‘You’re such a charmer,’ Flora said with an exaggerated eye-roll.
He just grinned back and picked up his mug, raising it to his lips. Those first few sips were like liquid joy.
‘I thought we could go for a walk in a bit to get some air,’ Flora said, looking out of the large picture window. ‘It might snow later on, so we’d better not leave it too late.’
‘Sure, whatever you like. I’m happy to go whenever.’
‘Great.’ She picked up the newspaper she’d been reading as Penny came back in with his eggs Benedict and they sat in companionable silence while he ate his breakfast. He made short work of it, his body crying out for energy after the rough night he’d had. When he finally put his cutlery down Flora smiled at him with amusement in her eyes.
‘I thought you were going to scrape the pattern off the plate.’
‘Hungry,’ he growled in reply.
She just laughed and he thought how nice it was to see her looking more relaxed this morning.
‘Let’s take the papers through to the living room if you’re finished,’ Flora suggested, standing up when he gave her a nod of agreement.
The first thing he noticed when he walked into the elegant, tastefully decorated sitting room was a baby grand.
‘Nice piano,’ Alex said, walking over to it and tapping out a couple of notes, pleased to hear it was in tune. He missed playing when he was away from his instruments.
‘Violet played it when she was younger.’
‘I remember you saying. But you gave up.’
She scowled at this, apparently riled by his comment.
There was a flurry of movement in the doorway and Violet entered the room, wearing a pair of tight-fitting leather trousers and a bright red tank top, her sexily mussed up hair spilling over her slender shoulders.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Flora stiffen.
‘I need another cup of coffee,’ she said tightly. ‘Want one, Alex?’
‘Sure, I’ll have another,’ he said.
‘Vi? Want a coffee?’ Flora asked her sister, not looking at her as she made for the door.
‘Yes, please, Floor, I’m going to be running mostly on caffeine today. I slept horrendously,’ she grumbled, walking further into the room as Flora exited.
Alex left the piano and went to sit down on one of the Queen Anne sofas that stood on either side of the large marble fireplace.
‘So, Alex, how did you and Flora meet?’ Violet asked as she came and sat down right next to him, tucking her legs under her and leaning in towards him so their heads were only a couple of feet apart.
‘Flora is my sister’s—’ he paused and took a breath ‘—was my sister Amy’s best friend.’
Violet frowned. ‘Oh, they’re not friends any more? I thought they were really close?’
‘Amy died from inflammatory breast cancer almost two months ago. It was a vicious strain that metastasised really quickly. There wasn’t much they could do for her. The treatment they gave her didn’t have much of an effect because the cancer was so fast-moving. It had already spread to her major organs.’
He was aware that his voice had become rougher as he had talked.
Violet looked shocked. ‘Oh, my goodness, I hadn’t heard. I’m so sorry.’ She tipped her head sympathetically. ‘Flora and I haven’t spoken for a while. There’s been a bit of tension between us since I married Evan.’ She paused, her brow furrowing. ‘They were engaged briefly before I got together with him.’
‘So I heard,’ he said coolly, noting how quickly she’d turned the focus of the conversation back to her.
‘I’m so pleased she’s got you now though. It’s great you’re able to comfort each other at such a difficult time.’ She gave him a kindly smile, obviously hoping to curry favour.
‘We’re just friends.’ His voice sounded stiffer than he’d meant it to.
Her brows shot up. ‘Really? I’m surprised. You two look so comfortable together. I thought you were a couple.’
He shrugged, feeling tension in his shoulders. ‘We’ve been spending a lot of time together recently.’
There was a spark in Violet’s eyes that made him uneasy. She put a hand on his leg and gazed right into his eyes, opening her mouth to say something just as Flora walked back into the room holding a tray laden with cups of coffee.
She had a pinched expression on her face as if something was giving her pain.
‘Hey, great,’ he said, springing off the sofa to relieve her of the tray, feeling a pull of guilt that she’d seen the weird scene between him and her sister and had probably misinterpreted it. Which wasn’t surprising, considering the history of her sister flirting with her boyfriends. ‘Thanks, Flora,’ he said, making sure to give her a reassuring smile and hoping she’d know he was on her side here and that he hadn’t been flirting with Violet.
There was more movement at the doorway as first her mother, then a man who he assumed must be her father, walked in bringing with them the scent of cold winter air from their trip to church.
‘Aha, you’re all up! Good. We can have a few games of charades before lunch,’ Flora’s mother said gleefully.
Both of her daughters rolled their eyes, but their mother wouldn’t accept any grumbling protests. Flora’s father walked over and introduced himself while the women argued about the rules, giving Alex a friendly smile and telling him to call him Francis.
They played a few games, with Flora, Alex and Francis on one team and Violet and Diana on the other. It was a little strained at first, but after a while they all began to get into the spirit of it. There were even a few giggling moments when someone made a particularly suggestive motion.
Just as Alex uncovered the mystery behind a strange and rather uncomfortable-looking move Diana was doing with her head, Penny came into the room to let them know that their Christmas dinner was ready.
