A Drakenfall Christmas: A Novel

by Geralyn Corcillo

  “I'll tell you what,” Lou thundered, stepping forward. “We were scared to death to come here tonight, to see our daughter on Christmas out of the blue like this.”

  Mrs. Stockleton arched a brow and pursed her lips. “Well, there was your mistake. Kids are just a nuisance at Christmas.”

  “That's exactly what we used to think,” Sandy crowed, her newfound appreciation of sherry becoming evident. “She always seemed to be underfoot when we just wanted to have a good time. We deserved that, didn't we? And there she was, whining at us, or wanting this or that.”

  Then, much to Mrs. Stockleton's undisguised horror, Sandy twined her arm into the crook of the elegant lady's elbow.

  “Excuse me!” Mrs. Stockleton tried to shake free but Sandy had latched on like a crawdad on to her toe.

  Sandy sighed. “You're just like I was when Daisy was a little tyke.”

  “Oh!”

  “But we lucked out,” Lou said, nodding. “We were sure that Maisy would try to kick us down the stairs when we showed up here tonight. Because heaven knows, she would have been perfectly justified. But no. She welcomed us in. Just welcomed us. Didn't make us apologize or promise to do this or not to do that. Just made sure we had something to eat and drink. She made sure we had these nice clothes for the party. And I'll tell you, that's a sight more than we ever did for her. I hope that one day your kid is so forgiving that you ditched him at Christmas.”

  Mr. Stockleton's eyebrows slammed together. “Now, see here!”

  “Yeah, we heard about that. The whole village knows about the hoity-toity couple that shipped their kid off to Cambridge for Christmas. What's his name? Cereal? Damn stupid name. But if he can forgive you for that, maybe he'll forgive you for this, too.”

  “Oh!” Mrs. Stockleton began turning a shade of purple not befitting the Christmas celebration.

  “Well,” snapped Mr. Stockleton. “So much for Drakenfall and its vaunted discretion.”

  “Weren't no one at Drakenfall,” piped in Jimmy Thompson from the petrol station. “It was me,” he claimed proudly. “Last week, this woman stops to fill up on her way out of town and she's got all these kids. We get to talking as I checked her tyres and oil. She'd just come from Drakenfall, she says. And I'm all agog. They're giving away kids at Drakenfall now? And she tells me all about Cyril.”

  Minnie Peabody takes up the story, honing in on the Stockletons like an angry badger. “When you came into my shop, it wasn't hard to place you as the couple who must have sent their son away.”

  Mrs. Clay let go of Mrs. Stockleton and snatched a glass of champagne off a tray Kendrick was holding as he listened closely to the unfolding drama.

  She took a gulp and smacked her lips. “Yes, siree. It's a miracle Maisy grew up to be as nice as she is.”

  Lou nodded, his nostrils flaring as he looked Mrs. Stockleton square in the face. “We were not the best parents. Not even close. But she's the best daughter. And we should have been nicer.”

  And then Maisy was there, at his elbow. She touched him, and he turned, startled. He pulled back, as if not knowing what to expect. Without a word, she stepped forward and hugged him. And Mark hugged Sandy just as hard.

  As they all broke apart, Peter Cade's booming voice rang out. “To Lou and Sandy. You're here, and it's Christmas, and we all couldn't be happier.”

  “Here, here!” And the room exploded in good cheer as the kids began to sing “Joy to the World.”

  Chapter 42: Above the Stables

  Glynis stretched out on the carpet for just a moment before turning to Shaun and curling back into his embrace. He was just as naked as Glynis was, and oh, didn't he looked fine in the husky glow of the lamp light? His life outdoors, it would appear, kept him lean and fit … and so touchable.

  She tangled her limbs with his as much as she could in such a state of repose. Her feet touched his, making her jolt, just a tiny bit. “Your feet are freezing,” Glynis said.

  “Mine? Same goes, Ms. Glynis Ferry.”

  Glynis propped herself up on one elbow and reached into the gloom behind her. She pulled the throw off the settee and draped it over them before snuggling back into Shaun.

