The Christmas Collection

by Victoria Connelly

  ‘Careful, Robs!’ Niall shouted after him but there was no stopping him.

  Millie ran right after him. She had forgotten how exhilarating it was to do something as simple as run across a beach with the cold wind in your face.

  ‘Wait for me, Robbie,’ she cried but the boy wasn’t going to slow down for her. There was only one thing for it – she would have to run even faster. And that’s when it happened. The large black rocks were slippery even in the summer months but, today, they were lethal and Millie’s left foot slipped and twisted, causing her to lose her balance and come crashing down.

  ‘MILLIE!’ Niall cried as he tore across the beach to reach her. ‘Don’t move!’

  ‘I don’t think I can,’ Millie said, wincing in pain as both Niall and Robbie reached her.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Robbie asked.

  ‘What was I thinking?’ Millie said.

  ‘Is it my fault?’ Robbie said.

  ‘No, no,’ Millie assured him. ‘It was me being foolish and thinking I was much younger than I am.’

  ‘Let’s see what the damage is,’ Niall said.

  ‘It’s my left ankle,’ she told him.

  ‘Anything else hurt?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Millie told him.

  ‘Let’s get you back to the cottage,’ he said. ‘Put your arms around my neck.’

  Millie did as she was told and was soon hoisted up into Niall’s arms.

  ‘I feel such an idiot,’ she complained.

  ‘I slipped too,’ Robbie said, ‘but I can still walk.’

  ‘I’m afraid my bones are a lot older than yours, Robbie,’ Millie told him, realising how stupid she had been to run across the rocks like that. It was a very humbling way to learn her lesson: she most definitely wasn’t a young girl any more. Mind you, held in the warm strength of Niall’s arms, she wasn’t sure that a young girl would have fully appreciated such a situation.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked her as they left the beach, negotiating the rocks carefully before crossing the grass towards the cottage.

  ‘Just dying of embarrassment,’ she said.

  ‘Nobody ever died of that before,’ he told her.

  ‘There’s a first time for everything,’ she said, feeling truly mortified.

  CHAPTER 7

  Niall handed Robbie the key and he opened the door and Millie was soon stretched out on the sofa nearest the wood burner in the living room, her boots carefully removed.

  ‘Now, let’s have a look,’ Niall said, removing her woolly sock and placing his hands around her bare foot.

  ‘It’s a good job there’s a doctor in the house,’ Millie said with a faint smile. ‘I’ll have to call you Dr Darby.’

  ‘Everybody else does,’ he said, grinning down at her as he carefully examined her left foot. ‘How does that feel?’

  ‘Okay – ouch!’

  He nodded. ‘It’s just a sprain.’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘Nothing to worry about with a bit of careful attention. Robbie? What do we remember with sprains?’

  ‘RICE,’ Robbie cried.

  ‘So, we have two doctors in the house,’ Millie said.

  Niall laughed as Robbie ran into the kitchen.

  ‘So, what’s RICE? The diet you’re putting me on?’

  ‘No, no,’ Niall said. ‘It stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.’

  ‘So what’s Robbie doing?’

  ‘He’s gone to get some ice or something else frozen that will do you good.’

  ‘Really?’ Millie said. ‘Won’t that be awfully COLD!’ she screamed as Robbie arrived with a bag of frozen peas and placed it over her ankle.

  ‘It’s the very best thing for it,’ Niall assured her. ‘It will keep the swelling down.’

  ‘It feels absolutely horrid!’ she said as she watched Robbie place a cushion underneath her foot. ‘Oh, I feel so stupid! Why oh why did I have to try and scramble over those rocks? I’m such a fool – I’m not a kid anymore.’

  ‘I think we’re all kids inside, don’t you?’ Niall said.

  ‘Inside, maybe – but the rest of us ages at an alarming rate,’ Millie said.

  ‘It wasn’t age that got you into trouble – it was those vicious rocks,’ he pointed out.

  She smiled at him. It was very kind of him to say that.

  ‘Now,’ he said, ‘how about we make a start on Christmas dinner?’

  From her position on the sofa, Millie could watch Niall and Robbie buzzing around the kitchen as they prepared everything for the perfect Christmas dinner.

