Coming Home for Christmas Page 11

  ‘Oh Leo,’ she protested, stunned as a wave of surprise spread around the room.

  He held up his hand. ‘Don’t say anything now; you and Liam and your family have done more for me than you’ll ever know. If it weren’t for ye all, I’d never have got over poor Kitty’s going. Ye took me under yer wing, and I’ve been there ever since. Now it’s my turn,’ he said firmly, and sat down.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Esther could see the look of incredulous horror on Bert and Tessa’s faces. Bert was slowly turning a turkey-cock red. If they walked out, they’d be the talk of the village. They were between a rock and a hard place for sure, Esther realized, as people began to clap and a few ‘Good on ya, Leo’s wafted across the room. Olivia and Alison looked flabbergasted.

  ‘Are you sure, Uncle Leo?’ Esther heard Olivia say. ‘We love you for yourself and we don’t expect anything from you—’

  ‘That’s one of the reasons you’re so special to me, lassie, and those children of yours. And you’ll make me very happy if you take what I give you and say no more about it.’

  When Esther heard that, she knew they had to respect her brother-in-law’s wishes. Standing up, she lightly tapped her own glass.

  ‘Well, everybody,’ she said. ‘This has been a most eventful birthday, and a day that was full of surprises. First of all, Alison coming home this morning, secondly, this wonderful party, which Olivia so carefully and thoughtfully arranged, thirdly, and very special to me, my beloved’s public declaration of love, and finally dear Leo’s precious gifts to our girls. We’ve always considered him to be a very important part of our family and wish him well in this new chapter of his life. I think it’s a wonderful idea for him to buy a bungalow with access to all the medical facilities of the nursing home. Maybe when we’re eighty, in ten years’ time, Liam and I will be buying the one next door to him.’ That got a laugh, apart from Bert and Tessa, who looked as if they’d swallowed cyanide.

  Tough, Esther thought unsympathetically. They’d never lifted a finger to help Leo, all they’d wanted was his land and money. They would shed no tears when Leo passed, but he would be truly mourned by her and his surrogate family.

  ‘To family.’ She raised her glass.

  ‘To family,’ echoed Leo, loudly clinking his glass with Kate, Lia and Ellie as Liam slipped an arm around his wife’s waist and drew her close.

  ‘Let me fall into my bed,’ Alison said and gave a yawn that brought tears to her eyes as she followed her brother-in-law up the stairs. Ellie lay asleep on his shoulder. Olivia was ushering the twins into their bedroom, urging them to get undressed quickly, it was almost midnight. They’d lasted better than she had, Alison thought as she closed the bedroom door behind her, not needing any encouragement to get undressed.

  Two minutes later she was snuggled down in bed. Olivia had switched on the blanket as soon as they’d come home, and the chill had gone off the sheets. What a day it had been, exhausting but deeply satisfying on one level, utterly stressful on another. Her mother had had a wonderful birthday, one she would never forget. It was worth every penny of the cost. But she couldn’t deny she had been deeply uncomfortable at the party, with everyone asking her how she was doing at work and what shows was she seeing, and how was her firm coping with the downturn.

  She’d tried to be as non-committal as possible, telling them that she was home and she wanted to forget about work. Her cousins on their mother’s side, admiring her Prada bag and her Christian Louboutin shoes, were exceedingly glamorous themselves. One of them, Tina, had even said that she was thinking of taking a trip to New York in the spring and was giving broad hints about staying in her apartment. Alison had nearly broken into a cold sweat. How awful it would be to have the word filter out that she was unemployed and living in a studio. She knew it was her bloody pride, and that made her feel even worse. Well, the old saying pride comes before a fall was never more true. The high-flying businesswoman had had her wings well and truly clipped.

  Alison came to a decision: if she hadn’t got a job in the next three months, she’d reveal all, but until then she certainly wouldn’t be saying anything about it. If she got a job in the New Year, no one need ever know of the dip in her career. God bless Uncle Leo and his kindness. Who would have thought he would gift her with a plot of land? That would be a safety net for her, a comfort through these rocky times, she thought gratefully as her eyelids drooped and she fell fast asleep.

