‘Some clothes, including three jumpers. That’s excessive, isn’t it?’
‘No, not at all. When I went to Ireland I would have been glad of three jumpers. Very wise I’d say. I think you’re going all Miss Marple again and overthinking this.’
‘We put the Christmas tree up together the other night. We had Christmas songs playing and it was lovely. I thought things were looking a little brighter and now this …’ Carly’s voice was getting quieter with every word and Beth suspected she was fighting back tears.
‘Come on. This is Fergus we’re talking about. He’s one of the good guys. I know things have been a bit rocky but he wouldn’t lie about his grandmother being ill, would he?’
‘I guess not,’ said Carly, followed by a sniff.
‘If you’re in any doubt, ring his family, offer your best wishes and ask someone to let you know when he’s arrived.’
‘It’ll look like I’m checking up on him.’
‘No, it won’t. It’ll look like you care. Okay?’
‘Yes. Good idea. Thanks, Beth.’
Beth was still reflecting on Carly’s phone call when she opened her front door to a large tree.
‘Rockin’ around the Christmas tree …’ sang Jack from behind the foliage.
‘Are you branching out, Mr Selby?’
‘Very funny. Can I come in? It’s brass monkeys out here,’ said Jack as he shoved the tree into the hall. Beth barely managed to hop out of its way.
‘It’s huge! If you’ve stolen this from the village green people will notice, you know.’ She was grinning at her own joke.
Jack’s face bobbed from behind the tree. ‘Someone I know was selling them cheap so I got two.’
‘Who buys a spare Christmas tree?’
He propped the tree carefully against the wall. ‘I usually have one in the living room and one in the conservatory,’ he said, rather haughtily. ‘But this year I thought maybe you would like it. And, to be honest, I couldn’t be bothered to decorate two.’
‘Ah, now we have the truth. What do I owe you?’
‘Nothing. It’s your Christmas present from Doris.’
‘Then how could I refuse? Please thank Doris for me.’
‘Hang on,’ said Jack as he nipped outside and quickly returned holding something up. ‘You’ll need a stand.’
‘You think of everything. It’s a lovely tree, thank you. That’s another Christmas job I can tick off my list. Still need to get decorations though.’
‘I’ve had an idea about that,’ said Jack. ‘There’s a Christmas Fayre on this evening not far from here. I thought you and Leo might fancy going. It’d be a chance to get some decorations. Just a thought.’ He was rubbing his hands together and shifting about uneasily.
‘Yeah, that’d be great. One condition.’
‘Name it.’
‘You have to help decorate this afterwards,’ she said, pointing at the tree.
‘Deal,’ he said with a broad grin.
The chill in the air had made the Christmas Fayre extra Christmassy and thanks to Jack’s charm and haggling, they had come away with lots of sparkly things for Beth to glue to some plain picture frames to make them bespoke and special, as well as a bumper selection of decorations. The decorations were all handmade, some more rustic than others but, as they were each allocated a place on the tree, they all seemed to work together. The three of them stood back to admire their handiwork. Beth frowned at the tree.
‘Something missing?’ asked Jack as Leo gave him a playful nudge.
‘Yeah, we forgot a tree topper. You know like an angel or a star. Never mind, we could make one,’ said Beth, turning to face Jack and Leo. She looked from one to the other. ‘What’s going on?’ She narrowed her eyes.
‘We got you something,’ said Leo. His enjoyment at the secret he was clearly sharing with Jack was palpable.
‘We?’ questioned Beth, turning her stare onto Jack.
He shook his head. ‘He chose it!’
‘He paid!’ countered Leo.
Beth put her hands on her hips and a giggling Leo presented her with a brown paper bag. She opened it carefully to reveal a twig reindeer with a light-up red nose. Leo and Jack were already high-fiving each other and staggering about holding their sides as they laughed.
‘It’s fab. I love it,’ she said, bringing them to an abrupt halt. She got onto the chair they had been using to put on the higher decorations and placed the reindeer at the very top. A quick flick of a switch and the reindeer’s nose started to flash. ‘Perfect.’
