Chapter 6
Rose was back at her laptop at nine the next morning, putting in orders for decorations and making shopping lists for things she’d need to pick up herself. She reserved three Christmas trees to be delivered, one for the hallway and two to go either side of the front door. She also booked a company to put lights on the outside of the house, who happened to be free to come in just a couple of hours. Luck seemed to be on her side.
Next, now that she knew the dates and venue, she needed to get onto the invitations. All the invites for the people who worked for Alastair would be sent out via email but she designed and ordered printed invitations to the more formal event to be sent out as soon as possible.
She took a break from working on them when the Christmas lights people arrived and she went out to greet them and check they understood what she wanted done — white lights around the front of the house and surrounding the door and windows.
She hadn’t seen Alastair all day; Mrs Reed had even taken his lunch up to him, but he put his head around the library door just after 2 p.m.
“Hey, just wanting to check you have everything you need?” he said.
“I think I’m good, thank you,” Rose replied.
“Did you receive the list of the people I thought we should invite to the second event?” He came into the room, and sat down on the opposite side of the table. The bizarre thought came into Rose’s mind that she could probably reach him with her foot if she really stretched . . . She shook her head and inwardly scolded herself.
“I did and Mairi sent me over a few more.”
“Great. Oh, by the way, you’re very welcome to invite someone . . . a boyfriend or . . . girlfriend . . . I mean, you could be married . . . Anyway, book an extra place if you have someone you’d like to invite.”
Rose fought back a smile at his awkwardness. “I’m not married and I don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend or anyone I’d like to invite. But thank you for the offer . . .”
“If you’re sure . . .”
“I am,” Rose replied, feeling her cheeks reddening. “Will you . . . um, be bringing anyone?”
“No,” came the firm response. So, he was presumably single then, Rose noted. She chose to ignore what this knowledge did to her stomach.
“Have you got a few minutes to chat through the plans for when your family come to stay?” she asked, bringing her mind back to business.
“Absolutely.”
“Great,” replied Rose. “So, it’s your sister, her husband, their twin six-year-old sons and your aunt who are coming?” She’d come to the conclusion that Isla’s mother, whoever she was, didn’t live with Alastair or really seem to be present in Isla’s life at all from what she could tell, but it seemed rude to ask directly whether she’d be joining them for Christmas or whether Isla would be spending at least part of her school holidays with her mother . . . Maybe she’d died, Rose realised with horror. She quickly rearranged her face to stop it from betraying her thoughts.
“That’s right,” confirmed Alastair.
“And there aren’t any other . . . arrangements that I need to know about?” Rose asked carefully.
Alastair gave her an odd look. “Not that I can think of.”
Rose quickly continued, “I was also wondering if you have any traditions I should be aware of, stuff that I need to make sure I book in . . . I have some ideas but I don’t want to miss anything out.”
“Oh, um, not really. We usually head to my sister’s house in Manchester on Christmas Eve and come back on the twenty-seventh. So, just regular Christmas eating and playing games. Isla loves to watch Christmas movies with her cousins. Oh, my sister usually insists upon playing charades after Christmas lunch — which is always turkey, but we’ll probably get a takeaway this year as Mrs Reed won’t be here over Christmas and I would most likely burn the house down if I tried to cook Christmas lunch.”
Rose refrained from commenting about how terrible it sounded to have a takeaway on Christmas Day.
“A couple of times, Fiona has booked tickets to the pantomime . . . Aunt Helena will flat-out refuse to come to that, but the kids will enjoy it. I think that’s everything.”
“Okay, thanks,” said Rose. “I’ll come back to you with some ideas.”
“I’m sure whatever you decide will be great,” Alastair said. “As you may have gathered, I’m not great at this Christmas stuff . . .”
“That’s why you hired me.” Rose gave a little salute. “Let me show you the proposed menu for the second event . . .”
