Chapter 40
Then Christmas Eve was upon them. Jade and Dorrie had gone to town on the vegetables – they’d prepared most of them already and had done eight different kinds – including buttered chestnut sprouts, roasted parsnips, creamed carrots and fennel, minted peas and two types of squash.
Dorrie had also made the Christmas pudding and Jade had bought a couple of lighter alternatives from the ‘posh’ section of the supermarket.
‘We’ll be too full to move for days,’ Finn had said when he’d seen what they were up to.
‘We don’t need to eat it all at once,’ Jade told him. ‘Although we might need a second fridge to fit all the leftovers in.’
‘In the meantime,’ Finn said, at midday on Christmas Eve, ‘is there actually anything we can eat now that isn’t reserved for the main event tomorrow?’ He peered closer into the fridge. ‘Because all this lot looks like Christmas dinner stuff.’
‘Um, good point.’ Jade frowned as she joined him. ‘I don’t suppose you fancy cheese on toast?’
‘There are some sausage rolls in the breadbin,’ Dorrie said. ‘Special offer from the Co-op.’
Finn flashed her a grateful smile. ‘I think we might have to get you to move in permanently. I’m usually doing well to get cheese on toast.’
‘Don’t listen to him, Dorrie. He gets perfectly well fed.’
‘I can see he does.’ Dorrie laughed and added crisply, ‘His father’s the same, always complaining he’s starving when outside appearances would suggest otherwise.’
‘Are you saying I’m getting chunky?’ Finn objected, patting his stomach.
Both women laughed. Everyone was in high spirits.
The magic of Christmas lay over everything and when that evening Ben phoned to tell them he and Sarah had just seen Carmelita in their garden, it was the icing on the cake.
‘It was definitely her,’ he said when Finn had put his phone on speaker so they could all listen. ‘I recognised her instantly and… guess what…?’
‘What?’ chimed Finn, Jade, Ray and Dorrie, almost in unison.
‘She brought her mate to see us too. She’s got a boyfriend, Dad. I’m not making it up. A big dog fox, and Mum said that next year they’re gonna have babies and they’ll probably bring them to see us too. Didn’t you, Mum?’ His voice went up in volume so even though he moved away from the phone, they could still all hear him clearly.
‘I said that might happen, Ben.’ They could all hear Sarah’s laughter in the background. ‘What do you think, Jade?’
‘I think you’re very probably right,’ Jade said, high with happiness. ‘That’ll be something to look forward to, won’t it?’
‘As well as a wee double wedding,’ Callum said in the background. ‘Although I’m guessing that can’t compete with a fox visit for some of us.’
Everyone laughed again. It was a perfect moment.
* * *
Jade woke up on Christmas Day even earlier than usual.
‘Where are you going?’ Finn said sleepily as she extracted herself from the duvet.
‘Downstairs. Why?’
‘Because it’s a tradition on Christmas Day to make love before daybreak.’
‘No, it isn’t.’
‘Well, it’s a tradition I think we should start,’ Finn said, holding out his arms. ‘Come back to bed.’
It was another twenty minutes, with the tradition well and truly established, before they both got up and went downstairs.
To their surprise, the fragrant smell of Danish pastries and coffee was coming from the kitchen and Dorrie turned from the cooker. ‘Merry Christmas. I thought if I got up early enough, I’d beat you to it.’
A couple of hours later, the humans had feasted on a wonderful mix of Danish pastries and the animals had all been fed and they were busy getting the back room ready for later.
They’d pushed the sofa back to one wall so they could fit in an extra table to go with Jade’s smaller table. A holly leaf-patterned tablecloth covered the join between them. The house Christmas tree had also been shifted as far as possible into the corner. It wasn’t the tree that was technically the problem. It was the mountain of presents, most of which were for Ben, that were beneath it.
Jade had got Finn aftershave, plus some paint brushes and a new lightweight easel that was more transportable than the one he had. They’d bought Callum and Sarah a voucher for a slap-up meal at their favourite restaurant and they’d bought Ben loads of puppy things for Chocko as well as giving him a voucher for a puppy-training course that started in the New Year. They’d bought Dorrie and Ray a meal voucher too because the older couple insisted they had everything they needed already.
