‘Oh, it’s quite simple really, basic design principles.’ He ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I’ve left the two chairs the right way up – that’s been their first mistake.’ He turned to face the galleon. ‘We’ve used the broom to gain more height in the middle and thus create useable space at either end.’ He nodded, admiring his work.
‘It’s true, Mum, I can stand up in here now, it’s brilliant!’ Lucas poked his head out into the choppy waters.
Meg grunted. ‘I don’t mean what are you doing with the bloody pirate ship, I mean what you are doing? Why are you here?’
‘For you. I came for you,’ he said quite matter-of-factly.
‘Well you have had a wasted trip, as I mentioned in my text. You can leave now.’ She pointed towards the door.
‘I’m not going to do that.’ He shook his head.
‘Can Edd come back inside my ship now?’ Lucas was standing by her side.
‘Why don’t you come and help us, little chap?’ Christopher’s voice boomed from the doorway.
‘But I want to play with Edd!’ Lucas shouted, easily impressed by the stranger who had been willing to take on the role of captain and had built the best pirate ship ever.
‘I need some help with chocolate tasting,’ Christopher continued, ‘and I thought you might be the man for the role.’
Lucas ran towards the kitchen. For that kind of job he was always available.
Meg sat at the dining table and let her eyes wander over the unexpected guest. He looked wonderful. His rolled sleeves revealed his strong arms and his hair as ever fell over his forehead, just so. Her stomach knotted.
She spoke quietly. ‘You lied to me, Edd, and I can’t get over that.’
‘Well you need to get over that. And I didn’t lie to you, I just didn’t tell you everything, which I admit was a mistake. I was just trying to figure it out as I went along, trying to hurt people as little as possible. And in the process I hurt the one that mattered the most.’ He sat down in the chair opposite her.
‘I spoke to Flavia. She told me you were here.’ Meg folded her arms across her chest and jutted out her chin like she could care less.
‘Yes, I know. She’s a great girl. And I wish her well, I really do. She’s not a bad person, just not for me.’
Meg thought of Piers. A lovely man, despite his flaws, just not for her. Her thoughts then went to Flavia and her kind offer of coffee that awful day; from one needy, messed-up girl to another. ‘She sounded like she was bring brave on the phone. Is she okay?’ None of this was her fault, after all.
‘Not really, no. But I have every faith she will be. I think things will work out for the best.’
‘How did you know I’d spoken to her?’
‘Christopher told me.’
‘Christopher?’ Meg squeaked.
‘Yep. He came to see me at the hotel. He told me to leave you alone and to get the hell out of town. I was quite shocked. He is so proper and British, he sounded like a James Bond baddie.’
Meg smiled at the thought of Christopher squaring up to drive this Yank home.
‘But I told him the full story and said I’d seen you with Piers, earlier—’
‘You did?’ Meg blushed.
‘Yep – and you were right about the Barbour.’ Edd waved his hand and continued. ‘Anyway, Christopher told me you never loved Piers and that you never properly loved Bill because he wasn’t the one meant for you.’
‘Christopher said that?’ Dear Chris, Bill’s uncle…
‘Uh-huh.’ He nodded. ‘And I told him that I thought I was the one for you and that I wasn’t going anywhere because I love you and I just wanted a chance to talk to you and if that didn’t work I would come back day after day until you believed me.’
‘Well you’ve had a wasted trip because I don’t believe you.’
‘Maybe not, but you will. I won’t give up until I’ve made things turn out right.’ He smiled at her from beneath his fringe.
‘How can you believe that things will turn out right when they are such a mess?’
‘Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.’ He held her eye.
‘What about right now? Do you think things will turn out right for us?’ She thought of Lucas on the other side of the wall and of the future, a future with this man.
‘Yes I do, I really do. And deep down, Meg, you know it too. I’m telling you the truth. This is the start of our adventure, remember? It was never going to be easy, coming at it from opposite sides of the Atlantic, but you knew that, right?’
‘I don’t know anything!’ Meg ran her fingers through her hair. ‘I can’t believe you are here. Half of me is over the moon to see you, wants to jump into your arms and never leave and the other half is telling me to keep my guard up and chuck you out.’
