The Christmas Menagerie

by Minna Howard

  ‘Dom says I can go and stay there whenever I like, but I won’t go if that pervy boyfriend is there,’ she grumbled. ‘So, you are stuck with me for a while, Mum.’

  ‘That’s fine, love, and I hope you can go and visit Dom soon when he’s settled,’ Amelia said, wondering if now Dom had gone, she and Rufus might get together. It was obvious he was fond of her.

  She had just parked the car to go shopping on Saturday when she saw Cynthia. She pretended she hadn’t seen her, but Cynthia made a beeline for her.

  ‘What did you say to Jules to make him stop me picking up Dickon from school?’ she demanded.

  ‘You forgot him, I didn’t need to say anything,’ Amelia said. ‘You know he’s quite a sensitive child and it’s important not to let him down.’ She faced her; Cynthia was a beautiful woman, but there was a coldness about her which was not attractive. She guessed she was not short of male attention and wondered how deep her and Jules’s relationship really was.

  ‘Well, you were there to take him home.’ She shot her a withering look.

  ‘Fortunately, I was, now excuse me, I must get on.’ Amelia moved away.

  ‘Jules and I go way back, so I suggest you stay away from him,’ Cynthia said.

  Amelia said nothing and walked away from her, wondering what she meant. Jules had never shown her anything more than friendship and not always that when he was complaining about Sophie’s interest in the kennels. Was Cynthia really worried about that?

  44

  Giles came to collect Dickon. He came over to Amelia as she was trying to mend one of her form’s bag. The girl had overloaded it and the flimsy handle had snapped. ‘Are you free on Sunday? If so, please come to lunch,’ he said.

  ‘I’d love to, thank you, but I must get myself together and have all of you over. Once we break up I’ll have far more energy for entertaining.’ She wondered if Jules wanted to find out what was going on at the kennels.

  ‘We’ll look forward to it, but I’m glad you can come, we don’t see enough of you.’

  Dickon said, ‘You can hold Luna for longer this time, there won’t be so many people there who might stand on him if you drop him.’

  ‘Oh, well, I’d try very hard not to drop him. I look forward to seeing him,’ she said, catching Giles’s eye.

  ‘We might get a puppy, that’s what I want for my birthday. Only Dad says if we go away it might be difficult to find someone to look after it, but I said you would, like you did all the other animals at Christmas.’ He watched her carefully.

  ‘I don’t know about that, Dickon. Amelia might be going away herself,’ Giles said. ‘Now come along. Look forward to seeing you Sunday, around twelve-thirty.’ He left the room, shepherding Dickon in front of him.

  Wilfred and a couple of young men arrived at her house before nine on Sunday. They had come before to take away any plants they didn’t think looked right in her garden, taking no notice of her protests. ‘You can’t possibly keep that horrid thing,’ was the death knell for quite a few plants, so in the end she left them to it, knowing the garden did look a mess and anything they did to it would be a vast improvement.

  ‘I’m relieved you haven’t got any little boys to ruin it with their footballs and clumsiness. Some people spend a fortune on plants and then put in a huge goal or a climbing frame and quite ruin our design,’ Wilfred remarked, producing a plan and instructing the young men what to put where.

  ‘You are both so kind,’ she said. ‘I’m sure it will look wonderful.’

  ‘I’m sure it will, but we’ll come and keep an eye on it.’ Wilfred turned to leave. He’d come in his car and the young men in the van with the plants. ‘I better go before Jamie gets accosted by a bossy woman buying highly unsuitable plants for her garden. We get requests for trees, huge things for a garden barely the size of a handkerchief. You wouldn’t believe how clueless some people are,’ he said before he left, leaving Amelia wondering if he thought of her this way. She didn’t know much about gardening. In London they had a small paved garden with masses of pots of things, no room at all for a tree, quite different to this large one.

  Sophie texted her later saying they had so much to do she was going to stay the night at Birchwood. They wanted to finish demolishing what was left of the kennels and she’d be too exhausted to drive home.

  She remembered now that Rufus’s builder friend was there too. Safety in numbers, she thought and texted back that she was going out to lunch and would see her the following evening.

