Page 78 of The Christmas Retreat
As I got into bed that night, rendered warmly fuzzy by two glasses of advocaat, something I had never had before but could possibly get addicted to, I thought it had been the most perfect Christmas Day ever!
Of course, Verity, who seemed to have a knack of unintentionally saying the wrong thing, had stuck her oar in once or twice at dinner. And then when Rhys and I had arrived back, she’d loudly exclaimed that they had all wondered where we had got to and were about to send out search parties!
For a minute it had felt as if I’d been dropped into the starring role in that scene inPride and Prejudice, where Darcy and Elizabeth lose themselves on a country walk and reveal their true feelings to each other … although in our case, it was justmewho had been lost – in a daydream!
Then Nerys said crisply, ‘Nonsense, Verity!’ and the awkward moment passed.
Other than that, it had been a wonderful day. Not, of course, for Opal, ill upstairs, but then, I’m sure Pearl wouldn’t have enjoyed herself half as much if her sister had been there.
I curled up in bed, warm and comfortable, and with the fun of tomorrow’s expedition to the Mountain Zoo to look forward to, and fell asleep with an old song running through my head about the animals going into the ark two by two …
*
The trip to the zoo was evidently another family tradition, for as well as Cariad, Rhys, Nerys and Timon, Noel came with us.
Opal was no better, but not, as Nerys said cheerfully after visiting her before breakfast, any worse, and she’d left her surrounded by boxes of tissues, since she had reached the snotty stage, and the box of vegan chocolates that had been her present from Pearl, and propped up in bed, with the TV remote to hand.
Pearl was in two minds about going to the zoo, but apparently Opal told her that she didn’t want anyone fussing round her.
Evie said that since she was staying behind, she’d look in on the invalid from time to time, and Verity very sweetly offered to take her up some soup at lunchtime.
‘I did the zoo last year in the summer and even then, once you got up there, it was freezing,’ Verity said. ‘I might as well start on anotherStill Life with Black Catinstead.’
‘Why not? That subject was always popular in Elizabeth Blackadder’s paintings,’ said Nerys, her face serious but her eyes twinkling.
‘Yes, that’s whatIthought,’ Verity agreed innocently.
She did seem a kind, good-natured sort of person who meant well, even if she did continually put her foot in it.
Kate, who was also staying behind, said tersely that she would be too busy working to even remember about Opal, but I didn’t think her sickbed manner would have done much for Opal anyway.
The sky was quite a clear pale ice blue as Nerys drove the minibus over the hills, although there were low cloud banks on the horizon. Timon did a sort of running commentary on the places we passed. It seemed that North Wales had a wealth of castles.
Rhys said he’d be happy to take anyone who wanted to see some of the local sights out in the afternoons.
‘I know that Ginny’s usual routine, like mine, is to work from very early in the morning till lunchtime.’
‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘or at least until you reach that stage in a book where you can’t stop and then I just keep going and forget the time passing.’
‘That’s a great feeling,’ Toby agreed. ‘I’m not an early riser so I tend to work on a bit … and sometimes at night, too.’
About forty minutes later, we turned off the main road at Colwyn Bay and then drove up and up, by ever narrower roads, to the zoo entrance, which was indeed, it seemed, at the top of a small mountain.
The car park was already filling up, mostly with families, despite the freezing cold breeze up there – Verity had been right about that! The grass was still white and crisp in the shadows and there were one or two frozen puddles.
There was a panoramic view of Llandudno lying beneath us like a great Toytown, edged with a curve of beach and, beyond it, Nerys pointed out the steep slopes of the Great Orme headland.
We agreed to divide up and meet for lunch in the cafe.Cariad wanted to show me her favourite animals first, before we explored the various steep paths around the zoo, but Nerys, Timon and Noel said they would confine themselves to the flatter top part of the zoo. Nerys particularly liked watching the sealions through the great curved glass viewing windows of their pool, while Noel preferred the hot atmosphere of the crocodile house.
Cariad seized one of my hands and one of Rhys’s and dragged us off down a slippery grass slope to see the penguins.
She was indefatigable, and I think we went up and down every path and saw every single creature there was to be seen, although the more sensible ones were tucked up in their warm dens, under heat lamps.
We kept spotting Toby and Pearl in the distance, and Cariad pointed out that they were holding hands.
‘So they are, but the paths are a bit slithery here and there. That’s probably why,’ said Rhys. ‘I’ve had to grab Ginny once or twice to stop her falling.’
‘I thought that was to save yourself. These boots have good grips,’ I said, and he laughed.
