Page 137 of The Christmas Invitation
‘But Zelda isn’t a threat, is she?’ I said, astonished. ‘In fact, Sybil seems fond of her and I don’t see why she should mind if she and Mark get together. It might have been different if it was Flora.’
‘I suppose that’s true. I’d still like to run the whole idea past Clara and Henry, though, and see what they think.’
‘I don’t want anything to spoil Christmas. It’s bad enough Piers having to be invited for dinner, isn’t it? I can’t imagine he’ll be able to leave before then.’
‘No, we’re stuck with the old soak. Or rather, Flora is.’
He gave me a sideways grin that made him look suddenly and heart-wrenchingly like the old, carefree student Lex from long ago.
‘But Nanny Flora will sort him out and probably keep him in line during Christmas dinner, too!’
When we got back the house was quiet.
‘Where is everyone?’ asked Lex, when we found Tottie sitting in the kitchen over a cup of coffee, while the three dogs snored in their baskets by the range and Teddy industriously blobbed glitter glue on a sheet of card at the other end of the table.
‘Clara had emails to answer and then she was going to do some work, and Henry is printing out the final version of his book.’
‘I thought I heard the sound of a printer as we were coming in, but I assumed it was Clara’s,’ I said.
‘Sybil came back from Bella Vista with a headache that turned into a very bad migraine, so she’s taken some pills and gone to her room, and River and Henry delivered the mail and then called in on the Bagginses.’
‘River’s just gone to do some wrapping,’ Teddy said, looking up. ‘Do you think he bought me a present at Preciousss?’
‘I don’t know. We don’t usually do Christmas presents, but he might.’
‘I like River and I’m making him this picture for Christmas. It’s a dragon, sitting on the Starstone.’
‘So I see – he’ll love it.’
‘Me and Den and Tottie made the chocolate log this morning and iced the Boxing Day Christmas cake,’ Teddy said, andwhen he’d finished his picture he insisted we go into the larder to admire them.
The large chocolate log was covered in dark butter cream, artfully scraped into bark-like patterns and adorned with holly and a plastic robin. The cake had been royal-iced, whipped into little peaks like rough plastering and studded with random plastic decorations – a red postbox, a bristly fir tree, a little snow-covered house and a signpost pointing to ‘Merry Christmas’.
‘Lovely,’ I said. ‘And what’s this in the big glass bowl?’
‘The base for the special trifle we’ll have on Christmas Day,’ said Tottie. ‘Madeira sponge spread with raspberry jam and soaked in a little sherry, then covered in a layer of raspberry jelly – vegetarian, of course.’
‘I’ve got to help Den cook lots of things tomorrow,’ said Teddy.
‘Yes, he’ll be baking cheese straws and other nibbles ready for the Boxing Day bash,’ Tottie said, then added that she would be in the conservatory when I was ready to paint her.
I popped upstairs to change first, because I was sure I smelled of old, damp wallpaper. On my way down I noticed that River’s door was ajar and I peeped in. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed with his eyes shut and the room smelled faintly of burnt herbs and joss sticks. He opened his eyes and smiled.
‘Ah, there you are, Meg. Just the person I want. I have purchased a few small things from dear Moonflower. When in Rome, do as the Romans – and the Doomes exchange gifts on Christmas morning.’
‘That was a kind thought,’ I said, and fetched him the leftover wrapping paper and my Sellotape. The gifts were all contained in one of Flower’s smaller brown carrier bags, so goodness knows what he’d bought.
I debated telling him my suspicions about Sybil, but since he liked her so much I hesitated, and then in the end I didn’t.
Tottie was waiting for me in the conservatory and through a gap in the foliage I spotted Lex and Teddy going down the garden to clean out the hens.
I hoped Lex had thought better of telling my wild suspicions to Henry and Clara.
Tottie took up her pose, holding the now empty wicker cornucopia – the fruit, vegetables and leaves were almost completed, but the wicker itself needed a few touches. The pineapple, seemingly poised above her head, looked just about ripe enough to eat.
Tottie’s face had come together amazingly quickly yesterday and I’d already worked on some of the background. This, I thought, might be my fastest portrait yet!
Her expression had turned dreamy and absent again and at one point she murmured, ‘Snake’s head fritillary …’