Then, of course, there were presents for the three dogs. It was always great fun watching dogs tearing the paper wrapping from their gifts. There were presents for the sanctuary animals too. No one would be left out.
Bridie had sent piles of presents for them all too – they were seeing Bridie and the rest of Finn’s new family for a drink and midday nibbles on Boxing Day. Ray had said he would go for an hour or so. He bore Bridie no ill will and was fond of saying that if things hadn’t turned out the way they had, he’d never have met Dorrie who was, without doubt, the love of his life.
Midway through Christmas Day morning, Finn had a phone discussion with Bridie. She’d left a message on the reception landline, asking him to call her when he had a second, and he sat in the office chair and dialled her number.
‘Happy Christmas, Finn.’ Her voice was soft. ‘I’m so glad you’re back in my life, so I am. Tank you for tracking me down.’ Her Irish accent always sounded stronger on the phone and today was no exception.
‘Me too,’ he said. ‘Happy Christmas, Mum.’
He heard her sharp intake of breath and knew the word Mum hadn’t gone unnoticed.
There was a little pause and when she spoke again, her voice was husky.
‘There’s one more thing, Finn, before you go. Say you’ll hear me out before you answer.’
‘Of course I’ll hear you out.’
‘I know you and Jade were looking to expand the sanctuary into next door, but that Rural Developments acquired the land before you could purchase. We’d like to gift you some of that land.’
Finn began to object but Bridie stopped him. ‘You said you’d hear me out.’ She went on slowly. ‘We can’t give you as much as Jade originally wanted – because it’s somewhere we’d still like to develop, once the invasive plants are sorted out, and there are access issues. But we’d like to give you some of it, Finn. It’ll be in your name, but we’d assume that when you’re married, you’d throw in your lot together, so to speak.’
For a few seconds, Finn was speechless. ‘That’s incredibly generous,’ he said at last. ‘Are you sure you can spare it?’
‘Absolutely. Look at it this way, Finn. I’ve missed almost every Christmas and birthday you’ve had, and I can’t make up for that. But I’m going to try in my own way to make some small amends.’
Again he was speechless and it was Bridie who broke the little silence.
‘We can meet up in the New Year and talk about it properly. We can show you what Chris and I had in mind. I’ll come over. We can walk around the plot.’
‘Thank you,’ he finally managed, and Bridie said, ‘Think nothing of it. Enjoy Christmas, Finn. See you all tomorrow.’
Finn disconnected the landline and let out a deep breath. Wow, he hadn’t been expecting that. Jade was going to be blown away by the news. Progress concerning the development had gone quiet lately but both of them had assumed it would be resurrected at some point in the future when the invasive plants had been dealt with. Now it seemed there might be a compromise. And one that didn’t involve any more subterfuge.
Jade had told him about Ursula’s survey and Finn had thought that sooner or later this would be exposed for what it was – an exaggeration of the facts that wouldn’t permanently delay the building works. Sooner or later, money would win through. In Finn’s experience, it always did.
But maybe he’d been wrong about that. Maybe love could occasionally trump money after all.
When he’d been on the phone, he’d seen Sarah’s car pull into the yard, and she and Ben and Callum were in the process of lifting bags and packages out of the back.
He went out to help them.
‘Happy Christmas, everyone.’
There was lots of hugging and back slapping and then they all went into the house where there were more hugs and back slaps and cries of ‘Happy Christmas’.
Finn was bursting to tell Jade about Bridie’s phone call and her oh so generous offer, but he decided it would be best to tell her later when they were alone. Another secret he was going to have to keep for later. At least it was a good secret.
Like the portrait he’d painted of Jade, which he’d been working on for weeks. Finn had painted it from a photo he’d taken of her and Mickey and Diesel. She’d been sitting at the picnic table outside one summer afternoon with Diesel curled on her lap and Mickey at her feet, looking at her adoringly.
Jade had looked up as Finn had approached and snapped the picture, and he’d captured her smile. She’d looked beautiful.
‘It’s because I’m in my natural environment,’ she’d told him. ‘Surrounded by animals.’
