Trisha Ashley - Twelve Days of Christmas

At the end of the meal Jude opened champagne and everyone toasted my cooking, which was very gratifying. Then he proposed a second one to Noël’s birthday.

‘And Holly’s, too,’ Noël said, raising his glass to me, ‘we share the same birthday.’

Then they all retired to the sitting room, totally stuffed, though Jude, Jess and Michael helped me clear the table first.

I loaded as much into the dishwasher as it would take and joined them, after sneaking a bit of turkey into Merlin’s bowl and giving him a Christmas kiss on the top of his rough grey head.

Old Nan and Tilda had fallen asleep at either end of the big sofa, their feet up on the cushions, and Noël reclined on the smaller one: but the rest of the party were playing Monopoly at one of the tables, even Coco, though she kept laughing a lot for no particular reason and declaring that she was only going to buy pink properties.

I drifted over to the jigsaw (they irritate me until they are finished, because I like everything neat and tidy) and immediately spotted that one piece was upside down. When that was righted, after carefully examining the picture on the box, I completed a whole corner of sky.

But then, I’ve found in life that it always pays to scrutinise the packaging.

Liam duly appeared in the big farm Land Rover with chains on the wheels, ready to take the guests home. Both were carrying care parcels of cake, sausage rolls and turkey and stuffing sandwiches, to keep them going once the dinner wore off, though personally I felt like a python that had swallowed a goat, and might not have to eat for a month.

I gave Liam another hastily-packed jam jar full of sweets as a reciprocal present for his father, though I’d also done one for him, so the gesture wouldn’t seem too particular — I was feeling flattered but cautious! I’d now run out of my stockpile of goodies and Liam’s were the Jelly Babies (my particular weakness) that I’d bought for myself.

‘Could I hitch a ride with you as far as the lodge?’ I asked. ‘I can get a mobile signal there and I want to phone my friend to wish her Happy Christmas. But I’ll walk back, I need the exercise.’

‘It’s going to be dark soon,’ Guy pointed out.

‘I can hardly miss my way back though, can I? And I’ll take Merlin with me for company, if that’s all right with you, Liam? I won’t be long.’

‘We’ll see to the horses while you’re out,’ Becca said, ‘won’t we, Jess?’

‘Or I can do it, Becca, if you’d like a rest?’ Jude offered.

‘No, that’s all right — you can do it in the morning and give us both a lie-in!’

‘I’ll give you the key to the lodge, if you wouldn’t mind just checking that everything is fine again?’ asked Noël.

‘Of course, and perhaps I could collect one or two things that we’ve nearly run out of from the kitchen while I’m there?’ I wasn’t quite sure what he thought might go wrong at the lodge, apart from a burst pipe or the abominable snowman taking up residence. . which he wouldn’t be doing, because he was already living here, at Old Place!

And as that thought crossed my mind, my eyes met Jude’s dark ones, disconcertingly and broodingly fixed on me again with his brow furrowed. Perhaps he thought I might ransack the lodge for family silver while there?

I had to wear my long winter coat instead of the warm hooded anorak I would have preferred: one of the penalties of putting on a dress in winter. But it was that or risk frostbite in my extremities.

Richard and Old Nan were temporarily revived by air so cold that you could feel it penetrating right into all the little branchy bits of your lungs, like extreme Mentholyptus inhalation, but they’d dozed off again by the time Liam dropped me and Merlin at the lodge.

Everything was fine and I ransacked the kitchen cupboards and filled my rucksack with more ground almonds, dried fruit and other odds and ends that I might need if the Big Freeze continued. Then I locked up carefully and walked a few yards down the side of the road, my feet scrunching on virgin snow, until the signal showed strongly on my mobile.

It took quite a while for Laura to answer, probably because the noisy family party going on in the background made it hard for her to hear her phone, but when she did, she said she was fine.

‘Stone cold sober, of course — oh, the joys of pregnancy! Just you wait.’

‘Yes — speaking of pregnancy, I unwrapped that book you gave me right in front of everyone else this morning!’

She laughed. ‘Sorry about that, but I forgot you wouldn’t be alone. Did they see it? They’ll think you’ve got a bun in your oven if they did!’

