Page 74 of The Cornish Christmas Book Clu
‘Are you playing Father Christmas tonight?’ Gage asked.
‘Yeah, course I am.’ The chef’s face was wreathed in smiles. ‘I even bought a costume. All part of it, innit?’
‘Of course it is. Make sure you get lots of pictures with little Jamie tomorrow so you won’t forget his first Christmas,’ Tamara said.
They all went back to work, and Gage started on the parsnips.
‘Did you measure those with a ruler?’ Tamara giggled at the carrots he’d cut and placed in a bucket of cold water. ‘Talk about military precision. By the way, do you fancy going to the carol service?’
‘What made you ask? Not that it’s a really weird question with it being Christmas Eve, but we’ve never talked about it and...’ Her embarrassed voice trailed away. ‘Funny enough I thought about it earlier, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be interested.’
It reminded him just how little time they’d known each other. There was a huge range of subjects they’d not touched on yet. ‘It really excites me we’ve got so much more to find out about each other.’
‘That’s an awesome way to look at it. Let’s go. Most of our friends will be there and perhaps we can turn it into our first Christmas tradition together.’
‘I love the sound of that.’
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tamara didn’t usually find it hard to control her emotions in public, but tonight was a different story. She blamed the film of tears glazing her eyes, and her inability to speak, let alone join in ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, on a whole host of things. Gage’s strong, warm hand wrapped around hers, the twinkling strings of Christmas lights illuminating the ancient granite church, the wheezing of the old organ and being surrounded by so many of her dearest friends. They all combined to affect her in a totally unexpected way. She tried focusing on the colourful Victorian stained-glass windows behind the altar. But that didn’t help because it brought her back to a long-ago Christmas Eve when her mother had patiently explained the bible stories behind the designs to Tamara, while her dad had fed Tracy sweets to keep her imp of a sister quiet. If she started thinking about Tracy too much now, she really would start crying.
Early this afternoon she’d ignored the nine-hour time difference with Australia and phoned her sister, hoping against hope that she hadn’t gone to bed already. After they’d exchanged the usual Christmas greetings, Tamara had blurted out how worried she’d been and begged Tracy to say if she’d done anything to upset her. Tracy had burst into tears and confessed that she’d been so dreadfully homesick that talking to Tamara made her worse. Although it tore her to hear Tracy so unhappy, at least she knew the truth now. Gage had been wonderfully supportive and they were trying to work out how to afford a trip to Australia in the not-too-distant future.
‘I’m really glad we came.’ Gage snaked his arm around her shoulder. ‘I’d forgotten.’
‘Me too.’ She snuggled into him and savoured the brush of his hair against her skin. How different her life was to a year ago,when it hadn’t bothered her to work until closing time in the pub because there was nothing and nobody to rush home for.
The church clock struck midnight as they sang the traditional final carol, ‘Silent Night’. To avoid lingering outside in the miserable weather, everyone started milling around to swap Christmas greetings.
‘Come and meet my dad properly.’
Tamara choked up again. Talk about the true power of forgiveness. It was nothing short of a miracle that he could speak fondly of the father who’d turned his back on his son for all those years.
It amused her to hear Becky chide her children and warn them not to be rude and run off. Despite the fact they were all teenagers, all four did as they were told.
‘Dad, this is Tamara.’
‘Of course it is.’
Wally Harris’s brilliant smile bore such an uncanny resemblance to Gage’s, she was momentarily taken aback.
‘You were a young girl last time I saw you. You’ve grown into a right bonny lass. I was sorry to hear about your mum and dad. They were good people.’
‘They certainly were and I miss them every day.’
‘You’ve taken on a big job keeping this one in line.’ He gave Gage a light punch on the shoulder.
‘He might say it’s the other way around.’
That made everyone laugh.
‘It’s good to see you again, Mr Harris, and I hope you’ll come back again soon.’ Tamara hoped it didn’t come across as a dig.
‘It’s Wally. None of this Mr Harris nonsense. And I’ll definitely be back. Can’t lose track of my boy again. The two of you should make a trip up to Scotland and see us. You’d be very welcome.’
‘Thanks. I’ve never been any further than London, and that was only one time on a school trip.’
‘Happy Christmas, lass, and we’ll see you both on Boxing Day before I head back north again.’
