23
Up in the Great Hall, visitors started filing in. There was soon a lovely buzz about the place, as they chatted amongst themselves, picking up the festive items with lots of oohs and aahs, and talking with the stallholders. There was a sign for the teashop too, letting them know they were open for tea and coffee, fresh mince pies, cakes, hot chocolate and more.
Malcolm came in a short while later, raising his voice splendidly to announce that Father Christmas was about to arrive down the main driveway, and if anyone wanted to see him or to have a reindeer sleigh ride they needed to go down to the front steps immediately.
Joe felt a sense of dread. The grotto area, a garden shed they’d relocated from one of the empty cottages on the estate, was all set up with an antique wooden chair and the bran tubs of gifts and sawdust shavings, each side. Colin had even brought in some potted shrubs from the garden and twined them with delicate white fairy lights, so it looked rather magical. But Joe really didn’t know how his father was going to cope with it all. It was so not his thing. Joe had never even seen him interacting with a child. He preferred to avoid them as a general rule.
Joe had to stay put to oversee the hall and what was going on. The only thing he knew was that ‘Christmas’ Lord Henry was arriving by quad at any moment.
There was quite a gathering on the steps as an antlered pony appeared, being led by his owner, local farmer’s wife, Mary.
‘Aw, look he’s so sweet.’ ‘And look at the sleigh!’ ‘Mu-um, I want a go, can I have a ride?’
A short distance behind was a figure in red, revving up a quad erratically, managing to wave with one hand.
‘Can’t wait to see this,’ Malcolm whispered to Derek. ‘What a turn-up for the books. I never thought he’d do it myself.’
‘That’s the Doris effect, makes you say yes to all sorts of thing you wish you hadn’t,’ Derek replied.
‘Right,’ Malcolm shouted out. ‘At the ready children. We need a big cheer and lots of waving for Father Christmas.’
‘Ho, ho, ho!’ Lord Henry managed from the back of the quad, as he turned the vehicle to a halt with a crunch of gravel. The lads in the crowd were very impressed.
He swung a big red sack over his shoulder, which he poised for dramatic effect, as he got off of the vehicle. Then the crowd of children and parents parted to let him through. ‘I hope you’re being good girls and boys,’ he boomed as he passed.
‘So do I,’ muttered Malcom under his breath, ‘Or they’ll be in for it at the grotto.’
Derek called out to the audience. ‘Santa’s grotto is in the Great Hall. And, we are taking sleigh rides out here with the reindeer and cart. Only £2.50 a go, max two children at a time.’
‘Have a wonderful time!’ called Malcolm. ‘Christmas at the Castle is here.’
The teashop was on full throttle, rather like ‘Christmas’ Henry’s quad. Mince pies were flying out fast along with orders for tea/coffee and frothy hot chocolates with marshmallow tops. Ellie’s chocolate-orange brownies were proving popular, plus her gingerbread snowmen for the children. She’d kept lunch options to a minimum knowing it would be a hectic day, but the homemade vegetable soup with a bread roll was going out well too.
Clusters of people were coming in to warm up from the chill of a November afternoon, they enjoyed the crackling fire, and some good home baking. Hopefully, some new customers from the locality might have found out about the teashop now, and would come back and recommend them for next season too. Ellie had put a selection of her festive gift bags of shortbread, gingerbread stars and fudge on the counter too, and they were getting snapped up as well. It was going to be well worth all the planning, hard work and effort, and hopefully the takings would be good. She was so glad she hadn’t let Joe persuade her to cancel. Though, she realized she was aching a bit now, and the small of her back had begun to nag. She sat herself down for a minute on a stool in the teashop kitchen.
Doris found her.
‘You feeling all right, pet? I thought this might all be a bit much for you. So soon after …’ the words trailed.
‘I’m fine Doris, honestly.’
‘Well, you look a bit peaky to me. I’m making you a cup of tea, and you’re not to move. It’s started to ease off in the teashop now, so we’ll be fine.’
Irene popped through soon after, to get a new can of spray cream for the hot chocolate toppings.
‘Overdone it a bit,’ Doris explained.
