Christmas at Butterfly Cove

by Sarah Bennett

  ‘It’s fine. More than fine, and it’ll give you all a bit of breathing space should you need it.’ She tapped the end of her pen against her lips, wondering if she should put voice to her biggest concern. She was beginning to regret going along with Luke’s madcap plan. Only he would think the two of them trying to reunite in front of both their families would be a good idea. She sighed. ‘Besides, if we keep your spare room free, it gives us an option for Nee.’

  ‘Oh, good point.’ Mia’s concerns were mirrored in her sister’s gaze.

  ‘Come on, you two, where’s your sense of romance? I think our Luke’s plan is marvellous. Anyone with eyes in their head could see the two of them were smitten with each other at the wedding.’ Madeline sipped her tea, then grinned at them both. ‘Although you were both somewhat distracted, come to think of it.’

  Mia laughed. Much as she’d promised herself that she would catalogue each and every moment of her wedding day, it had passed in a blur of love and laughter. Rather than a home movie, she had mental snapshots of specific moments – the look on Daniel’s face when she’d stepped up beside him; her tiny Wonder Woman bridesmaid cartwheeling across the garden; Richard and Madeline putting them all to shame on the dance floor when Luke’s playlist hit a sixties medley; the tremble in Daniel’s fingers when he’d unbuttoned the back of her dress.

  And Kiki, of course. Going from confusion, to shock, to incandescent happiness when Aaron declared his love for her in front of everyone. She smiled to herself. The Spenser men had a thing for grand gestures.

  A wave of heat and nausea wiped the smile off her face. She’d picked up a flu bug the last few days, and couldn’t seem to shake it. Daniel had nagged her to make an appointment to see the doctor before he’d left that morning, but she didn’t see the point. It was winter and people got coughs, colds and lots of other nasty bugs. Once things settled down a bit and she had a chance to catch up on her sleep, she’d be right as rain.

  They’d been so busy it was no wonder she felt rundown, and her mother’s death had knocked her more than she’d expected it to. She’d found her face wet with tears more than once in the month since the funeral. Taking time to rest had been out of the question. She and Daniel had been flat-out clearing and closing up the studios for the winter. Once the final guest had departed from the guest house, she’d moved straight on to giving all the rooms a thorough clean. She and Kiki had worked like demons, taking down the curtains, shampooing the carpets with a monstrous machine hired from a local DIY store, washing down the paintwork so Daniel could touch up spots here and there.

  They’d done the same with the teashop, although it had only been open a handful of weeks. Everything had been deep-cleaned, and the chairs and tables covered for the winter. The contractors they used had fashioned shutters for the windows and the place was sealed up tight against the worst of the weather.

  Once she’d started, Mia kept finding other things that needed doing; she wanted everything shipshape before Christmas. There was method to her madness. She hadn’t told him yet, but Mia had arranged with the others that the first two weeks of the New Year would be for her and Daniel alone. No guests, no friends or family, just the two of them and lots of peace and quiet. She rubbed a hand across her clammy forehead. She really ought to give the doctor a ring and see if he could squeeze her in before they switched to their emergency timetable for the holidays.

  ‘Still feeling peaky?’ Kiki reached her hand across the table and gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze.

  Mia nodded. ‘I really must call Doctor Laing. It’s a miracle Daniel hasn’t picked this up from me. The last thing I want is to risk spreading it around when we’ve got a houseful.’

  Madeline raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure what you’ve got is catching, darling girl.’ She turned her attention back to her notepad. ‘I’ll do a couple of large quiches and some sausage rolls for the buffet. What else? A rice salad, perhaps?’

  Sitting back in her chair, Mia frowned at her friend, still stuck on her cryptic comment. It was true that Kiki had spent long hours with her over the past couple of weeks, but they’d been cleaning frantically so any germs from her bug wouldn’t have stood a chance against all the household sprays and bleach they’d used. Daniel had ignored her suggestion that one or other of them move into another room as she’d crouched miserably in front of the toilet that morning. Thankfully the worst of her symptoms tended to wear off during the day… oh.