‘Jump, Meg. Please.’ He placed his hand over hers and the warmth shot up her arm and spread around her body, weakening her resolve.
‘But you said you were single,’ she whispered.
‘No, I didn’t – you did!’ He was firm.
‘But it was implied by the way you asked me if I was single!’
‘Really?’ Edd looked confused. ‘So if someone asks whether you’re vegetarian, you can assume that they don’t eat meat either?’
‘What? No! What’s that got to do with anything? Christ, Edd. You’re being a knob. You lied through omission!’
Edd sighed. ‘I know and I’m sorry. I’m really sorry and, believe me, if I had known what that one omission would do to us, what we would have to go through over Christmas, I would have come clean in a heartbeat. I’m still learning, Meg, and I now know I need to be upfront about how I’m feeling and I promise you I will. You need to give me a chance and we can learn this stuff together, grow together until we are perfect.’
Meg thought about Piers and recognised her own inability to face that situation, knowing it would have been fairer to walk away far sooner.
Edd continued, ‘I did wrong, but for all the right reasons.’ He smiled at her.
‘Don’t smile at me like that. There is nothing funny about this situation. This is my life and it’s Lucas’s life and I have to be so very sure.’
‘You can be sure.’ He raised her hand and kissed her knuckles.
‘I wish I could be.’ This was the truth.
‘I think I’m ready now,’ he said as he stood and reached into his jeans pocket.
‘Ready for what?’
‘To tell you.’
‘Tell me what?’ She tutted, perplexed and irritated.
‘What my most treasured possession is.’
Meg sucked in her cheeks, remembering their conversation from just a couple of weeks ago.
‘It’s this, Meg.’ He used the tips of his fingers to pull a small slip of white paper from his pocket. He unfurled it and handed it to her.
She placed it on the table and ran her fingers over it. It was a till receipt. The date and time were printed across the top – ‘12.08.14, 17.43’ – and there in list form with the amount in dollars by the side was a food order. She read the words aloud. ‘“Swiss cheese on brown, two extras, one pickle.”’ Meg wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s for my sandwich!’
‘Yes, it’s for your sandwich.’ He smiled. ‘There aren’t many couples that can pinpoint the exact day, the exact moment that they met the love of their life. My dad once explained it to me – that single instant when you see a face and you know; you know that you want to spend the rest of your life looking at it. But I can, down to the very minute. It was December eighth at seventeen minutes to six.’
Meg’s eyes were full of tears. She felt like she’d been waiting her whole life to hear this. It was time to stop thinking of herself as poor, unworthy Megan and start believing that someone might love her for who she really was.
‘I’m not going to let you go, Mary Poppins. I will love you and keep you safe, like no one else ever could. I’m not going to let you go. Not now, not ever. And that is just the way it is.’
Meg stood and threw herself into his arms. Edd held her tightly and the two enjoyed the sweet relief of reunion. She felt herself melt against him.
They were aware of the sound of clapping and laughter coming from the other side of the sitting room door. Meg walked over and opened it to find Milly and Pru in tears, clasping each other tightly, and Christopher bouncing Lucas high in the air.
Meg looked at the man who had warned her off Edward Kelly. ‘What about your instinct, Chris?’
‘I like the cut of his jib, Meg. And he knows I’ve got my eye on him.’ He winked at Edd.
‘I won’t let you down, sir.’ Edd looked serious.
She turned her attention to Milly. ‘And I thought you wanted to sock him one!’
‘I did, but he’s straight as a die, Meg. And whilst I can’t bear the idea of you not living here with me, it’s time you grabbed a life. I want you to be happy and I’ve never seen you as happy as you were when you came home from New York and told me how he made you feel. “He’s magic,” you said; “he’s everything,” and you looked like you’d been lit from within.’ Milly squeezed Meg’s hands inside her own.
‘And you, Pru! You said he was a piece of work!’ Meg said, smiling.
‘I did. But, Meg, he knows the exact day—’
‘The exact moment!’ Milly corrected.
