Page 52 of Escape to the Country

There’s a knock at the bedroom door and it bursts open as Beth shouts, ‘Coming in!’ and walks straight in with a tea tray, and Baxter leaps onto the bed. Once more, Alex and I spring apart.

‘Oops, sorry! Hope I’m not stopping you getting some Christmas action there, bro, but I’ve brought you both a cuppa. Couldn’t sleep!’

‘Seriously, Beth. You did that to us once before at Mad’s eighteenth birthday party when I was just about to snog her. You were such an annoying little sister then, and some things never change, do they?’

‘Oh, you love me really! And you know it.’

I gaze at Alex. It’s the first time in nearly twenty years that he’s ever spoken of that night. So he does remember, after all.

‘Oh how our lives may have been different if you hadn’t interrupted us that night, sis. We might have been celebrating our china anniversary soon.’

‘Shove over!’ she says as she wriggles her way into bed with us, grinning inanely. This double bed was made for two, not three and a medium-sized dog who is now sprawled out upside down, letting it all hang out.

Mum and Theo stayed at the barn last night so that we could all be together on Christmas morning, so Alex and I spent the night in his old room at the farm. Our first Christmas together as one big happy family.

We drink our tea and Alex tells Beth to bugger off back to her own room, while we get dressed. She does make me laugh. I’m so glad that she’s nearly made a full recovery from her operation. She’s very lucky, and we’re so very lucky to have her in our lives.

‘Don’t think that I’ve forgotten what we were just about to do, young lady, I’ll be calling in my debts later!’ Alex winks at me suggestively as he leaves the room. The smell of smoky bacon wafts up the stairs through the open door and my stomach rumbles.

I grab a quick shower, pull my hair into a ponytail and head on down to the kitchen where Uncle Tom is standing at the cooker in a pinny, making a huge pile of bacon sandwiches. I grab one from the plate as I sweep pass him and kiss his cheek, wishing him a Merry Christmas.

‘I’m just going to go into the office and Skype Alice, will you all pop by and say hi? Come on, Bax. She’ll be dying to see you.’

Morning for us is Alice’s evening, so it’s a perfect time to call her. She answers immediately, her sister sitting beside her. She looks wonderful; a healthy tan and fresh air seem to be doing her the world of good.

‘Come here, Bax. Merry Christmas, ladies.’ He jumps up onto my lap and Alice laughs at the fact that he is dressed as a little Christmas elf.

‘Oh Baxter, my darling, how are you? How is he, Madison? And how are you all? Did the presents arrive?’ Alice has very kindly sent a parcel over with presents for us all, but the biggest presents are for her fur baby.

Half an hour later, we’ve caught up on all of the news from this side of the world and theirs. Mum and Uncle Tom have popped in to say hello and Alex finally joins me. It is so lovely to see Alice so well and enjoying herself, and we leave the call saying that we’ll catch up again on New Year’s Eve.

Alex turns and kisses me tenderly.

‘Alex, I have something to tell you. I’m glad you’re here, I wanted a quiet moment. Sit down. It’s important.’

‘Bucks Fizz anyone?’ shouts Beth as she bursts into the room. She’s done it again. It’s a good job I love the bones of her.

‘Alex? Can you come and give me a hand please?’ yells Uncle Tom from the kitchen. Alex looks at me and grimaces.

‘It’s OK, babe, it can wait. We’ll talk later.’

* * *

A glance at the clock as I wander up the hall tells me that if we want to get dinner at a respectable time, we all need to get a move on. I pause at the door of the dining room. It’s a stunning room, ornate yet cosy with a huge oak table in the centre of the room surrounded by eleven chairs. Beth and I laid the table last night before we sorted the tree and it looks beautiful.

As I look around at the table, at the nameplates and the table presents, I think about how much my life has changed over the last year. In spring, I was made redundant and I was devastated. It felt like my life would never be the same. It wasn’t, but Beth’s operation, while painful and inconvenient, meant that I could use my time doing the things that she did. All those things that I’d always thought were dull and boring were actually the most fulfilling things that I’ve ever done. They filled my heart and my soul with joy in a way that I’d never experienced before. I’ve learned over the past few months that things are not important, but time is; that we should educate our future generations not to be rich, but to be happy. These days, I don’t count the things I have, but the memories I make and the people I meet along the way.

The kitchen is chaos as there are definitely too many cooks, and all of them are trying to be in charge. I shout at everyone to go and sit down so that I can serve lunch.

As I stand at the dining room door, a hush falls across the room. I look around the table. Uncle Tom sits at the head of the table, with Mum and Theo giggling like teenagers to his left and Rebecca and her younger two children and Russell to his right. He smiles at her tenderly and as he pats her hand, I see a special look pass between them and my heart lifts. Uncle Tom deserves love and so does Rebecca after everything she has gone through.

Beth sits next to the children and she smiles lovingly at Dan, who has just arrived after spending the morning with his sister and their children.

Alex bowls into the room and takes his seat. He’s just popped two plated up Christmas dinners over to the Darbys’ house. They couldn’t get out to join us for Christmas so we’ve taken it to them.

Between my dad and Alex there is an empty chair, which I slide into, between a man who I didn’t even know six months ago, and another who I have loved all my life and never knew had always loved me right back.

Under the table, hoping that some food might fall onto the floor, or that if he nudges people’s legs enough, they might just feed him some titbits, is my furry friend, Baxter. He was in disgrace for about five minutes earlier because when we weren’t looking, he jumped up to the kitchen table and nicked some pigs in blankets off a plate. The poor dog was tantalised by the smell of the turkey cooking and obviously thought he’d treat himself, so we hadn’t the heart to let him sulk for too long after being told off.

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