A Proper Family Christmas (26 page)

“A James Bond film?” His eyebrow couldn't get any higher.

“Well not the film, obviously…”

“Yes, he might have chosen something a bit more suited to your taste, but it's the thought that counts, as they say, - and you had the sense to indulge him.”

“It wasn't a matter of sense, or indulging him. I
like
William.”

Leo shook his head with that ‘I know you better than you know yourself' look which made one want to stamp on his toes in spiked boots.

“And William's made it clear that he's very fond of you, Hilary, - that's all I'm saying,” the odious man went on. “…Good news, I would have thought, - for you, and for Daniel.”

“Hey, Frances! I don't seem to have wished you ‘happy Christmas' yet,” said Tony. “Where have you been hiding all morning?”

She told him about the parcel wrapping session, and he laughed. “Trust those two not to be able to get their act together without Super-Nanny coming to the rescue! Do you think they realise how lucky they are yet? …Tell you what, there's no one in the study, but there
is
quite a nice sherry with our name on it. How about a Christmas morning drink?”

“Well, they don't seem to need me at the moment.” In fact they'd virtually shooed her away, so why not have a drink with Tony? She jolly well deserved it.

“Interesting what you were telling us yesterday about their little purchase in Cirencester,” he said, when he'd filled their glasses and found her a comfortable chair.

“Oh! I think I've found out a bit more about that.” - Was it fair to tell him? Of course it was! “They started talking when we were wrapping the presents, - they must have forgotten I was there, - and it sounds as if they tried to get your father-in-law to sign the will form, and he refused.”

“Oh bravo, Frances,” Tony exclaimed, as if it had been her own doing. “I love the idea of you melting into the counterpane while they chattered away over your head! …What else did they say?”

“Well, they've got this really stupid idea about Hilary.” It made her angry even to repeat it. “They think she's aiming to hook up with Leo Watlington because they reckon his mother's plotting to get William to leave everything to him!”

“
Leo
? - Good lord!” Tony looked thoughtful.

“I know,” said Frances, appalled, as he must be, at the notion of any poor woman being saddled with Leo.

“That explains the attraction there, then.”

“Oh, I'm sure she's not attracted to him!” Frances hastened to correct him, but stopped short of telling him why she was absolutely sure. It was one thing to give away Stephen and Lesley's secrets.

“No, you wouldn't exactly want him for his body, would you?” Tony made a humorous face. “Although Leo does have a very fine mind, he tells me, - tells everyone, in fact, constantly.”

“You should have seen him trying to impress those children yesterday!” giggled Frances, and made him laugh with a description of the awful board game.

“Oh there you are, Hilary! Come on, we're going to do presents now in the sitting-room,” Julia announced. “…Posy, Tobias? Where are you? We've got a very special visitor this morning.”

Margery's head appeared over the banisters from the floor above. “All ready? …Get on with it, then, before everything falls off!”

The children were rounded up and everyone herded into the sitting-room.

“Where are the presents?” began Posy in disappointment.

“Wait and see,” said Lesley, holding Tobias's hand and looking towards the door.

“Ta-ran-ta-ra!” - Margery's version of a fanfare outside it.

Father Christmas came in, wearing a red dressing-gown rather too short for his large frame, a pair of smart Hunter boots covering the gap, a moustache and beard that must have taken a whole packet of cotton-wool and shivered perilously in the draft, - was that sellotape underneath? - and a child's Christmas hat clinging to the very top of his head.

Hilary let out an involuntary chuckle, then glanced guiltily to see if she'd spoiled it for the children, but Tobias was staring open mouthed. Even Posy seemed lost for words.

“Don't forget your presents, Father Christmas,” ordered Margery.

“Oh yes, sorry.” He turned to collect two huge pillow cases from behind him and heaved them across the room towards the tree. “Blimey, these are heavy!”

“You left out ‘ho, ho, ho',” said William naughtily.

“Ho, ho, ho,” responded Father Christmas, with an ungrateful look at his host.

“But.. but is it
really
Santa? I thought he didn't…” Posy was suspicious, but unable to penetrate the disguise.