  ‘I feel so useless stuck on the sofa not able to do anything.’

  ‘There’s nothing for you to do,’ Niall told her. ‘Everything is under control!’

  Millie smiled. She had never met a man as calm and as in control as he was. Nothing seemed to fluster him which was probably just as well given his choice of career.

  For the next couple of hours, she watched father and son as they bustled around the kitchen together, peeling and chopping and basting and boiling. They even remembered – mercifully – to remove the bag of frozen peas from her ankle.

  Finally, Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, including some rather fine Yorkshire puddings, was ready.

  Niall had found a tray which he placed on top of a cushion so Millie didn’t have to move from her new home on the sofa.

  ‘Do I really have to eat like this?’

  ‘You do,’ Niall said. ‘The longer we can keep your ankle elevated, the better.’

  She sighed, knowing when she was defeated.

  ‘Don’t worry – we’re eating in here with you,’ Robbie announced.

  ‘Don’t you want to eat in the dining room?’ Millie asked.

  ‘We’ll be fine at the breakfast bar,’ Niall said, motioning to the kitchen where Robbie was busy laying things out.

  ‘Well, it all looks amazing,’ Millie said, trying to get comfortable to enjoy the feast before her. She felt completely spoilt but was glad that she had contributed with some of the food bought in town the day before and was glad she wasn’t facing a lonely lunch for one from the meagre provisions she’d brought with her from her flat.

  ‘I have to say,’ Niall said, ‘this is a very interesting way to eat Christmas dinner.’

  Robbie giggled. ‘Can we have a breakfast bar at home?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t see why not,’ Niall said.

  ‘Excellent!’

  Millie smiled. ‘I can’t say that I’d like to repeat my Christmas meal like this again.’

  ‘Are you okay over there?’ Niall asked.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she said quickly, not wishing to complain after all the hard work that had gone into the meal, ‘and everything’s absolutely delicious. These are the best roast potatoes I’ve ever had.’

  ‘I beat them up,’ Robbie said.

  ‘Pardon?’ Millie said.

  ‘After boiling them, I beat them up in the pan.’

  ‘It helps to make them fluffy and crisp,’ Niall explained.

  ‘Ah!’ Millie said. ‘Well, I must remember that little trick.’

  They ate in silence for a little while with just the occasional sigh of appreciation at the good food and, at the end, Robbie cleared the plates away, taking Millie’s from her like the perfect waiter.

  A moment later, Niall served the Christmas pudding dancing with flames.

  ‘What a treat!’ Millie exclaimed from the sofa.

  ‘And we have cream too,’ Robbie said.

  The boys joined Millie in the living room and they all tucked in to generous portions of Christmas pudding in front of the wood burner.

  ‘I can’t remember when I enjoyed a real Christmas dinner like this,’ Millie said.

  Niall looked at her in surprise. ‘Don’t you usually have one?’

  Millie gave a self-conscious little shrug. ‘James and I used to go away – usually abroad – so we didn’t really do the whole Christmas thing. I’m not really sure why n
ow. I think we were just being a bit rebellious by going swimming and eating a pizza.’

  ‘Cool!’ Robbie said. ‘Can we do that one Christmas, Dad?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ Niall said.

  ‘No, I wouldn’t recommend it,’ Millie said. ‘I’ve really missed this. Thanks so much, Niall. And Robbie.’

  ‘You’re very welcome,’ Niall said.

  For a while, they sat together watching the fire and gazing at the Christmas tree whilst Robbie read one of his comics.

  ‘I suppose I should get some more wood in,’ Niall said, getting up at last and taking the empty bowls into the kitchen before leaving the cottage.

  ‘Do you really never celebrate Christmas?’ Robbie asked once his father was out of earshot.

  ‘I’m afraid I don’t,’ Millie said. ‘Isn’t that silly of me?’

  Robbie nodded and Millie laughed. ‘I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, I like it,’ Millie said. ‘I love it! But it’s different if you spend it on your own.’

  ‘That must be sad.’

  ‘It is. It was,’ Millie said, remembering the Christmases that James would spend with his family. Not once had he invited her to join them.