  Dickon was watching out for her, sitting by the window in the hall. He jumped up and opened the front door and ran out to meet her.

  ‘Good, you’ve come. Luna’s been waiting ages for you.’ He took her hand to pull her inside.

  ‘I’m sure Amelia is longing to see him but first let us all say hello to her and give her a drink.’ Giles joined them, kissing her hello. ‘I’m so glad you could come, Amelia.’

  ‘Me too,’ she said, her feelings of shyness disappearing.

  They went inside and Jules came to welcome her, kissing her quickly on her cheek, as he might an aged aunt. ‘Great to see you. Hope you are still animal-free.’

  ‘Yes, though Easter is fast approaching so I’m hoping no one will ask me to take their pets in for that. I might even go away myself to avoid it.’ She followed him into the living room where, to her joy, she saw Vero and Ben who greeted her warmly. Giles obviously enjoyed entertaining, but he did have two wonderful women who did all the cooking and – no doubt the worst bit of entertaining – the clearing up afterwards.

  Leonora bustled into the room with a jug of fresh orange juice. Remembering Dickon’s description of his great-uncle so often changing his women friends, she seemed to have lasted quite a while.

  Dickon hovered impatiently beside her. Jules gave her a glass of the orange juice which she thought she’d start with and then have wine for lunch.

  Vero said, ‘You were such a star at our gruesome dinner party, Jules. I feel so sorry for Rosalind. She should dump that drunken husband of hers or she will never be asked anywhere.’

  ‘I popped into her shop the other day. I was passing and saw her arranging the window and thought I’d see how she was. She was mortified and apologised, but she thought it was because Hamish had a nervous tic.’ Amelia said.

  ‘Nervous tic?’ Vero exclaimed, with a laugh. ‘That’s a novel way of putting it. Anyway, Jules, you were the star of the night, frog marching him away like that. Have you worked in a pub or something and are used to throwing drunkards out?’

  He laughed. ‘No, but I’ve learnt it’s best to get rid of drunk people before it causes even more unpleasantness. I feel really sorry for Rosalind though.’

  Dickon pulled at Amelia’s hand, impatient to take her to see Luna, she turned to go with him. The doorbell went again, more guests – this family certainly liked entertaining.

  Jules went to answer it and Amelia was just about to go with Dickon when she saw David coming into the room.

  Her heart sank. Why was he here? Though he was a friend of Jules and perhaps he felt he needed cheering up as his love life had bombed, but after their last meeting she felt she needed a rest from him.

  ‘Amelia!’ He came over and kissed her cheek, his hand squeezing her arm. ‘How lovely to see you again.’

  ‘And you,’ she said mechanically.

  Dickon pressed closer to her as if to remind her they were on their way to see Luna.

  ‘I’m coming now, Dickon.’ She put down her glass. ‘I’m just off to see Dickon’s gecko,’ she explained, relived to see Leonora approaching him with a plate of crudités.

  ‘Okay, see you in a moment then.’ David took the drink Jules handed to him with one hand and then one of Leonora’s crudités, with the other, cramming it into his mouth.

  Amelia escaped with Dickon, going down the passage and through the kitchen where Janey and Sara were busy getting the lunch.

  ‘She’s come to see Luna,’ Dickon explained.

>   ‘Who is “she”?’ Janey smiled at him.

  ‘Amelia. She wants to see him,’ Dickon said. ‘Don’t you?’ He turned to her.

  ‘Yes, very much,’ Amelia said, having exchanged a word with the two women busy with lunch. They went into the small room where Luna lived. Dickon handed him to her, and she held him gingerly. He stared at her as if to say, ‘I know you don’t much like me as I’m not cuddly and soft.’

  She sat next to David at lunch with Giles on her other side. She had a feeling that Jules was watching them though that was probably her overzealous imagination. It was a rowdy, happy table and it was easy to side-track David when he lent close, saying he missed her, and they must meet up very soon.

  ‘I’m so busy in termtime, I have quite an exhausting class, and Sophie’s at home for a while now, as her fiancé has got a job in the States, and Grania, my elder daughter is back too,’ she said, hoping it would put him off.