  Apparently not noticing her silence, Madeline continued to discuss menu options with Kiki. They debated the pros and cons of a cold roast chicken versus gammon or perhaps a selection of seafood. Mia swallowed hard over the thought of prawn cocktails. ‘Can you pass my bag, Kiki Dee?’

  Her sister unhooked the miniature backpack from the seat beside her and carried it around the table to crouch next to her. ‘You’re very pale. Why don’t you go and lie down for a bit? Mads and I have got this in hand.’

  Ignoring the gentle hand Kiki pressed against her forehead, Mia scrabbled through the contents of her bag until she found her purse. Undoing the stud fastener, she dragged out the jumble of cards filling the slots. Discarding her debit and credit cards, a loyalty card for a coffee shop she hadn’t visited in a year or more, and half a dozen folded receipts that should have been filed with her business accounts, she stared at the mostly white card gripped between her bloodless fingers. The handwritten numbers were slightly blurred, but still readable. Date of insertion: 28/09/14. Date for removal: 27/09/17.

  With trembling fingers, she passed the card to Kiki and forced herself to meet Madeline’s eyes. ‘It completely slipped my mind. It was a couple of months before Jamie… and I tend to avoid thinking about anything around that time.’ How could she have been so stupid? What the hell was she going to tell Daniel? They’d talked about it and children were definitely on the cards, but not for a year or two. They had plans, a schedule to keep to.

  Kiki’s hand gripped her knee, and she glanced down at her. ‘This card is for your contraceptive implant, yes?’ Mia nodded mutely. ‘Oh. Oh.’ Her sister’s eyes widened and she nibbled at her bottom lip. ‘Did you… well, obviously not… you might not be…’

  Mia swallowed. ‘You don’t believe that, though, do you?’

  ‘I think you’d better make that appointment, straight away.’

  ‘Well, Mrs Fitzwilliams, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.’ Doctor Laing nodded to the ziplock bag containing half a dozen tests she’d placed on his desk after sitting down. ‘We need to remove your implant immediately. Once that’s done, I’ll do some routine health checks, blood pressure and the like, and then you can pop down the corridor and the practice nurse will draw some blood. Given what you’ve told me, it’s hard to pinpoint an accurate date, although they generally don’t expire immediately. We need to get you booked in for a scan.’ He frowned at the calendar. ‘I can try and get you an appointment for next week, but with it being Christmas week, perhaps very early in the New Year might be easier?’

  ‘I’ve got guests arriving tomorrow and through until the New Year, so beginning of January would be better, if you think that will be okay? I haven’t told my husband yet, you see.’ She gave a little shrug. I’m still trying to get my head around it all. I feel so stupid.’ She gulped against the sudden lump in her throat, not wanting to start crying in front of him.

  The doctor smiled. ‘Take a deep breath and we’ll deal with this one step at a time. Take your jumper off so I can access your arm, and make yourself comfortable on the bed…’

  Head spinning and with her handbag stuffed full of useful leaflets from the practice nurse, Mia started the car and eased her way out of the narrow entrance to the surgery car park. The weather was bright and clear, and frost glittered on parts of the pavements still in shadow. Suddenly terrified of hitting a patch of ice, she started to crawl along the side street until the angry honking of a car horn behind her startled her. Giving herself a mental shake, she waved in apology to the i
rate man glaring at her through the rear-view mirror and increased her speed. Luck wasn’t on her side when she turned left and the tailgater followed her onto the main road. The bright orange sign of a superstore beckoned to her and she steered into the slip road to her left. Still not satisfied, the man who’d been following pulled up next to her to shake his fist and mouth something obscene from the way his mouth twisted before he roared away. Flicking him a surreptitious ‘v’ sign, she turned her attention to the Herculean task of finding a free parking space outside a supermarket on the day before Christmas Eve.

  Clutching a takeaway hot chocolate from the in-store café, Mia steered her small trolley one-handed through the bedlam. There was enough food in the pantry, fridge and freezer at Butterfly House to survive a month-long siege, and likely the same amount in both Madeline’s and Kiki’s kitchens too, but somehow, between them, they’d managed to forget a few things. Turning into one of the chiller aisles, she took a deep breath and began to edge her way patiently towards her first target. A frazzled-looking woman with a baby carrier strapped in her trolley gave her a weary smile as they did the obligatory two-step shuffle, trying and failing to get out of each other’s way.

