‘No?’ Sarah asked, confused.
Oliver shook his head. ‘You did that. Yourself. You worked hard, you were your lovely, loyal self, and you won people over. Me and Henry included.’
He leant in to kiss her, lightly, on the lips, and Vulcan rolled over onto his back in disgust.
‘This is unbearable,’ he said. ‘When are you leaving? And are you taking these humans with you?’
‘Unfortunately not,’ I replied, just as the door opened to reveal a footman, already dressed in a warm, winter coat. ‘But I think the answer to your first question is: now.’
Sarah and Oliver got to their feet, Sarah holding me in her arms as she stood.
‘Goodbye, Henry,’ she said, against my fur. ‘I’ll miss you.’
‘Maybe we can see if we might be able to visit him, back at his home,’ Oliver suggested. ‘After the holidays.’
My ears perked up at that, and I barked my approval.
Sarah laughed. ‘I think Henry loves that idea. And so do I.’
She dressed me in a warm jacket, and clipped on my lead, before placing me on the floor and handing the lead over to the footman.
‘Bye, Henry.’ Oliver scratched between my ears, then stepped back to hold Sarah’s hand as I was led out of the room.
To my surprise, all four other dogs followed.
‘You can’t all go to Surrey,’ the footman told them. ‘Her Majesty would miss you too much.’
Still, they all traipsed down to the side entrance with me, where they sat and waited.
As the footman tried to encourage me out of the door, I took a moment to look back at my friends. Willow, who had taught me everything I knew about the Palace and the Royal Family. Candy, who had cheered me up when I was sad, who I’d grown closer to than either of the others. Vulcan, who had … well, been generally nasty the whole time, but who looked genuinely sad to see me leave, now it came to it. Even Monty, without whose absence I’d never have been allowed into the Palace in the first place.
‘Goodbye, everyone,’ I said. My eyes felt itchy. Like I’d been rolling in cut grass in summer. Maybe it was the snow.
‘Goodbye, Henry,’ Willow said.
One by one, they each stepped forward (in order of seniority, of course) and touched my paw.
‘Good luck,’ Vulcan said, his voice a little scratchy.
‘I’ll miss you,’ Candy whispered.
Monty didn’t say anything, just gave me that same bemused look he always seemed to have.
I glanced up and saw Sarah trying to hide her tears, with Oliver’s arm around her shoulder. Even though I would miss Sarah a lot, I was glad she had Oliver, they were going to be fine now they had each other.
And then, it was time to go.
My heart was a little heavy as I took my last look at the Palace, from the car, as we drove away. It was lit up in the darkness of the winter night, glowing like Christmas lights on the tree of London. There was, I knew, no other place quite like it in the whole wide world. And even though I’d never set paw in there again, I had a lifetime’s worth of stories to tell about the Christmas I became the Queen’s corgi.
In no time at all, though, Buckingham Palace, and all my friends, were out of sight – and I was speeding towards the only other place in the country I wanted to spend Christmas.
Home. With my family.
At last.
I was almost asleep by the time we reached Redhill. Outside, the night was black and cold, with the glistening snow lying over everything. But as we started to approach my neighbourhood, I sprang up to try and see out of the window. There was Claire’s primary school, that I used to walk her to in the mornings, when she was smaller. There was the doctor’s surgery where Amy worked. There was the local park where I had such excellent walks. There was the corner shop where Jack took me on a Sunday morning to buy the papers. And there …
There was my front door, a shiny, silver number seven on the front.
I was home.
As the big, black car came to a stop, the front door opened and my heart lifted. There they were – Amy, Jack and Claire, all dressed in their Christmas pyjamas from last year, waiting for me.
I hopped down the moment the driver let me out of the car, and dashed towards them. Jack swept me up into his arms, holding me close against his chest while Amy and Claire petted me and told me how much they’d missed me.
I wished I could tell them the same, but I think they knew.
‘Excuse me, ma’am?’ The footman who’d brought me spoke to Amy.
