Page 42 of Christmas Sunrise
I ask.
I'm not surprised when she replies immediately.
I text back just as quickly.
She adds several emojis of distraught expressions.
I remind her.
And it's not a lie. Looking around at Jake preening out the point in a napkin, Jenna pouring more drinks for us all, Marty and Ma standing side by side in the kitchen, and Da squinting at his phone on the couch, I can say, hand on my heart, I am feeling good.
*****
"Time for a toast!" Dad says standing up.
"Jesus Christ, Da, will you sit down!" I sink lower in my chair.
"And ignore an opportunity to thoroughly embarrass you? I think not."
"But we're hungry," I continue to protest, waving my hand around the table that is full of food. My brother has outdone himself. There’s the golden-brown turkey as well as a smaller rib roast beside it and these are surrounded by countless side dishes including honey-glazed carrots, roast potatoes and parsnips, caramelised Brussels sprouts with pecans, miniature Irish black pudding sausages wrapped in bacon and several smaller trays of roasted vegetables.
"How long are you going to be, Da? I didn't sweat my bollocks off for three hours so that it will all just get cold." Marty almost looks pissed off and he is normally the one who indulges Dad the most.
"It won't take long," our father says but then he pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and my groan is only slightly louder than the one Ma and Marty make.
"At least let me cut the bird." Marty stands up and returns to the kitchen.
"Well, firstly, I want to thank you and Aiden for hosting today." Dad nods at Jenna who smiles back at him. "And thank you to Jake for joining us all the way from London—"
"He doesn't mind. He enjoyed his flight immensely," Jenna interrupts and toasts her brother who gives her a thin smile while I snicker into my glass that has somehow been magically topped up with more champagne.
"Did you tell Ma and Da about your flight, Jake?" Marty says as he returns, mischief lifting his eyebrows. He's sliding the blades of two knives against each other and I notice how he looks and smiles at Jenna as he does so and for some strange reason, she mouths the words ‘Thank you again’ to him.
"I did not, nor will I bore them with the details," Jake says tersely and he's lucky my father presses on.
"And thank you to my dear daughter who fit us all into her busy jet-setting influencing schedule." Da looks at me and even though his words make me wince, I can't deny how his features are flooded with warmth. After I awkwardly return his smile, I avert my eyes and focus on Marty slicing up the turkey.
"And finally, thank you to my beautiful wife, who makes all of this possible, and I'm not just talking about the twenty-seven desserts she made, I mean she is the one who makes our family the family it is today, and I am very proud that it's a family that has grown by two wonderful people today."
"Oh, James," Mum says as she rests her hand on his forearm. A sniff makes me look at Jenna who has indeed gone very misty-eyed but it's the way Jake dabs at his eyes with his napkin that has me feeling the strange urge to laugh.
"Honestly, you're all a load of saps," I say but then Jake finds my hand and squeezes it and that need to laugh transforms into the red-hot need to shed a tear or two myself.
"For feck's sake you lot. Look at the state of you. I haven't had a cover cry at one of my tables before and it's not going to happen today," Marty says, but even he looks like he could crumble at any given moment.
"I haven't even finished," Dad says and he consults the piece of paper in his hand.
