Page 121 of A Christmas Celebration
I felt a lump form in my throat. Not only was I shocked Albert had shared something as intimate as that, I also hadn’t realized he’d been feeling that low.
‘And look at him now!’ Angus said triumphantly. ‘He’s back on track and living his best life and it’s all thanks to you, Paige.’
‘That’s as maybe…’
‘And it could be even better,’ he hastily added. ‘He’ll have an even richer life when you get him to share his paintings and further reignite those feelings along with the ambitions he had before his father quashed his dreams.’
‘Look,’ I said, keen to put a cap on Angus’s enthusiastic and fanciful daydreaming. ‘He’s painting again. Isn’t that enough? Who says he wants recognition? Who says the feelings he’s already experiencing aren’t even better than those he had before?’
I wanted to believe what I was saying, but I had to admitthere was a tiny part of me that agreed with Angus. I had watched Albert tutor and guide Brodie during my recent visits to the studio and had thought then how much he had to offer.
I had even imagined him giving a lesson or two at the gallery in town, but that was pure fantasy and I felt sure Albert wouldn’t appreciate me trying to pressure him into making that, or exhibiting his work, a reality. Our friendship was still very new and therefore potentially fragile and I didn’t want to do anything which might jeopardize it. I’d been rebuffed once before and it hadn’t been a pleasant experience.
‘The best thing you can do,’ Angus said, as we heard the back door open, ‘is forget all about it for today and just enjoy the Winter Wonderland. Just let the whole thing sit and settle and I’m sure inspiration will land right when you least expect it.’
‘But you just said yourself that there’s less than a week to sort it…’
‘I know,’ he told me, ‘but in my experience, fretting over problems never makes them easier to solve. Put your worries about convincing Albert to exhibit on the backburner and a solution as to how to talk him round will soon present itself.’
I had absolutely no faith in Angus’s words of wisdom. However, I did manage to forget my worries when Kathleen arrived early on with Alice in the passenger seat of her car and three extremely well-wrapped up children in the back.
In spite of the early hour, visitors had already been arriving in droves and I had been helping to man the ticket officeand clear tables for Lizzie and Jemma who were serving hot drinks and tempting snacks by the bag full.
‘Hello, Alice!’ I called as she and Kathleen set up the buggy and strapped the two youngest in.
Saffron skipped around them, her eyes eagerly taking everything in.
‘Hi!’ Alice called back.
‘Paige!’ said Kathleen. ‘Just the person.’
I walked over and Saffron beamed up at me. I could almost feel the energy and excitement radiating from her little rosy-cheeked face.
‘You’re keen,’ I said to Alice. ‘It’s still early yet.’
‘We’re here at this time because of me actually,’ Kathleen explained. ‘Although these four were keen to get here too, of course. Originally, we were all set to come a little later, but Dorothy rang to ask if I’d have time to help her in the kitchen, so…’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘She hasn’t said anything to me.’
‘She was going to ask you,’ Kathleen further said, ‘but she told me that when she came to find you, it looked like you were needed elsewhere. It’s busy, isn’t it?’
‘Ever so,’ I said, ‘and we’ve barely been open an hour yet.’
‘I want to see Santa’s reindeer,’ said Saffron, tugging at Alice’s coat as the two in the buggy squirmed to get going too.
‘In a minute,’ said Alice, kissing the top of Saffron’s head.
‘Are you still as busy as you were earlier when Dorothy saw you?’ Kathleen asked me.
I held out my hand for Saffron to take.
‘I’m going to be for the next few hours,’ I told her with a grin, ‘because I’m going to give Alice and the children the ultimate Winter Wonderland guided tour.’
Kathleen smiled and I guessed that’s what she had been hoping I would say.
‘Oh, will you?’ Alice gasped, looking even more relieved than Kathleen. ‘Will you really?’
‘It would be an honour,’ I told her, thinking how much I was going to enjoy seeing the children react to everything. ‘I’ve seen it all already, of course, so I’m quite the expert,’ I pretended to brag, ‘but I would love to see it again through the eyes of these three.’
