Chapter 51
51
‘He’s been!’
Dad tapped on my bedroom door gently and I put my head back under the covers. Surely it wasn’t time to get up yet.
‘He’s been, darling.’
This time I could hear Mum’s voice but I chose to ignore her too.
‘Fucking hell, Nancy. Santa’s been all round the world last night, including here and you can’t even be arsed to get out of bed.’
My brother suddenly landed on top of me, rocking me not so gently.
‘Ooof!’
‘Get up, get up, Nancy!’
‘Kack off, Dan.’
‘Language, children.’ Mum laughed.
‘Kack isn’t even swearing, Mum.’ Dan always argued this point.
‘I don’t care, Daniel. I don’t like it so stop using it. You’re not too big for a clip round the ear, you know.’
Dan climbed over the top of me and landed heavily on the other side, digging me in the ribs.
‘You’d have to catch me first,’ he laughed.
Mum squidged in next to me, the bed dipping, and she reached across, slapping Dan playfully. At the same time, Dad shuffled in on the other side. I grinned. It had been years since we’d done this. It was nice to have the family all together. I knew this would be a very different day for Dan to his last few Christmases, where he wasn’t permitted to come out at all, not even to see his family. And we weren’t allowed to visit either. Mum had always tried not to show she was bothered that he went to Sabrina’s family instead but every year I could see the hurt in her eyes.
This year, she looked deliriously happy as she pulled us all in tight for a hug.
‘My family,’ she muttered under her breath and sighed loudly. ‘Merry Christmas.’
‘Right, the turkey is in, there are forty pigs-in-blankets ready to go in the oven, the veggies are all peeled and there’s just time to have a quick cuppa before we head down to the beach to watch those total nutters do their Christmas Day swim.’
Every year at midday on Christmas Day, the Driftwood Babes braved the cold water and did a swim, encouraging the locals to join in. There were never many people who joined them, despite them all saying that they would, but always loads who stood by and watched. Gemma always brought down her mobile catering unit, and hot drinks were available and very much needed, and there was even the odd Baileys in coffee, or brandy in hot chocolate to warm up the swimmers.
Dan had been behaving quite shiftily in the last hour, and when the door went, he grabbed his coat.
‘Where are you going?’
‘Mind your own beeswax, missy. You should never ask questions around Christmas.’
My brows furrowed. I hoped he wasn’t planning something as a surprise. I’d gone off surprises. In fact, recently, I’d gone off most things.
‘Nothing for you to worry about, sis. Just need to see a man about a dog.’ He grinned and slammed the door behind him as Mum yelled, ‘Daniel, don’t slam the door!’ as she headed through with mugs of tea for me, her and Dad. Maybe today was going to be all right.
This year, it was a cold but bright sunny day. No white Christmas for us, but a sunny day at the beach as long as you were wrapped up.
A kerfuffle behind us made us all spin around, and we saw Dan being yanked along by two very energetic reddish-brown small Border collies.
‘Oh my God, Dan. What the hell?’
‘Well, if you can’t give yourself a Christmas present, what can you do? I’d like to introduce you to Dexter and Meg. My new pals.’
‘You said you wanted a dog but I didn’t expect you to get them today . Or have two.’
‘Well, I thought they’d be good company for each other. And I suppose if you have the commitment of one, you may as well have two. It’s a good job Driftwood Bay is a dog friendly community, isn’t it?’
Mum and Dad joined us and soon most of the villagers came over to see the new additions.
‘You’ve met your brother’s two new pups then?’ Mum grinned at me as she leaned down and tickled one of them behind the ears. Would I ever be able to tell them apart, I wondered.
‘You knew?’ I turned to them both.
‘We all thought it might be a nice surprise. And obviously with Dan now moving back in with us again, he had to ask us whether he could have them in the house. He had the sense to not just turn up with them. Even he’s not that stupid.’ Dad ruffled his son’s hair. ‘Although the sooner he finds himself somewhere else to live, the better. I never thought at our age in life, we’d still have our two kids living at home. This should be the time your mother and I are enjoying our lives without you lot hanging around.’
‘Ah, be off with you. You know I love to have my babies home. It’s like my world is complete.’
‘And there’s me thinking that I was your world.’ Dad laughed.
‘Absolutely not. I never gave birth to you, did I? I grew these two and they are my special ones and they can stay at home as long as they want.’
‘I did have something to do with making them, you know.’
‘Yeah, not that much though. You just provided the sperm. That could have been anyone you know.’
‘God you’re harsh.’ He laughed.
‘You know I’m only joking. You are the love of my life. Our family are the loves of both our lives. And we both know how much you love having our kids at home too.’
