‘It’s all starting to take shape now, isn’t it?’ Kester stands behind Helen, putting his arms around her waist and letting his head rest against hers as she gazes into the sitting room. ‘We’re going to do it’ he says happily and kisses the side of her neck as his arms tighten around her.
‘We are’ She lets out the breath she seems to have been holding and presses her head more firmly against him. ‘We really are...And thanks to Harriet and Jeannie. I can’t believe how hard they worked and it has made such a difference’
‘Harriet said it’s been like one long Christmas, opening all the parcels. You didn’t mind...you didn’t want to open everything yourself?’
‘Noo, not at all’ she laughs up at him. ‘If you could have seen them that first day when I came home, surrounded by cardboard and bubble wrap. They stopped dead, like two puppies that’d been tearing the place apart, waiting for a telling off for having fun. As soon as they realised I wasn’t annoyed, they went bounding off again’
‘Harriet...bounding?’ Kester grins back. ‘That’s something I would’ve liked to have seen...Jeannie as well, come to think about it’
‘It was very much like that’ Helen says, moving away from him to adjust the position of a lamp on a side table and standing back to look at it again. ‘A mad panic to try and tidy up the mess they had made so I could see all they had done....and both talking at once about what they had put where. I wish I’d had a camera at the ready. It was the funniest thing I’d seen in ages and I was so taken aback I just stood there with this silly grin on my face with it all going on around me and not knowing what to do or say. In the end, I put the kettle on and managed to persuade them to sit down and go through everything a bit more slowly!’
‘I think they’ve enjoyed themselves, I know Harriet has’
‘I had no idea that’s what they intended. It was a wonderful surprise. I’d come here expecting a pile of boxes and it all to do...and there it was, done! My tummy had been churning all day, so much to do and there I was stuck at work. I felt so much happier afterwards...especially with more deliveries on the way. I knew I could tell them which room the furniture needed to go in and they wouldn’t mind seeing to it that the delivery men put it where it was wanted’
‘Our very own project managers’
‘They could hire themselves out!’
‘Do NOT mention that to Harriet’ Kester laughs as Helen turns and moves towards the kitchen.
‘No...Probably not a good idea. Coffee now? Have you finished upstairs?’
‘All done and dusted...literally, although those polystyrene bits get everywhere, not sure there’s not still a few of those sticking where they shouldn’t but everything’s unwrapped and the rubbish put with the rest. Think I’ve got things where you wanted them but you’ll need to check.’
‘I’ll go up in a minute, think we both deserve a break’ Helen washes her hands at the sink. ‘Besides..this is your house as well, you know. You are allowed to have a few ideas of your own’
‘Really?’ he feigns surprise and excitement.
‘Really’ Helen grins over her shoulder. ‘As a special treat, you can have the attics all your own way’
‘Why, Mrs. James, that is mightily kind of you’ Kester stands in line waiting to wash his hands too.
‘I know’ She turns back to rinse the soap from her hands, glancing up when the security light onto the back garden comes on. ‘Oh...Look!’ Her eyes light with the thrill of seeing a fox caught in the sudden brightness.
‘Guess that’s why it’s called Fox Hollow’ he says quietly as though any louder might frighten it away.
‘I’ve not really seen one close to...Is it a vixen or a dog fox?’
Kester grins and shakes his head at the absurdity of her question. ‘Let me get the binoculars and I’ll home in on its rear end and take a look. I don’t know!’
‘A vixen, I think. Don’t dog foxes tend to look a bit manky? She’s very sleek.’ They watch as the fox forages for food.
‘Again, I have no idea’ He takes his turn at the sink, lathering washing up liquid onto his hands.
‘But you were brought up in the country’ Helen sounds surprised and not a little disbelieving as the fox ambles out of range of the light and she turns away.
‘Not really, by the time I came to live with Harriet, it was foxy ladies I was more interested in’
‘But you spent a lot of your childhood here.’ She picks up on his smirking remark as she spoons coffee into two mugs ‘What happened, anyway?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Did you lose interest in them...the foxy ones?’
‘I found the best in the pack...’ Kester drops the towel onto the draining board and reaches for her. ‘You...are...a very foxy lady’ he growls, pulling her into his arms.
‘I think not’
‘Is so’ he breathes against her ear, holding her very close.
