Page 91 of The Christmas Invitation
‘That’s the lot, ain’t it?’ he said, stopping in the doorway.
‘Thank you so much,’ said River. ‘Do you want that trunk in here, Meg?’
‘It’s Mum’s, the one from the attic!’
‘Yes, I thought I might as well bring the whole thing. Luckily the birth certificate was on top, but you might discover other relevant documents further down.’
‘Good idea,’ approved Clara. ‘But there’s no rush to look through it, Meg. We already know Nessa’s name was on the birth certificate.’
So the trunk was taken up to my bedroom, along with a large hessian bag full of brown-paper-wrapped packages, which were apparently gifts for me from my Farm family.
River’s luggage was deposited in his room, apart from all the eatables, which Den carried off to the kitchen.
‘Tottie’s missing all this,’ Teddy said, as if the circus had come to town.
‘She’s probably still in the garden or the conservatory and has forgotten the time,’ Henry suggested.
‘I’ll go and get her,’ said Teddy, heading for the door.
‘Put your coat on if you go outside,’ Clara called as he vanished, with Lass plodding after him, as one duty bound to keep an eye on the smallest member of the family.
Now River had warmed up, he discarded the quilted tabard. The hem of the tunic underneath was decorated with hieroglyphs rather than runes. His trousers were still tucked into the long black boots, which had pointy toes, but now he removed these too, revealing hand-knitted Welsh wool socks.
‘Is there anything in my bag from the Farm that needs to go into the fridge?’ I asked him, because it could contain almost anything.
‘No, nothing perishable,’ he assured me. ‘It’s just that once it became clear that you weren’t coming back for the Feast, the Family decided to send you a few little Yule presents. Andyourgifts to us from the Green & Friendly Company arrived. Oshan has unpacked everything, ready to hand out after the Solstice.’
‘I ordered them in a rush, but I got everyone a little eco-friendlysomething, so I hope they like them,’ I said. Most people were getting sets of pencils made from twigs and bamboo toothbrushes, which were probably not that exciting. ‘I had about five minutes to get everything done before I left London.’
‘That was my doing, but look how well everything is turning out!’ said Clara. ‘Come on, let’s have lunch and then afterwards, River, Meg can show you your room so you can unpack and settle in.’
Tottie came in from the garden as we reached the hall. She was introduced and offered River a rather earthy hand, which he grasped without hesitation. Her trug was full of long, pointed orange carrots that reminded me of River’s hat.
‘Pleased to meet you,’ she said briskly, then added to the rest of us, ‘Teddy will be along in a minute. He just wanted to check if the pineapple in the conservatory has grown enough to eat yet.’
‘A pineapple? I’d like to see that,’ River said interestedly.
‘Tottie’s got all kinds of exotic fruits and plants in her hothouse,’ I told him resignedly. I clearly wasn’t going to be able to keep its existence secret. ‘Her fingers are so green, they’re practically chartreuse.’
‘Meg told me what you grow on the Farm. We must both be gardening at about the same elevation, so we can compare notes,’ Tottie said. ‘I believe we both keep bees, too?’
The way River was instantly fitting into the household, you’d think weirdly dressed elfin men with long silver hair and plaited beards arrived to stay at the Red House every day … though, of course, Clara had already met him. He had the happy knack of always being at home wherever he found himself, and in any company.
He had two bowls of mushroom soup and great hunks of wholemeal bread – I didn’t know where he put it all. Then afterwards, they broke open one of the truckles of cheese he’d brought with him, which luckily for me was not goat. They must have done a trade with a neighbouring smallholder.
As we ate, we told him the full story of Nessa and George’s brief and misguided romance, if you could call it that, which resulted in the baby who became my mother.
‘So now you have two homes and two families,’ he said. ‘How fortuitous that you should choose Meg to paint your portrait, Clara. It must have been pre-ordained by the Goddess.’
Then he talked a lot about the mysteries of karma and predestination and so on, but I didn’t take much notice. I already felt a sense of wonderment at the filament-fine thread that was woven through our lives, joining us together.
I came back to earth when they switched to talking about the Solstice.
‘I’m so looking forward to the ceremony tomorrow evening,’ River told them. ‘I brought my own robes with me, because I thought I could wear them to add to the ambience of the occasion, if no one objects.’
River’s robes are made of a kind of silver lamé with appliquéd symbols on the back and around the hem. They would certainly add to the ambience ofanyoccasion.
‘If you do, you must wear lots of clothes under them to keep you warm, like you do at home,’ I told him firmly.