Dad nodded. ‘You’re absolutely right. Two kids and now two dogs. God help me.’
You see, this was the type of relationship I wanted. Someone to laugh with, to love with. To know that I was loved unconditionally and never doubt the strength of that love. It was no wonder I found it hard to find someone to live up to that. I thought I had that with Dennie, but obviously not.
I fell to my knees on the sand and both dogs came tumbling over, dragging Dan behind. They both turned a full circle and sat, nestling their bums into me.
‘That’s a sign they trust you. Did you know that?’
‘Aw, that’s nice.’
‘I’m glad you like them, Nancy, because you might have to have them at the shop with you from time to time if I have to go out on a job.’
‘Now, that will not be a problem at all. They’re both gorgeous. I love them already.’ I buried my face in Dexter’s soft fluffy neck and he snuggled into me. It felt like he and I were going to be the best of friends. Meg too. She was such a pretty girl and soon bumped her brother out of the way to get to me. I think we were kindred spirits.
‘Phew! Glad you said that because I’ve already booked some work in that might need Aunty Nancy to be their Fairy Dogmother.’
We all laughed at my new nickname. They really were little bundles of fluff, although I’m not sure I’d get any work done with them around in the shop. However, Dennis was due to launch his business properly in the new year and I would do everything I could to help him make it work. The dogs would be lovely company for me at the shop too. I couldn’t wait to be their dog aunty. What an honour.
‘Here come the girls,’ Mum announced as she and Rachel from the bistro, who was helping out Gemma that morning, came over with a large tray of hot chocolates for the swimmers to warm them up. When her hands were empty, Rachel came over to see the dogs.
Dan lit up like a Belisha beacon as she fawned over them. And she said that she’d love to join Dan on a walk if he ever fancied any company or needed an extra pair of hands. At that, he became a little tongue-tied. Mum and I shared a look. Rachel was nice. She’d really changed her life around since moving to Driftwood Bay to be near her daughter Occy who was now Gemma’s stepdaughter. Maybe they’d become friends. It would be good for Dan to finally have some friends that he’d chosen for himself.
When all of the Driftwood Babes were wrapped back up again and their hands warmed through the heat of their mugs, Dan yelled, ‘Look, is that a dolphin? Or a seal?’
We all looked out to sea.
In the distance there was definitely something bobbing around in the water, which we couldn’t quite work out. But then when the blob raised a bare arm and waved, we realised that it was a person.
‘Well I never…’ Vi exclaimed loudly. ‘The silly daft boy.’
‘Who is it, Vi?’ Dan asked. ‘Who’s stupid enough to swim in the sea on Christmas Day?’
Realising what he’d just said rather loudly, he turned sheepishly towards the group of women stood behind him draped with towels thinking that they might be offended, but luckily they didn’t appear to have heard him.
Those strong forearms looked mighty familiar to me, even from this distance. I started to wander nearer to the shoreline, frowning to make sure I was right.
I snorted as the voice that shouted out confirmed it was Dennie, who was now waving at me from the sea.
‘Are you coming in?’ he yelled.
‘The hell I am.’ I laughed.
‘Well, if you don’t come in then I’ll have to come out and embarrass myself in front of the whole of Driftwood Bay and I have to tell you that I am totally naked and it’s not a pretty sight. You wouldn’t do that to me, now, would you?’ He was shouting from his position and started to wade towards me, his shoulders now above the water level.
‘I am not coming in, Dennie.’
‘Well, in that case, I’ll just shout to you from here.’
He waded a little further towards the shore, the water level now just above his belly button. I threw back my head and laughed.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked.
‘You once told me that a boy at school wouldn’t prove his love to you by swimming in the sea on Christmas Day.’
I remembered telling him about my schoolboy crush.
‘It’s true! He wouldn’t.’
The water was now just above his hips. He was close enough for me to see the line of dark hair which trailed downwards.
‘Well, I will. I love you, Nancy. And I don’t care who hears this. The whole of Driftwood Bay can hear for all I care. The whole of Cornwall even. I love you, I love you, I love you.’
I threw my head back and laughed.
‘Dennie, you are mental.’
‘Am I? I honestly can’t feel my brain right now, let alone anything else. I think my whole body is numb with cold. I’m trying to work out if I’m a boy or a girl right now because I think something might have dropped off in there.’
I looked back towards the beach where it seemed like the whole of Driftwood Bay was watching and waiting for me to say the right thing.
I grinned and started to take off my trainers and roll up my trouser legs.
Then, throwing my coat off onto the sand behind me, I ran full pelt into the sea.
‘I must be bloody mad!’ I mumbled to myself.
