, the light in the bedroom felt different and, immediately, she knew what it was.

  ‘Snow!’

  She leapt out of bed with the excitement of a child and ran towards the window, drawing back the curtains and blinking hard at the bright white that greeted her. Snow on Christmas morning. How many times did that happen? It had certainly never happened at Cove Cottage – not as far as she could remember.

  She looked out across the sloping bank, her gaze journeying along the gentle snow-covered curves of the fields. The bracken and the gorse were now strange mountainous shapes and the sky looked as if it was still heav
y with snow yet to fall.

  Getting washed and dressed, Millie went downstairs to see if Niall and Robbie were up.

  ‘Morning!’ she called as she entered the living room, gasping as she saw its transformation. For a moment, she stood in the door, almost afraid to enter. This was no longer her domain – it belonged to Niall and his son and she wasn’t sure she had a place there.

  ‘Millie!’ Robbie cried, looking up from where he was sitting on the carpet, a huge squashy present in his hands.

  ‘Come in, come in!’ Niall said.

  ‘I don’t want to intrude,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ Niall said.

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ Robbie echoed and Millie couldn’t help smiling.

  ‘Robbie and I have been putting up the rest of the decorations we brought with us,’ Niall said when he saw the look of surprise on Millie’s face.

  ‘So I see!’ she said, eyeing up the berry wreath above the fireplace and the garlands of tinsel draping over the picture frames on the walls.

  ‘Merry Christmas, Millie,’ Niall said.

  ‘Merry Christmas!’ she said.

  ‘Can you believe it snowed?’ Robbie said.

  ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ Millie said.

  ‘Robbie’s been bursting to go outside but I insisted on breakfast and presents first.’

  It was then that Millie noticed that music was playing.

  ‘Is that the Nutcracker Suite?’ she asked.

  ‘It was Emma’s favourite,’ Niall explained. ‘She listened to it every Christmas. Some people like Bing Crosby or something cheesy from the seventies but she loved Tchaikovsky, didn’t she, Robbie?’

  Robbie nodded as he continued to prod his unwrapped present. Now, Millie felt even more awkward about being there. Emma was still very much a presence but it would seem that Millie was also welcome.

  For ten minutes, Millie watched as Robbie tore his way through a mountain of presents. There were games she didn’t recognise, a remote-controlled car, the ubiquitous itchy jumper from an auntie and countless other bits and bobs needing batteries.

  ‘There’s one for you under there,’ Niall told Millie as she began to help Robbie tidy up.

  ‘Is there?’

  Niall reached under the arms of the Christmas tree and presented her with a rectangular shaped box wrapped in bright silver paper.

  ‘Oh!’ she said. ‘When did you get this?’

  ‘When your back was turned in town yesterday.’

  ‘But I feel awful now,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t get you anything.’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Niall said. ‘You let us stay here.’

  She smiled at him and shook her head as she tore open the silver paper to reveal a box of locally made chocolates.

  ‘I hope you like them. I have yet to meet a woman who doesn’t like chocolate,’ he said.

  ‘And never trust one that doesn’t,’ Millie said. ‘Thank you so much.’

  ‘If you don’t like them, Millie, I’ll eat them for you,’ Robbie said.

  ‘You keep away from those chocolates, Robs! You chose that fudge, remember? And I’ve got my Turkish Delight so we’re all kitted out for some teeth-rotting fun.’

  ‘Don’t forget this present, Dad,’ Robbie said, handing his father a heavy rectangular gift.

  ‘It’s from your Aunt Louise, Millie,’ Niall told her. ‘She really shouldn’t have.’

  ‘But she always does,’ Robbie said and Millie smiled because she was well aware of her auntie’s generosity.

  She watched in great anticipation as Niall first held the gift in his hand.

  ‘It’s a book!’ Robbie said in a bored voice.

  ‘Don’t spoil things, Robbie!’

  ‘But it’s sooooo obvious!’ he said.

  ‘Oh!’ Millie cried a moment later when Niall had ripped open the gold paper to reveal a hardback book. He turned it around to take a good look.

  ‘Tarka the Otter,’ he said.

  ‘Yes,’ Millie said. ‘It’s my favourite book!’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘And she’s found you the original Tunnicliffe edition too.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘The illustrator – take a look at the illustrations – they’re exquisite,’ Millie told him.

  Niall flipped through the pages. ‘This is rather special, isn’t it?’ he said.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Millie said. ‘And all set in Devon too.’

  ‘I look forward to reading it,’ he said.

  ‘Haven’t you got any presents, Millie?’ Robbie asked from his home on the floor.

  It was then that Millie remembered the gift that she had packed in her suitcase from her aunt and went upstairs to retrieve it. It was wrapped in the same gold paper that Niall’s present had been wrapped in.

