Chapter 24: Chapter 24 Kirstie’s Christmas

Three Days Before Christmas The clouds, low, dull and grey, match my mood, and I stare out of the passenger window, not wanting to show my disappointment. Sleet spikes down, spitting onto the windscreen and the wipers squeak, leaving white streaks as they arc across the glass.

Ryan, from the driver’s seat, lays a hand on my thigh. “Cheer up. There’ll be others.”

“I know…” My throat is unreasonably tight. “It just looked so good in the ad. I’d thought maybe…”

He cuts in, but the cheerful tone to his voice sounds forced. “Vendors are always going to overegg the cake. It did say, Needs Renovation.”

I huff. “Needs complete demolition and rebuilding would have been nearer the mark.” Then, at his answering silence, I realise how waspish I must have just sounded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that. It wasn’t aimed at you.”

He squeezes my knee. “I know. Hey, tell you what. We’re not far away. Let’s go say Hi to the happy family. You can deliver your balloon and your card and whatever else it is you have stashed in the back.

They’ll dose you with wine and mince pies and we’ll all get into the Christmas spirit.”

I hesitate.

Do they really want my gloomy mood there? Right now?

“I’d like that, but...”

Ryan persists. “We’ll be looking at properties again in the New Year. Who knows what we’ll find then?

There’ll be something.”

I paint on a smile, conscious that it’s a bit watery, but also that Ryan is doing his best…

I love you…

“You’re right, it would be nice to see them. Charlotte will want to show off her new baby.”

“Of course she will.” My thigh gets another squeeze. “And she’ll want to see you, I’m sure.”

He releases my leg to steer; towards a turn-off that will take us to the home of James, Michael and Charlotte. As he drives, he casts around, craning upwards through the windscreen. “Looks like it’s going to be a proper white Christmas.”

“Up the mountain near their house, yes, I should think so.” Even here on the low ground the road is sheened white and black. “You sure that driving will be safe?”

“If it isn’t, I’ll turn around, but the salt truck should have done its work up there by now.”

Ryan drives carefully, taking the corners slowly on the zig-zag mountain road. When we left the City this morning, it was already cold, with the tang of frost in the air. Now, ascending all the time, the temperature is falling despite the lowering clouds.

The air is frigid, and frozen mist hangs low over the fields. At ground level, the grass and shrubs are thick with rime. But it is stunningly beautiful. Frost picks out individual twigs and stalks, like some spectacular cake icing, and as we climb, grows denser and whiter.

After a while Ryan says, “What have they called her? The baby. D’you know?”

“It was going to be just Cara. But when I rang and asked Beth, she said that at the last minute, Charlotte changed it to ‘Cara Deanna’, to name her after her grandmother… Her father’s mother that is.”

Ryan lets out air. “That sounds like one family reconciliation that’s really coming together.”

We turn the final corner and Michael’s spa hotel swings into view: Life and Beauty.

Ryan guides the wheels carefully over the iced road surface, curving slowly in through the gates and past a parking lot occupied by top-end models. “It’s looking good,” he comments.

“It is indeed. Michael’s making a real success of it. Mind you, I think he had a head-start with being able to call on Beth Haswell’s rich buddies to get it kicked off.”

Ryan flashes brows. “What it is to be friends with the City High and Mighty.” He drives past the hotel and to the rear, pulling up to the side of another vehicle parked in front of the Threesome’s home. “Isn’t that the Haswells’ car?”

“Yes, it is. I think Richard and Beth are here more or less permanently now. Michael said that Beth and Charlotte keep each other company and Richard’s happier that way because it keeps Beth calm. After she almost lost their baby, he’s keeping her where she’s among friends.”

Ryan sniffs. “Don’t blame him. But she’s okay now?”

“As far as I know, yes.”

He gets out, stamping at the ground as he walks around the car, then opens my door. I’m still not used to this; being with a man who specialises in old-fashioned courtesy, but it’s nice to accept his hand as he helps me up and out.

Opening up the trunk, “Whoops!” He snatches at the air, snagging the string of the silvery heli-balloon as it rises out of the trunk, aiming for the moon. “Don’t forget this.” He passes me our brightly wrapped Congratulations! It’s A Girl! bag.

As he clicks the back of the car closed, “By the way…” he says, “… Before I put my foot in it, do we know who the father actually is? Or whether it matters?”

I suck air through my teeth, considering what I know. “Charlotte was never really very forthcoming about that. I think it's James. And it was James attending the clinic with her while she was pregnant.

But I'm not a hundred per cent sure.” I shrug. “I really don’t think it matters. If it did, I am sure one of them would have said something. As it is, they have it set up between themselves and everyone seems quite happy.”

Ryan nods then shivers, wrapping arms around himself. “Hope they’ve got a good fire going inside.”

Stepping carefully to avoid the iced edges of puddles, at the door I manoeuvre my knuckles under the prickly leaves of a holly wreath to reach the brass knocker underneath.

After a few moments, the door opens to the blond, blue-eyed Michael. “Kirstie! Ryan! Great to see you.”

He steps back, holding the door wide, aiming an arm inward. “Come on in before you freeze.” From somewhere inside drifts the sound of a choir singing Silent Night.

I hover. “Michael, is it a good time? We were just passing by and…”

He breaks into a broad smile. “It’s an excellent time. Charlotte will be thrilled to see you. She’s showing off Cara to everyone that comes by. And…” He looks quickly back over his shoulder, lowering his voice, “… after everything that happened, we’re doing our best to inject some Christmas spirit. The more the merrier. Now get yourselves inside before any more heat escapes. Here, let me take your coats.”

He waves us along the hall, heading upstairs himself. “Make yourselves at home in the lounge. I’ll go tell everyone you’re here.”