  Leo sat in his favourite armchair and turned on the radio. He liked listening to the radio at night. It was company and took his mind off his aching knees. He felt quite content with himself. The surprise party had been most enjoyable. It was nice, at his age, to see family friends and neighbours at a social gathering that wasn’t a funeral. Even Mrs Harney had enjoyed it and stayed longer than planned once she and Leo had got chatting. She was of his time, she remembered the war and rationing and how people had valued their food and never been so healthy. She remembered the black-out and the times before TV when neighbours played cards in each other’s houses and had nights of dancing, singing and storytelling to entertain themselves. Simple times but happy times, he reflected, rubbing his aching knees. And now it was time for a new stage in his own life. Mrs Harney, surprisingly, thought he was making a very good move. ‘No stairs to fall down or set your hips an’ knees aching. I’d love it,’ she declared. ‘Someone to do your shopping on a wet day or if you were poorly. A dining room to go to if you didn’t want to cook. Sure, Leo, you’re set up.’

  The more he thought about it, the more he agreed with her. He never used half the rooms in the house any more. The yard and garden had got too difficult to keep tidy and weed-free, it was time to let go and move on and let someone else bring life back to the place.

  Making the decision to sell up and move to the bungalow had taken a load off his shoulders. He couldn’t farm any more, and he didn’t want his farm to go to rack and ruin. Leo had always felt that the land had been given to him to have guardianship of it. That he didn’t ‘own’ it as such but was the caretaker of it for as long as he was able. That land had been there long before he was born and would be there long after he was gone. It was time to pass the responsibility on to someone else.

  Let the land go to this young buck who had a feel for it. He wanted to specialize in market gardening, he’d told Leo. It would be good to know that the land was being taken care of and used for what it was intended. And even better to know that his lovely girls would have a nice little nest egg when he was gone.

  Bert was furious; Leo had seen the expression on his brother’s face when he’d made his announcement. Leo smiled, remembering the old saying: ‘What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.’ Bert had never put anything into Leo’s life. Leo wouldn’t be putting anything back into his. Leo had spent his life working hard, being thrifty, not gambling on stocks and shares like his brother had. If Bert, Tessa and their family had been in any way brotherly and kindly to him, he would have certainly helped out and made provision for them in his will; he wasn’t a mean-spirited creature. But he knew they expected to be left the farm so that it would be kept within the family. Leo sighed. His money was going where it should be going, to the ones who loved him and whom he loved, and that was the most important thing of all.

  ‘Everything went well, didn’t it? Mum got such a surprise,’ Olivia remarked as she ran the iron over the last of the girls’ clothes for Mass the next morning. They were in a children’s Mass every Sunday, and tomorrow was a big day – ‘Sharing Day’, when they would bring toys to give to various charities to be distributed for Christmas. There had been a lot of agonizing and putting back and taking out of the toy press, but with a lot of pressure from her, their higher selves had eventually triumphed. Still, she’d be glad to get the toys to the altar.

  ‘Everything went fine,’ Michael agreed, pouring out bubbling-hot chocolate into two mugs. ‘Leo really knows how to drop a bombshell. His timing was perfect!’

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bsp; Olivia folded away the ironing board and came to join her husband at the kitchen table. ‘Leo knew exactly what he was doing. He’s a shrewd man. Bert and Tessa won’t be able to contest that will and say undue pressure was put on him to make it. It was obvious we all were just as gobsmacked as Bert was.’ Olivia grinned at the memory of her uncle’s horror. ‘Doing it in public like that was a masterstroke!’

  ‘It’s a grand start for the girls. Knowing there’s always a place to come home to, to put a house on if they want to, or to sell and use the money to buy a place somewhere. He’s a generous man, your uncle.’

  ‘He’s the best,’ Olivia agreed fondly. ‘I never expected anything like that from him.’

  ‘We could always build a new house, in time, and rent this one out and get an income from it. Maybe you could give up work then and have a bit more time for yourself,’ her husband suggested thoughtfully.

