Page 126 of A Christmas Celebration
We had a blanket tucked around our knees and our fingers were laced together underneath it. The sound of the sleigh bells rang out and I don’t think I’d ever experienced anything so romantic. Not even Archie blowing kisses as we rushed by halted the feeling. Brodie smiled at me, then let go of one of my hands and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side.
Clearly, I was forgiven for prising him away from the studio and I hoped he would be as easy to win around when I broached the subject of the exhibition and the Christmas celebration. Perhaps I should ask Angus to keep the sleigh on standby, as a softener, just in case I encountered more resistance than I anticipated.
‘That,’ I said to Mick, as Brodie offered me a hand to climb out and I found my knees were shaking a little, ‘was incredible.’
‘You liked it?’ he asked, pushing the Santa hat further back on his head.
‘I loved it!’ I said, patting one of the ponies on the back.
Their breath steamed into the chilly air and they looked every bit as happy as I felt. They obviously loved the part they played in making the weekend so memorable and that made it all the more special.
‘It’s always popular.’ Mick grinned. ‘Shame we haven’t got snow to make the scene complete though.’
‘That really would have been something,’ Brodie laughed. ‘Maybe next year,’ he added, smiling at me.
‘You never know.’ I smiled back.
We left Mick resting the ponies and, as the light was beginning to fade, strolled over to the walled garden to admire the grotto all lit up.
‘Oh, wow,’ gasped Brodie. ‘How beautiful is this?’
There were still a few families milling about and I didn’t think Santa had left his seat all day. He was going to have a numb backside for a few days, but his ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’s’ sounded as genuine and cheery as ever.
‘When we were setting it up, I knew it was going to look good,’ I told Brodie. ‘But it’s turned out even better than I imagined.’
‘Didn’t you come and look at it in the dark yesterday?’ he asked.
‘No,’ I said, ‘like the sleigh ride, I wanted to save it for today and share it with you.’
‘Well, thank you.’ Brodie smiled cheerfully. ‘I reallyappreciate that you did that. This whole day has made me feel like a kid again and I’ve loved it.’
‘I’m so pleased,’ I told him. ‘For a while this morning, I didn’t think I was going to get you to come.’
‘For a while I was going to try to convince you that I couldn’t,’ he admitted. ‘Thank goodness, I didn’t. You know…’ he then started to say, but stopped.
‘What?’ I softly asked, squeezing his hand in mine.
He took a second before answering.
‘I was just going to say,’ he then said, ‘that my life has been so much better since you landed in it and I really hope you’re going to be around for a very long time.’
‘How about for ever?’ I whispered, hoping with the whole of my heart that I would be able to develop my fledgling plan and turn it into reality to enable my infinite suggestion.
I then gasped as Brodie lifted me off the ground and spun me around.
‘I suppose that would be all right.’ He grinned, humorously playing the moment down but not making a convincing job of hiding his excitement at all.
‘Well, as long as you’re sure.’ I shrugged, playing along.
‘Oh, Paige,’ he said, cupping my face in his hands, ‘I really got the feeling that you were going to take off after Christmas and as much as I hate to sound like a needy bloke, and knowing that you’re completely entitled to do what you like and go wherever you want, I can’t deny that I was absolutely dreading it.’
I wasn’t sure what I had specifically said or done to makehim think that and wondered if everyone else had assumed the same thing.
‘When I first arrived, it was my plan to leave again after Christmas,’ I told him honestly. ‘But not now. Now, I can’t bear the thought of leaving. I don’t know how I’m going to make a living or where I’m going to live, but I do have an idea for a possible community project taking shape, so I’ll see how that develops and just take things from there.’
‘That sounds exciting,’ Brodie said interestedly. ‘Are you going to tell me about it?’
‘Not yet, but I will soon.’
