Chapter 30
Barney grumbled gently the whole way there, whilst Yang looked embarrassed to be out in broad daylight wearing a tuxedo. Jolene led the way and took them on a slightly circuitous route in the hope of putting Barney off the scent, but when they eventually reached the gates of the park he stopped short and gave Jolene a look. She took his hand.
‘It’s OK,’ she told him. ‘I promise.’
As a light sprinkling of snow drifted down, they walked hand in hand together through the park gates. Everyone in the group fell silent, walking behind Jolene and Barney until they rounded a corner and Barney’s wife’s bench came into view.
Barney stopped short and gasped. Standing around the bench were members of a choir, song books open and singing ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’. Jerry walked round to join them as Carol handed him a song book and his clear tenor voice added to the beautiful sound.
Barney clutched Jolene’s hand tightly as tears streamed down his face.
Tears also streamed down Jolene, Diane, Stacey, and Yang’s faces as they clustered round their colleague Barney.
They stood in silence as the choir got to the end of the song, at which point the tiny audience burst into thunderous applause. Jolene stepped towards Barney, holding a large Christmas wreath that one of the choir members had kept safe for her.
‘You told me how you wish you could have had a proper send-off for your wife, Barney. We’re all so sorry for your loss and we wondered if you would like to say a few words, then lay this wreath on Linda’s bench as we sing her favourite carol, which I believe was “Silent Night”.’
Barney looked at her speechless.
‘Thank you,’ he finally mouthed, before taking the wreath and gathering himself.
He turned to face everyone.
‘I really wasn’t expecting this,’ he said, tears making his eyes glisten. ‘Linda was the love of my life. I miss her every moment of every day. Although I sometimes think she loved Christmas more than me,’ he grinned. ‘You remind me of her,’ he continued, nodding at Jolene. He looked up at the choir and then at the Christmas wreath. ‘This is perfect,’ he said as he broke down in tears again. ‘She would have adored this. Her dream send-off, if there is such a thing.’ He looked up into the sky. ‘Merry Christmas, my darling,’ he said. He kissed his hand and blew his kiss into the sky. Then he stepped forward and laid the wreath on Linda’s bench as the choir sang.
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace …
As they moved through the song, Barney joined in, followed by Diane and then the rest. They all stood with their arms round each other and thought of their loved ones and silently wished them all a merry Christmas.
As the last note died in the snowy air, Jolene made an announcement.
‘May I thank Jerry so much for bringing his fellow choristers for this very special performance. But we have one more Secret Santa to complete. Over to you, Jerry.’
Jerry stepped forward and cleared his throat. ‘Let’s fast forward to midnight Christmas Eve, shall we?’ he said. ‘We’ve all had a lovely time, wherever we’ve been, and it’s coming to crunch time. The time when you ask for what you really, really want for Christmas. Come and join me, Yang. Over here.’
Yang looked around in shock, then walked slowly towards him, looking extremely nervous.
‘Now, you’re on the dance floor and there’s one lady here and all she wants for Christmas is to dance to this song with a nice man, so why don’t you go and take that lady by the hand and let’s grant her that Christmas wish, shall we?’
Jerry turned round to indicate to Carol, who was holding a xylophone. She began to ping out the opening bars of Mariah Carey’s famous song as Jerry nudged Yang towards Stacey.
Carol shouted over to Stacey, ‘Yoohoo, remember me, your fairy godmother from the Tower? I think this one’s a keeper,’ she said, nodding her head towards Yang. Stacey gave Carol a small nod then turned to face Yang.
Yang still looked bewildered, and for a heart-stopping moment he hovered in front of Stacey, then offered his hand and mustered the immortal line – ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’.
It looked as if she was going to stand frozen to the spot for a moment, but then she softened and she smiled.
‘Why didn’t you just tell me?’ she said. ‘It would have saved you the trouble of babysitting my crazy daughter, unnecessarily going to a school Nativity and taking a donkey on the London Eye.’
‘I wouldn’t have missed any of that for the world,’ he said.
‘Neither would I,’ she replied as she stepped forward and put her arms around his neck.
Jerry pulled Diane into the choir line up as they all began to sing the ultimate romantic Christmas song. The rest of them swayed along, all misty eyed and tearful.
Jerry scrutinised Stacey. Yes, she was looking totally into Yang’s eyes. They might kiss. Maybe not now, but soon. Jerry had just nudged them a bit closer and he knew that was the best Secret Santa ever for Yang. He would have to take it from there. Jerry’s work was done.
The song came to an end and everyone jumped up and down and cheered and hollered, and to Jerry’s delight, Stacey kissed Yang. Briefly but square on the lips. This really was an excellent start to Christmas.
‘Last song then, guys,’ said Jerry, looking round. ‘You’re all troupers, you know that. We thought we should end this exclusive little show with what we understand was another one of Linda’s favourite songs. Are you ready, guys?’ he asked the choir. They all pulled out hand bells from behind them and started shaking them. They launched into singing about snow falling and children playing and love and understanding as they did a joyous rendition of Shakin’ Stevens’ ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’.
Jolene grabbed both of Barney’s hands as they began to dance to the joyous tune. She was delighted to see Yang and Stacey do the same, whilst Diane stayed beside Jerry and added her epic voice to the choir. Other park visitors had begun to gather round and some even started dancing too, such was the infectious joy of the occasion.
Eventually they came to the end of the song as everyone chanted ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ at the tops of their voices and hugged and kissed.
Well, Yang and Stacey did anyway. A long slow one. Not just a peck on the cheek. The perfect Christmas kiss.