  ‘You wouldn’t enjoy it anyway,’ James had told her with a laugh but she would have liked to have been given the opportunity to make her own mind up about what she did and didn’t enjoy.

  ‘But I had some brilliant Christmases growing up with my family,’ she said, steering the conversation in a more cheerful direction. ‘We always played lots of silly games and ate much too much food.’

  Robbie watched her as she spoke and Millie was encouraged to go on, telling him about her two brothers, Marcus and Jake, and the antics they used to get up to.

  ‘It’s snowing again, Millie,’ Robbie said as she finished telling him about the time an eight year old Jake had chased her into a muck heap and got into terrible trouble with their mother.

  ‘Let me see,’ Millie said, hobbling across to the window and looking out. What was it about snow that was so magical, she wondered as she looked up into the myriad flakes that were spiralling down from the heavens? It visited the UK almost every year, sometimes for months at a time, and yet the first fall never failed to entrance even though it was bound to cause chaos. Nothing was so awe-inspiring as beautiful big fluffy snowflakes falling out of a pewter-coloured sky.

  ‘I’ll have to show you the cave sometime,’ Millie said, suddenly remembering a time when she’d been sheltering from the rain in the cave on one of her family holidays.

  ‘The cave?’ Robbie said, his bright eyes widening.

  Millie nodded. ‘I think I was about your age when I first saw it,’ she told him. ‘I couldn’t believe what I’d found. It seemed to stretch back for miles but I don’t think it does really. It just seemed like that at the time.’ She smiled at the memory. ‘My brothers were so mad that I’d been the one to find it and I insisted that they called it “Millie’s Cave”.’

  ‘And did they?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Of course not but I knew it was mine all the same.’

  ‘Where is it?’ Robbie asked.

  ‘You know where we were walking today – where I slipped? It’s just a bit further along the beach. Perhaps we can go and look for it if it stops snowing. I’m sure my ankle’s feeling better.’

  It was then that Niall returned with a pile of logs in his arms.

  ‘Boy, it’s cold out there now,’ he said as he placed logs in the basket by the fireplace.

  ‘Can I go outside?’ Robbie asked.

  ‘I don’t want you going too far,’ Niall told him as he took his hat and coat off.

  ‘I won’t,’ Robbie said. ‘I just want to build a snowman.’

  ‘Okay then,’ Niall said, ‘but wrap up warm and no throwing snowballs at the windows.’ Robbie rolled his eyes and Millie looked across at Niall who shook his head. ‘We once had an incident with a very large snowball and a very small leaded window.’

  ‘Ah!’ Millie said. ‘I’m sure it was an accident. He’s such a great kid. You must be so proud of him.’

  Niall nodded and watched as his son – who was now decked out in coat, hat, scarf and gloves – began the long cold process of making a snowman. ‘I am,’ he said, ‘and I don’t know what I would have done without him these last two years.’

  Millie looked at him and once again saw the shadows of sadness cross his face.

  ‘He must have been a great comfort to you,’ she said.

  Niall closed his eyes for a moment and then turned his back on the window and looked at Millie. ‘When Emma died, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was like a spare part just floating around and I had this crazy temptation to ring her mobile number. The digits just kept flying through my head as if they were taunting me. So, one day, I did ring it.’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘What did I think would happen? That she’d answer and say it had all been a mistake and that she was alive? Did I think she’d laugh and call me a silly boy in the way she always did?’

  ‘Oh, Niall,’ Millie said in a half whisper.

  ‘Without Robbie, I might have gone completely mad but I had to be strong for him and he was strong for me and, somehow, we got through.’ He sat down in the chair beside the wood burner and the two of them gazed into the brilliant orange flames.

  ‘I never thought I’d enjoy a real fire so much,’ Niall said.

  ‘Do you have a fireplace at Bathwick?’

  He shook his head. ‘It’s all boarded up but I’m very tempted to open it up now.’

  They watched the flames dancing for a few more minutes before Niall got up and walked across to the window.

  ‘Where’s Robbie?’ he said. ‘I can’t see him.’

