Page 124 of Kiss Me at Christmas
As she reached the orchestra pit, Hesther came over to greet her.
“Merry Christmas,” Hesther said, smiling.
“You don’t celebrate Christmas,” laughed Harriet.
“But you do. And besides, this isn’t a Christmas party per se; it’s a nonspecific winter party that happens to fall on December the twenty-fifth.”
“I love a nonspecific winter party!” Harriet gushed.“This is wonderful! How did you get everyone together? On Christmas Day! And how did I not know about this?”
Hesther nodded in James’s direction. “James did most of the organizing, and everyone chipped in where they could. We wanted to get you a thank-you gift for facilitating our gatherings, but nothing seemed to measure up.”
“And then Billy suggested that maybe the best gift we could give you was to throw a party that you didn’t have to organize,” James chimed in.
Harriet laughed at that. “This was your idea, Billy?”
Billy shrugged. “No big deal.”
“It was unanimously agreed that you deserved to just turn up and enjoy something for once, and after that it was easy to keep it a secret,” Hesther finished.
From nowhere, tears pricked at Harriet’s eyes.
“Okay, I have to go back and supervise the kitchen, so I’ll leave you to mingle.” Hesther pulled Harriet into a hug. “Enjoy,” she whispered into her ear. “And thank you.”
“Are you all right?” James handed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“I am so much more than all right.”
It was loud. It was chaotic. And it was wonderful. It was family. Harriet hadn’t thought she’d be able to eat another morsel, but it turned out there was always room for one more tempura king prawn and a baklava bite to finish it off.
After a while, the children left the grown-ups to sit around the tables chatting and went off to play tag in the stalls. People leaned back in their chairs, belts andbuttons undone, while still picking at their plates. There was so much laughter, Harriet wished she could bottle it.
“So, talk us through your meeting with Evaline,” Gideon asked. “What’s the plan going forward? I’ve asked James, but you know what solicitors are like, cagey bunch.”
James laughed. “Allow me to protest,” he said. “All I said was, let’s wait until we’re all together and Harriet’s here too, since it is she who will be affected the most by all of this.”
“Like I said, cagey.” Gideon folded his arms. Today his waistcoat bore one blue and one red nutcracker soldier down each panel.
Evaline’s announcement after the play had taken everyone by surprise and left Harriet with some careful thinking to do. Of course, Gideon would be interested; as far as he was concerned, having Harriet and James at the helm was practically being gifted his own theater.
Harriet was aware that many pairs of eyes were now directed at her.
“Well, obviously it means all the groups who have found their home at the theater can remain here.”
Exclamations of relief went up around the table.
“And we’ll hold meetings to make sure we are doing the best that we can for people and also to plan for the future. This is such an incredible opportunity, we really need to ensure we get the most out of it, and of course this is a community theater and space, so we need to find a way to be self-sufficient. I have a few ideas of my own on that score and I’ll be asking all of you for your thoughts too.”
“I have a lot of thoughts,” said Josef.
“Good. Start making notes, because I’m schedulingour inaugural meeting for the first week in January,” Harriet replied.
“I’ll be suggesting more productions,” said Gideon.
“Of course you will.” Ken winked. Beside him his wife smacked his arm playfully. “You’re not going to be driving yourself into the ground for free, I hope, Harriet?”
“Evaline has offered to take me on as a permanent member of staff.” She wasn’t sure why she felt so self-conscious saying it.
“She’s offered you the role of chief executive of the Winter Theater,” James corrected. “And Evaline is going to change her will. The theater will be held in trust for the community, with Harriet and me as the trustees. We will be looking to form a board of directors going forward.”
