Page 74 of Every Christmas Eve
‘Or should I say, the love of your life,’ she replies. Why do I feel like I’m being attacked by my own family at every opportunity?
‘Maybe I should tell you to go to your room for speaking to me like that?’ I say to my daughter, the pain of being at loggerheads with her almost too much to bear. ‘Look, Ava, go and check on your grandmother, please. I need to speak to Cordelia.’
‘I’m so sick of you!’ she says, storming off, while Cordelia turns her back to me, busying herself with her culinary creations. I’ll deal with Ava later. In the meantime, Cordelia doesn’t fool me. I know she’s hiding something and it’s time I got to the bottom of it.
‘Cordelia, what’s going on?’
‘Sorry?’ she says, genuinely puzzled. ‘I’ve no idea wherethat came from with Ava. She was dancing and singing a few minutes ago.’
‘Are you Mrs Quinn?’ I ask her. ‘Was that letter a fake, or is there such a person in real life? What have you been up to?’
‘Don’t be silly, Ben,’ she mumbles.
‘Then can you shed some light on what the hell has been happening behind my back?’ I ask her. ‘Is the whole idea of throwing this party again some sort of deliberate matchmaking ploy to get me home so I’d spend time with Lou? What have you been up to? Talk to me!’
She puts both hands on the worktop, her head bowed and her eyes closed.
‘You’re making it sound like it was done with some sort of malice in mind,’ she tells me.
‘So it was! I can’t believe it!’
‘Yes, it was all my idea, but bringing the party back was meant to be fun for us all, Ben,’ she says. ‘It was meant to be a way of getting us all back together after far too long.’
I don’t know whether to laugh or scream.
‘Oh yes, how wonderful. Let’s get the whole merry gang back together,’ I say, doing my best not to raise my voice. ‘Let’s play with people’s lives like they’re puppets on a string. This is not a game, Cordelia! Maybe now you can see how it’s not quite as simple as that, is it? Who else was in on the big plan, eh? Mum? Was Lou? Did you convince Ava? Uncle Eric certainly was, as he’s just let the cat out of the bag and it’s not the first time he’s said too much since I got here.’
She turns to face me at last.
‘No, Lou wasn’t in on it and neither was Ava,’ she tells me. ‘You’re already overthinking it, making it more about you than it was ever meant to be. I am not Mrs Quinn.’
‘Then who is?’
‘Olivia Major, but that’s totally irrelevant,’ she mutters. ‘Quinn is her married name. Before you spontaneously combust, the whole thing has very little to do with her, believe me!’
I find a chair and sit down, putting my head in my hands.
‘Is this some sort of bloody freak show?’ I ask my sister. ‘I haven’t as much as thought of Olivia Major or Olivia Quinn since I was a twenty-something lovesick kid, so why would she want to have anything to do with my life now? What’s in it for her? I don’t get it.’
Cordelia sits down across from me. Her face is flushed, though her usual vibrant tone isn’t quite dampened yet.
‘Breathe, Ben,’ she tells me, holding my gaze. ‘Let me explain before you give yourself a heart attack. I’ve told you, it wasn’t her idea. It was mine. I knew you wouldn’t agree to the party if it came from the inside, but it all fell into place once I started to look into it. I was the one who got Olivia involved. It was coincidental that she was chairperson of that events committee in the village, and her letter, which was my idea, was a minor detail overall.’
‘So you’re telling me you orchestrated this all behind my back and pretended it had come from the village?’ I reply. ‘I’m sorely disappointed in you, Cordelia. Olivia Major of all people!’
She slowly blows out a long breath.
‘This was never intended to be all about you,’ she says, ‘nor was it ever a scheme of any sort to push you and Lou back together, so please take about ten steps back in your overactive mind and breathe.’
I do my best to give her the benefit of the doubt.
‘Go on,’ I say, looking at my watch. ‘This had better be good.’
The charity lady said she’d have the goody bags delivered by four-thirty and I’ve just heard a vehicle outside.
‘I can explain,’ says Cordelia.
The doorbell rings.