  When the meal was finished Amelia stayed close to Vero and Ben. Dickon brought in Luna to say hello, before Giles suggested they take advantage of the blue sky and the sun being out and go for a walk.

  It was cold but there was a feeling of spring being just around the corner and it was staying light longer. They passed the greening hedgerows, bare sticks now bursting with buds. They walked down a lane, Giles leading the way, with Leonora linking arms with him. Dickon ran here and there, occasionally bending down to pick up an interesting stone, or snatch up a stick from the hedgerow.

  There were fields either side of them, some had the brown earth turned over waiting for crops to be sown, others left green with pigs rootling around in the mud.

  David kept trying to walk beside Amelia, somehow get her away from the group. She became aware that Jules was watching them carefully. She wished he would come and somehow engage David in conversation so she could escape. She managed to catch Vero’s eye who came to the rescue, though hardly in a tactful way.

  ‘I hear Sophie and Rufus are determined to open the kennels again,’ she announced. ‘I understand they’ve got a builder on site and have crowdfunded for the money.’ She turned to Amelia for confirmation.

  Jules, walking just behind them, could not help but hear. He said, ‘How far have they got, Amelia? You know they can’t build anything without permission, and I want to know about it too. It won’t be cheap. It needs to be carefully designed and costed and inspected to be sure it is suitable to house animals. I could help them with that.’

  ‘You must ask them. I don’t know anything about it,’ she said, not wanting to be drawn into any disagreements.

  Vero, not reading the vibes, went on, ‘I’ve heard that they’ve raised quite a good sum already and have started building, though I don’t know if they will get it up and ready for Easter. Otherwise,’ she said to Amelia, ‘they might all come to you again with their animals.’

  ‘Having them over Christmas this year was a one-off,’ Jules said rather bossily. ‘Amelia can’t take in so many again.’

  ‘It was such a fiasco, wasn’t it?’ Vero went on. ‘Dead tortoises, mouse babies and that parrot,’ she laughed, ‘being chased up the stairs by Ziggy and Osbert.’

  ‘Is that true?’ Jules demanded. ‘I was afraid something like that would happen.’

  Vero, guessing she’d put her foot in it, laughed. ‘No, not really, but it almost did, but don’t tell Jamie and Wilfred for they’ll freak out and send Cleo for counselling or something.’ She looked anxiously at Amelia, afraid now that Jules might tell them.

  Jules said, ‘We must be thankful that they were all returned safely to their owners even if the mice had multiplied, though that was the pet shop’s fault really.’

  ‘Let me take you away somewhere warm for Easter, Amelia,’ David suddenly proclaimed. ‘It’s such a lovely time to go to Europe, far nicer than in the summer when everywhere is crowded out.’ He smiled at her. ‘How about Spain, I know just the place that you’ll love.’

  45

  David’s remark caused surprise and embarrassment. Vero, who knew how Amelia felt about him and would not want to go away alone with him, and possibly have the embarrassment of him booking a double room, squeezed her arm to show her support. The rest of the party had no idea how the land lay between them.

  Amelia kept her eyes on the road, saying, ‘What a kind thought, David, but I’m hoping to go and visit my sister in Scotland then. I didn’t go for Christmas as they had a full house, and anyway, I dread the journey going up there in the winter now I’m on my own, so I’m probably going at Easter.’

  She had not mentioned this to Tania, who for all she knew was going away herself. She felt trapped now as Jules was asking David where he would go in Spain and making it sound as if he too thought it a great idea for them to go, Europe being at its best in the spring.

  Since their brief meeting in the town, she was relieved to find that Cynthia was not there for lunch. Amelia wondered if she was still on the scene or had been banished after forgetting to pick up Dickon from school. She assumed that if she still worked at the veterinary surgery, Jules no doubt saw her every day.

  She couldn’t help feeling that Jules was rather hoping that she and David would get together. They were both without a partner now and what could be better than them becoming an item? She felt hot as she remembered the scene after that Christmas party when David had said he’d drive her home and she could leave her car at Vero’s and Ben’s. Jules had no doubt thought they had gone back to her house and spent the night together. He must also have heard that they went to that new restaurant on Valentine’s Day. She wouldn’t put it past Jamie and Wilfred to gossip about that. Would anyone believe, herself included, that David hadn’t known it was Valentine’s Day?

