Chapter Fourteen
“We’ve accepted the park tickets, but we’re paying our own accommodation costs, flights and spending money,” he clarified for the group.
Later, over coffee in the kitchen, he explained his reservations to Maddie and James.
“It’s lovely they want to spoil him and I don’t take it for granted they can afford to, but have you ever tried to raise a child who can have whatever they want?
I’m terrified he’ll grow into a terrible person.
I’m also worried they’ll try to outdo themselves every year. ”
“How do you outdo Disneyland Paris?” James asked.
“Disneyland Florida,” Maddie and Marley said together. James laughed.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I bought the little dude something, too. It’s in my room,” he said, sheepishly.
Marley was visibly surprised. “You didn’t have to do that,” he said.
“I know, but I wanted to. It’s only a silly thing. It’s a mini toolbox. He’s always following me around, trying to help. It has a tape measure, with no sharp edges, and a screwdriver. I think there are some cardboard things to build. I can take it back if you’d rather I didn’t give it to him.”
Marley smiled and shook his head. “No, mate, that’s lovely. Thank you. He’ll love it.”
They spent the morning playing Who Am I?
Everyone chose a character or famous person for the person to their left and wrote it on a sticky note for the other person to guess via yes or no questions.
James and Marley set up Benjamin’s Scalextric set and arranged a tournament, which they all let Benjamin win.
At midday, they switched from coffee to wine and beer.
By the time lunch was ready, at two o’clock, they were on their way to being very merry indeed.
After lunch, everyone split up to clear the table and tidy the living room.
Safe in the knowledge that things were so hectic there was very little chance anyone would notice they were missing, Maddie and James sneaked off to his bedroom for some time alone.
Before they rejoined the others, he pulled her close and kissed her deeply.
She could feel him smiling as he did so. It made her really happy.
James gazed upon her, his eyes soft. “I’m having the best Christmas of my life,” he said.
Maddie nodded her agreement. She marvelled at how quickly things had changed, how different everything was now compared to just a few weeks ago.
If the Maddie she had been in November had been told about her situation now, she wouldn’t have believed it.
She had dreaded Christmas Day for years and had never had any real desire to find someone.
Maddie had never considered those two things might be interlinked, that someone could come along and everything that had once felt grey would suddenly burst into colour.
Ironically, that was something the source of her annual sadness, Bowie, had known all too well.
Maddie thought of him now, of how he’d raise his eyebrows in a silent expression of I told you so if he could, and it made her smile.
* * *
As the sun began to set, snow started falling.
Maddie stood with her family and friends before the large bay window in the living room and watched it cover the garden.
To her right, James and Jennifer were standing side by side.
Maddie saw them look at each other and smile.
After a moment or two, Jennifer gestured with her head for the two of them to leave the group.
James nodded, following her to the kitchen.
Maddie watched them go, crossing her fingers with hope that they would find the strength and humility she knew they both needed in order to repair their relationship.
It was what they both wanted, that much was obvious.
Over the last twenty-four hours, Maddie had caught them watching each other on a number of occasions.
Each time, Jennifer looked thoughtful and proud, while James looked lost and apprehensive.
It was clear to absolutely everyone that they wanted to be all right again and — bit by bit, hour by hour — they were visibly accepting that truth for themselves.
The awkwardness was dissipating from their shoulders, they had laughed together and teased each other.
Maddie watched their retreating backs fully understanding James’ apprehension, but then she heard Autumn laugh at something Katherine had said, and, when she turned around, she saw that Marley and Pip had their arms slung around each other — they were all grinning like goofballs.
Faced with the living proof it could be done if everyone worked hard enough, Maddie felt much better.
* * *
James and Jennifer were gone for almost an hour.
Nobody asked where they were — everyone seemed to know, and the kitchen became temporarily out of bounds.
When they returned, it was obvious they had both been crying, but nobody said anything about that, either.
To Maddie’s relief, despite their teary eyes, they both looked happy.
James sought Maddie out right away. He threw her his trademark smile and she knew he was trying to reassure her that he was OK.
She locked her gaze on his and he nodded, but she saw him swallow hard.
He looked consumed and overwhelmed, not at all ready to return to the group.
Maddie had to stop herself from going to him.
Luckily, Emma was on hand to give him a long, loving hug.
When she was done, Marley asked James if he wanted to help him replenish everyone’s drinks, and Maddie found herself feeling grateful for her brother’s perceptiveness and his growing friendship with James, who accepted the request, looking relieved.
They were gone so long that Autumn and Emma gave in and replenished everyone’s drinks instead, but nobody complained.
Everybody seemed to know that the two men were talking about something important, even Jennifer, who spent a good hour sitting in the window seat with Emma, hashing out the conversation she’d had with her son.
To her dismay, Maddie didn’t get a chance to talk to James personally until they were in bed together later that evening.
They kissed a little bit, but conceded they were both too tired to do anything but talk.
James told Maddie that Jennifer had apologised wholeheartedly for the things she’d said to him when he was young and the way she’d acted towards him in the years since.
She’d made no excuses and asked for no sympathy, she’d simply said sorry.
In return, James had done the same, then they’d hugged and hugged and hugged some more.
“We literally said about a dozen words to each other and spent the rest of the time hugging and crying,” he said.
“I don’t know what happened. She pulled me into a cuddle and I was flooded with sadness and love.
I literally felt it rush around my body.
I cried like a little boy, Maddie. We have a lot of work to do, we both know that, but I feel like we’ve taken a massive step forward. ”
Maddie stroked his hair back from his face, happy to let him talk.
“Thank you,” he said. She questioned him with her gaze, confused. “I know you spoke to her last night,” he explained.
“That wasn’t me, it was Mum,” she said.
“Well, she said it was both of you, so whatever you said to her, you really made her see sense. She’s been watching your mother these past couple days, too, I think.
The way she is with you all, with all of us, actually.
Mum wants that. She’s always wanted that, and now she knows she can have it.
She’s finally getting out of her own way, we both are.
This family... you people. I’ve never known anything like it. ”
Maddie smiled and kissed him tenderly, noting the absence of a layer of tension she hadn’t realised had been part of his everyday form before.
It was as though the weight of the world had been removed from his shoulders, like he was finally free from a set of mental shackles she hadn’t known had been holding him back.
He pulled away to gaze at her, his pretty eyes glinting like shiny pennies in the moonlight.
She stared straight back at him. She’d never felt luckier.
Suddenly, she felt obliged to shatter the moment.
“Don’t,” she whispered. It worked — he blinked, visibly confused. “Don’t look at me like that. It scares me,” she said.
She was worried he was going to say he loved her, or ask her to be his girlfriend, or do something else that would verbalise the seriousness of what they were doing and how they were feeling.
She wasn’t ready for any of that. There was still so much to do around here, she couldn’t add someone else’s happiness to her list of things to maintain, to sort out.
His face softened and he nodded, kissing her gently.
* * *
Christmas rolled towards New Year and, one by one, everyone left.
Jennifer bid them goodbye on Boxing Day morning.
She was clearly still not completely comfortable with general social interaction, but she was much warmer than she had been.
She gave Maddie a fleeting hug and James a bigger one.
Katherine, Lilly and Daisy went home the day after, and Pip left for London the day after that.
Ben, Emma, Bluebell, Autumn, Marley and Benjamin left for Paris the day before New Year’s Eve.
Although it was not originally part of their plan to take Bluebell, she and Autumn were eager for some ‘best-friend time’, so the rest of the group agreed she could join them.
In secret, she told Maddie that was not the real reason she was going.
Instead, she said she and Autumn had conspired to do Maddie and James a favour.