“Of course it is, darling.” Julia patted her hand warningly. “And what a lovely lot of presents he's brought for us!”

“Do I have to hand them all out?”

“Perhaps just the children's,” said Lesley, “ - if you can find them. Oh dear, they may have been at the bottom.”

“Tip the whole sack out,” advised Daniel.

Frances stepped forward and helped him pick some she apparently recognised from the pile.

“Right - er - this one's for Tobias,” he read the label.

With a push from Lesley, Tobias ran up to receive it, delighted.

“And this is for Posy. …Have you been a good little girl, this year?” Father Christmas remembered his duties.

“Of
course
I have!” The coy look suggested that she realised there was a man under there, at least.

His assistant elf found him a few more presents to give out, and then he declared that it was time for him to fly away. “…I've left the reindeer prancing on the roof.”

“Oh, can we go out and see them?”

“No, Posy, they're right at the top, hidden behind the chimney,” said Frances.

Father Christmas made his escape, grimacing at Hilary for laughing again as he nearly shut his beard in the door.

Julia and Tony took over, and soon everyone had a pile of presents in front of them. Oliver slipped back in quietly, bringing Scratch with him.

“Okay, everybody! One - two - three - go!”

A moment where nothing could be heard except scrabbling and rustling. Scratch sat on his haunches, gazing from one to another, unable to decide where to pounce.

Hilary set to work on hers. …Soap. Thank you, Lesley. That could go with the mound in the cupboard. …Exotic candle from Julia, - more fun, though how she was going to get it home intact was another matter. …An amusing book from William, who swore he didn't do Christmas, but he'd known it would appeal to her. …The earrings she'd told Daniel he really shouldn't buy, but was so glad he had! …And what was this? A CD of that choral piece she'd been discussing with Oliver when they were cooking supper together, a lifetime away. He must have got it in Cirencester. - Hell, she was going to cry!

He caught her eye. “It's the arrangement I told you about. …I think you'll like it.”

“Oh,
Oliver
!” All the mixed emotions of the past few days seemed to well up inside her and threaten to come bubbling out. She pressed her lips fiercely together to try and keep control. Oliver had bought her a present, and cared what she thought of it. He
did
care. Whatever her head had done to make her so miserable, her heart knew better. He was still holding her with a gaze unmistakable in its meaning, and she was responding in kind, - an outpouring of coded message in that one long look between them.

Frances was touched to find her little parcel from Tobias. He'd even had a hand in wrapping it, by the look of things, - or was that one of Stephen's attempts? There was one with ‘love from Posy' as well, scrawled in Julia's hand, with lots of kisses, - and Hilary had got her that bag she'd been eyeing in the shop, bless her! …And then there was another parcel, - Shelley? Surely not. Too neatly wrapped, for one thing. …Oh! - “It's that Saxon pendant from the Museum!” she gasped aloud.

“I hope not, or we're in big trouble,” chuckled Oliver. …He was looking more cheerful!

“It's only a replica,” said Daniel, “but I thought you might like it.”

“Like it? It's
fabulous
!” - And all the more so because Daniel had bought it for her. Thank goodness she had wrapped the tee-shirt for him and slipped it into the pile at the last moment, hoping he wouldn't think she was being pushy.

Had he got Shelley something as well? Her pile of presents seemed very small, but then she didn't appear to have given many either. …Oh, - one glance at her face answered that question! Frances couldn't resist a tiny gloat.

“We'd better go and sort out dinner in a minute,” Oliver said to Daniel, with a nod in William's direction.

“Oh, yes… Now look, Uncle William,” Daniel went over to him, “Oliver and I have got you a joint present, but it's a secret, and we're not going to give it to you yet.” He grinned to see that he had the attention of the room. “You have to come for a little walk on the Common with us, when dinner's over, and you can have it then.”

“Well, I don't know!” William shook his head, but he was obviously pleased.

“Oh, can
we
come to see Grandpa's present?”

“Yes, I want to go to the Common too!”

“No, sorry kids,” Daniel was firm. “This treat's just for Grandpa.”

William looked even more pleased. Lesley didn't.