‘I hid it quickly and only Jude seemed to be looking at me at the time. He was right the other side of the room, though, so he’d need eyes like a hawk to read the title. He has been giving me some funny looks ever since but that’s nothing new: a brooding stare seems to be his natural fall-back expression.’

‘Ah yes, how is the lord and master, apart from the brooding, Heathcliff stare and deep, sexy voice?’

‘We’ve sort of come to a bit of a truce, but he’s still wary and he seemed very suspicious when I was asking Noël a few questions about Ned Martland earlier. Just because I’m tall and dark, like most of the Martlands, I think he might have started to worry that I’m a family by-blow, wanting a share of the inheritance. And come to that, I might be a family by-blow, or the daughter of one, but I don’t want to be.’

‘I take it you haven’t got far enough in the journals to find out for sure, yet?’

‘No, though it’s not exactly looking promising.’

‘Well, let me know. And I hoped Jude would turn out to be nicer than you thought and you’d get to really like each other,’ she said optimistically. ‘Is he good-looking?’

I considered this. ‘He’s dark, but not handsome like his brother Guy, because his face is too rugged and he has a square jaw that makes him look a bit grim. But he does have a very attractive smile, when he bothers to use it.’

‘He must have used it, or you wouldn’t know! And isn’t he tall as well as dark? Handsome isn’t everything!’

‘Yes, he must be a good six-foot-six tall and very broad across the shoulders, though he tapers right down to really slim hips — in fact, he’s pretty fit without his clothes on!’ I added teasingly.

‘Holly!’

‘Don’t get excited, I just ran into him on my way to hang up Jess’s stocking last night and he was only wearing pyjama bottoms.’

‘He sounds to me as if he has a lot going for him, if you can get past your first dislike. I mean, if he’s way taller than you are, that has to be good, right?’

‘But I’m not used to a man towering over me and making me feel small, so I’m finding it a bit disconcerting, to be honest. He kissed me under the mistletoe too, even though he doesn’t like me — but it was something and nothing, so I don’t know why he bothered. Men are so odd!’

‘Hmmm. .’ she said thoughtfully. ‘How about the other men?’

‘I’m getting to really like Michael Whiston, he’s such a nice man and he also likes to cook, but I’m not attracted to Guy the love-rat in the least, because apparently he bears a huge resemblance to his Uncle Ned.’

‘And also, presumably, because you know he’s a love-rat?’

‘There is that, though I do find myself quite liking him sometimes against my better judgement: he has a lot of charm. He and Jude have made up their argument, but he’s still clearly jealous of his brother, which isn’t a nice trait, and he’s been totally fickle and heartless with Coco. I’m starting to feel a bit sorry for her, actually,’ I added.

‘But I thought you loathed her at first sight?’

‘I did. But the thing is, she’s twenty-four going on five years old and has clearly been Mummy and Daddy’s little princess all her life, so she can’t seem to cope with not getting her way in everything. She bursts into tears, or sulks. Michael and Noël are the only ones who’ve been really kind to her, because they’re both very soft-hearted. But now she’s showing signs of setting her sights on Michael, so he probably wishes he hadn’t been so nice!’

‘Oh?’ she said interestedly. ‘Does he fancy you instead, then?’

I laughed. ‘No, not at all — and I’m sure Guy doesn’t either, though he tries to flirt with me. But Michael and I are getting to be good friends.’

She sighed. ‘All these men and you don’t fancy a single one of them, not even a tiny bit?’

‘Don’t forget my real admirer, George.’

‘George?’

‘The slightly-weatherbeaten blond hunk of a farmer. He sent me a present today, a beautifully carved walking stick. Apparently it’s a great honour to be given one, though I suspect from something Liam let slip while driving me down to the lodge that he also hedged his bets by giving one to Oriel Comfort at the village shop, too.’

‘Do you really fancy him, then, Holly?’

‘A bit. . he’s very attractive in his way, but I can’t see myself as a farmer’s wife. Or anyone’s wife — not again. Been there, done that, and I’m not looking to find another husband, I’m just going to go it alone, as planned.’

‘You won’t be alone if you go ahead with the AI and it works,’ she pointed out. ‘Look, why not give it six months first, Holly? Go out with a few men and —’