  ‘That’s not a book,’ Robbie said. ‘It looks too light.’

  ‘Robs!’ Niall warned him. ‘Don’t spoil things for Millie.’

  ‘Just saying,’ Robbie said with a huff.

  Millie really had no idea what it was and was surprised on opening it to find that it was in fact, a DVD box set.

  ‘Dr Darby,’ she said, reading the title. ‘ “The misadventures of a country GP.” ’

  ‘Really? That’s my favourite TV show,’ Niall said.

  ‘It is?’ Millie said, looking confused.

  ‘Yes. In fact, your aunt calls me Dr Darby. Not very original since the show’s doing so well. I’m sure no end of GPs have been given the nickname Dr Darby. Have you never seen it?’

  ‘No,’ Millie said.

  ‘What, never?’ Robbie said. ‘We love it! We watch all the time don’t we, Dad?’

  Millie frowned. It seemed like a rather strange present. ‘Do you think Aunt Louise has given us the wrong presents by mistake?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Niall said, opening the book again. ‘Oh, I don’t think she has.’ He turned the book towards Millie and she saw her aunt’s neat handwriting on the inside page.

  To Niall with love from Louise.

  ‘Oh,’ Millie said. It was undisputedly a gift meant for Niall.

  ‘So,’ Niall said, ‘your aunt has bought me your favourite book and she has bought you my favourite TV show.’

  Millie nodded. ‘That would certainly appear to be the case,’ she said.

  ‘Any thoughts?’ Niall asked and Millie couldn’t help but blush.

  ‘Well, I–’ she stopped. What was she meant to say? That her aunt was deliberately trying to match-make them? Did that mean that she had told them both they could use the cottage over Christmas, knowing that they would be thrown together? Aunt Louise had tried to match-make Millie in the past with disastrous results and Millie had been forced to put her foot down. She’d thought that her aunt had got the message so what was going on? If the mobile reception was any better at the cove then Millie was quite determined that she would get to the bottom of it.

  Niall suddenly laughed.

  ‘What is it?’ Millie asked in panic.

  He shook his head. ‘Your aunt isn’t the first woman to try to–’

  ‘Don’t say it,’ Millie interrupted. ‘Please don’t say that word.’

  ‘Match-make me,’ Niall finished and Millie winced.

  ‘I don’t know what to say,’ Millie said, feeling her face flush with shame again.

  ‘There’s nothing to say,’ Niall said. ‘It’s not your fault and it’s not mine.’

  ‘But it doesn’t stop me wanting to apologise,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea. You do believe me, don’t you?’

  ‘Of course I believe you,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, God!’ Millie groaned. ‘Perhaps I should just go.’

  ‘No, don’t!’ Niall said. ‘Why should this spoil things?’

  ‘Because I feel awkward and embarrassed,’ she said honestly.

  ‘But there’s no need,’ he told her. ‘Really there isn’t. Let’s just forget about it or, at least, realise that we share a
mutual friend who is under the impression that we would get on which we do, don’t we?’ He held her gaze for a moment and Millie could do nothing but smile at his sweetness.

  ‘Yes,’ she said at last. ‘Of course we do.’

  ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Let’s go for a walk after breakfast.’

  *

  Millie was glad to get outside into the fresh air after the stiflingly claustrophobic atmosphere of the cottage and, stepping out into the white world, she knew that she didn’t want to leave Cove Cottage even if she had to endure a couple of slightly awkward days with her aunt’s ‘Dr Darby’.

  ‘Look – the sand’s frozen!’ Niall said as they stepped onto the beach. It crunched and crackled beneath their feet and Millie peered down at it.

  ‘I’ve never seen ice on a beach before. It must be really cold,’ Millie said.

  Niall nodded. ‘The Gulf Stream around this coast usually keeps everything fairly mild.’

  They walked down to the edge of the sea and saw the swirls of ice before them. Robbie crouched down and picked up a small sheet of it.

  ‘Wow!’ he said. He couldn’t have looked more impressed if it had been made of diamonds.

  ‘It’s so beautiful here even in the bleakest, coldest weather,’ Millie said. ‘We’ve had some pretty amazing family holidays here.’

  ‘It must be glorious in the summer,’ Niall said.

  ‘Oh, it is,’ Millie said. ‘The perfect location for a bucket and spade holiday.’

  ‘You have a big family?’ he asked as they walked the length of the beach together, Robbie cracking as much ice as he could underfoot.

  ‘Two brothers – Marcus and Jake. I was the youngest and forever trying to keep up with them. I guess I was quite the tomboy, clambering over rocks and climbing trees.’

  Niall grinned. ‘Well, there are plenty of rocks around here,’ he said.

  ‘I used to love those great flat black ones.’ They watched as Robbie looked across the beach and took off like a rocket towards the rocks.