Her mobile rang. “Oh, sorry,” she mouthed to Alastair as she answered. “Hello? . . . Yes, this is Rose . . . Oh . . . Yes, I completely understand, I just really wanted them here sooner . . . Can I give you a call back?”
She ended the conversation with a sigh.
“That was the farm I ordered the Christmas trees from. They were supposed to be bringing them this evening, but the guy who does the deliveries has hurt his back and now they don’t know when they’re going to be able to make it. I wanted to be able to decorate them tomorrow.”
“How far away are they?”
“It’s about a fifteen minute drive I think . . .”
“Phone them and tell them we’re on our way. Between the two of us, we can get them strapped onto the back of my Land Rover. I’m not even going to ask why exactly I need multiple trees . . .”
“Trust me, you do and they’ll look really good, but are you sure you have time?”
“Sure. I’ve been sat behind a desk all day so far, it’ll do me good to stretch my legs.”
Five minutes later, Rose had called to confirm they could go and pick up the trees themselves and had put on her coat and scarf. Alastair was waiting for her by the front door with Houdini.
“Apparently the goat is coming with us,” Alastair explained. “He’ll drive Mrs Reed crazy if we leave him here.”
“Is he safe in the car?” Rose asked.
“Yeah, he has a crate in the back for when I take Isla to school.”
“Okay then, I guess we’re taking a goat Christmas tree shopping!”
Alastair secured the goat in his crate, getting some very strange looks from the people putting up the lights, and they got into Alastair’s car.
The drive didn’t take long and Alistair pointed out local landmarks along the way.
“Are you sure you don’t mind being dragged away from work to do this? You know I probably could have managed by myself . . .” Rose said.
Alastair gave a little laugh. “It’s fine, I needed a break anyway. Plus, you’re like five foot nothing — I think it’s probably for the best that I’m there as well.”
“You make a fair point,” she admitted, as they turned off the main road and down a lane with signs leading to the Christmas tree farm.
“This place looks really nice,” commented Alastair.
“I’m guessing you haven’t been here before?”
“No, we never usually bother with a Christmas tree.”
“Oh, right,” Rose said quietly. Who didn’t get at least a little Christmas tree for their kid?
They pulled up outside the cabin serving as the Christmas tree farm’s office and Alastair told Houdini in no uncertain terms that he was staying in the car. The goat bleated grumpily but appeared to accept his fate, turning round and lying down with a sigh.
Alastair and Rose got out of the car and were greeted by a boy in his late teens.
Rose explained who they were.
“Really sorry for the inconvenience,” the boy said. “You can take your pick from the pre-cut ones over there, or you can chop down your own from the paddock on the right,” he instructed.
Alastair looked at Rose. “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to want to cut these trees ourselves?”
“Honestly, it’s going to be mainly you doing the cutting, but yeah . . .” Rose admitted. “I’ve never done that before and it seems a shame to miss the opportunity.”
“Fine,” said Alastair, with a little snort.
They accepted the offered gardening gloves and hacksaw, and walked over to the Christmas tree paddock. It being mid-week and still only early December, there wasn’t anyone else visiting the farm.
“We need one fairly big one,” Rose said, wandering between the trees, “And then a couple of smaller ones . . .”
“What have I let myself in for?” she heard Alastair mutter to himself.
“A magical Christmas,” Rose retorted with a grin.
“How exactly are we going to fit all these on the Land Rover?”
“That thing is massive and the trees will be netted up . . . One of the little ones at least could go inside if we put the seats down . . .”
“Okay, that would probably work,” Alastair admitted.
Finding the larger tree was easy and only took Rose a few moments.
“Are you sure you’re happy with this one? It’s huge,” commented Alastair.
“That’s a good thing. You have a very high ceiling in that entrance hall of yours. Unless you’d rather get a smaller one?”
“I trust your judgment completely,” Alastair said solemnly.
“This is the one then.”
