Page 149 of The Christmas Invitation
‘Uncle Lex! Uncle Lex! Are you coming downstairs?’ called Teddy’s voice and we fell apart, staring at each other. My heart seemed to be doing some kind of gymnastic routine and I was having trouble breathing.
‘We’ll have to stop meeting like this,’ Lex said, his voice sounding strange.
Teddy came to a halt in front of us and demanded, ‘Why were you kissing Meg? There isn’t any mistletoe up here and anyway, I think that kind of thing’s soppy.’
‘Ikissed Lex to say thank you for giving me Pansy for Christmas.’
‘You mean, she’s all yoursfor ever?’
I nodded. ‘Yes, she’s a special early present, but if you want to see whatyou’vegot for Christmas, you’d better go and get dressed, hadn’t you? I think everyone’s getting up now.’
He shot off and, seeing Lex looking at me with a serious expression, as if he was trying to work something puzzling out, I said quickly, ‘I’d better get dressed too – and my hair’s drying all over the place, so it’s going to look like a pink haystack.’
And I whisked into my room and closed the door, fortunately with Pansy on the inside.
Whoops, I’d done it again! I mean, apart from that brief kiss Lex had given me in the car on the night of the Solstice, afriendly salute to mark the end of hostilities,Iseemed to be the one making the first moves, though he wasn’t exactly pushing me away when I did.
Did that mean he still had some feelings for me? I knew now that if I let myself, I could fall really hard for Lex. But even if he felt the same way, could weallowourselves to fall in love when the ghost of the past would be forever haunting us?
38
Entirely Engaged
I had to damp my hair again before I could do anything with it, then took a while dressing in my new jewel-coloured patchwork corduroy dress in honour of the day, before going downstairs with my very own dog at my heels.
Everyone was now down and a space was made for me at the table.I’m sitting here with my family, I suddenly thought.Mynewfamily.
In the general confusion of thank yous for the stockings, and Sybil telling everyone how she’d been sworn to secrecy by Lex when he’d bought Pansy for me, there was no time for introspection.
The New Zealand branch of the family rang while we were still in the kitchen – Clara’s sister, Bridget, and her husband, Lex and Zelda’s parents, were spending Christmas at their elder son, Christopher’s, house and the phone was passed around the table.
After that, Teddy didn’t let us linger long in the kitchen and we carried our coffee through into the drawing room, where he was finally allowed to open his presents, while a CD of carols played quietly in the background.
There was a frenzy of paper-ripping, though Tottie sat nearby and listed who had given him the various gifts, so that Teddy could write thank-you notes later.
Lex and Den brought in our presents from the hall and soon we all had a little heap next to us, even River, the unexpected guest.
Teddy ran over with each new treasure to show us and, if the giver was there, to thank him or her.
The castle from Clara and Henry, with the dragon family provided by Den, was greeted with ecstasy. Then the art box from me, and a folding artist’s easel and a pack of small canvases from Lex … jigsaws, books, puzzles and games … Soon the floor around the tree was piled high with his spoils and he was down to the last few. By then, he was wearing the geologist’s goggles that were one of Zelda’s presents to him, along with the pirate’s hat from the game he’d so much wanted.
‘Look,’ he said, ‘Daddy’s sent me a light-up sword and a picture of his friends.’
It was aStar Warslight sabre and the picture was a signed one of some of the cast. One of Daddy’s friends wasextremelyhairy.
‘I expect Daddy will ring you later, Teddy,’ said Clara. ‘They’re several hours behind us there, I think.’
‘Radnor’s got a wife and family over there. They were separated when I met him, then got together as soon as he went back,’ Zelda confided to me in a low voice, though Teddy had gone back to his presents and probably wouldn’t have heard her if she’d shouted through a megaphone.
We were sitting on the same sofa, our heaps of presents between us, and she’d just put on a pair of earrings with dangling silver llamas and was looking at herself in a jewelled pocket mirror, another gift.
‘He didn’t believe Teddy was his until the DNA test proved it, but he does keep in contact with him now; just birthdays and Christmas really, though.’
‘I suppose that’s better than no contact, and at least Teddy knows who his father is.’
‘Yes, I’ve always beenentirelyopen with him,’ said Zelda, earnestly. Then, after a pensive moment when she was clearly following some inner thought, she added dreamily, ‘Mark said he’d try and come over early.’
Teddy’s last present, a small rectangular one, was a joint gift from Tottie and Sybil. Inside was a framed photograph of a sturdy brown pony with a long mane and tail.