  ‘You first,’ Mia wedged herself into a small spot beside the cheese, and the woman’s expression brightened.

  ‘Thank you! I don’t know what I was thinking coming in here today.’ She paused next to Mia then nodded behind her. ‘Sorry, could you grab me a block of cheddar? Medium if you can see it?’

  Mia twisted around, found the right cheese and handed it over, taking the chance to peek inside the carrier at the little bundle inside. ‘Someone’s first Christmas, I see. How lovely.’

  ‘We’ve gone a bit mad with the presents, even though she’s too young to have any idea what’s going on. I made the mistake of looking in the clothing aisle just now. Nick’s going to kill me when he sees the outfits I’ve picked up for her.’ The doting smile on her face said Nick would be doing no such thing. A man behind them tutted, and Mia’s new friend raised her eyebrows. ‘We’re causing a traffic jam, I’d better get on. Happy Christmas!’

  ‘Happy Christmas!’ Mia stayed where she was until the crush in the aisle thinned out enough for her to grab a couple of tubs of brandy butter, then she escaped into the main thoroughfare of the store with a sigh of relief. Digging out her list, she checked on the rest of the items she needed and turned left. Something sparkly and pink caught her eye and she paused by the children’s clothing aisle. Maybe just a quick look…

  ‘Hey, there you are!’ Daniel jumped up from his chair to grab the carrier bags from her hands as she staggered through the back door. He dumped the bags on the table, then turned back to cup her cheek. ‘You look knackered, love. Put your feet up, and I’ll make you a cup of tea, yeah?’

  Sinking into the seat he pulled out for her, Mia studied him from the back as he pottered around making them a drink. The first hints of the silver she loved in his beard were starting to gleam in his hair now too. Not many, just the odd glint as he turned his head and the overhead light caught a strand or two. Months of hard work around the guest house and then the barns had added bulk to his shoulders, though he’d never be considered broad compared to Aaron.

  ‘The tree came whilst you were out and it looks fantastic. Aaron gave me a hand to set it up, and then we put the artificial ones in the sitting rooms.’ He smiled at her over his shoulder. ‘We decided to leave the decorating to the experts, though.’ She returned his grin; Kiki, Aaron and the children were coming over first thing to make a start on the big tree. ‘But I thought it might be nice if you and I did the one in our front room.’

  She caught the faintest hint of a blush on his cheek, and melted a little. They’d decided to use both the smaller, private sitting room she and Daniel used as well as the larger one reserved for paying guests. Theirs would be designated adults only, a place for anyone needing a bit of peace and quiet from the impending mayhem. In the happy chaos of arranging everything, it would be easy to lose sight of the fact that this was their first Christmas together too. ‘I’d like that. We could put on a cheesy movie, and I’ll make us some hot chocolate with marshmallows.’ Next year, things would be very different, their whole life together transformed.

  Plonking down a couple of mugs, he hooked the chair next to hers with his foot and dragged it close before sitting down. Spreading his knees, he leaned forward to tug her seat even closer. ‘Come here, Mrs Fitzwilliams, I haven’t seen you all day.’ He pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, the strands of his beard soft against her face.

  She gripped a playful handful of the bushy growth beneath his chin. ‘You look like one of those mountain men.’ An exaggeration, perhaps, but he was several weeks past a trim.

  ‘I’ll clip it tonight, before we go to bed.’

  The gleam in his stunning eyes sent a lick of heat through her, and she grinned. ‘You’ve a one-track mind, Mr Fitzwilliams.’

  He sat back in his chair with a grin. ‘I can’t help it. My wife’s too damn distracting to think of anything else.’ His gaze must have caught on the shopping bags, because he reached to drag one closer. ‘Unless you’ve brought me a present?’