  “Is this blanket made of fur? Mink?”

  Glynis sighed. “Mmmm. When Mark came to Drakenfall, he was somewhat disconcerted to come upon his grandmother's collection of furs. Coats, jackets, stoles. He couldn't abide by anyone actually wearing them, but he didn't want the poor creatures to have perished in vain. So he had them all re-sewn into blankets. This is the only one he kept and didn't donate.”

  He chuckled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “It's one of the things I love about Drakenfall. Everything has a story. It's a place made up of all these people and their foibles and their hopes and concerns.” He stroked her face. “And you know them all. You know about the people and their hearts and minds.” He leaned in and kissed her.

  Glynis sighed. “Sometimes, I feel like I've been here forever.” Waiting for you.

  Shaun pulled her closer, running his fingers down the curve of her back. “Well, I'm glad you waited around.” He kissed her shoulder.

  Glynis's eyes widened. “Waited?”

  “Until I got here,” he said on a soft laugh. “I'm very pleased to have met you.” He tangled his fingers into her long hair that had come uncoiled.

  Glynis smiled. “I think this will be my favourite of all the Drakenfall stories.”

  The clock on the mantlepiece struck half past eleven in its quiet chimes.

  Shaun groaned. “I've got to be down to the stables by midnight.”

  “Mr. Shaun Fletcher, chaperone.”

  “No,” he countered. “The kids are not my responsibility beyond keeping them safe amongst the horses and other animals brought in for the manger effect. And from Maisy's dogs. But I won't have to play any games or tell any stories. I'm still just the horse guy.”

  Glynis rolled to settle herself on top of him. “No 'just' about it,” she said softly. “Drakenfall's come alive since you took over down at the stables.”

  Shaun settled his hands on her hips. “So ... I'll be up all night. Not bedded down somewhere with you.” He looked into her eyes, even as his fingers traced lazy circles on her bare skin. “But even after tonight, I have to sleep in my flat above the stables. I have to stay close to the horses.”

  Glynis nodded, as she looked away, a crease furrowing her brow. Her heart started tap dancing in her chest. What, exactly, was Mr. Shaun Fletcher trying to say to her in the last moments of their unforgettable interlude? Was he explaining to her why this night between them would be the only one?

  “Glynis?” He ran a finger under her chin until she looked back at him. “Would you .. want to? I mean, would you mind? Coming to my rooms? Above the stables? At night?”

  “Mind?” Glynis echoed. “Oh, Shaun. I can't think of anything I'd rather do.”

  “Really?” And his eyes, his face, his whole demeanour relaxed all at once, as if he'd been afraid her answer might kick him like a horse.

  Glynis kissed him softly.“You're going to be there, correct?”

  He smiled. “Yes.”

  “Then so will I.”

  Chapter 43: The Lift in Between

  Lea watched as some of the kids from London surrounded Jamie, fascinated by the nice bloke from Barking and Dagenham who'd come to their neighbourhood like Father Christmas. And the guy just lit up talking to them. Lea had to give him credit. Some do-gooders will take any opening to start preaching. But Jamie wasn't like that. He was just interested in the kids, giving them his attention and his time. And didn't that make all the difference? That feeling, when you're small, that you're so important that grown-ups are listening to you?

  Lea felt suddenly tired. Depleted. The evening had been a strange and exhausting ride, plunging her down into the depths and taking her to those highest peaks. The special trimmings of the gala—the kids, the singing, the angels, the presentation—on some level, it ha
d all been for her. Jamie and Kafi had choreographed the poignant display all to convince her to let them use the Champlain building for The Job Centre.

  The Champlain Building!

  Lea clenched her small fists. Her mother and Jamie's father had bought the cheapest real estate they could find, locating their manufacturing warehouse in the East End. They dropped their factory right into the very back yard of these children. The smoke stacks, the pollution, the shifts of workers in and out—all on the front stoops of these small lives. And now she was trying to profit off their suffering with funds from the very building that had caused so much of it.

