Page 118 of Kiss Me at Christmas
“Do you think so, miss?” asked Carly, still trying to catch her breath.
James bounded across the still-curtained stage to them.
“That was incredible, you two!” he said, shaking each of them enthusiastically by the hand. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve got half the audience sobbing into their finery out there.”
Harriet watched the easy way they were around each other, so at odds with when they had first met.
The curtains opened again, and Scrooge was back in his bed while the narrators stood around his sleeping form, chronicling the tale until Odette, in green robes, took to the stage as the Ghost of Christmas Present to wake him for further lessons.
“I can’t do it, miss.” Billy was standing before her, dressed as a Victorian house husband, shaking his head and chewing the skin on the side of his thumb.
“Yes, you can. Billy, you’ve got this.”
“I can’t. It’s such a big scene. All those people…”
“Listen, all your scenes are with either Sid or Isabel, so just focus on them, don’t look at the audience. Pretend it’s simply another rehearsal, you’re with your brother and your mates just messing about.”
Sid came to join them. “I can hold your hand the whole time, Billy, if you like,” he said. “Gideon won’t mind, will he?”
“No, he won’t mind at all. And the audience won’t be any the wiser,” said Harriet.
Isabel came up beside them, smiling once at Billy before taking Sid’s hand.
“Ready, Sid?” she said, bending to his height.
“Ready!” He grinned back.
“Then let’s go!”
Isabel and Sid took to the stage. Somewhere along the last few weeks Isabel had developed a newfound confidence that Harriet was happy to see. Billy watched his little brother skip onto the stage and then remember his hobble. The audience tittered delightedly.
“What if I mess it up? Or forget my lines?” Billy’s eyes were wide with panic when he turned back to Harriet.
Harriet waved her printout of the play.
“That’s what I’m here for. How about this, while you’re on the stage I won’t do anything else except stand in the wing where you can see me, following your lines, so that if you stumble, I can whisper them straight to you. We can do the whole scene with me feeding you your lines if need be. Okay?”
Billy took a second to think about it and then nodded.
“Yeah, okay.” His voice was hesitant. “And you’ll stand where I can see you?” He could have been six instead ofsixteen in that moment, his shell of self-contained capability temporarily shucked. “The whole time?”
“Yes. I will always be in your line of sight. I promise.”
He nodded again and took a deep breath. On the stage, the Ghost of Christmas Present was directing Scrooge to peek in at the Cratchits’ Christmas.
“It’s time,” said Harriet, taking Billy by the shoulders. “You can do this. I know you can.”
Hesitantly and somewhat stiffly, Billy took to the stage. Harriet positioned herself where he could easily see her. He glanced at her once before beginning.
“What has ever got your precious mother, then? And Tiny Tim! And Martha warn’t as late last Christmas Day by half an hour!”
Harriet followed his lines, shifting her position as he moved about the stage to stay in his eyeline.
“He’s doing really well,” said Hesther, watching Billy bustle about the stage kitchen. “I wasn’t sure he’d go on at all.”
“Sometimes you just need to know that there’s a safety net before you jump,” said Harriet, her eyes flicking between Billy and his lines on her printout.
“Never was a truer word spoken, my friend.” Hesther squeezed her shoulder and melted back into the melee backstage.