The smile on Dennie’s face as I approached was as wide as the sea itself. When I got to around two metres away, I slowed down, finally coming to a halt. He stepped towards me and closed the gap, and when I could feel his breath on my face, he reached up to tuck a wayward strand of my hair behind my ear. He ran his finger down my cheek.
‘Is this really you?’ he asked.
I nodded and shivered, not sure whether it was from the temperature of the water or the fact that I was stood in front of the man that I now knew, without a shadow of a doubt, was the person I wanted to share the rest of my life with. I tilted my head up until there wasn’t a millimetre between us and finally our lips met. I ran my hands all over his torso and finally lowered them under the water.
I felt my eyebrows nearly leave my face.
‘Oh hello! You really are naked.’
‘I did tell you I was.’
‘I can confirm that you are most definitely not a girl.’
‘I was hoping not. Now can put your hand back down there again and kiss me like that again, please?’
I stood away from him, and frowned, a memory flooding back into my mind.
‘I came to London.’
‘I know.’ He tried to pull me against him but I pulled away.
‘How do you know?’
‘The girl on reception. She described you to me and there was no doubt that it was you.’
I thought back to how frumpy I’d felt that day next to the gorgeous woman that I’d seen Dennie with.
‘But I saw you with someone.’
‘Did you?’
‘Yes, she was stunning.’
‘That would have been Craig’s wife.’
‘Oh!’ I was starting to tremble, the cold creeping into my bones and he rubbed my arms with his hands. I was struggling to keep up with what he was saying. All I could think about was how icy cold the water was.
‘She’d asked me to take over the company. To be the CEO. Her uncle had asked her to ask me. We’d all spent some time in the summer on his uncle’s yacht and she wanted me to join them again this year in Dubai for Christmas.’
‘So you’re taking over then? Is that what you’ve come back to tell me?’ I tried to get away from him.
‘No, you idiot. I’ve come back to tell you that I love you and that I’ve handed in my notice and that I’m moving to Driftwood Bay. If you’ll have me that is. I’ve heard that there’s a flat that needs doing up above a really pretty little bookshop and I was thinking about putting an offer in on it.’
‘Oh!’
‘Is that all you’ve got to say, Nancy?’
‘No! It’s not. I do have something else to say.’
‘Go on.’
‘I love you too.’
‘Thank fuck for that. Does that mean we can get out of this water now then, if you believe me? I’m freezing my nuts off!’
We both laughed and headed for the shore, holding hands so tightly that I thought my blood circulation would be cut off, although it could just be the cold. My mother walked towards us, handing a towel to Dennis.
‘Cover yourself up, dear.’ She winked at him. ‘You are making every male in Driftwood Bay feel extremely inferior.’
Dennie had the good nature to blush.
‘ Now I can see why you love him, Nancy.’
It was my turn to blush. ‘Muuuummmm!’
She walked away, waving over her shoulder. ‘Only saying what everyone else is thinking.’
We both giggled as Dennie wrapped the towel around his waist, tucking in the end part. I could hear Mum’s voice as she made a concerted effort to round everyone up to give us some privacy.
‘Come along, everyone, nothing to see here.’
Dennie grinned and turned to face me again, cupping my face in his hands and staring deeply into my eyes.
‘God I love you, Nancy.’
‘I love you too.’
Our lips met once more. I would never tire of kissing that mouth. Tasting Dennie.
‘Look!’ someone yelled out from the top of the beach and pointed out to sea. When we looked up, a pod of dolphins was arcing through the water, a truly beautiful and special sight. So rare, as dolphins normally migrated to warmer waters at that time of year.
‘You don’t see that every day in London, do you?’
‘In the Thames you don’t see an awful lot to be honest.’
‘Maybe you should stay in Driftwood Bay after all then.’
‘Is that a yes, Nancy? Are you happy for me to stay?’
I hesitated, and laughed out loud at his mortified face, which was an absolute picture as his towel seemed to unravel itself and dropped to the sand and my eyes flicked down and back up again, before he grabbed it to cover himself up again.
‘Oh yes, I definitely think you should stay.’
We closed the distance between us and he took me in his arms once more and dipped me backwards, kissing me.
‘Thank goodness for that. I don’t think I could ever write letters like that again.’
‘You’re an excellent writer and I will expect beautiful love letters like that every day we are together.’
He laughed.
‘No, I mean it. Now shut up and kiss me.’
Despite the audience, it felt like we were the only people in the world as I explored every tiny part of his mouth, while running my hands all over his body.
‘Seriously, Nancy, if you do that again, I’m not sure I can be responsible for my next actions.’
So, I did it again…