  Lea needed to get away from all the stimulation that was burning her like the first douse of warm water on frostbite. She slipped out of the gallery and through the grand hall to the winding staircase. But could she climb to all those floors? Now? When she just wanted to … what? She didn't know, but it wasn't mount ten thousand stairs. She went to the old fashioned lift she and Jamie and Kafi had come down in, but it didn't seem to be working. Had it been deactivated for the night to keep party-goers away from guests' rooms? Lea wandered down a back corridor and found another lift. She pressed the button to call the car and this one was working. A service lift, perhaps? One the staff didn't want to do without on such a busy night for Drakenfall?

  She stood facing the doors, waiting for the lift to descend, when she heard a voice call out to her.

  “Lea!”

  She turned to see Jamie jogging down the hall toward her. “Hullo, Jamie.”

  “You calling it a night?”

  “I'm tired,” she murmured. Then she smiled brightly at him. “But don't let me drag you down. Go and enjoy yourself.”

  The doors slid open and Lea stepped in. “Good-night.” But as she leaned forward to press the button for the second floor, Jamie stepped into the car. The doors slid closed. “Jamie, you don't have to see me to my door. This wasn't a date. Now go back and enjoy yourself.”

  “What if I am enjoying myself? What if, right now, I'm doing exactly what I most want to do?”

  Just then, the service lift got caught between the first and second floors, as it was inclined to do. Though Jamie and Lea didn't know that.

  As the car stilled, Lea slid Jamie a look. “So this is what you most want to do? You certain about that?”

  “Well, not most,” he admitted, smiling. “But I'd rather be stuck in a lift with you than back at the party without you.”

  Lea suddenly felt that Jamie was very close. Like he had been by the window earlier, when she'd wanted to eat him alive. What was wrong with her? Why was she letting herself get so starry-eyed and addled whenever Jamie in his tux got so close?

  “So,” she said brightly. Too brightly. “Not most, eh? So what is it you'd most like to do?”

  Jamie looked at her, then he moved even closer. “Kiss you,” he said quietly. He ran his fingers up her neck, into her hair.

  Lea caught her breath. His very touch made her shiver. And it set her on fire. “Jamie ...”

  “Yes?” But his lips were closing in even as he said it.

  And Lea could think of nothing to say. When his mouth met hers, she angled her head back and took him by the shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her, groaning as she arched into him.

  She wanted more of him. So much more. And this was Jamie. Jamie with his hands on her, all over her, cupping her bum. And it was Jamie. He pulled her closer as if he couldn't get enough of her. This was Jamie and she wanted to push him away, just so she could have a few seconds to tear off her dress before jumping back into his arms. This was Jamie.

  When the lift lurched back into life, she didn't want to let him go. How could he feel this good? How? This was Jamie. And she was Lea.

  When the car stopped and the doors slid open, they pulled back and looked at each other. Jamie's eyes were searching, confused, alight with possibility. And she knew hers must be skittery and volatile, for she felt like she would go mad. She turned from him suddenly and ran out of the lift, heading fast down the hall to the door of her room.

  “Lea!” he called, and chased after her. Jamie stopped a few feet from her as she opened her door.

  She turned to face him.

  “Lea ...”

  She grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him into her room with her.

  Chapter 44: Until Tomorrow

  As it happened, Shaun and Glynis managed to get themselves up from the carpet and reassembled with expeditious success. Glynis's hair wasn't coiled quite as intricately as it had been, but it was arranged enough to suffice. Once they were dressed, Shaun turned on the light in the small book room to ensure that they had dropped nothing nor disturbed anything that couldn't be put aright. Glynis laid the mink throw back along the settee just so. Then she switched off the light and the small lamp.

  Finally they went to the door and Glynis took out her key.

  Shaun took her face in both his hands and kissed her senseless. “Tomorrow night,” he whispered.

  Glynis could only nod, so full was her heart that her throat did not work. She slipped the key into the lock, opened the door a crack, and peeked into the hallway. No one was about and the noise from within the gallery had dulled. “The party must be winding down,” she whispered.

