The Christmas Collection

by Victoria Connelly

  ‘There aren’t any crumbs in my bed!’ Robbie said indignantly.

  Niall didn’t look convinced. ‘You are a secret biscuit muncher and you know it!’ he said, ruffling his son’s dark hair. ‘Now, let’s get moving so Millie can turn in for the night.’

  They left the room and Millie sipped her tea whilst she listened to the sounds of movement coming from upstairs and, a few minutes later, Robbie appeared with his bedding all ready to camp out for the night on the sofa.

  ‘I’ve changed the bedding upstairs,’ Niall said, ‘so it’s all ready for you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Millie said, watching as Niall began to assemble the sofa bed. ‘Are you sure you’ll be all right in here?’ she added, turning to see young Robbie wrestling with his duvet.

  ‘He’ll love it, won’t you, Robs?’ Niall said from the door.

  ‘Well, goodnight,’ she said to Robbie as he knocked his pillow into shape.

  ‘Night, Millie,’ he said. ‘Thank you for letting us stay.’

  Millie smiled. There, she thought, was one well-brought up boy even if his father had told him to say that to her when they’d been upstairs.

  ‘I’m ever so sorry about the muddle,’ Niall said a moment later as the two of them went upstairs, Niall carrying Millie’s suitcase like the perfect gentleman.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Millie said. ‘I’m sure it can be sorted out. It was just a bit of a surprise to find somebody here, that’s all.’

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I can imagine.’

  They were on the landing now and the two of them stood awkwardly for a moment.

  ‘I’m in here,’ he said, nodding to the master bedroom with the tiny en suite. ‘Unless you wanted this room?’

  ‘No, no,’ she said quickly. ‘I’ll be fine in there,’ she said, nodding to the smaller bedroom on the other side of the landing.

  ‘I’ll say goodnight, then,’ he said and Millie nodded.

  ‘Goodnight,’ she said, watching as he disappeared into the master bedroom.

  Millie took her suitcase into the other room. And then something occurred to her. Where was Robbie’s mother? Was Niall a single father or was he divorced? Perhaps he was a no-good cheat in the same mould as her ex but surely Robbie’s mother wouldn’t have entrusted such an ex with her son for the entire length of the Christmas holiday if that was the case.

  Millie shook her head as she began to unpack her suitcase. She couldn’t be worrying about the private life of strangers when they would be leaving the next day and she’d be very unlikely to see them again.

  She placed her travel clock on the bedside table. It was ten o’clock and much too early for Millie to go to bed but a nice warm bath and a leisurely read could be looked forward to.

  She wondered what Niall was doing. It was odd imagining him in the room that she’d looked forward to staying in but she couldn’t possibly be angry with him as it certainly wasn’t his fault that he found himself in there. Poor Aunt Louise had obviously got in a muddle. A muddle that they’d be sure to sort out in the morning.

  *

  It was sometime in the middle of the night when Millie was woken up. She took a few moments to work out where she was and then a few minutes after that to work out what it was that had woken her. It was crying.

  She got out of bed, switching the bedside lamp on and then finding her slippers and jumper before the cold engulfed her. Then, she tiptoed across the room and quietly opened the bedroom door. The landing light had been left on and she could hear Niall’s voice coming from downstairs. Slowly descending, she heard his gentle words.

  ‘It’s all right, Robs,’ he was saying. ‘It was just a nightmare. It can’t hurt you. It’s gone now.’

  ‘It was real, Dad,’ Robbie said. ‘I was really there.’

  ‘No you weren’t. It was just your imagination but it’s all gone now.’

  Millie bit her lip. Poor little boy, she thought, as she tiptoed back up the stairs to her bedroom.

  CHAPTER 3

  Millie had always been an early riser, even if it was the middle of winter and even though she was officially on holiday, and she was the first up at Cove Cottage the next morning with one task in mind.

  Getting washed and dressed quickly, she sneaked downstairs so as not to wake up Robbie and, grabbing her winter coat and popping her feet into her boots, she opened the front door and walked outside. A blast of cold December wind greeted her and the roar of the sea filled her ears. She took a deep breath, fishing for her beanie hat in one of her coat pockets and flattening it onto her head. That was better, she thought. She could just about hear herself think now.

