Page 73 of The Christmas Retreat
‘But today is special, because we won’t have dinner till about two, and we need something solid to keep us going,’ said Noel.
‘I’m all for any excuse for a big cooked breakfast,’ Evie said, and Kate, her mouth full, nodded enthusiastic agreement.
Nerys cast another doubtful look at Opal’s flushed face, but said nothing more.
When everyone but Verity had finished eating, Cariad told her to hurry up.
‘We can’t open any presents until we’ve finished and everyone’s there, and you’re such a slowcoach!’
‘Cariad, that’s hardly polite!’ objected Rhys.
‘Oh, I don’t mind. I can see she’s excited to get at her presents,’ Verity said, laying down her half-eaten toast with a slightly martyred expression.
‘Do finish eating, Verity,’ said Timon. ‘We can help Tudor clear the table while you do.’
But Verity, still looking martyred, refused to eat any more and, with Cariad’s enthusiastic assistance, the table was cleared in no time at all and Bronwen was shooing the helpers out of her kitchen, where she was beginning to prepare the Christmas dinner.
‘Now, at last, we can have our presents,’ cried Cariad and, as the lovely sound of the Seren Bach Male Voice Choir filled the air, we went through into the pine-scented hall, where the lights on the tree danced, sending flickering colours over the parcels heaped beneath.
*
We all gathered in a half-circle around the tree as Timon handed out the presents. Even Bronwen and Tudor popped out briefly to be given theirs.
Like me, I don’t really think the other guests were expecting anything at all – I’d already had my book from Ma and toiletries from Liv – but to my surprise, we all received two or three, my little gifts included.
Of course, Cariad had the biggest heap and needed help to carry them into the sitting room, where she settled herself on the rug in front of the fire for a frenzy of unwrapping.
The rest of us sat down more sedately to delve into our mysterious parcels and I discovered, to my delight, that we had all been given one of the smaller porcelain figures from the Winter Solstice ceremony range.
Mine was the Druid – tall, dark-haired and bearing more than a passing resemblance to Rhys. Evie’s was Old Winter.Opal got the Green Man, her twin St Melangell, with a hare nestled against her blue robes; Kate, the antlered hunter and Toby, the hobby horse.
Verity, as slow to unwrap as she was to eat, received St John.
‘We wrapped them all up in identical paper and, of course, the boxes are the same size, so we had no idea which one was which when we put your names on them,’ said Nerys. ‘We hope you like the ones you’ve got.’
‘I love mine,’ said Pearl, glowing.
‘Yes, thank you so much,’ Toby said. ‘The modelling of them is exquisite.’
‘Themodelof mine is exquisite too,’ said Evie, holding up Old Winter, which was clad in a silvery robe that matched his small, pointed beard, his head topped with a frosted twig crown. ‘It’s definitely you, Noel!’
‘I did sit for the original model. We update them from time to time,’ he said. ‘But I wouldn’t describe myself as exquisite, dear lady!’
Opal, huddled in a sofa corner next to Pearl, seemed listlessly uninterested in her gifts and I was sure Nerys was right, and she was going down with something.
From Noel we had a copy of his small booklet,A History of the Church of St Melangell, while Cariad had painted beach pebbles for everyone. Mine was bright saffron yellow with a bee on it and I liked it very much. Evie seemed delighted with hers, too, and said you could never have too many paperweights.
Then there were just my offerings: the little stained-glass hangings, which also seemed to go down well. Kate loved the teddy bear on hers, a lucky choice. She seems to have become somehow slightly more likeable since we discovered her love of teddy bears.
Timon went out to put on another CD of carols and Rhys took his place on the end of the sofa next to me.
‘I love my little mistletoe hanging, Ginny. And you have one more parcel to open.’
I hadn’t noticed there was a tiny gift on the coffee table in front of me, tagged with my name. It was from Rhys, and I was sure it hadn’t been there a moment before.
No one else seemed to have an extra present, either, although Cariad was sitting in a positive cloud of wrapping paper, with Nerys perched on the pouffe next to her.
While most people were watching the excited little girl, I unwrapped my last present and inside found a small box containing the most exquisite silver brooch, shaped like a sprig of mistletoe, set with shining pearl berries.
