Page 35 of Christmas Games
She welled up. ‘Thank you, Rory. This is such a relief. I can’t believe it.’
‘Now all we need to do is get today over with, then you can put your feet up. You, me, Bandit, Basil and your beautiful bump. I promise I’ll make Christmas perfect for you.’
Zoe swallowed her emotion. ‘Okay, let’s get you dressed as Santa and put some talc in your beard to make it white.’
Rory took off his work trousers and pulled on the red velour bottoms.
Oh god.
Being six foot six, they only reached his knees. It looked like he was wearing lederhosen.
Neither of them said a word.
He put the top on. It was big enough around the middle, but the sleeves ended just below his elbows. Zoe had deliberately ordered an XXL Santa suit, but it looked like an extra-small one on Rory’s giant frame.
Yet another Christmas clusterfuck.
The ring of Rory’s phone filled the silence.
‘It’s Brad.’ He took the call.
‘Dude!’ Brad was so loud it sounded like he was in the room with them. ‘Where are you, man?’
‘We’re in the castle.’
‘Where?’
‘Um, in the small study off the entrance hall. Why?’
The door flew open and Brad bounded in. ‘Surprise!’
Zoe gripped Rory’s hand as they stared at him in shock.
Barbara now entered and looked Rory up and down. ‘Oh dear. That really won’t do. Think of the children. You’ll terrify them.’
Rory managed to recover first. ‘Mum,’ he croaked. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? We’re putting family first. You made it clear how much the two of you were struggling, and Zoe needs to rest.’
‘But what aboutFight Dragon Club?’ Zoe asked. ‘Isn’t that meant to be filming now?’
Brad clicked his fingers. ‘Rescheduled. I didn’t want to miss the birth of my grandson.’
‘I’m not due till mid-January,’ Zoe said, feeling light-headed.
‘Jesus says it’s his time.’
‘Jesús, Bradley. How many times do we have to have this conversation?’
‘Sorry, Countess.’
Barbara raised her eyes theatrically, then clicked her fingers at Rory. ‘Give Bradley the costume. We can take it from here.’
Zoe stoodbehind Brad in the castle library, next to the huge open fire, a clipboard in her hands, and watched him distil Christmas into the spirit of pure commercialism.
It hadn’t started well.
She’d put out a chair for the children to sit on, but the first boy, who was clearly a fan, stood to attention in front of Brad.
