Page 67 of One More Christmas at the Castle
‘I’m sure she did, especially in front of Simon!’
‘Xan was kind, though, and said he thought they’dalloverindulged in the pre-dinner drinks.’
When the main course was cleared and they were consuming apple pie and cream, we sat down to our own dinner, which I’d kept warm in the oven, just adding a little leftover chicken and stuffing.
Henry is rather like Plum, in that he eats his own dinner amazingly fast and then sits staring longingly at mine.
Coming back from the sitting room after the coffee run, Henry relayed some compliments on my cooking, which always made me feel appreciated.
Simon had said it was a great treat to eat good home cooking, since it didn’t really seem worth the bother to make dinner when he was on his own.
‘And then Mrs Powys took pity on him, and said that, in that case, he must come to dinner on Christmas Day.’
‘That makes it eleven, then,’ I said. ‘Not that it would matter if there were several extra guests, because the turkey’s amonster.’
‘Simon’s in his thirties, so it’ll make more of a balance between the ages and probably help me get a bit of a party atmosphere going,’ Henry said. ‘And my special Christmas Cocktail will oil the wheels.’
‘You’d better be careful not to oil Lucy too much, or oneof her wheels might come off altogether,’ I warned him, and he grinned.
There was a diversion at this point.
Earlier, Plum, rendered insanely greedy by the smell of the cooking chicken, had had to be bodily removed from the kitchen by Xan. But evidently he’d now escaped from the sitting room, for the baize door swung suddenly open and he did a backwards somersault into the kitchen. He looked so surprised that I wasn’t sure whether it was intentional, or if he was simply sitting leaning against the door.
He got to his feet, tail wagging gently, and I said, ‘Call me a soft touch, Henry, but I think that deserves a morsel of chicken!’
After a while, Henry said he’d take Plum back to the sitting room, but since he hadn’t returned by the time I’d finished all my tasks for the night, I assumed Mrs Powys had graciously given him permission to hang out with Xan and Simon, probably in the billiard room.
I had a leisurely shower and washed my hair again; earlier, in the study, I’d been sitting on the floor sorting out the magazines in the boxes under the table and itfeltdusty even if it didn’t look it.
By the time I’d untangled and dried it, and gone downstairs again, I could hear male voices, so it wasn’t a total surprise to find Henry, Xan and Simon in our sitting room.
‘Hi, Dido,’ Xan said, picking up Plum to make room for me on the sofa next to him. ‘We were playing billiards, but now the ladies have retired for the night.’
‘Yeah,’ Henry said. ‘Mrs Powys said we should carry on for as long as we wanted, though, so we thought we’d come and carry on here, instead.’
‘I suspect that isn’t what she meant,’ I said.
‘I hope you don’t mind us invading your sitting room?’ asked Simon. ‘Henry said you wouldn’t.’
‘It’s fine,’ I said politely, and then leaned over and took the big tin of chocolates from Henry, before he ate all the best ones, and offered it to Simon.
‘Oh, no, thank you. I haven’t really got a sweet tooth, apart from desserts – that apple pie was wonderful! In fact, the whole dinner was!’
‘Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it and I hear you’re coming for Christmas dinner, too?’
‘Mrs Powys did kindly invite me.’ He gave me that sweet smile again. ‘I only really came in to say goodnight. I ought to be getting home again.’
‘Not if you don’t really have to,’ Henry said. ‘I told you we were going to hang out and watch a Christmas film and you’re welcome to join us.’
‘Yes, do, if you don’t mind watching purest seasonal cheese,’ I said, turning to hand the chocs to Xan and finding him wearing that odd expression again.
‘I’m going to roast some chestnuts halfway through,’ Henry said.
‘Now, thatisirresistible,’ Simon said.
‘What shall we watch tonight, then?’ I asked. ‘Miracle on 34th Street?White Christmas? We can sing along to that one.’
‘How about the first of theHome Alonefilms?’ Henry suggested.