She climbed down and stood with Jack and Leo as they admired the tree. It was a job well done. A tap at the window made them all jump but they quickly relaxed when they saw Ernie’s face peering inside and giving them a big smile as he pointed at the tree.
‘What does Ernie do at Christmas?’ asked Beth as she watched through the window as Ernie walked away.
‘Mmm. Good question. He used to spend it here with Wilf. The last couple of years I know Petra has brought Christmas dinner over from the pub, so I think I’ll see if I can convince him to come to the pub with me.’
Leo gave his mother a pleading look but didn’t say anything.
‘If you don’t mind having a late dinner, you and Ernie could always eat here with us,’ said Beth. She tried to sound casual but for some reason it seemed like a big thing to be asking.
Jack was scratching his head and biting the inside of his mouth, which made for an unusual sight. ‘I think Ernie would like that.’
‘I’d like it too!’ said Leo. ‘Doris is invited too, isn’t she, Mum?’
‘Yes, Doris is invited too.’
‘Cool!’ said Leo. His eyes wide, he looked towards Jack awaiting his definitive answer.
‘Yeah, okay then. Thanks, I’d love to come,’ he said as he leaned in and kissed Beth lightly on the cheek. In that fleeting moment she could smell his aftershave, feel the roughness of his chin against her cheek and feel something stir inside.
The next few days whizzed by in a frenzy of glue gun crafting, last-minute shopping, school plays, shifts at the pub and late-night present-wrapping. Carly was calling every evening with an update on the Fergus situation as well as his grandmother’s health. The old lady had suffered a stroke and some other complications so things were not looking promising. Fergus had told Carly he was struggling with his deafness as none of the family could sign apart from his little brother who had learned a little Irish Sign Language from a friend, swear words mainly, but still. The trouble was, Irish Sign Language differed to the British Sign Language that Fergus was used to so it was all proving to be a struggle. His lip-reading had improved but it was still not perfect so he had been reduced to asking people to write things down which Carly knew was always a last resort as it made him feel like an idiot and he hated that feeling.
The good thing seemed to be that they were missing each other. They were texting each other constantly, which was a big improvement. So, despite Carly’s fears, he didn’t appear to have left her. They had also exchanged apologies for the last few months and were now making plans for Christmas. Maybe absence really did make the heart grow fonder after all?
Beth had made reassuring noises on each phone call with Carly and hoped, as Carly did, that Fergus was missing her as much as he said he was. When the phone went on 23 December, Beth knew who it would be.
‘Hiya, Carls, happy Christmas Eve Eve!’
‘And to you. What ya doin’?’
‘Removing giblets from a turkey,’ she said as she balanced the phone precariously between her ear and shoulder. ‘How about you?’
‘Euw!’ said Carly with feeling. ‘I’ve put the last of the presents under the tree and poured myself a large glass of wine.’
‘What’s the latest?’
‘No change is all the hospital will say so the family are still on high alert and keeping a bedside vigil. He’s sent me some lovely texts, I think he really is missing me and not only as a BSL interpreter.’<
br />
‘That’s good, and are you missing him?’
‘More than I thought possible. I just want things back how they were. I don’t need a proposal but I do need Fergus. I know that for sure.’
‘Great. What’s happening about Christmas?’
There was a deep sigh from Carly’s end. ‘He says he’ll be home for Christmas even if he has to get leprechauns to carry him but I’m not so sure. I spoke to his mum tonight whilst he was at the hospital and she was all apologetic that he wouldn’t be back for Christmas and asked if I had considered flying over there!’
‘So, what are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know. I really don’t know.’
‘It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow, Carls, you’re kind of running out of time.’
‘I know, but I don’t want to spend Christmas surrounded by his family. And I don’t want to be on my own. I want it to be just the two of us here.’
‘Then you’d better hope those leprechauns are fast runners!’