And Finn had agreed and immortalised it forever in paint. It was one of the best things he’d ever done, and he planned to give it to her after Christmas lunch. He couldn’t wait.
* * *
Christmas lunch was almost perfect. Except that Dorrie completely forgot to cook the Christmas pudding.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. ‘I’ll do it now. It’s just a matter of putting it in the steamer. But it will take a couple of hours. Can we have it later – after the presents?’
‘I’ll do it,’ Callum said, standing up and grinning. ‘I bet we’re all far too full for pudding now anyway, aren’t we?’
‘Christmas pudding’s yuck, anyway,’ Ben shouted. ‘We should have presents now .’
Sarah rolled her eyes and all the adults laughed.
‘We should maybe take Chocko out for a quick wee first though,’ Jade suggested, noticing the puppy was sniffing the carpet in the corner of the room.
Ben capitulated instantly and leapt to his feet.
‘Can we take Mickey and Banksy out too?’
‘I’ll come as well,’ Finn said.
‘And me,’ Sarah said. ‘I need some fresh air.’
Outside, Sarah and Jade chattered, their breath rising up into the cool December sky while the three dogs sniffed about on the frosty ground, supervised by Finn and Ben.
‘Are you having a good time?’ Sarah asked Jade.
‘Do you really need to ask? This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.’
‘Me too,’ Sarah said. ‘It’s all about family, isn’t it? I never knew it could feel like this.’
‘Same,’ Jade said. ‘I’m so glad Finn’s finally reconnected with his.’
‘I didn’t really mean that,’ Sarah said quickly. ‘Blood isn’t always thicker than water, Jade, although I know that gets shoved down our throat at this time of year. There’s so much hype around Christmas, isn’t there? I meant the kind of family you choose, the kind you love, the kind that always has your back, no matter what. The friendship kind of family. And the fur and feathered kind.’
‘I know what you mean.’ Jade met Sarah’s eyes, loving her for what she was saying.
They had paused just outside the back door, and Jade’s attention was caught by the sight of a blue Astra parked up on the other side of the main gate. ‘I wonder if that’s someone who wants to drop off an animal. Maybe I should go and check.’
‘If it was, I think they’d have come in before.’ Finn arrived beside them, stamping his feet on the cold ground and blowing on his red hands. ‘It’s colder than it looks out here. That Astra was there earlier. Maybe it’s someone having a stroll around the duck pond to walk off their Christmas dinner.’
‘Yes, you’re probably right.’ Jade smiled at him. ‘We were just talking about families. The friendship kind as well as the blood kind.’
‘Both are equally important,’ Finn said softly, and for a moment they all smiled at each other before Ben arrived, his face flushed with the cold air.
‘Chocko’s done her business. It wasn’t just a wee so I’ve put it in a bag. But I might need to wash my hands now.’
‘Kids sure keep you grounded,’ Sarah said. ‘Come on, love, let’s get you sorted,’ and they all laughed as they strolled back into the welcoming warmth of Duck Pond Cottage.
* * *
In the blue Astra outside the main gates, a man turned a piece of paper over and over in his hand. It was a photocopy of a letter he’d received three months ago. He’d regretted sending it back with the harsh ‘RETURN TO SENDER’ message scrawled on it as soon as he’d done it, but it had been such a shock to receive it. To know that his daughter was looking for him, that she might actually want to know him, despite the fact he’d left her and her mother. There were extenuating circumstances to that, but he’d never had the chance to give his side of the story. And he’d accepted, long ago, that he never would.
Then that letter had arrived and he’d panicked and sent it back. And he’d regretted it ever since. It had taken him all this time to pluck up the courage to come here. He was desperately hoping for a second chance. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to finish the journey.
Hector Ajax Foster glanced through the main gates and saw two smiling women. Could one of them be his daughter? They were both about the right age. And this was the right address. He hesitated. Should he go in now? It was probably the wrong day. Or maybe it was absolutely the right day.
Who knew? Christmas was a funny time. He wiped his sweaty hands on his trouser legs, agonised with himself, opened the car door, then had second thoughts and closed it again. He put on the demister to clear the steamed-up windows. It was no good. He didn’t have the nerve to go in there. Not today. He would do it though. He would do it one day soon.