Alastair bent down and began sawing the tree. Rose looked away once she realised she was staring. She wondered how large his arm muscles were . . .
They lugged the first tree back to the car with Rose carrying the top end and Alastair insisting on taking most of the weight.
Once the tree was netted by the boy and on the roof of the car, they returned to the paddock to pick out the other two trees. It proved a harder job. Rose wanted them to be the same height and shape, so they could frame the front door.
“Do you think anywhere will deliver breakfast to us here if you still haven’t chosen by morning?” Alastair commented after twenty minutes.
“Don’t you want your house to look perfect for Christmas?” Rose asked.
“I’m looking forward to when Christmas is over and my home gets back to normal,” admitted Alastair.
Rose gave an understanding smile. “Truth be told, I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas anymore either,” she admitted. “I mean, I’m not a total Scrooge or anything, I think it’s nice for kids, but I’ll also be glad when it’s over and regular life resumes.”
But would she , Rose wondered. Yes, she wasn’t looking forward to Christmas itself, but she was enjoying her work and organising Christmas for someone else, and once Christmas was here, she’d be back in London trying to work out what on earth to do with her life.
“It must be strange organising celebrations for other people and not doing so for yourself,” Alastair replied.
“Honestly, I wasn’t planning to do anything for Christmas this year. The only effect that Christmas was going to have on me was that my job in the shop would come to an end.”
“And you’d have to return your crown and dress?”
“Exactly. I’m sure you can imagine the wrench that was going to be.” Rose said dryly. “Okay, this tree, and the one we saw in the corner over there,” she declared.
“You are quite sure?”
“Positive. Let’s get them chopped down and head back. It’s freezing out here.”
* * *
Rose and Alastair arrived back at the house with the trees still all intact to find the outside lights were still being put up. Rose stopped to talk with the workmen while Alastair took the trees off the car and then went inside. Rose got the impression that he had stuff to catch up on.
Once she’d checked the workmen were happy and offered them more hot drinks only to discover Mrs Reed had, of course, already made them some already, Rose returned to the library to continue with work.
* * *
Isla came home from school while Rose was in the middle of sending out the email invitations to Alastair’s staff. She’d wanted to personalise them, so it was taking a while.
“Are those Christmas trees outside?” Isla asked, marching straight into the library.
“Yes, they are. The farm couldn’t deliver them so your dad and I went to get them this afternoon.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t wait for me to come and get the Christmas trees!” Isla wailed.
“I’m sorry, we couldn’t. The Christmas tree farm only stays open until it gets dark so by the time you were home it would have been too late.”
“You could have picked me up early from school!” suggested Isla. Rose gave her a look which conveyed exactly what she thought of that idea.
“I’ll save the big tree to decorate with you tomorrow after school, how about that?”
“Okay,” conceded Isla. “As long as I get to put the star on the top.”
“It’s a deal.”
Isla once again settled down next to Rose to get her homework done.
* * *
Alastair came in to say hello to his daughter a little later.
“Isla, you have a perfectly good desk in your room.”
“She’s no trouble,” said Rose.
“I like being down here. And you should be happy I’m finally doing my homework straight after school like you’ve been wanting me to for years,” retorted Isla.
“Okay, fine.” Alastair threw his hands in the air. “But you should stop working, Rose. You finished late last night.”
“I’ll finish up soon, I just want to get all these emails out.”
“Okay,” said Alastair. “Thanks for all your hard work.”
“And thank you for helping me pick up the Christmas trees. They’re going to look great.”
“I’ll take your word for that,” said Alastair with a smile.
“Have you got a minute to show Isla what’s been put up today?” Rose asked. She noticed Isla’s eyes light up with curiosity.
“Sure.” Alastair smiled.
They trooped outside, followed by the dogs, and stood in front of the house. Rose showed Isla where the switch was and the child gasped as she pushed it and turned on the lights covering the building.
“Oh, wow!” said Isla. “It looks gorgeous.”
