Page 41 of His Best Friend's Baby

‘And it’s bedtime for you, little man,’ she told Archie. ‘You need to be in bed early tonight, remember? Have you said goodnight to Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa?’ As she took her son’s hand, she looked back over her shoulder. ‘Your mail’s in the kitchen, Seth.’

‘I want to watch Uncle Seth open his card,’ piped up Archie.

Mandy lifted a questioning eyebrow in her brother’s direction.

‘Fine by me,’ Seth said. ‘Let’s look at it now.’

They went through to the kitchen where his mother was checking a covered plate in the oven. ‘Hello, Seth, love. This chicken should be just about heated through.’

‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘I just need to—’

And then he saw the envelope on the kitchen counter. It was, indeed, ridiculously huge and propped up against his tallest coffee pot. His address was handwritten in a loopy scrawl that he instantly recognised.

And somehow he forgot to breathe.

His mother, Mandy and Archie were all watching him, he realised, and he was grateful that his dad and brother-in-law were still out on the deck. The adults’ faces were amused and expectant, little Archie’s a picture of awed anticipation.

‘Open it,’ Archie squeaked.

As Seth crossed the room, his breath returned in a kind of strangled gasp that he hoped no one else noticed. He saw Polly’s name in the sender’s address, then reached for a knife to slit the paper open. It was, as the others had predicted, an enormous card.

The card showed a bear wearing a dressing gown and Santa hat, lying asleep on his back before a log fire. The fireplace was decorated with holly and sparkling baubles. A Christmas tree stood nearby and stockings were strung from the mantelpiece.

It was a totally traditional, unremarkable card—except that it was so big, and also custom made with wording embossed in gold against a Christmassy red background.

To Seth, our most wonderful friend

Happy Christmas from Polly and Summer

Seth grinned, but he was sure the grin was shaky. This was so damned unexpected.

‘How lovely.’ His mother was having difficulty hiding her curiosity. ‘Is that from Polly Martin?’

‘Yeah,’ said Seth, aware that she must have already noticed Polly’s name, quite visible on the envelope. ‘And Summer’s her baby, her little daughter.’

‘How… lovely. So Polly’s married and living in Melbourne?’

‘Not married,’ Seth said. ‘She’s a single mum, actually.’ He didn’t want to get involved in complicated explanations and he didn’t want to open the card now either. He wasn’t keen to read its contents in front of an audience.

Perhaps sensing this, Mandy made her exit, pushing Archie ahead of her towards their bedroom where the boy was sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

‘Night, Uncle Seth,’ Archie called.

‘Night, Archie. Sleep tight now.’ Turning to his mother Seth said, ‘I’ll get cleaned up before I have dinner.’ And he left quickly too, heading for his room with the card tucked under his arm.

He knew he was being overly cautious, but he closed the door before he opened the card. A page that the designers had left blank was now filled with Polly’s handwritten message.

Dear Seth,

Happy Christmas! You might be impressed to know that this is the first Christmas card I’ve ever posted, so I decided to make the most of it and go a little OTT.

I’ve also prepared a Christmas gift for you. It’s a thank-you gift really, as I’m still incredibly conscious of how much I owe you. So, I’ve designed a new website for your business—one that should work well currently, but also with a view to harnessing more rural clients with farm machinery into the future.

A bit cheeky of me, I know, and feel free to ignore it, but I had fun playing with ideas. I’ll send you an email with the link to the website. It won’t be live, of course, and I can do any tweaks you might want, so maybe you can give me a call sometime and we can talk it over?

Anyway, I’m running out of room on this page, even though it’s a huge card. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Seth. You deserve the very best. Summer sends giggles and sloppy kisses.

Your grateful and once upon a time best friend,

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