  ‘Isn’t he building his snowman?’ Millie asked.

  ‘No. He’s not,’ Niall said, moving towards the door at lightning speed.

  Millie listened from her home on the sofa as Niall opened and closed the front door of the cottage. She could hear him calling Robbie’s name and then, a few minutes later, he returned.

  ‘Millie!’ he said, sounding a little out of breath. ‘I can’t see him anywhere.’

  ‘Oh, god!’ Millie suddenly exclaimed, her face paling. ‘I think I know where he might be.’

  ‘Where?’ Niall said, the panic obvious in the one abrupt word.

  ‘I told him about the cave.’

  ‘What cave?’

  ‘The cave along the beach. You don’t think he’s gone there, do you?’

  ‘But the tide will be coming in and it’s getting dark already.’

  Millie stared at Niall as he sprang into action.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere on that ankle of yours,’ Niall told her as he saw her struggling to get off the sofa.

  ‘Well, I’m not sitting here like a useless lump if Robbie’s in danger,’ she said.

  They were both outside in hats, coats and boots in less than a minute. The air was bitterly cold as they left the cosy warmth of the cottage and the wind took their breaths away. The snow was still falling and they were able to trace Robbie’s footprints which, unsurprisingly, led down to the beach.

  ‘Robbie! ROBBIE!’ Niall shouted across the beach but the wind took his words before they’d travelled far. The little boy was nowhere to be seen.

  Millie couldn’t help feeling responsible. She should never have told Robbie about the cave. But how was she to know that he’d take himself off there? She shook her head in anger at herself. Of course he was going to venture out there. He was a boy.

  ‘Where is it, Millie?’ Niall shouted at her above the wind a few minutes later.

  ‘A bit further – just passed those rocks,’ she said as she desperately tried to keep up with him on her painful ankle.

  At last, they reached the rocky part of the beach where the dark cliffs soared up into the sky. The tide was coming in at an alarming rate and Millie worried that the cave might already be cut off. />
  As they reached the entrance, their eyes adjusting to the darkness, they saw the tiny figure of Robbie.

  ‘ROBS!’ Niall shouted.

  ‘DAD!’ Robbie shouted back and Millie watched as Niall waded through the icy water to where Robbie was perched on a boulder. As he reached his son, he was waist deep in the water which boiled around his body in cold, icy waves.

  Millie watched from the entrance to the cave where she’d managed to clamber onto a rock to get out of the rising water. Niall was holding his arms out towards Robbie who launched himself into them.

  ‘Hold tight!’ Niall said as he turned around with his son in his arms and began to wade through the water out of the cave.

  ‘Robbie!’ Millie cried. ‘We were so worried. Are you all right?’

  Robbie nodded but his eyes were closing.

  ‘We’ve got to get him back quickly,’ Niall said. ‘He’s frozen.’

  It was a strange, surreal walk back to the cottage where time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. The wind whipped the snow around their faces and the sky was darkening fast. All the time, Niall kept talking to Robbie, making sure he was conscious.

  It was such a blessed relief to get back inside and Niall placed Robbie in front of the wood burner, quickly stripping him of his wet clothes and rubbing him down with a blanket, paying particular attention to his head.

  ‘Millie – can you make him a hot drink? A Ribena would be perfect.’

  ‘Of course,’ she said, taking her own wet things off and moving into the kitchen.

  She was back with the Ribena a moment later.

  ‘Robbie – can you cough for me?’ Robbie gave a little cough and Niall took the hot drink from Millie and supervised his son drinking it.

  ‘What was the coughing about?’ Millie asked.

  ‘To make sure he can swallow safely,’ Niall said.

  ‘Is he all right?’

  ‘I think he’s in shock,’ Niall said.

  It was then that Millie noticed Niall was still wearing his wet things.

  ‘You’ve got to get out of those,’ she said. ‘You’re absolutely soaked.’

  Niall nodded. His face was pale. ‘Okay,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll take care of Robbie,’ she said, wrapping her arms around the boy in the hope of imparting some of her own body heat to him. ‘You’re okay, Robbie,’ she said over and over to him like a chant. ‘You’re okay.’