‘Thank you so much for bringing our Henry home!’ Amy reached out to hug the surprised footman. ‘I can’t tell you what it means to us.’
‘It was, uh, our pleasure,’ the footman said. ‘He’s certainly livened up things at the Palace, by all accounts.’
‘I bet he has,’ Amy murmured, but she was smiling at me as she said it.
‘We actually have a few things here for you,’ the footman went on. ‘From the Palace. Sort of a thank you for letting us borrow your dog.’
‘Borrow?’ Jack said, but Amy shushed him.
‘Oh, well, that’s very kind. But you didn’t have to …’ Amy trailed off as the driver appeared, almost completely hidden from the waist up behind a giant wicker hamper. The footman rushed to help him with it.
‘Wow.’ Claire stared at it, eyes wide. ‘Henry must really have made an impression on the Palace.’
‘Looks like,’ Jack agreed. ‘But are they rewarding us for letting him stay there, or for taking him away again?’
Amy laughed. ‘I don’t care. I’m just glad to have him home.’
Not as glad as I was to be there.
The footman and the driver placed the giant hamper on the kitchen table, gave Amy strict instructions that it wasn’t to be opened until the next day, then left again, driving back through the night to the Palace.
And then, it was just us Walkers – all except Sookie, who I hadn’t seen at all since my return.
‘So, what do we do now?’ Jack asked, sitting on the stairs to pet me some more.
‘It’s Christmas Eve,’ Claire pointed out. ‘And Henry is home. We should do something as a family.’
Amy grinned. ‘Hot chocolate and a Christmas movie? And doggy chocolate drops for Henry.’
‘Perfect!’ Claire raced for the lounge. ‘I’m getting the best seat though. Come on, Henry! You can sit with me.’
I barked my approval, and trotted after her.
Yes, it was good to be home.
Day 12
Wednesday 25th December
Christmas Day
HENRY
‘So. You’re back then.’
I awoke on Christmas morning to a grumpy, fluffy cat, staring malevolently at me from just outside my basket. It was just like I’d never left at all. I closed my eyes again.
‘Looks like it. Where were you last night, Sookie? You missed the whole, grand homecoming.’
‘You know me,’ Sookie said, with a feline shrug. ‘I hate those big, emotional scenes. Besides, I heard them say earlier that you’d be back. Figured they wouldn’t need me so much any more.’
‘Need you?’ I’d hoped that Sookie might be trying to look after our family in my absence, but I hadn’t truly expected her to do a very good job of it.
Sookie sighed. ‘I never realised quite how needy humans were until you went away. I suppose it’s just as well you’re back, really. Means I can get back to doing important things, rather than babysitting the family.’
Sookie’s really important things, as far as I’d ever noticed, were napping, yawning, eating and prowling around the neighbourhood like she owned the place.
‘Well, I’d hate to keep you from really important things,’ I said. ‘So I’m happy to take back the responsibility for the family again.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ Sookie said, stalking off to curl up in her usual spot – on the radiator in the hallway.
I watched her go, wondering if she might actual
ly have missed me – and not just because of the family.
Amy came down the stairs first, stopping to make a fuss of me on her way to turning the oven on. ‘Oh, it’s so good to have you home. You’re our Christmas miracle, Henry.’
I pressed my face against her hand to show her how glad I was to be home, too.
‘Can we open the presents yet?’ Claire asked, as she bounded down the stairs next. She, too, stopped to pet me. ‘I’m brushing your coat out later, Henry. Don’t try and stop me.’
Amy gave her a smile. ‘And Happy Christmas to you too.’
Claire rolled her eyes. ‘Happy Christmas, Mum,’ she said, giving Amy a hug. ‘But seriously. The presents.’
‘You know there’s just the one present for each of you from me this year, right?’ Amy sounded anxious. Normally, there’d be piles and piles of presents waiting for the kids on Christmas morning. This year, things seemed to be different.
‘I know, Mum. Besides, having Henry home is the only present I really wanted.’ Claire got down on the floor beside me again, wrapping an arm over my back.