Rose had to agree. The lights illuminated the grey granite house, making it seem homely and welcoming.
“What do you think?” she asked Alastair.
“Very festive,” he answered with a shrug.
“Oh, come on, Dad! Don’t be so grouchy!” chided Isla.
Alastair laughed. “It does look good. Thanks for organising it, Rose.”
“It was my pleasure,” Rose said as Isla pulled her into a hug.
* * *
Isla was practically jumping up and down with excitement the following afternoon when she got home to find the trees finally ready to decorate.
“They look so good!” she exclaimed. “The one in the hall is huge ! Can we start on them now?”
“Don’t you think you should get your homework done first?”
“I’ve only got a little bit left because I did some at lunchtime. I can finish it after dinner.”
“If that’s all right with your dad, then we can do it now,” Rose said.
Isla went running upstairs to check with Alastair. A moment later she returned, gleeful that he’d agreed.
“Are those all the decorations?” Isla asked, pointing to the piles of bags and boxes in the corner of the library.
“Yep. I was shopping for them for hours today! But it’s just the two big boxes on the end that have the decorations for the tree in. They’re not heavy so why don’t you take them out to the hallway? The lights are already on — your lovely gardener, Mac did them earlier. I’ll be there as soon as I’ve sent this email.”
* * *
“Wow!” said Isla, stepping back to look at the completed tree. “It looks so posh!”
The all-white theme worked well and contrasted beautifully with the dark green pine needles. White baubles with silver glitter adorned the branches and a silver star graced the top of the tree.
“It does, doesn’t it?” agreed Rose. “We did a good job.”
“I want Dad to see it,” Isla declared and she raced upstairs, returning a moment later with her father following behind. He didn’t look overly impressed to be dragged away from his office, Rose noticed.
“Isn’t it huge, Dad?” Isla said.
“It’s certainly that,” Alastair commented.
“Oh, come on, it looks good!” coaxed Rose.
“It does,” admitted Alastair. “Now, may I get back to work, please?”
Isla laughed. “Okay!”
Rose began clearing up the discarded packaging. She’d keep some of it to store the decorations in for next year. When she most likely wouldn’t be here to decorate the tree. She’d have a different job by then and wouldn’t be able to take almost a month off to come to Scotland even if Alastair invited her back.
“The lights are all set up on the trees outside as well,” Rose said, while scolding herself for being ridiculous. “Would you like to have the honour of turning them on? They’re going to be set to work via a timer but I thought you might like to do the first turn on.”
“Of course, I would!” cried Isla. “I’ll get Houdini.”
They grabbed their coats and Houdini and the dogs joined them for a solemn ceremony of the official switching on of the Christmas tree lights.
“Thank you so much, Rose,” said Isla, hugging her with one hand, the other keeping a tight grip on Houdini. “It’s going to be so great to have the house looking all Christmassy and to be spending Christmas at home. I like going to Auntie Fiona’s, but it’ll be fun to have everyone here.”
“I bet it will,” said Rose. “Now let’s go back in the warm and you can get that homework done while I finish tidying up.”
“At least I get out of the tidying up, I suppose,” Isla mock-grumbled as she headed back indoors, followed by the animals.
Rose was so glad that Isla liked what she was doing to get everything ready for Christmas, but it was a big responsibility and she already worried she’d messed up by not being able to bring Isla along to choose the Christmas trees. She’d have to do something to remedy that. Isla was so excited about having Christmas at home for the first time in her life — what if Rose messed it up? What if Isla had some idea of how she wanted Christmas to go and Rose was getting it all wrong? She seemed happy with what was happening so far, but Rose decided she’d have to make sure she really listened to Isla so that she picked up on any hints she dropped. Because the house was being used as a backdrop for a work event, she felt it did need to look a certain way and not like Christmas just exploded all over it, but she could definitely add in some aspects especially for Isla once the first event was over.