‘Kester...please.....’ Helen presses her hands against his chest in an attempt to free herself. ‘I’m grubby and very tired.’
‘Mmm ....We have a double shower ready to use, an airing cupboard full of fluffy new towels and a bed waiting for us to....sleep ...in. We don’t have to go home’
‘And what about Alfie?’
‘What about Alfie? He won’t starve with the amount of dry stuff I’ve put down for him’
Both hands lift and slap down. ‘You planned this all along, didn’t you?’
‘Guilty as charged’
Fox Hollow, Upper Milliwick
Chapter Forty-four
25 Piper Street
‘I’m real glad you come...cos I got summat for yer’ Edna bustles from her chair to rummage under the small artificial tree on a table in front of the window and pulls out a clumsily wrapped parcel. ‘It ain’t nothin’ much...but Merry Christmas’
David Owen puts his glass down on the hearth to be able to take the gift from her. ‘Thank you, Edna....Charlie’ he nods to where Charlie sits on the other side of the fire. ‘That’s...really kind of you.’ He swallows hard and laughs to cover the lump in his throat. ‘I’ll have to come more often’
‘I ‘spect you could buy ‘undred of ‘em fer yerself…....but there yer go’ Edna smacks at his hand when he starts to pick at the sellotape. ‘You ain’t t’open it ‘til the day!’
‘I’ll take it with me and toast you with something long and cold as I open it.’ He sets the parcel on the arm of the chair and stares at it. ‘I can’t get over that’ he grins inanely. ‘You bought me a present. Nobody buys me presents’
‘Don’t talk s’bloomin’ daft. Bet yer gets ‘em from everybody’
‘I get ‘gifts’...things that get bought with no thought or any pleasure in giving. I don’t get presents, not from anyone who matters.’
‘Cor blimey, lad’ Charlie chomps on a handful of peanuts. ‘You’ll ‘ave me gettin’ me ‘anky out afore long, you carry on like that. We’ve enjoyed yer comp’ny, this last year or so. To us yer just an ord’nary bloke what we can be at ‘ome with. We ‘ad t’mark the day wi’summat but, like the missus says, it ain’t much’
‘I bought you a poxy plant for God’s sake!’ David dismisses his gift to them with another laugh.
‘It’s the best Poinsettia I ever seen’ Edna lifts her chin to say proudly. ‘And I’ll treasure it’
‘Prob’ly get a state fun’ral when she kills it’ Charlie chortles. ‘She ain’t ‘ad no luck wi’em afore’
Edna glares, affronted. ‘I does me best’
‘They’re not easy to keep’ David sympathises. ‘Most of them get thrown out once they start looking tatty but you can keep them going, with a bit of luck. When I get back, I’ll tell you what you have to do’
‘If she ain’t killed it be then’ Charlie gets glared at again and Edna moves the bowl of peanuts out of his reach.
‘You puttin’ up at the ‘otel?’ she asks ‘You could a stopped ‘ere’
‘I know I could...but I’m off really early in the morning. They’ve arranged a car to get me to the airport and I’m leaving mine at the Manor...Perks of the job’ he adds with a wink
‘You’ll be lucky t’get away what wi’all the snow, we’re sweatin’ on be able t’get to our Peter’s’
‘If the plane’s cancelled, I’ll buy a few sessions on a sun bed. I’m getting a tan, no matter what’
‘’Ow can layin’ on some beach or other be Christmas?’ Edna frowns her lack of understanding. ‘Christmas on yer own? T’ain’t nat’ral’
‘Looking forward to it’ David finishes the beer in his glass. ‘Nothing to do but lay there and get brown; magic. Anyway...’ he says with a sigh and hauls himself to his feet. ‘I’d better get going. Thanks for the beer...and thanks for the present..’ he takes it from the arm of the chair, lifting it higher than he need to and smiling his appreciation.
‘Good t’see yer, boy’ Charlie stands and claps his hand on David’s back. ‘You go careful, now’
‘Thanks, Charlie. Enjoy your Christmas’
‘And you, lad, and you’ he follows him into the hallway.
David gives Edna a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek. ‘And Merry Christmas to my best girl’
‘Oh, get on wi’yer!’ She pats her hair and blushes with pleasure as he steps out onto the front path. ‘Send us a postcard, won’t yer’
‘Will do!’