  She looked around at the familiar landscape with the little brook which ran to the left of the cottage and the gorse-studded fields which had played home to many a game of hide and seek during family holidays in the past. Then, to the right, the ground sloped down towards the beach but Millie wasn’t heading there. She walked a little way up the pothole-strewn track which she had bumped down the night before and then climbed up the hill, her heart pounding and instantly making her feel guilty that she was so unfit.

  From the top, the landscape curved along the coastline, plummeting down to the sea in enormous dark cliffs. Today, thick grey clouds threatened to obscure the sun and there were white horses out at sea galloping towards the horizon. It was a view to revitalise even the most downtrodden of souls but Millie wasn’t there for the view. She was there because it was the only place where she could get a signal for her mobile.

  *

  ‘Aunt Louise?’ she said when her call was answered, raising her voice to be heard over the wind.

  ‘Millie? Is that you? Are you all right, dear?’

  ‘Yes, I’m fine.’

  ‘Good, good.’

  ‘But there’s a man at the cottage.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘A man. He says he’s your doctor and he’s here with his son.’

  ‘Did you know about that? Did you say he could stay in the cottage over Christmas?’

  ‘What, dear? You’re cracking up. I’m losing you!’

  ‘Don’t you hang up on me, Aunt Louise,’ Millie shouted down the phone. ‘Don’t you dare.’ But her aunt had gone, leaving her none the wiser as to the situation she found herself in.

  Millie tried her aunt’s number again but service had been lost and, with a great sigh, she put her phone in her pocket and headed back down the hill towards the cottage. What was she going to tell Niall, she wondered? She felt like the Biblical keeper of the inn turning him and his little boy out just before Christmas but what choice did she have? They found themselves in a tricky situation that was not of their making.

  It was just as she was approaching the front door that she heard a voice coming from the beach.

  ‘Millie!’

  She turned and saw Niall and Robbie.

  ‘Come and join us!’ Niall shouted.

  She sighed. She would go for a walk with them to be sociable and then she’d turn them out.

  ‘Good morning!’ Niall said as she reached them, his dark hair blowing wildly around his face. He was wearing an enormous winter coat but the zip was undone, revealing a thick woollen jumper in a deep amber colour that reminded Millie of autumn bracken. ‘We’re just going for a quick walk along the shore. It’s the best way to work up an appetite for breakfast, don’t you think?’

  Millie nodded.

  ‘Robbie saw you up on the hill.’

  ‘Yes. I was trying to get phone signal,’ Millie confessed.

  ‘Any luck?’

  ‘Not really,’ she said.

  ‘I’m trying not to think about the outside world. My mobile is off and I didn’t even bring my laptop with me.’

  ‘Not that there’s WIFI at the cottage,’ Millie said to him, ‘even if you did have your laptop.’

  ‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘This is just the sort of place I’ve been looking for my whole life.’

  She smiled lightly, feeling slightly gu
ilty that his stay was going to be so short. ‘I guess being a GP is pretty full-time.’

  ‘Oh, yes!’ he said with a sigh. ‘It’s hard to get away sometimes but you have to make yourself. I think that’s why your aunt forced this place upon me. She wouldn’t leave me alone until I promised her I’d take a proper break.’

  ‘That sounds like Aunt Louise,’ Millie said. ‘She likes taking care of people.’

  ‘She’s a very special person,’ Niall said.

  ‘She is,’ Millie said, taking a quick look at Niall and wondering what his relationship with her aunt was like. Aunt Louise clearly liked this man enough to give him the keys to Cove Cottage. If only she’d been able to talk to her more and find out a little more about him.

  They headed down to the beach, clambering over the jagged black rocks that were lethally wet underfoot.

  ‘Okay?’ Niall asked, offering a gallant hand.

  ‘I’ve been doing this for years,’ Millie said and then slipped. ‘Ooops! Pride before a fall!’

  Niall grinned.

