Page 82 of Every Christmas Eve
‘He asked me to accompany him here today,’ says Mum,‘and, well, I couldn’t say no. I was quite honoured, to be honest. I used to fancy him lots back in the day.’
Well, I got that one wrong entirely, I think to myself. Today is already full of surprises. We pose for photographs, I check in with Cordelia, who has everything under control, and then I scan through the guest list to see that a couple of people are still due to arrive, including a few names I don’t recognise as local. Soon it will be time for the food to be served, the jazz band will strike up, and everyone will mingle and chat over the sounds of laughter and the clinking of glasses.
Everything is running like clockwork. Everything is perfect, even if a claw in my gut still grabs me every now and then when I wonder if Gracie is missing me as much as I am her.
‘When everything settles, how about you and I take a walk outside for old times’ sake?’ Ben whispers to me from behind my back.
‘I like your thinking,’ I say to him, turning to face him. I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing his face or hearing his voice, not to mention feeling his touch. We haven’t yet talked about our future, but we both know we’re going very much in the right direction. ‘Once the final guests arrive, everything should tick over nicely when the music kicks off and the food and drinks are served. Are you happy so far?’
‘I’m ecstatic so far,’ he says before sneaking a kiss on my forehead. ‘I think that must be the last few people in now. Wait a minute, is that your grandma? She looks a million dollars.’
I slowly turn around again to face the front door, my jaw dropping at the sight of Nana Molly, who follows a few people I’ve never seen before, then politely air-kisses Tilda Heaney when she steps over the threshold. She looks dazzling in a royal-blue dress and silver flat pumps. Her hair is smoother than usual, and I believe I might be able to smell her perfume from here.
‘Nana?’ I say in disbelief. ‘I thought you weren’t coming.’
Uncle Eric catches my eye as he watches her like a love-struck puppy, waiting on her attention, but she casually ignores him.
No.
Surely it can’t be.
‘I’ll admit it, I had FOMO,’ she says to me with a shrug. ‘Isn’t that what the young ones say? Fear of missing out?’
‘That’s it,’ I reply, leaning in for a hug to welcome her. ‘I’m sure you know my good friend Eric Heaney?
I lightly pinch her arm in a bid to provoke some manners towards our host, but she defiantly puts her nose in the air.
‘My one true secret love,’ says Uncle Eric. ‘Molly, my beautiful Molly. How I’ve dreamed this day would come.’
If it weren’t for the schoolchildren singing ‘White Christmas’, you could have heard a pin drop here in the hallway of Ballyheaney House.
Nana Molly purses her lips tightly, but she can’t hold back her giddy side for long before she starts to giggle.
‘Bet you say that to all the girls, Heaney,’ she says, giving him a look from the side of her eye and a friendly swipe.‘Now, any chance you might get me a champagne? I didn’t come here for the good of my health, you know.’
Uncle Eric dances on his toes as he leads her across to the drinks display, which is more a lopsided rectangle now than the pyramid it was before, while Ben and I shake our heads in disbelief.
‘Did you know about this?’ I ask him.
‘No,’ he says, his eyes wide.
‘Did you even have an inkling? I can’t wait to tell Cordelia!’
‘I had absolutely no clue,’ he says, distracted it seems by some new activity by the front door. ‘Oh, look. I thought your grandmother was the last to arrive going by our ticket numbers, but it appears we’ve another unexpected guest.’
‘Then we’re closing the doors,’ I say to him without looking. ‘We need to get food served before Cordelia has a fit, and rightly so. She doesn’t deserve the pressure of trying to keep her canapés warm for people who can’t be bothered to get here on time.’
Ben turns me around by the shoulders so I can see our late entry. My hands go to my mouth. My skin goes cold.
‘Sorry to gatecrash,’ I hear an all-too-familiar American accent. ‘I don’t have a ticket, but I’d really like to be here for my mom. She has no clue I’m coming, so I hope to surprise her for Christmas.’
My legs almost buckle beneath me. I stand, frozen to the spot, as I’m caught up in a true-life Christmas miracle. My eyes fill with tears of pure unfiltered joy.
‘Gracie!’ I whimper in a sound that’s somewhere betweenshock and joy, then the floodgates open and I race towards her, wrapping my arms around her in a tight, almost desperate hug.
‘I couldn’t do it,’ she cries into my shoulder. ‘I couldn’t stay away from you on your first Christmas back here, so Dad and I did the whole presents-and-dinner thing yesterday and I got the very last seat on a flight into Dublin this morning. Happy Christmas, Mum. It’s so good to be home.’
I hear the smooth, velvety tones of jazz music seep through the open door of the nearby ballroom. I smell the tantalising aromas waft through the air as the canapés are brought in from the kitchen under Cordelia’s careful guidance, with Olivia holding one of the trays. She isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty this time round it seems, but I’m not focused on her at all.
