Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
When I awoke the next morning, I was still grinning.
I lay for a moment letting the events of last night return to me and reliving every spinetingling moment.
My hand went automatically to my necklace, as it so often did, and I cautiously probed my feelings about Paulo.
To my surprise, they were less raw than usual and felt, oddly, both combined with yet detached from my bubbling happiness over what had happened with Nick.
And what of Nick? I was well aware that I still didn’t know him very well, that he was planning to move goodness knew where in the world, but somehow those thoughts failed to take hold.
All I could think of was how he had opened up to me about his father, how wholeheartedly he had thrown himself into making Christmas special for his family, how tender, then passionate, his kisses had been.
I sighed. Not much point in trying to disentangle it all now, I thought. Let’s see where today takes me.
I hopped out of bed, took a quick shower and went in to see Marilise, who was already sitting up in bed.
‘Good morning!’ I said, going to open the curtains. ‘Oh, look. It’s snowing, how gorgeous!’
‘I do love the snow,’ she replied. ‘Is it that which has put you on such good form this morning, Laura? You are so cheerful.’
I beamed at her, part of me longing to perch on the side of her bed and spill out the whole story, but although she probably wouldn’t have minded in the least, it wouldn’t have been remotely appropriate or professional.
‘There is something uplifting about snow,’ I said. ‘And I’m looking forward to putting the decorations up today.’
‘Christmas has crept back into your heart,’ said Marilise. ‘I’m glad. Did you make your mince pies?’
‘The mince pies!’ I exclaimed in horror. ‘I forgot all about them.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Marilise. ‘I don’t think Sofia will have gone down yet. I am perfectly comfortable here, if you would like to go and deal with it? And then I would like to go downstairs again for breakfast.’
‘Thank you!’ I called, dashing from the room, berating myself.
How could I have forgotten? Too busy lost in my girlish romantic dreams; I had better pull myself together.
Put Nick to the back of my mind and focus on what needed to be done.
That lasted about thirty seconds. I burst into the kitchen, and there he was, moving the mince pies from the cooling rack onto a plate.
He turned as I made my rather inelegant entrance.
‘Oh! You remembered! I’d forgotten all about them!’
‘Morning,’ he said, smiling as he wiped the cooling rack and put it back in the cupboard. ‘I was down early with Steve, otherwise I would have forgotten, too. Lots of other things on my mind.’
He gazed at me as I floated across the room to him, then took my hand. He was lowering his head to mine for another kiss, when the door opened and we sprang apart guiltily.
‘Good morning,’ said Angela, her eyes darting between us as she no doubt correctly appraised the situation. ‘Still making those mince pies?’
‘They’re all done,’ said Nick, holding up the plate. ‘Just have to put them in a window.’
‘What about the number?’ I gasped. ‘I haven’t done that, either.’
‘All in hand,’ said Nick, picking up a piece of paper from the table, on which he had printed out a large and lavishly decorated number three.
‘You two seem to have swapped roles this morning,’ observed Angela, a smile pushing at her lips as she filled the kettle. ‘Nick all calm and organised and you, Laura, if you don’t mind me saying, a little flustered.’
I flushed, but Nick gave an easy grin.
‘Are you saying I’m normally flustered, Angela?’ he said in a tone of mock outrage.
‘Well, maybe more in a constant state of flux,’ she replied teasingly. ‘Now tell me, will this new state of tranquillity rub off on that dog of yours at all? He’s in the front hall at the moment, growling at the shadows the falling snow is making.’
‘I don’t think Steve remembers seeing snow before,’ said Nick. ‘He was very surprised by it when I took him out this morning. Right, I’d better go and get this sorted before Sofia appears.’
‘I’ll go and help Marilise,’ I said. ‘She’d like to come down for breakfast again today, please, Angela.’
Soon the whole family was around the table, eating and watching the falling snow.
‘Do you think there will be enough to make a snowman?’ asked Sofia, who had insisted on trying one of the mince pies she found beside the bathroom window for breakfast and declared it ‘awesome’.
‘It looks thick,’ said Astrid. ‘So you might be in luck, but we have the decorating to do as well.’
She glanced at her phone for the millionth time that morning, looking anxious. I wondered what was bothering her, but it wasn’t the right time to ask.
‘Do you know when the delivery’s coming?’ asked Greg. ‘I’ve started clearing the drive and put some salt down, so they shouldn’t have any trouble getting through.’
