Page 7 of One More Christmas at the Castle
‘But of course I remember him, because he’s soveryhandsome, just like my idea of a romantic hero!’ she simpered.
I shot her a scornful look; she’s more than old enough to distinguish real life from that found between the pages of the novels she reads.
‘I’ve already invited Xan to spend the month of December with us, because he’s going to write a biography of Asa and needs access to his papers, but the rest of them can just come for Christmas – and you can write the invitations, Lucy.’
I grinned, a little maliciously, I fear. ‘Even the Mellings will come, if I make it sound like an offer they can’t refuse!’
She blinked and then began to count on her fingers. ‘It will be quite a small party, then, Cousin Sabine? Me and Nigel, the three Mellings, Xan …’
‘Plus my dear old friend Nancy and also, I hope, my solicitor, Timothy Makepeace, and possibly his granddaughter.’
Lucy began to count all over again. ‘I think that makes … ten, including yourself? But do you think Maria will be able to cope with a houseful of guests?’
‘Of course not, but I’ve already thought of that and engageda couple who will live in and take care of the cooking and housekeeping over December. It will mean that Maria can take some time off when Andy returns home, and then she’ll be able to come back to work refreshed in the New Year.’
‘You’ve found some live-in staff?’ Lucy exclaimed, surprised.
‘I have, though only temporary. And I’m sure, Lucy, thatyouwill step up to the mark and help make things run smoothly behind the scenes. Another pair of hands, however inept, is always useful.’
‘You know I’d work my fingers to the bone for you,’ Lucy assured me earnestly, but I reflected that there was so little flesh on them that that wouldn’t take very long.
2
Accommodations
I stopped at the supermarket and then returned to my lodge, still feeling somewhat ruffled and also hollow, so I assuaged the howling wolves of hunger before heading over to Henry’s to hear all about our new Christmas booking.
I must still have looked a little less than my usual serene and sunny self, because once we were in the kitchen, he asked: ‘Are you cross with me for accepting this new Christmas booking without consulting you first, darling?’
He’d automatically switched on the coffee machine and popped in my favourite pod. His glass teapot was on the table, full of some pale green fluid with drowned flowers floating in it, but I’m not a fan of any kind of tea, including those made from random berries, herbs and spices.
‘No, of course I’m not!’ I assured him. ‘We need the booking and we were lucky to get one at all at this late date.’
‘Well, something’s up, Dido,’ he said, putting a mug in front of me. ‘What is it, O Queen of Carthage?’
I smiled at this old joke and said wryly, ‘You know me too well, Henry, although I’m notupset, just a bit … unsettled,because I saw Liam, Mia and the youngest children in Great Mumming.’
‘Oh, right!’ he said, light dawning. ‘And did they give you pitying looks, before treating you to a demonstration of marital bliss and Happy Families?’
‘No, because luckily I saw them before they spotted me. I’d just got out of the car in the market square, so I dived straight back in and hid until they were past. Mia is pregnant again.’
‘My God!’ he said with feeling. ‘Haven’t they heard of television and box sets?’
I ignored that. ‘They had the twins and the toddler in one enormous kind of two-tier baby buggy that took up the entire width of the pavement, so everyone else got pushed off.’
‘People must have thought the circus had come to town,’ said Henry.
‘It certainlysoundedlike it, because the twins were howling like banshees and the toddler was throwing a roaring tantrum. And I don’t think it can be good for a child to turn that shade of dark puce,’ I added.
He grinned engagingly. ‘Only think, if Liam hadn’t suddenly dumped you and taken off with Mia, all that family bliss could have been yours.’
‘I know, that was the thought that really unsettled me.’
I shuddered, then took a reviving draught of coffee. ‘When Liam and I used to talk about our future lives together, we agreed we only wanted one, or perhaps two, children.’
‘These childhood sweetheart things rarely work out long term, Dido. Too claustrophobic.’
‘We did spend a lot of time apart after junior school, though, because he went to the local grammar and I went to a small boarding school,’ I pointed out. ‘After that, I only saw him inthe school holidays … when I wasn’t staying with Charlotte’s family, or in California with Dad. Still, since Liam and I were best friends too, when we met up, it was as though we’d never been apart.’