  Dickon bounced along beside them. The lane was dotted with potholes and any puddle he saw he splashed through or jumped in, having the first time splashed Jules, who’d grumbled at him, telling him to run ahead and keep out of people’s way.

  Ben, knowing from Vero, Amelia’s feelings about David, did his bit by changing the subject.

  ‘Talking of going away, Jules, are you and Dickon staying on here or are you taking that vet’s job in Hampshire?’

  There was a sudden silence as everyone, especially Giles, still leading the party in front, seemed to be listening for his answer.

  ‘I haven’t quite made up my mind,’ Jules said. ‘It’s a good practice with a nice crowd working there, and a house to go with the job. I also like it here, being with Giles, and Dickon seems to have settled in a good school, so I’m not sure.’ He glanced ahead at Dickon now busy prodding something with a stick. ‘I have to put Dickon first at this time and I’ve uprooted him from France, the only home he remembers, and he’s happy here with his great-uncle.’ He smiled at Giles who was now walking beside him, Leonora still clutching his arm. ‘Though as Giles knows, we can’t share his hospitality forever.’

  ‘It won’t be forever at my age,’ Giles said, ‘and the house is more than big enough for us all. I can make over half the house to you so you can arrange it as you like. But you must do what you think is best for you and Dickon.’ He clapped his hand on Jules’s shoulder. Amelia guessed that Giles would really love them to stay, though being the man he was, he would not try and influence him.

  But Jules’s answer to Ben’s question left Amelia feeling unhappy and she was relieved when they turned for home

  David now set to asking her out again. ‘There are some very good plays on in London just now, perhaps you’d like to come up to one. We could make a weekend of it.’

  It was surely her imagination, but Amelia felt that Jules was waiting intently for her answer.

  ‘Oh, what’s on? We might come with you, we keep saying we must do it, don’t we Ben? Though we never seem to get around to it,’ Vero said.

  David now looked rather put out. ‘I don’t know what you like, or if you prefer musicals, Amelia?’ He threw her a frantic look as if to inform her he didn’t want Vero and Ben to c
ome as well.

  ‘Lovely idea, David, though I can’t do anything until the end of term,’ she said, praying that by then he’d have got the message.

  David looked perplexed. ‘But you only teach babies, Amelia, hardly A levels when the students need such extra care,’ he said.

  ‘They are a bit older than babies,’ Jules said. ‘She teaches the class below Dickon and he has homework at the weekend, and I think her class does too?’

  ‘Well, they do have reading,’ Amelia said, though it was expected that their parents dealt with that, which left her weekends virtually free. She could easily go to London with David and she would enjoy being back there, taking in a play and perhaps an exhibition and going to a good restaurant, and the shops.

  ‘Thank you for asking, but I’m tied up until after Easter now both of my daughters are at home.’ She smiled at him, hoping he would accept it, though Grania was somewhere with Gus and Sophie spent much time at the kennels.

  They were back at the house now. Giles asked them to stay for tea. David thanked him but said he must get back. He looked crushed, throwing Amelia reproachful looks making her feel as if she was being unfair to him. She gave him a warm kiss goodbye, saying, including them all, that she’d been very lazy with her entertaining and she would arrange a supper party too.

  ‘Not supper because then I can’t come.’ Dickon looked up from taking off his gum boots.

  ‘Well, a lunch one then.’ She smiled at him. ‘Then you can come.’

  ‘And Luna, can he come too?’ he asked.

  ‘I think he wouldn’t be very happy to be away from his warm home for so long,’ Jules said. ‘But a lunch party sounds a great idea, perhaps in the holidays.’

  David left looking sad and Amelia, feeling distressed knowing she’d probably caused it, had to warn herself not to appear too warm or he might get the wrong idea.

  The rest of them sat down to tea, homemade scones and a lemon sponge cake. Vero sat close to her. ‘You know David’s mad about you. He’s a decent man but I do see if you don’t feel the same way about him you shouldn’t get involved. Pity, that’s all. But don’t stay alone forever, Esmond would not expect it. He knew he’d leave you behind one day. He cherished every day he had with you – you know that.’