‘We’d better go and take our seats,’ Diana instructed them. She hustled Violet and Francis out before her, leaving Flora and Alex alone in the room.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Flora muttered, wrapping her arms around her body.
‘About what?’ Alex asked, not sure what she was talking about.
‘About the strange atmosphere.’
‘It’s fine, Flora. I’m having a good time. I’m glad to be here.’
She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, then picked a bit of fluff off her jumper and threw it towards the crackling fire. ‘Okay...well, good.’ She paused as if she was going to ask him something, then seemed to change her mind with a small shake of her head. ‘I guess we’d better get in there,’ she said instead, making it sound more like they were about to attend a state execution than enjoy Christmas dinner with her family.
* * *
They made their way into the dining room and took their seats. Flora was discomfited to find herself sitting directly opposite Violet, with Alex between them at the head of the table.
‘I’d like to propose a toast,’ Francis said, raising his wine glass and waiting till they all did the same. ‘To our girls for being here to celebrate Christmas with us. And to our guest, Alex. May the next year be a better one for you all.’
‘Cheers,’ they all said quietly, each apparently thinking about the difficulties they’d faced throughout the year.
‘Tuck in, everyone,’ Diana said in an overly bright voice to cut through the suddenly sombre atmosphere, waving a hand at them before picking up her own knife and fork.
They were all quiet for a while as they ate the magnificent meal that Penny had prepared for them.
‘It’s so lovely to have everyone together again,’ Diana said eventually, smiling around the table. ‘Apart from missing Evan, of course,’ she added.
Violet gave her mother a sad little nod of acknowledgme
nt but didn’t say anything. Flora was feeling so tense sitting across from her sister that her shoulders actually ached. It was always like this when she was in the same vicinity as Violet these days.
She took a deep steadying breath, grateful for the comforting heat of Alex’s presence next to her, but wishing she’d cancelled on her parents and suggested they stay at a nice hotel instead now. Not that her mother would have stood for that. She’d been upset last year when Flora hadn’t come back home for Christmas, citing her job in New York being too busy to allow her to get away.
As if reading her mind, her mother said, ‘I know how expensive it is to fly over from the States, Flora, so it’s wonderful you’ve been able to come this year.’
Her mum had no idea that she earned enough to fly home every month if she wanted, but she wasn’t going to point that out right now. She already felt bad enough about avoiding coming here to see them.
‘Yeah, it’s nice to be here,’ she said and smiled, blotting out the small voice whispering Liar in her ear.
Penny came in then and saw that they’d all just about finished. ‘We have Christmas pudding or trifle for dessert if anyone can manage it,’ she announced as Alex put his knife and fork down on his empty plate.
‘Yes, please. I’d love both of those, in the same bowl is fine,’ he said, leaning back in his chair, patting his belly and blowing out his cheeks in a over-the-top satisfied manner, making Flora smile for the first time since they’d sat down.
After they’d finished dessert they retired to a toasty-warm living room and brought out the presents they had for each other.
Flora found she was actually looking forward to seeing her parents open the gifts she’d bought for them this year.
‘Here you go. Happy Christmas,’ she said, passing Violet a gift bag with a cashmere jumper and some expensive bath smellies in it. Then she handed a bulging gift bag over to her mother so she could divide her parents’ presents up between them.
‘Oh, darling, you shouldn’t have bought us so much. We don’t need anything,’ her mother admonished, tipping the presents out onto the floor and picking one up to examine it.
‘It’s fine. I wanted to treat you.’
Her parents spent the next few minutes carefully unwrapping all their gifts. They built themselves a small pile of all the designer clothes she’d bought hastily from her favourite internet clothing outlet because she’d been too busy at work to go Christmas shopping, giving the odd ‘hmm’ or ‘ah’ as they held each item up briefly to glance at it before adding it to the mound.
‘Thank you, darling,’ her mother said eventually, giving Flora what felt like a very condescending smile.
‘I thought you might appreciate some new clothes,’ Flora said stiffly, the anticipated excitement of them being overjoyed with the things she’d picked out quickly draining away.
‘We do,’ her mother said, as if she’d just begged them to say something nice to her.
‘Thanks, Floor,’ Violet said, pulling on the jumper she’d been given, which of course looked like a million dollars on her.
‘You’re welcome. Thanks for the make-up,’ she said, gesturing to the little boxes of anti-ageing cream, eye gel and concealer her sister apparently thought she needed.
‘Here you go. This is from us,’ her father grunted, handing over the customary Christmas cheques he always gave his daughters. Their mother gave them each a small pile of wrapped presents.
Flora tore the wrapping off a framed painting by an artist she’d loved since she was a teenager and squealed with delight, giving both her parents a hug of thanks. Then she picked up a small flat package, pulling off the paper to look down at the book she’d been given: Living the Good Life: How to grow your own food.
‘I thought it might come in handy,’ her mother said.
‘Er... Mum, I don’t even have a garden,’ she said with a bemused grin.
‘But you might one day soon, once you get fed up with living in New York and move back here to England.’ Her mother gave her a hopeful look.
Pushing a feeling of guilt quickly aside, she forced herself to smile at her parents. ‘Thanks very much. I’m sure it’s got some great ideas in it.’