‘Oh Ellie, lovey. Take a few minutes rest. We’re fine in the teashop, aren’t we Doris. It’s all in good hands.’
‘I know … and thank you.’ And the tears she’d kept back for the past few days started to flow. ‘Sorry.’
‘No need to be sorry, lovey. Here now.’ Irene handed her a crisp white old-fashioned embroidered hankie. ‘Let it all out.’
Doris passed her a warm mug of sweetened tea. And then rather surprisingly gave her a very bosomy, motherly hug.
Actually, after having a good cry, a nose blow and the cup of tea, Ellie began to feel a little better. Doris made her sit quietly for another fifteen minutes, checking that she didn’t feel faint or anything as she stood up, then finally let her go with a word of warning to take a seat straight away if she felt giddy at all.
Ellie glanced at her watch, ten past two. Blimey, those three hours had flown. She wanted to nip up to The Great Hall, and see how Lauren was getting on with her gift bags, and the hamper and cake orders. Ellie filled a small box with a selection of her homemade biscuit and fudge packs to take up with her too, just in case.
‘I’ll be back in a short while, ladies,’ she told Doris and Irene. ‘I just want to check how things are going up in the Hall.’
‘Okay, now you take care of yourself. We can manage fine, so if you need to take a proper break, just go and have a lie down in the apartment.’ Doris was firm.
‘Thank you, but I think I’ll be all right now.’ If she lay down now, Ellie had the feeling she might just fall asleep and miss the whole afternoon.
Ellie waved across to Joe who was talking to a couple of old ladies, whilst selling them raffle tickets. He winked back at her, with a smile. She hoped that meant it was all going well.
She spotted Lauren’s ‘Teashop’ table, decorated with festive bunting that Deana had made for her, and headed there.
‘Oh great, thank goodness you’re here, Ellie. I’m nearly out of the fudge bags and the choc-chip shortbread.’
Ellie lifted the box she’d brought up with her, filled with goodies. ‘Good timing then.’
She and Lauren restocked the stall, which caused a new flurry of interest. A little boy barged to the front, shouting, ‘Mam, the fudge is back. Which flavour for Gran?’ At first he seemed somewhat rude, pushing in, but Ellie melted when she saw him holding out his two pound coins eagerly. As she took the coins, she felt they were still warm; they must have been held in his clutched fist for the past hour, waiting for just the right gift.
‘Thanks,’ he grinned.
It was then that Santa’s Grotto caught her eye; beside it was a small queue. Blimey, was Henry still there? He’d started at eleven. And yes, a long-legged, slim, Father Christmas was still on duty. Ellie zoned in. Crikey, he actually had a child on his knee. She was drawn towards the scene, curious to get a better look.
‘Now then, and what are you wanting for Christmas, young lady?’
Wow, he really had warmed to the role. Ellie recognized the little girl, Katie, from Wilmington village, just down the road. She was four years old and had Down’s Syndrome, and often came in to the Teashop, with her mum and dad for tea, juice and cake. Her favourite was chocolate cake, always the same, and she liked to have it with rainbow-coloured sugar strands on the top of the whipped cream that Ellie had to place at the side.
‘A star,’ was the answer, bold and clear.
‘A star. How lovely.’ Henry’s gaze went searchingly to the parents. He wondered how on earth they were going to sort that one out. They smi
led on happily, so he continued, ‘Right, well, I’ll try my very best with that for you … And what’s your name?’
‘Katie.’
‘Well, Katie, you have a very lovely Christmas.’
Ellie noted that Henry was even putting on a deeper, gentler voice. She was impressed, and her heart lifted and sank all at the same time. He might just make a lovely grandad after all.
‘And if you have a little dig in that tub there,’ he pointed at the bran tub marked for Girls with a pink sign – Doris’s idea, so the lads didn’t end up with dressing up shoes or fairy wings or such like. (Malcolm had called her a spoil sport.) ‘There’s a little gift for you to have now.’
‘’Fank you.’ And she gave him the biggest hug and planted a kiss smack on his white-bearded lips.
He looked a bit taken aback, but then smiled.
Well then, that was a turn up for the books.