  She took Shaun's hand and they both slid through the door into the hall. She turned back to quickly and quietly lock the door, and in ten second's time, they were headed toward the kitchen. But instead of plunging through such lively enterprise, Glynis pulled him down the hall that led to her room. “This way.” She took Shaun all the way to the end of the passage, where a door to the outside opened in the direction of the garages. “We better say good-night here.”

  Shaun nodded. He pulled Glynis into him, but instead of kissing her, he hugged her. “Glynis,” he murmured.

  “Tomorrow,” Glynis offered, giving him the tiniest push toward the door.

  “I won't see you until later,” he reminded her. “I won't get to sleep until seven, at least.”

  “Good luck tonight. Come to the kitchen when you wake up and we'll get you something to eat.”

  “Good-night, Glynis.”

  “Good-night.”

  And he was out the door and gone.

  As Shaun headed through the snowy night, walking around the garages and toward the stables, he slammed into someone.

  “Ach!”

  “Oof!”

  Holy hell, who ever he'd careened into was solid and hard and lean.

  “Sorry, old chap.”

  Shaun shook his head to clear it and found himself looking at Peter Cade. “Vicar!”

  “Mm. Yes.”

  “What brings you out here?”

  “My car's just over there,” he said, pointing to a sedate dark Prius parked on a rough patch of driveway just beyond the garage. “I know my way round here a bit more than the average villager, so I thought I should park back here, leaving more spaces out front for everyone else.”

  “Very good of you.”

  Cade tipped his head. “Tis the season.”

  “It is that,” Shaun said with a smile.

  And as the vicar headed to his car, Shaun turned toward the stable. For a quick second, he thought he detected a shadow of movement thrown onto the snow from the far side of the garage.

  Shaun smiled to himself as he continued to the stables. If Peter Cade had also had a secret tryst this night, Shaun had no desire to trample on his discretion.

  Chapter 45: A Picture's Worth

  Kafi should have taken the Rover. But he was so mad that he'd stormed out into the night, no car and no jacket beyond the suit he wore. He charged through the wind to the estate cottages.

  He thought about how Pippa didn't care for him, even after all he had done.

  He could see her face, looking at him from across the hall, looking at him from across the gallery, looking up at him from beside him on stage. Is that what a woman looked like when she didn't care for you? When you'd laid
your heart out before her but she just didn't want it?

  Kafi knew it happened all the time, that the one you loved just didn't love you back. That sometimes, someone just didn't feel the same as you and what could you do?

  Really, what could you do? Storm into their flat in the middle of the night and demand to know why they didn't want you? Beg to learn what to do differently?

  Kafi thought he was an okay guy. He was kind. He worked hard. He studied. But no matter what manner of man he was, no matter what he did to show Pippa how much he cared, none of it mattered if she just didn't feel it.

  Man, had he ever felt so empty? So hollow? Even all the while that Pippa didn't notice him or every day that she wasn't his, she was still in his life. There was always hope.

  But without hope?

  Kafi didn't know how he'd cope with that. Would he have to leave Drakenfall, just to preserve his own sanity? But how could he leave Drakenfall? How could he leave Pippa?

  By the time he reached Pippa's door, his dreds crackled with frost. He was iced through and through and so depressed. But at least he could tell her she needn't feel obligated to him. Ever. He'd thought of the project because of her, but she didn't owe him anything. God, Kafi did not want Pippa to feel beholden to him. Not ever. That wasn't the feeling he wanted from her.

  Lights glowed in her windows from the other side of the curtains, so he hoped he wasn't waking her when he knocked.

  Pippa opened the door and her eyes got wide and panicky as soon as she saw him. “Kafi!” She thrust open the door and yanked him into her hallway, slamming the door behind him. “You must be freezing! Get in here.” She dragged him to a fire she'd lit and made him stand in front of it. “And take off your shoes and socks before your toes fall off!”

  And with that, she disappeared through a doorway in back. She returned a few seconds later with a pair of big ski socks. “I know my feet are a lot smaller than yours, but you should be able to get these on.”