  An unconscious hand strayed to her stomach. Would the baby inside her have brown eyes like her, or green as a storm-tossed ocean to match her daddy? She suddenly couldn’t wait to tell him. It might be a shock, might be a huge spanner in the works of their carefully laid plans, but they’d done something incredible – created a new life. ‘Daniel…’

  ‘Who eats this bloody stuff?’ His nose wrinkled at the jar of brandy butter in his hand.

  Mia took a deep breath and tried again. ‘Try the other bag.’ Her voice cracked on the last word and she coughed to clear the sudden tension in her throat.

  ‘Hmm?’ He stacked a couple of boxes of savoury biscuits on the table next to the butter.

  She inclined her head. ‘There’s something for you in the other bag.’

  ‘A present? It’s not Christmas yet.’ His mouth quirked, but he pulled the second bag closer. ‘What’s this?’ He lifted out the tiny white bodysuit and turned it backwards and forwards, flashing the embroidered teddy bear holding an ‘I ♥ Daddy’ banner between its paws. ‘Mia?’

  Unable to speak past the lump in her throat, she could only nod in response.

  ‘But… but, how?’ The little suit looked tiny in his hands as he waved it like a flag.

  The utter confusion in his voice made her laugh. ‘The usual way. I know it’s not what we planned, and I’m so sorry for that. I made a mistake with my implant dates. I know you wanted to get at least one full year of running this place under our belts.’ The words babbled out of her until she ended on an apologetic shrug.

  Still clutching the baby suit, he twisted back in his seat to face her. ‘Are you telling me the most organised woman I’ve ever met has made a mistake? That my wife, the queen of schedules and planners, has been caught off-guard by Mother Nature?’ The gentle tease of his words soothed any lingering doubts she might have had over his reaction.

  ‘So, you don’t mind?’

  Leaning forward to grip her hips, he lifted her off her chair until she straddled his lap. ‘Mind? You’ve given me the best bloody present a man could ever ask for.’ His hands glided from her hips to her shoulders, then higher to cup her face. ‘Merry Christmas, Mrs Fitzwilliams.’

  Chapter Nine

  ‘Can you manage that one, Eirênê?’

  ‘I’m fine, Dad. You get the black one, I think it’s the heaviest. What on earth have you brought with you?’ Nee waved off her father’s concern as she hauled the suitcase down from the luggage rack at the end of their compartment. Thankfully, the little station at Orcombe Sands was the end of the line so there was no mad rush to unload their bags. Just as well, because George wasn’t the only one who’d gone overboard with their gift shopping. With each round-robin update email from Mia about arrangements, Nee’s list of things to buy had expanded. Luke had sugges
ted they collaborate on gifts, which had made her a little uncomfortable at first. He’d talked her round during one of his evening calls, presenting a seemingly unending list of logical arguments, until she’d laughingly surrendered.

  They’d done a lot of laughing over the past few weeks. One call to check up on her after he first returned to London had turned into two, three, until it became clear he was going to call her every day. He never raised any heavy topics, didn’t talk about them in any context other than relating to the events Mia and Daniel were planning.

  He knew she’d spoken to Kiki about New York, but hadn’t pressed for further details. Just as well, because she didn’t think she’d be able to talk about the conversations with the crisis helpline Kiki’s counsellor had recommended without breaking down. They’d barely scratched the surface, but she’d reached at least one important milestone in the process – it didn’t matter what had or hadn’t happened in those lost hours. Devin had betrayed her trust, had acted without her consent, had raped her regardless of the biological reality of their encounter. Having a label to pin on it, without feeling she had to dismiss her feelings because she didn’t meet some random legal definition or because she’d been left physically unscathed, had come as a relief. They still had some way to go, but with acknowledgement had come the strength to compartmentalise.

  She’d begun to look forward to Luke’s calls, even planning her days around that precious hour when she could forget the sadness of sorting through her mother’s belongings as she helped her father go through the house. George was toying with the idea of selling up and moving somewhere else – somewhere closer to Butterfly Cove, she suspected, although he hadn’t said as much. She couldn’t blame him; had already decided that, whatever happened over Christmas, she wouldn’t be returning with him. Too much had happened beneath that roof for her to ever be able to consider it home.