Pru nodded. ‘The exact moment he fell in love with you. He’s a keeper, Meg.’
‘And he builds a mean pirate ship,’ Milly added, as though this might be the clincher.
Meg turned to look at her handsome New Yorker. ‘There is just one small problem.’ She twitched her mouth. ‘You did once tell me that due to our lack of enthusiasm for baseball, London was nowhere you could ever live.’
Edd looked at her and frowned as if considering this for the very first time.
21
ONE YEAR LATER
Brenda pottered in the unfamiliar kitchen, searching through the cupboards and peering into jars for a decent tea bag to put into the plain white china mug. She still marvelled at the fact that a property that cost so much money could have so little space and storage. What had Edward said? ‘It’s all about living in the right district.’
‘I think if it was me, I’d move to the wrong district and have a bathroom a bit bigger than a biscuit tin,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘Morning, Mom!’ He was as chirpy as ever. ‘Sleep okay?’
‘I always do. A clear conscience makes a soft pillow.’ She nodded sagely.
‘So that’s why I’m an insomniac! It’s all down to my misspent youth.’ He laughed as he looked out of the window towards the city skyline in the distance and the bend of blue nestling between the buildings. ‘Another beautiful Greenwich morning.’ Edd sighed. ‘I love this time of year: the frost on the ground, a nip in the air, getting ready for Santa!’
Brenda turned round, smiling at her boy, who sounded like a child. ‘A big day for you, son.’
‘Yes.’ He grinned.
‘I wish your dad was here.’ She reached for the tissue lurking up her sleeve. ‘He wouldn’t believe it, you being made partner in a fancy firm of architects. He’d be so proud of you. As I am.’ She sniffed.
‘I know.’ Edd nodded and adjusted the cufflinks that sparkled in his cuffs, sticking out below his jacket sleeves. He ran his finger over the two little seahorses that would always remind him of Meg. Ah, beautiful, beautiful Meg…
*
Meg shouted up the hallway, ‘Come on, Lucas, you don’t want be late on your very first day at big school!’
Lucas appeared at the other end of the hall wearing a black velvet cape over his school uniform.
Meg tutted. ‘You can’t wear your Harry Potter cape to school. Take it off. You’re going to be late!’
‘But Milly said I should take my spell kit. In case I need to make myself invisible or turn my teacher into a frog.’
Meg shook her head despairingly. ‘You are not going to need to turn your teacher into a frog, I have met her and she is lovely. Ignore Milly.’
Milly slunk back into the sitting room. A coffee could wait.
‘Is he nervous?’ Isabel peered from beneath her specs, the Daily Telegraph laid flat on the dining table.
‘He seems fine. I think we’re more nervous than he is.’ She sat on the floor.
‘I remember William’s first day at school. He looked so sweet in his little cap and shorts. He marched in mid afternoon and said he’d had a nice time but didn’t think he’d bother going back again!’ Isabel shook her head. ‘That was him all over, really; thought he knew it all already. I loved his spark, his confidence.’ She swallowed.
‘He was confident,’ Milly agreed. ‘And funny.’
Isabel nodded, not wanting to give in to tears, not today.
‘Lucas is very much like him,’ Milly offered.
Isabel beamed. ‘He certainly is. He’s the image of him actually. Oh, did I mention I bumped into Piers? He was at a point-to-point up the road from Mountfield.’
‘Ah, how was he?’ Milly thought about sweet, dull Piers.
‘Very well, gloriously happy and getting married!’ Isabel mouthed the last two words as though it was a secret.
‘Oh well, that’s a good thing. Who to? Anyone we know?’ Milly meant the ‘we’ sarcastically – she and Isabel knew hardly any of the same people.
Isabel leant across the table and whispered, ‘A rather homely-looking girl.’ She tightened her jaw and let her mouth droop. ‘I honestly thought it was his sister. They were dressed in identical clothes and she had that chin thing going on, the same as him.’
‘What chin thing?’ Milly tried to picture Piers’ face in more detail.
Isabel flapped her hand. ‘Oh, you know what I mean. That look that suggests all betrothals have happened within the cousin-once-removed category.’ She nodded conspiratorially.
