Page 123 of The Forever Gift

Christmas Day

Molly bounds into our bedroom with squeals of excitement.

‘Santa came. Santa came,’ she says.

I open my reluctant eyes and try to shake myself awake. I have no idea what time it is but it’s still dark outside. My eyes adjust to the light shining in through the open door from the landing. I roll over to find Gavin is already sitting up and I wonder if he’s been asleep at all. He’s been so restless the last few nights. I know Christmas is weighing heavy on him.

‘Get up. Get up,’ Molly commands as she climbs into bed beside me. I yelp when she puts her icicle toes on the backs of my calves.

‘Okay. Okay,’ Gavin says, throwing back the duvet on his side and sliding his legs over the edge of the bed and standing up.

‘Come on. Come on!’ Molly shouts, unimpressed that I’m not moving as quickly as Gavin. ‘Ugh,’ she grunts, climbing out of bed again.

I hear the pitter-patter of her little feet scurrying across the landing, followed by the slam of the spare bedroom door as it’s opened with too much force and crashes into the wall.

‘Heather. Heather. Heather,’ Molly calls. ‘It’s time to get up.’

‘Oh God, she’s gone into Heather’s room,’ I say, as if Gavin can’t hear what’s going on.

‘Yeah,’ he says, pulling on a tracksuit.

I stand up and slide my feet into my waiting oversized fluffy slippers and I wrap my warm dressing gown around me. I open the wardrobe and pull out another dressing gown to give to Heather. She was so reluctant to stay with us for Christmas. I practically had to beg her. But the thoughts of her home alone in Cork today was too much to bear.

I walk across to Heather’s room and stop in the doorway. ‘Sorry,’ I say, feeling I should apologise for the four-year-old alarm clock that has just barged uninvited into her room.

‘S’okay,’ Heather says. ‘I wasn’t really asleep anyway.’

The humongous bags under her eyes confirm it.

‘She’s just so excited,’ I add, feeling embarrassed or awkward or something. I’m not quite sure. But Molly’s excitement seems misplaced and upsetting right now.

‘Did he come?’ Heather asks, trying to be enthusiastic for Molly’s sake. ‘Did Santa come?’

‘He did, he did, he did. I could hear his reindeer on the roof.’ Molly spins around in a circle and jumps up and down.

‘Did you now?’ I say.

‘Yup,’ Molly says, brazen with confidence.

Molly takes Heather by the hand and tries to drag her to her feet. Heather stands and I almost gasp seeing her in her night shorts. Her legs are so tiny and thin. I hadn’t realised she’d lost such a huge amount of weight since she first moved in. I pass Heather my spare dressing gown and she wraps it around herself and smiles.

Gavin appears at the door behind me wearing a Santa hat. ‘C’mon. Let’s go downstairs,’ he says.

Molly leads Heather by the hand past us and down the stairs.

‘Thank you,’ I whisper to Gavin, pointing at his hat.

‘Kayla asked me to make Christmas special for Molly and for Heather. And I’m trying,’ he says.

‘You just didn’t know it would be this hard,’ I add.

Gavin swallows and I can almost see the emotional bubble making its way down his throat.

Gavin and I follow Molly and Heather into the sitting room. All our stocking are hung by the fire. They’re heaving with gifts. I managed to find a stocking for Heather yesterday and I’ve stuffed it with presents.

Molly squeals with excitement when she finds the pile of presents wrapped under the tree for her that weren’t there when she was going to bed last night.

‘These are from Santa,’ she says as she points and jumps up and down on the spot. ‘See, I told you he came.’

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