Christmas Eve brought its own answers as Beth and Leo woke up to a village painted white with snow and it was still falling fast. Leo was beside himself with excitement and went through three pairs of trousers in his enthusiasm to make snow angels and snowmen in the garden. Beth watched him and Denis through the window as they chased each other with handfuls of snow as it continued to fall at a steady pace. Snowballs suddenly started to fly out from the willow, which was now a cascading beauty in sparkly crystallized snow. The boys were stunned for a moment until they saw Ernie’s grinning face as he peeped through the willow’s frozen fronds to see if his missiles had hit their target. The boys’ excitement went up a notch and a full-on snowball fight ensued. When an errant snowball smashed against the living-room window Beth decided to intervene; it wouldn’t be long before someone got hurt and she would like to avoid any pre-Christmas injuries if she could.
‘Okay, snowball fight over. There’s hot chocolate if you come in now,’ she said as she dodged a snowball that hit the doorframe and shattered spectacularly above her head, dousing her in tiny droplets of snow. There was a lot of giggling as Leo, Denis and Ernie all trooped inside.
Beth was very proud of herself for getting the real fire going as it made the living room come alive and it also generated a lot of heat. The boys were rattling off all the things they wanted for Christmas and Beth tried to ignore the worries that were sweeping over her that Leo would be disappointed with his pile of gifts this year, as it bore no comparison to previous years’. There was a knock at the door and she was instantly distracted. Something made her hesitate before going to answer it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Beth braced herself and opened the front door. A very smiley man stood on the doorstep with a clipboard and Beth immediately relaxed but also felt her charitable side decline; she didn’t need someone trying to sell her something on Christmas Eve.
‘Ms Browne?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ said Beth, anticipating the inevitable awkward moment.
‘Sign here, please,’ he said, handing her the clipboard. He turned and walked away, which was when Beth noticed the large delivery van parked by what was left of her picket fence. She stood still for a moment as confusion reigned. She hadn’t ordered anything so what could it be? She glanced over the paperwork on the clipboard for a clue. One word jumped out at her at the same time as a large box was heaved from the van and the faces at the window identified the package. ‘TELEVISION!’
Beth started to panic. This had to be a mistake and it was bad enough that Leo was spending Christmas without a television, let alone having one wafted under his nose and then cruelly taken away on Christmas Eve. She strode out into the snow to intercept the deliveryman.
‘I’m really sorry, there’s been some mistake. We haven’t ordered a television. This isn’t ours.’
The man who had come to the door was still holding on to his end of the large box. He opened his mouth and tilted his head towards Beth so he could get a look at the paperwork. ‘But you are Ms Browne?’
‘Yes, but …’
‘And this is Willow Cottage, The Green, Dumbleford?’
‘Yes, but …’
‘Then this is where we’re delivering it,’ he said with certainty. ‘Come on,’ he said to his colleague who looked like he was close to dropping the large box, although they now did both look rather Christmassy with their light coating of snow. As they marched the parcel into the hall, the whoops of delight from the living room were deafening and Beth’s heart sank.
Beth heard a car pull up behind the van but she was too busy speed-reading the delivery documentation to see if there was a number she could call.
‘Helloooooo!’ called a familiar voice.
Beth spun round with a frown etched on her face. ‘Carly?’ What was going on?
‘Ooh, it’s beaten me here. That’s good service. I only ordered it last night. Had to pay extra, obviously.’
Beth used the clipboard to point from Carly to the deliverymen who were now heading out of the house. Carly took the clipboard from her, signed her name and handed it to the deliverymen as they passed.
‘Merry Christmas,’ they all chorused and Carly and her wheelie case carried on into the cottage as Beth watched the taxi and delivery van crawl slowly out of the snow-covered drive.
Eventually, Beth came to her senses and went inside. Ernie was sitting on one of the sofas hugging his empty mug and grinning from ear to ear as Leo and Denis ripped apart the box. Carly was in the hall, taking off her shoes and coat.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Beth, closing her eyes briefly as she tried to make sense of everything that was perplexing her.
‘All flights to and from Ireland are cancelled because of the snow. I’ve got hardly any food in because I didn’t know what was happening so I thought I’d surprise you and come for Christmas,’ Carly said, with a beaming smile. ‘Surprise!’ she added belatedly.