“Oh dear, that's a bit of a shame! It would have been nice for Tobias to have a little walk after dinner. I'm sure Grandpa doesn't want his present all on his own.”

But Grandpa didn't rise to the hint, and Oliver and Daniel went off to dish up their meal, leaving Lesley still grumbling.

“That boy knows which side his bread is buttered,” Frances heard her mutter darkly to Stephen. “Never mind, Tobias,
we'll
go for a walk after lunch as well, - somewhere much nicer than the Common, - won't we, everyone?”

“Yes, of course, we will!” said Julia, after the silence had lasted just a little too long.

“After all that food? You must be bloody joking!” murmured Shelley.

Oliver and Daniel had managed to fit everyone in the dining-room without much trouble by bringing an extra table in from the pantry. With a cloth over, one was hardly aware that it wasn't all one, though Lesley complained when the children were put there, in case Tobias might feel inferior at being an inch lower down. Julia had been politely kept away, and if the decorations weren't as spectacular as last night's, there was a simple elegance to the table which suggested Oliver's more subtle hand.

“Oh, it
does
look lovely!” Hilary exclaimed.

“Shame to eat off it,” Leo agreed.

“Come on, you two,” said Tony, indicating the chairs next to his,“I know you'll want to sit together.”

“Well, not really.” What on earth had given him the idea that she and Leo…?“Don't think we didn't see you!” Tony went on, with an arch little leer, “ - slipping out of the house for a private walk before dawn!”

Oliver and Daniel, carrying in the starters at that moment, both stopped in their tracks to stare at her.

“It wasn't exactly before dawn,” said Leo, as if that had any relevance to anything. …Why couldn't he just set them straight? Whatever she said now would only add fuel to Tony's irritating fire.

Instead, he took the chair Tony was offering, leaving Hilary no option but to sit between them. She avoided Oliver's eye as he put a plate in front of her. “…Just like a posh restaurant!” she said brightly.

It was rather. He had done something clever with mushrooms and cream, and that was followed up by the most wonderful Christmas dinner she had ever tasted. The credit was given to both cooks, but even a fond mother couldn't believe that Daniel had had much to do with those perfectly crisp roast potatoes, deliciously moist turkey and parsnips that melted in the mouth.

Tony had chosen a good wine, and was generous in dispensing it. “Go on, Lesley, it's Christmas,” he urged her, when she protested that she didn't really drink.

“When can we pull the
crackers
?” demanded Posy, seizing one as she spoke, apparently about to rip it apart.

“After the pudding, usually,” said Stephen, just as his wife was saying “All right, Tobias, pull yours now.”

Frances showed him and Posy how to pull crackers by crossing their arms, and made sure Tobias got the business end of his. Plastic toys shot all over the room in a satisfactory way, and soon even William was wearing a paper hat.

“To think someone earns money writing this stuff!” snorted Daniel, after reading a joke that Tobias was the only one to find remotely amusing.

“Bear in mind he's probably Chinese,” grinned Frances. “I expect his material goes down a riot in Taiwan!”

“This wine's rather nice,” said Lesley, fingering the stem of her glass affectionately before passing it across for a refill.

“You need a different kind for pudding,” Tony explained, “stronger and sweeter.”

“Like you, Tony!” - Good lord, the woman had made a joke! She gazed up at him as he poured her a good measure of the new wine, eyes glowing and her cheeks a cheerful red. …Was it possible that Tobias's mummy was a tiny bit tipsy?

“Talk amongst yourselves for a minute,” said Oliver. “…Oh Tony, I'll need the brandy.”

There was a cheer when he came back with a pudding covered in bouncing blue flames, and an even bigger one when the holly in the middle caught fire.

“Happy Christmas, everybody!” cried Julia, raising her glass and clinking it with Stephen's next to her.

“Cheers!” “Merry Christmas!” The call was taken up round the table.

“Happy Mismass,” Tobias echoed with the others.

“Happy Chr… Oh, whoops!” exclaimed his mother, as her chair somehow slid sideways, nearly landing her on the floor. “Tony, I do believe you've got me drunk. You are a
very
naughty boy!”