Milly snorted her laughter; Isabel was good fun when she was this cutting. ‘Blimey, sounds like Meg had a lucky escape!’
Lucas stamped his foot on the hallway floor. ‘Dad said I could wear this! He said I needed it to learn about witchcraft and wizardry.’ Lucas pushed out his bottom lip and folded his arms across his chest.
‘Ignore Dad. I have already told you, this is not wizard school, it’s James Wolfe Primary, a normal school, for non-wizard children.’ Meg ran her palm across her brow. Who knew it would be this hard to get him out of the door?
‘Dad said you’d say that.’
‘What did Dad say? Are you getting me into trouble, pal?’ Edd bent low and picked Lucas up, sitting him on his arm.
‘I just want to wear my cloak and Mum said I had to leave it here,’ Lucas whined.
‘Sure you can wear it!’
‘Edd! No he can’t.’ Meg put her hands on her hips, exasperated.
Edd placed Lucas on the floor. ‘You are going to have a great day, pal. And remember, no matter what the day throws at you, the real world is what is behind our front door; everything on the other side ain’t important. And you will be back here before you know it.’
He walked over to his wife. Pulling her towards him, he kissed her face and whispered, ‘When we arrive at school and he’s settled, I’ll take it off him. Trust me.’
‘Trust you? I tried that once before and look where it got me!’ She batted him away. ‘You look rather dashing, if you don’t mind me saying, Mr Partner.’ She smiled.
‘I’m wearing my lucky cufflinks!’ He showed her his wrists and raised his eyebrows.
‘Very smart.’ She winked.
The sound of a mewling cry came from the small bedroom.
‘Gabriel is awake!’ Lucas yelled and ran to where his new baby brother lay.
‘I’ll get him!’ Brenda shouted as she dashed from the kitchen at lightning speed. Her cup of tea could wait. ‘What are you wearing?’ She paused to stare at the face on Meg’s T-shirt as she tore up the stairs. ‘Is he not a baseball player?’
‘No!’ Luca
s shouted as he ran back down the hallway. ‘He is baseball!’
Edd high-fived his son. His training was going well; he’d make a Yankees fan of him if it was the last thing he did.
Brenda appeared minutes later with Gabriel wrapped in a white blanket and lying in her arms. ‘It’s okay, darling, your grandma has got you.’ She kissed his little face and took him into the sitting room.
‘You might want to loosen that blanket, Brenda. He doesn’t like to be too swaddled,’ Milly commented from the floor.
‘William always liked to be tightly bundled, I think it helped calm him.’ Isabel abandoned the newspaper and offered advice from the dining table.
None of the three grandmas had wanted to miss Lucas’s big day, or the first week of having Gabriel home, or the dinner to celebrate Edd’s new position. A big day indeed.
‘I had fourteen stitches when I had Edward,’ Brenda recalled. ‘I was in agony. Haven’t been right since in that department.’
‘Stitches? I couldn’t sit down for a fortnight! The doctor said my haemorrhoids were the worst he had seen in forty years of practice,’ Isabel countered. ‘I had a Filipina mother’s help at the time and she only ever saw me sitting on a rubber ring, thought I was part mermaid.’ She shuddered at the memory.
Brenda glared. ‘I endured nine hours of labour with nothing but gas and air.’
‘Gosh, gas and air would have been a luxury! I had William at home and had to survive on nothing but a big dose of grin-and-bear-it.’ Isabel smiled.
Milly looked from one to the other. ‘I think I’m very lucky.’
Brenda and Isabel both looked over at Milly, who was building a Lego pirate ship, ready to play with when Lucas came home from school.
‘I’ve had no stitches, no haemorrhoids, no stretch marks and no bloody pain, yet I get to be a nana to both of your grandchildren, kind of like I took a shortcut! Bosh!’ She chortled, chopping at the air.
They both ignored her.
Edd strode into the sitting room. ‘How do I look?’
‘Very handsome!’ Isabel remarked.
‘You look lovely, mate. Like a very important partner at one of London’s finest architect’s.’ Milly winked.
Christmas for One: No Greater Love Page 24