  ‘Ooohh! I hadn’t thought of that. We could give the girls a room each, and I could get a bigger kitchen.’ Olivia’s eyes lit up with anticipation.

  ‘Oh God, what have I done?’ Michael grinned good-humouredly.

  ‘You’ve put me in great form,’ his wife said happily. ‘Come on up to bed and I’ll ride you ragged!’

  ‘What about Alison, next door?’ He raised an eyebrow.

  ‘She’s dead to the world – she won’t hear a thing,’ Olivia assured him, hauling him to his feet. ‘She’d better sleep well,’ she added dryly. ‘I’ve plans for her. She’s going to do Leo’s Christmas shopping for me and clean out his fridge. She can do something to earn her plot of land.’

  ‘Don’t be like that now,’ her husband remonstrated, putting the cups in the sink and switching out the light.

  ‘Oh, OK.’ She made a face.

  ‘Stop. Forget all that. You’ve more important things to be thinking of,’ he said, as he put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to him before bending his head to kiss her.

  ‘It was a great night, wasn’t it?’ Esther rested her head against her husband’s shoulder as the moon came out from behind a wisp of cloud and threw silver sparkles on to the sea. It was a full, round cheese of a moon that illuminated the night so they could see quite clearly as they sat for a few moments, snug in their parkas, in their favourite spot at the end of the garden, looking out to sea. The rain had stopped, and the stars glittered diamond-bright in the sky. The Plough above them reminded her of the small saucepan she boiled her eggs in. Five fingers from the pointers, Polaris pointed north. A cargo ship on the horizon, lights twinkling in the dark, sailed serenely by towards Dublin Port.

  ‘Do you mind about Leo selling the farm?’ Esther looked up at Liam.

  ‘I think he’s right. I know it goes out of the family, apart from the plots he left the girls in Thirty Acre Field, but if Bert and the sons got the farm it would be sold for development or something. They definitely wouldn’t be farming it, and it should be farmed. It’s farming land. And, besides, Leo’s acknowledged how he feels about the girls and us. He didn’t take us for granted.’ Liam smiled at her.

  ‘No, he never did that, God bless him,’ Esther agreed. ‘As long as you’re happy about it, I don’t mind.’

  ‘It doesn’t cost me a thought,’ Liam assured her. ‘And Bert can just get over himself. It was Leo’s farm to do what he wanted with.’

  ‘Well, it certainly made for an even bigger surprise than the party, and you telling me you loved me in public.’ Esther chuckled. ‘It was a day and night of surprises. How did you think Alison was? She’s a bit edgy, isn’t she?’

  ‘Yeah, she’s probably jet-lagged,’ Liam agreed. ‘I’d say it’s not easy over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s worried about her job too, but you know her . . . keeps it all to herself.’

  ‘Mmm, it’s unlike her to have ten days’ leave at Christmas. Maybe it’s unpaid or something.’ Esther frowned in the moonlight. ‘Well, even if it is, it’s something that’s meant to be. Everything happens for a reason, and she could do with a good rest. We’ll make a great fuss of her. It’s wonderful to have her home. I think we’re going to have the best Christmas ever.’

  ‘You know, I think you could be right,’ her husband concurred as they stood up and walked back, hand in hand, into the cosy warmth of the house.

  Chapter 12

  ‘That’s the stuffing done,’ Esther said with satisfaction as she removed sausage meat from between her rings and rinsed her hands under the tap.

  ‘And I’ve just finished the potatoes.’ Olivia peeled the last two and added them to the freezer bag.

  ‘Sprouts and carrots and celery done and dusted.’ Alison gave her report.

  The kitchen was warm and steamy as the pudding boiled on the hob, the rich fruit and whiskey aroma filling the house. The ham, covered in honey, mustard and cloves, was baking in the oven, and the turkey, white and plump, was outside in the big fridge waiting to be stuffed and draped in streaky rashers.

