Page 27 of A Christmas Celebration
Molly took her seat and I realized that in avoiding her attention, I’d walked right into my godmother’s. She might not have been in tune in the same way as Molly, but she had eyes in her head and the bags under my own were a dead giveaway.
‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I just didn’t sleep very well. I’m not ill or anything.’
‘Good,’ said Archie, taking his seat and snatching up a slice of toast, ‘because you’ll need all your strength over the next few weeks to do the work of two people!’
‘And not just any two people,’ said Angus, who bustled in with the paper tucked under his arm and gave Catherine a kiss on the cheek. ‘Eat up, Paige. You’re going to need your strength.’
Given that I’d already made a bit of a start on what needed to be done, I knew he was right.
‘I’ve given you an extra sausage,’ winked Dorothy, handing me a loaded plate and making Archie huff.
During breakfast, Catherine relayed to us the details of an email she had received from Jamie the evening before. It sounded as though he and Anna were having a wonderful time, now they had got over the tiredness of travelling.
‘I better go and check on Jareth,’ said Mick, once he’d emptied his plate.
Jareth, I had been told, was a rescue barn owl belonging to Gabe who lived in a large enclosure in the woods. Mick was looking after him while Gabe was away. He was also responsible for Bran, although the daft dog still seemed to prefer my company to anyone else’s. Not that I was complaining. I was already used to having him follow me about like an extra-large shaggy shadow.
‘We’ll walk with you as far as the cottage,’ said Archie, taking Molly’s hand. ‘See you all later.’
That left just Dorothy, Angus, Catherine and me in the kitchen. I loaded the dishwasher and washed the glasseswhile Dorothy read the magazine which came with Angus’s Sunday paper. She had decided to take it easy and had put together a slow cooker stew for dinner rather than the usual big roast.
‘Barely four weeks until Christmas now,’ I heard Angus say wistfully as I finished putting the glasses away.
‘Where has the year gone?’ Catherine added, with a sigh. ‘I don’t know about you, my dear, but the older I get, the faster the time seems to fly.’
‘Yes,’ Angus agreed. ‘I feel the same, which is why we need to make the most of every day and I want Christmas to be extra special this year.’
His clandestine conversation with Brodie flitted into my head again.
‘With everyone arriving back in time for it, it’s bound to be that,’ Catherine pointed out. ‘And don’t forget Christopher, Cass and the boys will be here, too.’
She was right, of course, and as wonderful as it was going to be to see the eldest Connelly brother and his family again, I had the feeling that Angus’s idea of extra special involved something more than kith and kin returning to the fold. I was certain his words had something to do with what I’d heard him and Brodie talking about but still had no idea what that could possibly be.
‘And you’ll be extra busy the two weeks before Christmas,’ Dorothy said to me, further justifying her desire to feed me up. ‘What with all those big festive shops to deliver and parcels to run to the post office.’
‘Yes,’ I said, wondering if I could get away with anonymously dropping a hamper at Albert’s door, ‘I suppose I will.’
‘Are you all ready for the switch-on?’ she then asked Angus. ‘Have you got your Santa suit out of mothballs yet?’
‘All out of its box and ready to go,’ he cheerfully said.
‘The switch-on?’ I frowned, thinking back to how the town had looked the day I went in with Archie. ‘That’s happening late, isn’t it? Though now you come to mention it, I did notice there weren’t many decorations on display when Archie introduced me to Kathleen…’ My words trailed off as Dorothy flashed me a look, but then I couldn’t resist adding, ‘And why would Angus need a Santa suit for it anyway?’
‘Because he now plays Father Christmas on the night the lights go on in town,’ Catherine enlightened me. ‘And you’re right, Paige. It’s happening very late this year.’
‘I’m amazed it’s happening at all,’ Dorothy tutted.
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What was stopping it?’
‘Money,’ Dorothy said bluntly. ‘The council have had so many budget cuts recently, that they simply couldn’t spare the cash to fund it.’
My unfortunate first-hand experience meant I could sympathize with the impact the loss of funds could have. Even if I hadn’t left Jordan early because of my error of judgment, it was unlikely that I would have secured a new contract now the corporate sponsorship had been lost, even with all of my years of experience.
‘So, the Dempsters cleverly set up a crowdfunding pageto make sure it went ahead,’ Catherine added, naming the family who I knew supplied the fruit and veg I now delivered. ‘We had a similar situation a few years ago, with no tree for the square which they also rescued, but this year there was literally going to be nothing at all.’
‘But the event is definitely going ahead now?’ I asked, imagining how disappointed everyone must have been when the cancellation announcement was made.
The town was so idyllic it was impossible to imagine it without Christmas lights and further bedecked to celebrate the season.