  How good it felt to be back, she thought, her feet hitting the sand at last. The sandy part of the beach stretched for a good few miles but was covered in pebbles and rocks with a flat black plateaux rising up out of it. It was a landscape which looked more like that of Lanzarote than the English coast and Millie loved it. It was a place full of secret caves and deep, dark pools and, what she liked even more was the fact that only a few locals knew of its existence so one could always find a space to call one’s own. Today, it was just the three of them which didn’t surprise Millie on a blustery December morning. She watched as Robbie raced across the sand, leaping over pools of water and climbing over some of the smooth black rocks which lay on the beach like dinosaur eggs.

  ‘Niall?’ she began.

  ‘Yes?’ He turned to face her and she noticed his bright blue eyes for the first time. They reminded her of the summer sea. She shook her head, not wishing to be distracted by such things.

  ‘I heard Robbie crying in the night. Is he okay?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m so sorry we woke you.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I was just concerned.’

  ‘Well, that’s very kind of you,’ he said. ‘It took me by surprise, I have to say. I thought he was getting on all right but stress can make things worse, I think, and perhaps sleeping in a strange place brought it on again.’

  ‘Brought what on?’ Millie asked.

  Niall stared out to sea before answering.

  ‘I’m afraid Christmas isn’t an easy time for us,’ he began. ‘It was Christmas Eve two years ago when my wife died.’

  ‘Oh, Niall!’ Millie cried in shock. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  He nodded but didn’t speak for a moment – he just stood watching the grey waves crashing onto the shore.

  ‘What happened?’ Millie asked at last.

  He closed his eyes before continuing.

  ‘She – Emma – was driving back from the supermarket. She’d already done the big Christmas shop but remembered a few of those little items that just make the holidays complete. You know the silly things like Turkish Delight and sugared almonds?’

  ‘We always had Turkish Delight at Christmas,’ she said.

  ‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘Anyway, she was driving through town on the way home when a car came speeding through the red lights at a junction. Emma lost control of her car and smashed into a wall. The doctors believe she was killed instantly. There was nothing anybody could do and the people responsible didn’t stop. Joy riders, police told us.’

  ‘God! I’m so sorry,’ Millie said, tears stinging her eyes at the horror of what had happened to him.

  Niall nodded. ‘But the worst thing about it was that Robbie was in the car with her.’

  ‘Oh, no!’

  ‘He was so so lucky to have survived,’ he said.

  ‘Was he badly hurt?’

  ‘He broke his arm and suffered cuts and bruises but it’s what he’s suffering emotionally that’s really worrying.’

  ‘Of course,’ Millie said. ‘I can’t imagine what he’s gone through.’

  ‘It hurts me so much that I can’t help him.’

  ‘Oh, but I’m sure you do – just by being there for him.’

  ‘We thought it might be easier being away from home but I’m not sure of the effect it’s having on Robbie now. Not after last night’s upset. So, perhaps it’s best if we leave anyway.’

  Millie bit her lip as she remembered that she was about to turn them away from Cove Cottage.

  ‘But you have to stay,’ she suddenly said.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘You can’t think of going.’

  Niall turned his blue gaze on her again. ‘But I thought–’

  ‘Never mind what you thought. I really want you to say.’

  ‘You’re not just saying that out of pity, are you? Because that would be really awful.’

  She shook her head. ‘It’s not pity. You simply must stay and that’s an end of it.’

  Niall looked confused. ‘But what will you do?’

  ‘I’ll stay too,’ she said with a little shrug. ‘If you don’t mind, that is?’

  ‘Of course I don’t mind.’

  ‘I mean, there’s room enough, isn’t there?’

  ‘Sure,’ he said, ‘but won’t you mind knocking into me and Robbie all the time? Don’t you want the place to yourself?’

  She gave a little smile. ‘I spend most of my time living on my own. I think it might actually be nice to have some company for a change.’

  ‘But I can’t promise what kind of company we’ll be,’ he said.

  ‘I’m not asking for any promises.’

  They looked steadily at each other for a moment.