‘Well, that makes the whole thing a lot cheaper!’ Amy joked.
‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to open the present from the Palace,’ Claire replied.
‘Oh, that …’ They both turned to look at the giant hamper, wrapped in red and green paper, with a tartan ribbon tied round it. Amy bit her lip. ‘You’d better go get your brother, then. He’ll never forgive us if we open it without him.’
While Claire ran upstairs to wake Jack, and Amy turned back to getting food out of the fridge for breakfast, I took the opportunity to have a sniff around the hamper, see if I could figure out what was inside.
The wrapping smelled, weirdly, of the Palace. The same pine scent of the Christmas trees, along with the smell of the polish that Sarah always used, and another, deeper scent that just reminded me of the place. But under that I could smell other things too – spices and fruit and sugar and deliciousness. I had a feeling that Jack and Claire would be very happy when they opened this present!
‘He’s coming.’ Claire jumped the last few stairs and flew into the kitchen. ‘Now can we open it?’
‘Wait for me.’ Jack stumbled into the kitchen a way behind her, and dropped into one of the wooden chairs around the table. I jumped up into his lap. Somehow, I just didn’t want to be too far away from my people today.
Jack gave me a tight hug, and I knew he felt the same. I’d missed them all, of course, but I’d worried about Jack most of all. A boy needed his dog, especially when he was nearly a man. I was the only one he could talk to, and I wanted to be there for him.
‘It’s so good to have you home, Henry,’ Jack whispered in my ear.
Claire looked to her mother for permission, then began tearing away the layers of paper, while Jack reached over me to untie the bow. Amy abandoned the fridge and pulled up a chair, so I escaped from Jack’s lap to hers when he got a little too frustrated with the tightly tied ribbon.
But then the last of the paper fell away, and we all sat and stared at the gifts before us.
It wasn’t just a hamper. Oh, sure, there was Christmas cake and mince pies and pâtés and sweets and all sorts of other delicious-looking things, but that wasn’t all. There was breakfast – pastries that smelled freshly baked by the Palace kitchens, and fruits and jams to go with them. There were Christmas decorations, like the ones on the trees at the Palace – red crowns with golden stitching. There were Christmas crackers, biscuits, and a set of handbells of different notes for playing Christmas carols on. There was also a stack of wrapped boxes in the middle of them too. Amy, Claire and Jack all exchanged a look, then dove for the presents, ripping one open each, all laughing and joking as they revealed the contents.
‘What did you get?’ Claire asked, leaning across to Jack.
‘Some kind of board game. You?’
‘Same – Cluedo.’
‘Me too.’ Amy held up another box, this one with brightly coloured triangles on it. ‘Looks like the entertainment for the day is sorted. And we can have our very own royal Christmas!’
‘There’s something else in here,’ Claire said, digging deeper into the hamper, until she pulled out a large, red stocking. It had a yellow label on it. ‘It’s for Henry!’
She held it out to me, and I batted it with my paw.
‘I think you might have to help him with that,’ Amy said, laughing.
Grinning, Claire opened the stocking for me and pulled out bags of chocolatey dog treats in the shape of Christmas puddings and a soft toy in the shape of a turkey. I wolfed down a couple of the treats, then settled down in my basket with the toy.
‘Wait, there’s something else for Henry, here.’ Jack held up another square parcel, this one thinner, and wrapped in green paper. ‘It says, “From Sarah and Oliver”. Who on earth are they?’
‘No idea,’ Amy said, frowning. ‘Why don’t you open it for him?’
Jack peeled off the paper, and revealed a silver-edged square. ‘It’s a photo frame.’
‘And a photo,’ Claire pointed out. ‘I think that might be the actual gift!’
‘Those must be the other dogs at the Palace,’ Amy said, peering at it. ‘And I guess those two must be Sarah and Oliver.’
I barked sharply, standing up in my basket. That was my present – and I wanted to see it!
Amy laughed. ‘Here you go, Henry.’ She stood the frame on the floor, just by my basket. ‘But we might need to move it somewhere safer, later.’