‘And?’ Beth gave one firm finger-point in the direction of the cardboard massacre that was occurring on the new living-room carpet.
‘If you think I’m spending Christmas here without a telly you’re very much mistaken.’ She gave Beth a kiss. ‘Merry Christmas. It’s your present for this year and the next gazillion years too!’
‘But I thought Fergus said he’d be home for Christmas, come what may?’ said Beth. However Carly wasn’t listening – she was already helping the boys to set up the television.
Christmas morning was a frenzy of vegetable preparation and wrapping paper as Leo opened his presents and Beth tried to work out what to feed an unexpected vegetarian for Christmas dinner. Beth was mightily relieved that Leo loved his presents and especially the giant Lego set. It was the biggest she could afford and it had gone down a storm. He even seemed pleased with the new jeans and tops that she’d got him which were actually things he’d needed but had made for extra presents to unwrap. Carly was officially the best godmother ever as the television was an afterthought; she had also bought him a tablet, which was now charging in the bedroom.
Ernie appeared mid-morning and Leo thrust a present under his nose as soon as he came in. They’d agreed that the adults would open theirs together in the afternoon but Ernie was the exception to the rule and was allowed one now. Ernie had sat down with the neatly wrapped gift resting on his knee for a while before he eventually gave in to Leo’s pleas for him to open it. Ernie carefully picked at the edges and gently unfolded the paper to reveal his present. Leo lost interest as soon as he saw what it was and quickly returned to his new toys.
Ernie was transfixed by the gift for a long while and when he eventually looked up he had tears in his eyes. Beth felt a prick at the back of hers too.
‘Do you like it, Ernie?’
He nodded and swallowed hard. ‘I lost my owinge scarf,’ he said at last.
‘Now you’ve got a new one,’ said Beth, fighting back the tears. Ernie put on his bright orange scarf and smoothed down the ends. He sat with it on
, nursing a cup of tea as he watched Leo play.
Carly seemed to be keeping her distance from Ernie and Beth sensed that she wasn’t that comfortable around him. She had to admit that she had been cautious of him at first and it registered with her how things had changed since the day he’d chased them away from Willow Cottage.
Beth came downstairs, having changed ready for her shift at the pub, and was putting on her flat shoes when Carly slunk out of the living room.
‘You’re not seriously leaving me here with Leo and him?’ said Carly in a low voice.
‘If you mean Ernie, he’s fine. He doesn’t say much so he’s a good listener, you’ll love him,’ chided Beth.
‘Beth!’ said Carly, her tone aggravated. ‘He’s a strange old man who thinks he lives under a tree. Anything could happen. You read about it in the papers!’ Her eyes were wide and she was nodding frantically.
‘Look, Miss Marple, you are quite safe with Ernie. Give him tea and he’ll be fine. But if his tea runs out make sure he’s not near the poker,’ said Beth as she put her coat on and tried to hide her smirk. Carly stuck her tongue out.
‘Bye, Leo, bye, Ernie. See you later.’ She pulled on her gloves and hat. ‘Carly, stop fretting, I’ll be back in a couple of hours and don’t forget to baste the turkey every hour!’ she said as she left.
‘But I’m a sensitive vegetarian!’ Carly protested to the closed door.
The pub on Christmas Day ran like a well-oiled machine. All the menu choices had been given in weeks before and the meals were timed to perfection. Beth got to pull a cracker and have a glass of champagne so it was not exactly the hardest shift she’d ever done. Everyone was on fine form and the pub was filled with chatter, laughter and crooning from a dodgy Christmas CD. Most of the patrons were the elderly of the village, Shirley included, but there were also a few tables of visitors who were treating themselves to the luxury of someone else cooking their Christmas dinner for them.
Beth lost count of how many bottles of champagne she poured, but everyone was happily merry and the tips were plentiful. When Shirley suggested that they put the Queen’s Christmas message on the TV and demanded that everyone should stand for the national anthem, Petra gave Beth the nod that she could leave. She left with a doggy bag from the chef, two bottles of wine from Petra and Shirley’s rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’ ringing in her ears.
Escape to Willow Cottage Page 19