‘You’re most welcome, my darling. Make sure you spend the money frivolously too. That’s what it’s for.’
‘And this is for you, Alex,’ her father said, turning to him and handing over a squashy parcel. ‘Sorry it’s only small, but we didn’t get much warning about you coming,’ he added, giving Flora an admonishing glance.
‘Oh, wow. Thank you. I really wasn’t expecting anything. That’s really kind of you,’ Alex said, pulling a gorgeous forest-green jumper out of its wrapping paper. He beamed at both of her parents, genuinely pleased with it and grateful for their generosity, then pulled it over his head.
‘It suits you,’ her mother declared, clearly delighted.
‘Yeah, you look great in it,’ Flora said, intensely aware of the undisguised admiration in her voice.
There was a short silence where she caught her parents smiling at each other covertly and she felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment.
‘And this is just a very small present, to say thanks for having me today,’ Alex said, breaking into the awkward silence and producing a wrapped gift.
‘Ooh, how lovely of you!’ her mum exclaimed, taking it from his proffered hand. She carefully tore off the paper to reveal a recordable CD case.
‘It’s a collection of some of the best jazz and blues tracks ever written,’ he explained. ‘Some are a little obscure, but hopefully you’ll come to love them.’
‘Oh, Alex, what a wonderful thought! We love listening to music. How very kind of you,’ her mother gushed as her father reached across and gave him a pat on the back.
Flora stared at them all, wondering whether she’d somehow moved unwittingly into the Twilight Zone.
‘We can all listen to that later on, whilst we’re eating our supper,’ her mother said, going over to the stereo system they had hidden in a mahogany sideboard and laying the CD reverentially on top of it.
‘We weren’t planning on staying for supper. We should probably hit the road before there’s a mad rush,’ Flora said quickly.
Her mother’s face fell. ‘Oh. Really? Can’t you stay tonight? I was hoping we could keep you here a little longer.’
Flora stiffened, steeling herself against the wave of guilt she felt about making an excuse to hurry out of there, but before she could open her mouth she heard Alex say, ‘That would be great, Diana.’ He turned to look at her. ‘We can stay again tonight, can’t we, Flora? Perhaps I could play the piano after we get back from our walk and we can all have a sing-song?’
‘What a wonderful idea!’ Her mother sounded utterly delighted by the suggestion.
Flora covertly raised her eyebrows in an Are you kidding? look at him, but he held fast, keeping his expression neutral but firm.
She let out a long sigh, knowing when she was beaten. ‘Okay, yeah, sure. That would be fun,’ she said flatly.
‘Great! That’s settled then,’ her mum said, sounding happier than she’d heard her in a long time. Even her usually taciturn dad was nodding and smiling with pleasure.
Flora smiled stiffly, then slapped her hands lightly on her knees. ‘Okay, well, we should probably go out for that walk before the heavens open. You still fancy it, Alex?’
Gratitude poured through her when he nodded and smiled. ‘Sure.’
‘Great. Let’s go now then.’ She got up and smoothed down her trousers, relieved at the thought of a little respite from her sister’s perturbing presence.
* * *
‘What’s the matter?’ Alex asked Flora as soon as they’d closed the front door behind them. They were both wearing warm coats, hats, gloves and the walking boots she’d s
uggested they pack in anticipation of exploring the fifteen acres of land surrounding Winter Hall.
She shrugged her shoulders and waved her hands about, as if unable to form the words.
‘What, Flora?’
‘It’s just—’
‘Yes?’
‘I thought you’d want to get out of here, that’s all,’ she said, looking utterly exasperated.
‘Nah, I’m fine. And I think your parents are really pleased you’re staying on a bit longer. It was obvious they were hoping you would. They clearly miss you.’ He gestured for them to start walking and they set off towards a clump of trees in the distance.
‘Hmm,’ was all she said to that, folding her arms and glaring up at the sky, which looked ominous and brooding.
The moody light made him suspect it was about to snow. Just as he thought this, he saw a snowflake drift down and land in Flora’s hair.
‘Flora?’
She looked at him with a frown. ‘Yes.’
‘You haven’t told them that you’re living in Bath at the moment, have you?’
Embarrassment flickered across her face. ‘No.’
He sighed and shook his head. ‘Coming from someone who has no family left, I recommend trying to bridge that gap. I think Amy would have wanted that for you. You shouldn’t be alienated from the people who clearly love you.’
Flora sighed, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘Yeah, I know that. She was always encouraging me to see more of them.’ She took a breath. ‘I will tell them I’m over here for a bit. It’s just that I’m not going to be here for much longer and I didn’t want them to get all excited about me being back only to have me leave almost immediately again.’
His chest gave a weird throb at that, but he ignored it and just nodded sagely at her.
They were quiet for a moment as they strolled along side by side, with only the sound of distant bird chatter breaking the silence.
‘Is something else bothering you?’ he asked tentatively. He’d felt her tension when they were exchanging gifts and he was pretty sure something had really upset her. ‘Something about the presents?’
His Mistletoe Proposal Page 10