The Red House
Barleyfield Way
‘You embarrassed the hell out of me’ Rosalyn flares ‘saying that in front of my Mum and Dad! Don’t ever do anything like that again!’ She plonks the cafetiere on a tray and rattles cups onto it. ‘Take that in the front room while I get the mince pies out of the oven’
‘It j-just came out’ Jonathan takes the tray but only transfers it from the worktop to the table. ‘It s-somehow s-seemed the right moment...as though there wasn’t anyone there b-but m-me and you’
‘Well, there was and now I’ll never live it down. They’ll be poking fun all through Christmas. Everybody will know. I’m going to be the Christmas bloody joke. Thanks very much’ Scowling, she opens the oven door. The baking tray skitters across the hob. ‘Shit! Now I’ve burned myself!’
‘L-let me see’
‘It’s a burn, okay?’ Still scowling, she holds her arm under the tap and lets the cold water run over the seared stripe.
‘You c-catch it on the rack?’ Jonathan hovers at her side.
‘No, I shoved it on there on purpose’ Tears stand in her eyes as water splashes into the sink. She dances from one foot to the other.
‘W-where’s the cream?’
‘In the fridge. Where else would it be?’ Rosalyn snaps.
‘I m-meant t-to put on your arm’ Jonathan rests his hand against the small of her back, looking on solicitously. ‘T-take the s-sting out a b-bit’
She shrugs him off and steps away from the sink to tear some kitchen paper from the roll. ‘I can do it myself if it needs any. Take the tray; I’ll be in in a minute.’ She carefully dabs around the burn and dries her hands before tossing the paper into the waste bin.
‘If it m-makes any difference, I’m sorry’ Jonathan stands facing her and takes her hands in his.
‘I’m sorry, it flaming well hurts!’
‘N-no....not the burn’ he says quietly and lowers his eyes from hers to look down at her hands. ’They’re c-cold’ he observes as though realising it for the first time. He tucks them under the bottom of his sweater and pulls it down over them, his mouth opening in a silent howl as they touch his warm skin. He blows several short and rapid breaths until his body used to them being there. Her ill temper forgotten, Rosalyn laughs at his performance and tries to pull away but his elbows clamp against his side and prevent her moving. ‘I’m s-sorry about embarrassing you’ His voice becomes high-pitched as her cold fingers are pressed closer.
Flustered by the situation she finds herself in, Rosalyn grins wickedly and moves her hands to inflict more chilly discomfort. ‘But I’m getting my own back now!’ She flinches as his sweater catches on the burn. ‘Ouch!’
‘That w-wasn’t my fault’ he says, letting her arms loose.
‘No...No it wasn’t’ she inspects her arm, hissing a breath over her teeth as she removes a tiny piece of loose skin.
Jonathan shudders. ‘Urrgghh’
‘You’re not going to flake out, are you?’
‘I’m n-not that m-much of a wuss’ his retort is tinged with resentment. ‘That s-sort of thing p-puts my teeth on edge, that’s all.’ Rosalyn walks past him to start putting the mince pies onto a plate and he turns as she passes. ‘Ab-bout m-me embarrassing you...’ he starts to say but she cuts him off.
‘You’re sorry, yes you said.’ She dithers with the empty baking tray, finding him between her and the sink.
‘I’m sorry I embarrassed you’ he says clearly ‘but I wanted to know...b-because...’ his nerve fails him and his stutter returns ‘I th-think I w-wanted to k-kiss you’
‘You THINK you wanted to?’ she rolls her eyes as she sidesteps to get past and drops the baking tray on the drainer.
Jonathan turns to face her on her way back and purposely stands in her way again, taking her by the shoulders and stopping her in her tracks. ‘I know I wanted to.’ He moves one hand to cup her chin and slowly lowers his mouth to hers, watching until her eyes close before closing his own.
‘Are we getting any bloomin’ coffee this side of Christmas?’Alex barges into the kitchen, the abruptness of his arrival making Jonathan and Rosalyn jump apart. They both look down at the floor, Rosalyn recovering her composure first and picking up the plate. ‘Don’t mind me’ Alex takes it from her, puts a mince pie whole into his mouth, drops the plate onto the tray with the coffee and leaves the room as suddenly as he came in.