The little girl bounced off his lap and dug straight into the boy’s blue tub.
‘Ah …’ Henry tried to stop her, but she was already unwrapping a small parcel.
‘It’s fine.’ Her parents had seen what had happened.
Katie had unwrapped a toy car by the looks of it. As her parents helped her get it out of the box, Ellie could see out that it was actually a miniature toy quad bike. The little girl pointed to it giggling, and then pointed at Lord Henry ‘Christmas’. ‘You,’ was all she said, with a huge grin on her face.
Joe caught Ellie’s eye then, and they shared a poignant smile. Little Katie was so sweet … And one day, please dear God that it might really happen, one day Grandpa Henry was going to be absolutely fine.
Out on the main driveway, the ‘reindeer’ was having a few issues. Malcolm had come up with the great idea of making up paper bags of pony nuts and selling them as ‘reindeer food’ for an extra 50p – ever the entrepreneur. The pony’s owner said that would be fine, but they hadn’t realized quite how popular that would prove; they’d done a roaring trade. Subsequently, Douglas, the pony was now full to the brim and was looking forward to a little lie down and rest. The last two sleigh rides had hardly moved anywhere. And the parent of the last child, who’s ‘ride’ had moved no more than two metres, had asked for a refund.
There was still a queue of five or six children to go; it looked likely were going to be sorely disappointed.
‘Sorry children, we really need to give Dasher (his new stage name) a rest for now,’ Mary, his owner, explained. ‘You could try again in maybe fifteen minutes, but I think he might well have had enough for the day.’ Literally – no extra tea for Douglas tonight.
‘But that’s not fair. Mu-um.’ ‘Oooh.’ One little girl was nearly crying.
‘Never work with animals and children,’ Derek whispered in Malcolm’s ear.
‘Come with me kids,’ Malcolm rallied out. ‘Who hasn’t visited Santa’s grotto yet? There may be a few gifts left, let’s go take a look, shall we? Diversion tactics,’ he quipped back to Derek with a wink. And off he went looking like the Pied Piper, with a trail of children and adults behind him.
Ellie worked for a further hour down at the Teashop. The stream of customers began to thin out, which was probably as well, as so was the supply of cakes and cookies. All the mince pies – 120 of them – had gone by 3.30 p.m., there was one slice of Victoria sponge left, a couple of brownies and three fruit scones. All her gifts bags had sold – she was definitely on to a winner there. She might see if one of the local stores in Kirkton might stock them over the winter months too, especially in the run-up to Christmas, with the castle closed for the quieter season except for wedding bookings, it could give her winter income a much needed boost.
Doris had started clearing up, and they were down to just three tables still occupied by a quarter to four. Ellie knew Joe was thinking of wrapping the event up at about fourish. This time of year with the light fading fast, people were often keen to get away before dusk started to fall. She thought she’d nip back upstairs to the Great Hall and see how Lauren and the others were getting on, help clear the teashop stall, and see if she might be needed for anything else.
As she got to the Hall, Joe was just about to start the raffle draw. Lord Henry, now back in his usual tweeds, was next to him, ready to select the winning tickets by the looks of it.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Joe knocked on the table to get the crowd’s attention. ‘Thank you all so much for coming along to our inaugural Christmas at the Castle Craft Fayre. I think you’ll all agree it’s been a great success.’
The stallholders were nodding their heads vigorously, so that looked positive. And the crowd were generally smiling too.
‘We are just about to draw the raffle. So, whilst you find your tickets a moment. I’d just like to tell you about our chosen charity. All proceeds from the raffle will be going to the Great North Air Ambulance, who do an absolutely amazing job. They are totally charity funded. It’s not NHS funded at all, and needs ongoing support to survive. Being out it in a rural community like this, in times of emergency, we appreciate how very special and invaluable this service really is.’
There were lots of heads nodding in agreement, and a round of applause.