‘The trees are here already,’ said India, who had been last to the table. ‘I took Firefly out for a quick ride this morning and we saw them deliver them.’
‘Great,’ said Nick, and picked up his own phone. ‘The shop texted to say the delivery will be between ten and eleven, so we’ll be able to get started before lunch.’
As breakfast finished, I asked Marilise what she would like to do that morning.
‘What I would love,’ she said, ‘is to go outside in the snow. Maybe I can watch Sofia make her snowman. Is that foolish? Am I too likely to slip?’
I frowned.
‘Not foolish, no, not if we think about it carefully. You’ll need sturdy, non-slip shoes and to wrap up warm, and you must promise to tell me if you start to get chilly.’
‘I promise.’
‘I have some shoes you can borrow,’ said Angela. ‘I missed Stir Up Sunday, so I’m going to get that pudding made today, with Greg’s help, unless you need him?’
‘I can help Laura,’ said Nick. ‘And I’ll help Sofia, too, with that snowman. At school we used to steal one of the master’s hats for ours to wear; they looked very dignified.’
Forty-five minutes later, we were togged up and helping Marilise outside. Before he had disappeared into the kitchen to help with the Christmas pudding, Greg had carried a small armchair outside.
‘This is thick and padded,’ he said, wiggling the feet into the snow.
‘It should keep the cold out, and Angela’s added a couple of hot water bottles.
Right, see you in about six months,’ he said gloomily.
‘Making this pudding always feels like it takes that long. Cooking’s not my thing, but I know Ange needs me today. ’
We wished him luck and turned happily back to the snowy scene outside.
The sun was filtering through the clouds now, and the garden looked magical with the sparkling snow lying in a thick blanket over everything.
I made sure that Marilise was comfortable, then went to help Sofia and Nick, who were already scooping great handfuls of snow into a pile.
Nick caught my eye and smiled, and a glow flooded through me, all the way to my toes.
I smiled back dreamily, only leaping back into action when Sofia said, ‘Come on, I’m doing all the work here. ’
I glanced over at Marilise, who looked blissful, but also awarded me a quick flick of the eyebrows.
She knows, I thought, but I didn’t mind. As we were packing snow up to make a body, India emerged from the house.
‘Mind if I join you?’ she said. ‘Mum’s gone to help with the Christmas pudding, but it’s too nice to be inside.’
We worked hard until we had a good, fat snowman shape, almost as tall as I was.
‘Okay,’ said Sofia, who was almost unrecognisable from the child who had arrived a few days before.
Gone was the wan expression and the averted eyes, and here was a little girl who radiated happiness and confidence, although she always had her reindeer, Reddo, with her.
Right now, he was tucked into her coat, just his sweet little face poking out at the top.
‘Now, our snowman needs eyes, arms, a nose, legs, a mouth, ears and clothes.’
Nick roared with laughter.
‘He’s going to look pretty special,’ he said. ‘Are you sure about the legs?’
Her forehead creased momentarily as she studied the snowy figure.
‘Well, maybe we can draw those on, but everything else. Laura, India, can you go and find some sticks for his arms and stones for his mouth?’
We nodded and, with a quick check on Marilise, scurried off to hunt the items down as Sofia continued issuing instructions.
‘We need to go under the trees at the front of the house,’ said India. ‘It won’t be very snowy there, so we’ll be able to find things more easily.’
‘Good idea,’ I said, jogging after her and wishing I was as fit as a fifteen-year-old horsewoman.
It didn’t take long to find some suitable sticks and a selection of nut cases and cones for the mouth, as India said these would stay stuck in the snow better than stones. As we went to leave the wood, I hesitated.
‘India, is your mum okay? She looked worried this morning and kept checking her phone – it’s not like her.’
‘I know,’ said India, biting her lip. ‘I think she was expecting Philip to be here by now, or at least have said when he was coming, but he won’t.’
‘I see. Okay, well, let me know if there’s anything I can do. Hopefully, he’ll get his act together soon.’
‘Hopefully not,’ snorted India, and started off back to the garden again, at what she probably thought was a stroll, but which raised my heartrate trying to keep up.
Everyone else returned at about the same time and we added our adornments to the snowman and stepped back to admire our work.
‘What do you think?’ Nick asked Marilise. ‘Handsome fellow, isn’t he?’
She studied our effort, taking in his stick arms with little gloves dangling on the ends, his carrot nose and the rather dashing dark green hat Nick had come up with.