  ‘Well, if you’re absolutely sure,’ he said, his eyebrows raised in question.

  ‘I am,’ she said, giving him a little smile of encouragement.

  ‘That’s great!’ he said. ‘I’d really like to give Robbie a chance here. I think it could do him a lot of good. Is it all right if I tell him?’

  She nodded.

  ‘ROBS!’ he called out across the beach. Robbie looked up from where he was examining a heap of slimy seaweed. ‘Millie says we can stay at the cottage.’

  Millie watched as the boy’s face lit up and then he did something totally unexpected – he raced across the beach, leaping over the rocks and pools, and launched himself into Millie’s arms.

  ‘Thank you!’ he cried. ‘Thank you!’

  CHAPTER 4

  As they walked back to the cottage together, Millie felt the sting of tears in her eyes and she knew they had absolutely nothing to do with the cold wind. She watched as Robbie ran ahead of them, the hood of his coat bobbing up and down and she felt so sad as she thought of what that dear boy had gone through and, indeed, what he was still going through. He was far too young to be without his mother but she could see just how much Niall adored him and he was obviously trying to do his very best for his little boy.

  Thinking about it now, Millie felt terrible for being angry with Aunt Louise for letting her cottage to a stranger when she had only been trying to give a grieving father and son some peace. She wondered if her aunt had ever met Niall’s wife or, indeed, his son, or did she only know Niall on a professional level? And did it really matter? All that mattered was that her aunt had tried to do a kindness and it was up to Millie to make sure that he had just the sort of holiday that her aunt had had in mind for him and his boy.

  Climbing up from the beach, she watched as Niall walked towards his four-wheel-drive which she hadn’t spotted the night before, and it was then that she noticed there was a Christmas tree in the back of it.

  ‘You brought a tree with you?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘It wouldn’t be Christmas without a tree, would it?’

  ‘I suppose not.’

  ‘We arrived after dark so we didn’t have a chance to unpack it.’

&nb
sp; ‘You travelled with it from Bath?’

  ‘Yep!’ he said. ‘The car smelt wonderful but it did keep tickling Robbie’s ears.’

  ‘Yes!’ Robbie said. ‘It did.’

  Millie smiled. ‘Would you like a hand with it?’

  ‘I should be okay but you can grab the bucket if you like and make sure the doors are open.’

  Millie picked up the bucket and unlocked the front door and then helped to guide Niall with the tree. It wasn’t the biggest tree in the world but, once it was placed in the living room, it seemed to fill it.

  ‘Wow!’ Robbie said.

  ‘Wow!’ Millie echoed.

  ‘Ow!’ Niall said as he popped the tree into its bucket. ‘Got poked in the nose.’

  Robbie laughed. ‘I got poked in the ear for over three hours!’

  ‘You did indeed,’ Niall said. ‘Anyway, there’s plenty of time to decorate it but that can’t possibly be attempted on an empty stomach. Who’s up for some drop scones?’

  ‘ME!’ Robbie yelled.

  ‘Millie?’ Niall asked.

  ‘Oh? Yes, thank you.’

  ‘Good,’ he said, getting to work in the kitchen which adjoined the living room.

  ‘Dad makes the best drops scones in the whole world,’ Robbie enthused.

  Millie smiled and watched as Niall moved around the kitchen with the sort of ease that she never had. It was rather nice having breakfast made for you, she thought, and something that she’d never experienced before. James certainly hadn’t been one to make breakfast for her whenever she’d stayed with him. He’d been far more likely to tell her the bread was stale and warn her that it might actually be mouldy which it very often was. But she had to admit that Niall with a whisk in his hand was rather a pleasant sight and the result was pretty good too.

  ‘These are excellent!’ Millie said as, sitting next to Robbie at the breakfast bar, she took her first mouthful. ‘And Devon flower honey too – my favourite.’

  Niall smiled. ‘Mine too,’ he said.

  ‘I prefer golden syrup,’ Robbie said, ‘or chocolate spread. Or marshmallow fluff. Or all three at once!’

  Niall shook his head in despair. ‘Honey is better for you,’ he told his son.