  ‘I’ve never been this organized and had everything done so early.’ Esther smiled at her two daughters. ‘I’ll be able to look at the carol service from St Patrick’s.’

  ‘Well, Mam, I would have had dinner in my house,’ Olivia said as she finished bagging the potatoes and slid them into the packed fridge.

  ‘You did Christmas last year and, besides, seeing as the family is all together’ – she smiled at Alison – ‘isn’t it nice to have it at home with your old Ma and Pa?’

  ‘Yes, it’s lovely.’ Olivia hugged her mother. ‘The girls can’t wait. Just as well they’ve gone out with Dad, they’re driving me mental.’

  ‘That’s excitement.’ Esther laughed. ‘I remember you pair getting more hyper by the day the nearer it got to Christmas. Let’s get the table set before they come back and give them a surprise,’ she suggested. She had taken down her Christmas dining cloth with its sprays of holly and poinsettia leaves embroidered on the pristine white linen. She had a dozen matching starched napkins and, for the children, long glasses with a Santa on them.

  Alison felt a frisson of happiness as her mother spread the tablecloth over the big rectangular table, which had been pulled out to its full length. Seeing that familiar cloth brought her back to her childhood, and she remembered the eager anticipation she and Olivia had felt when they saw the table dressed in its Christmas glory, and the big, fat red crackers waiting to be pulled.

  Olivia took the canteen of cutlery from the sideboard. The ‘posh’ cutlery was only used for special occasions. Esther had polished it up the previous day, and it gleamed in its bed of blue velvet. Olivia placed four tablemats on each side of the table and one at the top and bottom. There would be ten for dinner: five Hammonds, Esther, Liam and Alison, Leo and Mrs Harney. Esther had invited her neighbour because her daughter was in hospital and wouldn’t be doing Christmas this year.

  ‘I just couldn’t leave the poor thing in there on her own, sure the more the merrier,’ she’d said to Liam, when she’d asked him would he mind.

  ‘You’re a big softie, Esther Dunwoody. Of course I don’t mind. I was going to suggest it myself.’

  ‘You’re just as big a softie, mister.’ She hugged him.

  ‘We might make a match with herself and Leo,’ Liam said wickedly.

  ‘I don’t think so, he was devoted to Kitty. But they get on quite well, and I’ll be able to eat my dinner in peace knowing she isn’t alone.’ Esther had given her husband another kiss for good measure.

  Alison had done a lovely festive floral arrangement for the centrepiece, and by the time the red and gold crackers and the candles were in place the room had taken on a completely different air. She had decorated the mantelpiece with holly and ivy entwined with red and white Christmas lights and, in the deepening dusk, the lights glowed, casting shadows on the wall, and the fire crackled companionably in the grate.

  Alison gazed around and felt like an eight-year-old. Her life in America seemed so far removed from her. These past days with her family had been a balm to he
r soul, and she knew her parents were very joyful to have her home. She felt guilty for having left it so long to spend Christmas with them.

  ‘Oh, this is lovely, pet.’ Esther tucked an arm into hers. ‘You did a great job – you should take up flower arranging.’

  ‘I might.’ She smiled at her mother.

  ‘It brings me back to my childhood,’ Olivia sighed, studying the Christmas cake reposing on the sideboard. There had been great excitement at the icing of it. Esther had laid a small mirror that looked like a lake on the pristine white icing, then forked up little snowdrifts against it, upon which the children had carefully placed silver balls. Santa and his sleigh perched on one of the drifts. Two little houses and trees and two little robins were dotted around, and Ellie had gazed at the cake with awe, her blue eyes wide with enchantment.

  The sound of excited voices out in the hall told them that their peace and quiet was over. Kate hurtled into the dining room, followed by her sisters.

  ‘Oh! Oh! Deadly!!!!’ She came to a full stop.

  ‘Cam I sit here and pull a cracker?’ Ellie sat at the top of the table and reached out for one of the red and gold crackers.

  ‘Nope, they’re for tomorrow,’ Olivia said firmly. Ellie pouted, and her mouth turned down in a scowl.