Page 65 of The Cornish Christmas Book Clu
‘I’ve always had a soft spot for you and I thought you’d be good for my wayward granddaughter.’ Louise shook her head sadly. ‘You might’ve been if you’d actually loved each other.’
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. ‘When did you guess?’
‘Guess?’ She threw back her head and gave an unladylike snort. ‘The last time you were here for my son and daughter-in-law’s ruby wedding anniversary, you couldn’t stand to be in the same room together. You barely spoke to each other unless other people were watching.’ Louise shook her head knowingly. ‘It didn’t fool me.’
‘I didn’t know until yesterday that the family hadn’t told you we’d got divorced soon after that. I should’ve stayed in touch, but I thought I’d make things awkward for Victoria.’
‘I suppose Australia was a lie too?’
‘I’ve never been there. That was another—’
‘Falsehood they told to keep the old lady quiet and stop me asking where you were?’
‘Apparently.’
‘So where did you hurt your leg? I noticed you limping when you arrived.’
It would be easy to spin a tale about injuring himself in a car crash or a fall, but there’d been far too many lies. Gage told her everything. He didn’t realise his cheeks were damp with tears until Louise leaned over to brush them away. The gentle touch from her gnarled fingers unlocked his emotions. After spending hours in the car, only to arrive here and be greeted by Victoria’s parents with the same disdain they’d always shown, his resistance was at a low ebb.
She patted his shoulder. ‘I didn’t want to upset you, but we both know I don’t have much time left and I very much wanted to see you again.’
‘For what it’s worth, I’m proud you were once my grandmother-in-law. Is there even such a thing?’
‘Just because you and my granddaughter didn’t make a go of your marriage, doesn’t mean you divorced me too. I want to hear all about your new young lady and your lovely shop.’
Gage cradled her hand as he spoke and by the time he finished, her head had dropped to her chest and she was snoring softly. Later, he would thank Victoria. Louise wasn’t the only one to gain a measure of peace from today. He’d finally come to terms with the end of his marriage and looked forward to returning to Penworthal and Tamara tomorrow. Where he belonged.
* * *
Tamara smiled at the cakes lined up along her kitchen counter. It’d taken a few late-night icing sessions, but would absolutely be worth it when she saw her friends’ faces. She had sturdy red boxes ready for them to be carried away, but knew from previous years that they would want to see everyone else’s gifts too.
The doorbell rang, so she quickly turned the kettle back on and took a quick peek at the mince pies warming up in the oven before running out to answer the door.
‘Come in!’ She gave Amy a swift hug. Tamara had predicted correctly that the ever-punctual Amy would arrive first. The rest of the girls would come in dribs and drabs, with Josie inevitably bringing up the rear.
It wasn’t long before her living room was full of lively chatter and laughter while Christmas music played softly in the background. Laura gave her a hand to bring everyone a cup of tea, and then her friend sat down while Tamara went backfor the mince pies. For a moment she hovered in the doorway, briefly overcome with emotion as she thought about how lucky she was.
‘Here we go, girls.’ Tamara breezed in and set down a platter of warm mince pies. She’d already brought in plates, napkins and a pretty green glass dish full of rich clotted cream. ‘Help yourselves.’
‘No Melissa?’ Evelyn said worriedly.
Tamara shook her head. ‘I didn’t get any response. She was pretty annoyed after the last meeting, so I’m guessing we aren’t forgiven yet.’ Her smile felt forced, but she was determined not to spoil this impromptu get-together. ‘Anyway, right now you need to eat your mince-pie ration for the day. I don’t want any slackers because Gage certainly won’t eat the leftovers!’
Once it was clear everyone was finished, Tamara got their attention. ‘I know you’re all nosy, so you might as well pile into the kitchen and check out everyone else’s cakes as well as your own.’
No one took offence and there was friendly jostling to see who could get there first. Each cake had a small white card standing in front of it with the name of the recipient.
‘Oh, my, you’ve excelled yourself.’ Laura clapped her hands in glee. ‘That’s little Josephine pulling decorations off the tree!’
‘You’ve even got mine and Harry’s faces.’ Josie peered closely at the snow policeman and snow nurse holding hands in the centre of her cake. ‘You’re brilliant.’
She heard Gage telling her to accept the compliments instead of brushing them off, so she did her best and thanked them both.
‘Quinten will absolutely love this.’ Evelyn looked up with tears in her eyes. ‘I can’t believe you were able to do us in our ballroom-dancing clothes, waltzing around the Christmas tree.’
Becky chuckled. ‘Mine is spot on. That’ll be me Christmas Day evening. Swigging the sherry and falling asleep by the fire.’
‘And this beachy Christmas scene puts me and Tess on the set ofI’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.’ How cool is that? You know it’s our favourite programme!’ Amy beamed at Tamara. ‘I can’t wait to take it home.’