I settled down again and stared at the photo. There was Sarah and Oliver, surrounded by Willow, Vulcan, Candy and Monty. Goodness only knew when they’d managed to have it taken, but I was very glad they had. Now I had a reminder of my magical Christmas at the Palace – even though I knew I’d never forget it. But right now, with all the hugs and the petting and the promises of brushing, I felt every bit as royal and important here with the Walkers as I’d ever done at the Palace.
Smiling to myself, I cuddled my turkey toy, and looked at my photo. Around me, my family talked and laughed and joked, and for a moment it was almost as if I’d never been away.
One thing was for certain, though. I knew I never wanted to leave again.
AMY
Amy smiled as she watched Jack and Claire fighting over who got to be the Scotty dog in Monopoly. They’d all already played a round of Cluedo while eating the pastries sent from the Palace (Claire won), and had a quick quiz from the Trivial Pursuit set while she’d finished prepping dinner for the oven. While it cooked, they’d all taken time to shower and dress – while Henry snoozed in his basket with his toy turkey.
And Amy … well, she might have taken a few minutes to have a little cry from sheer relief and happiness that everything seemed to be falling back into place. Henry was home, and the spectacular hamper from the Palace had more than made up for any lack of presents under the tree. And best of all, the kids seemed to be genuinely, truly happy for the first time in months.
Maybe, just maybe, this Christmas wouldn’t be the disaster she’d been dreading, after all.
Her phone beeped, and she picked it up to see a message from Luke. She’d texted him that morning to wish him a Merry Christmas – and to tell him the fantastic news about Henry.
Wow! What a brilliant Christmas present. I look forward to hearing all about Henry’s adventures with royalty … I’m away for the holidays, but maybe we could take Henry and Daisy for a New Year’s Day walk together? If you don’t have other plans?
Amy considered. The kids would be with Jim and Bonnie that day. And she had said that she wanted to start the new year fresh, looking to her future …
She typed a response, then looked at it a little longer before pressing send. Could she do it? She took a breath and pressed the button.
It’s a date.
Luke’s response was almost immediate.
That’s what I was hoping x
Amy grinned at the screen. Yes, this Chr
istmas didn’t seem like a disaster at all, any more.
Lunch was the usual mixture of bad cracker jokes (even crackers from Buckingham Palace had terrible jokes in them) and paper hat wearing, and Amy slipped Henry extra chicken scraps under the table, even though she knew Jack and Claire were doing the same thing. He deserved them.
Claire sat a paper hat on Henry’s head, and took a new photo of him, home with his family, to share with the Hunt for Henry page – so that everyone who’d kept an eye out for Henry, or tried to help over the last couple of weeks, knew the story had a happy ending at last. Claire even tweeted it to the Palace as a thank you for bringing their Henry home.
‘Do you want us to clear up, Mum?’ Jack asked, as they polished off the last of the Christmas pudding.
Amy stared at him in amazement. ‘Um, that would be great. Thank you. But why don’t we all do it together later? I thought we might take Henry out for a Christmas Day walk first. And then I think this year, of all years, we should really sit down together to watch the Queen’s speech. Don’t you?’
Jack grinned. ‘Definitely.’
‘Have I got time to Skype Lucy first?’ Claire asked. ‘I want to show her the decorations from the Palace.’
Amy checked her watch. ‘Ten minutes,’ she called, as Claire dashed up the stairs.
Pouring herself a glass of red wine, Amy carried it through to the lounge, knowing Claire would be more like twenty. She’d made sure the Queen’s speech was set to record, just in case they were late back from their walk. Henry definitely deserved the chance to get out and jump around in the snow. Although whether their local park would live up to the gardens at the Palace was another matter …
It was hard to imagine that Henry – their Henry – had been living at Buckingham Palace for nearly two weeks, and no one had even noticed. To think of him wandering around the state rooms, barking at royalty … it was downright bizarre. But he seemed happy to be home – and Amy was even happier to have him there.
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