Page 53 of Could It Be Magic?
‘Will do.’ Nick grinned at his sister. Ever since she’d taken over the Christmas dinner preparations from their mother a couple of years back, Annabelle ran Christmas Day like a well-oiled machine, leaving the rest of the family to just get well oiled. He sometimes felt guilty that the responsibility had landed with her, but since she and Jamie now lived in the farmhouse, it seemed to go with the territory.
Entering the large but cosy living room, he glanced quickly at his phone screen, hopeful of a message from Thea, before slipping it into his back pocket. Thea had sent him a cute, animated gif of a rabbit blowing kisses under the mistletoe, and he resolved to slope off later and find an equally cute one to send back to her. In the meantime, he had the family to referee.
‘Hello, Aunty Glad,’ he said as he approached the group of family by the fire. ‘Nice to see you.’ He kissed her cheek, and then turned to his mother, who was sipping a flute of champagne by the large stone fireplace that dominated the living room. Jamie was stacking logs into the wicker basket and glanced up, giving him a smile as he settled himself on the sofa next to his aunt.
‘Hello, Nicholas,’ Aunty Gladys responded. ‘Still single, I see?’
Nick nodded. ‘Afraid so, Aunty Glad.’ He wasn’t going to be drawn on his relationship quite so early in proceedings.
They made the usual small talk, and Gladys filled him in on the activities of his cousins who were both living with their families in Australia and celebrating Christmas around the barbecue.
‘Have you never thought of visiting them out there for Christmas?’ Nick asked. He tried not to smirk as he caught his mother’s eye.
‘Too hot for me at that time of year.’ Gladys shuddered theatrically. ‘But I’m planning on going out for a few weeks next summer – it’ll be cooler then.’
‘Makes sense,’ Nick said. He sat back on the sofa and let conversation drift around him, wondering, yet again, how Thea’s Christmas was going. He wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but with his family on Christmas Day, but there was a part of him that wanted to have Thea and her children by his side to share it.
‘Of course, people split up too quickly, these days,’ Aunty Gladys was saying, on her third glass of champagne. ‘In our day, marriage was for the long haul, thick and thin, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer. Now it’s easier to walk away, people just don’t commit to each other.’
After his recent experiences with Thea, Nick wanted to disagree, but he kept quiet. Aunty Gladys was entitled to her opinions, and nuance had never been part of her vocabulary.
‘Oh, I don’t know, Aunty Glad,’ Annabelle, who’d come in from the kitchen, said. ‘People are under so much pressure these days. It’s not always easy to keep things going. Especially when there are children involved.’
‘All the more reason to stay together,’ Gladys replied, accepting another top up from Annabelle, who was offering around the bottle. ‘Too many single-parent families these days, all on benefits and scrounging off society.’
Nick caught Annabelle’s eye and shook his head. They’d learned not to argue with Gladys, especially not on Christmas Day. Some topics – Brexit, politics and family dynamics – were always off limits once a year. But Nick couldn’t help feeling irritated by Gladys’ point-blank statements: she’d obviously been mainlining the right-wing news channels again.
‘Well, everyone, dinner’s almost ready, if you want to go to the dining room,’ Annabelle said.
The table, set for six, looked stunning. A white tablecloth was topped by a green and red festive runner, which in turn was adorned with holly and mistletoe wreaths, and red and green candles, already lit. The family crystal, inherited from Annabelle and Nick’s grandparents, glinted in the candlelight, and the dinner service Jamie and Annabelle had been given as a wedding present had already been set out.
‘Jamie, the table looks fabulous!’ Maggie said, giving her son-in-law a smile of appreciation.
‘It’s the least I could do, what with Annie being our resident Nigella Lawson all day!’ Jamie joked. ‘But thank you, all the same.’ He hurried back out to the kitchen to help Annabelle bring in in the tureens of food, and Nick made himself useful doing the same.
‘I’m going to need a lot more of this if I’m going to get through lunch without braining Gladys with the red wine decanter!’ Annabelle muttered to Nick as she piled roast potatoes into one of the serving dishes.
‘Don’t let her get to you.’ Nick grinned. ‘I mean, what would Christmas dinner be without our annual serving of swivel-eyed lunacy courtesy of Aunty Glad!’
‘I know.’ Annabelle smiled briefly at Nick. ‘I suppose it’s just the way she speaks about single parents that gets to me. Some of us are struggling to even become parents, and it kind of hits a nerve.’
‘No news, then?’ Nick asked carefully. He’d been hoping, like the rest of the Saint family, that Annabelle and Jamie’s holiday would have enabled a Christmas miracle, but it seemed that it wasn’t to be.
Annabelle shook her head. ‘Not as yet, no.’ She seemed torn between sadness and laughter and seemed to opt for the latter as she took a generous glug straight from the champagne bottle. ‘Ah well, at least it means, now that dinner’s almost on the table, I can get pissed without guilt!’
Nick threw an arm briefly around his sister’s shoulders and then grabbed a couple of the tureens. ‘Well, let’s get on with it, then,’ he said. ‘A united front against Gladys will do the trick, I’m sure.’
Annabelle grinned. ‘Whatever you do, don’t mention you’re dating Thea, or she’ll have a blue fit when she finds out you’re seeing one of those bloody single mothers!’
‘I have no intention of mentioning it.’ Nick grinned back. ‘I don’t want to be given the third degree by the right-wing mafia around the Christmas table!’
‘Fair enough.’ Annabelle paused, before adding, ‘Did you manage to see Thea again before Christmas Day hit?’
Nick’s smile gave him away.
‘So you did, then?’ Annabelle laughed.
‘Let’s just say I’m very much looking forward to the new year.’