‘On a more personal note, we had a wedding booked here at Claverham Castle for this summer past. Unfortunately, the groom was involved in a very nasty, road traffic accident just before that was due to take place. The air ambulance was at the scene quickly and without their intervention and the skills of the paramedics on board, who knows what the outcome might have been. So, I’m sure Daniel and his fiancée Lucy would be extremely grateful for your support of this charity. Hopefully none of us here will be needing it anytime soon, but if any of us ever do, we’ll be so glad the service is there. So, thank you for your generosity. Any last tickets, Lauren here has the book, only £1 a strip. So we’ll just wait one minute …’
There were a few more takers, and then they were ready for the draw. A sense of anticipation filled the room as there were some great prizes lined up: a meal out for two at The Swan Inn, a meat voucher for £25 from the local butcher, bottles of whisky (Henry had kindly donated one of his twenty-year-old malts), wine and champagne, a voucher for afternoon tea for two at the castle teashop. Ellie had also donated a hamper, there was a gorgeous cuddly reindeer (from Deana), board games and more.
Lord Henry, after again thanking everyone for coming along to Claverham Castle, dug out the first couple of tickets and read out the winners. There was a flurry of excitement, as the prizewinners came forward. Then, various members of the audience drew tickets too, until the prize table was emptied.
There was a big round of applause, and the event was drawn to a close. Ellie heard snippets of conversations as the visitors started to filter out, ‘That was really good.’ ‘Can’t believe I’ve won a bottle of champagne.’ ‘Can’t wait to try that fudge.’ And Ellie felt a little tear form in her eye. All the hard work and the planning had paid off, despite their recent personal tragedy. She couldn’t wait to tell Joe about the takings in the teashop – best ever. Even better than the Saturday this summer when she had three coachloads in. Result!
Ooh, she found herself feeling a bit weepy. Hormones still all over the place, no doubt. She’d just about held it together through the day, thank goodness. The show had gone on!
‘Well, that was some day.’ Joe passed her a cup of tea he’d just made. ‘You okay? I know it was a lot for you to have to do.’
‘Yeah. I’m just so glad it went well. Really well, in fact.’
‘Think we may be doing “Christmas at the Castle” Round Two next year.’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Hey, never in a million years did I think Henry would make such a great Father Christmas.’ Joe smiled.
‘No, I know, that was a real turn-up for the books.’
‘Mind you, just before little Katie appeared, I heard him telling off two little boys for being greedy, as they tried to dip in for second gifts each.’
�
�Hah, I missed that one. That sounds more like him. Bet they got a shock.’ Ellie smiled.
‘Yeah, they certainly put the extra ones back pretty swiftly. Their parents looked a bit surprised by the grumpy Santa Claus, mind.’
‘It was really lovely to see him there with Katie.’ Ellie pictured the little girl there in his lap, and then had to bite back tears, but Joe spotted them. She was never much good at hiding her emotions.
‘Hey, it’s been a long day. Come here you …’ He sheltered her in his arms. ‘And you are not to do anything else tonight. I’m going to fetch us a Chinese takeaway from Kirkton, okay. Sweet and sour chicken and prawn crackers for you.’
He knew her favourites.
‘Okay. Thanks.’ She was actually feeling a little sick, but she tried to smile through her tears.
24
Monday by noon, despite being told by Joe to stay in the apartment and rest up, Ellie had had enough of daytime television and sitting about, she headed down to the teashop kitchen and started making some more Christmas cakes and fudge for their hamper orders. She had just poured out a batch of sugar-sweet rum-and-raisin fudge to set in a large tray. She’d cut it into squares once it had cooled.
‘Hey, Ellie, hope it’s okay just to call in?’ The voice startled her, she hadn’t heard the door go at all. ‘I was working up this way today, and was literally coming past your turning on the A1.’
‘Lucy, hi.’
They gave each other a friendly hug. Lucy pulled away with a compassionate smile. ‘Deana let me come on through. She found me lurking at the main gates on her way in. She’s just told me about the miscarriage … I’m so sorry to hear that, hun. What a bloody shame.’
‘Yeah.’
‘I do know how you feel. Well, my version of it, anyhow.’
‘It happened to you?’
‘Yes … over a year ago now. We’d only been together a few months by then, me and Dan.’
This called for a cup of tea, and a slice of chocolate cake.
The Cosy Christmas Teashop Page 16