Coming Home for Christmas

by Patricia Scanlan

  ‘Indeed I do,’ said Alison, with a heartfelt sigh, and Olivia laughed.

  ‘I hate the way they just assume they’re going to get Leo’s land and they never even bother their fat backsides to help him out. One day I went over and he was trying to sweep out the yard, and he’s not able for it any more. Michael went over and did it the next day for him, but that pair wouldn’t even call to see if he’s alive.’ Olivia grimaced.

  ‘You see, if we did place names we could put them beside Mrs Harney . . .’ Alison said wickedly.

  ‘Don’t tempt me.’ Olivia laughed. Mrs Harney was an elderly widow who lived alone. She was a close neighbour, and Esther was always very kind to her. She could be brusque at times and never held back if she had something to say. She didn’t mix much with people in the village, but she liked Esther and welcomed their chats. Olivia had invited her knowing that Mrs Harney would have been mortally wounded if she hadn’t been invited, but she hadn’t expected her to accept.

  ‘I’m not one for parties. I don’t like them at all. And I don’t like foreign food. I don’t trust it. But your mother’s been very good to me so I’ll be there, I wouldn’t let her down,’ she had informed Olivia with a martyred air, much to Olivia’s dismay. She’d only asked her out of politeness.

  ‘Anyway, we haven’t time for place names. Everyone can fend for themselves – it’s not a wedding,’ Olivia decided briskly. ‘We need to get home and get changed ourselves, and I’ve to get the girls ready.’

  ‘Right, you’re the boss,’ Alison said, giving a yawn.

  ‘Glad you know your place.’ Her sister smiled as they switched out the lights and made their way downstairs.

  ‘It’s going to be wonderful to have Alison home for Christmas, isn’t it?’ Esther said to her husband as he pulled the curtains on the cold, dark evening and switched on the lamp. The fire was blazing up the chimney, the flames casting flickering hues on the wall. ‘Sit down here beside me for a few minutes before we get dressed up to go out.’ She patted the sofa.

  ‘That’s the best invitation I’ve had all day.’ Liam smiled at her, and she cuddled in against his shoulder and slid her arm around him.

  ‘How lucky are we?’ she murmured, content in the circle of his arms.

  ‘Very,’ he agreed. ‘Wasn’t it a great surprise the girls had planned for us? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Alison.’

  ‘I know. You could have knocked me down with a feather. It was one of the happiest moments of my life having us all together this morning. I’m really looking forward to our meal. I hope Alison won’t be too tired.’

  ‘Well, Olivia was very firm about getting her home to bed.’ Liam rubbed his thumb gently across the back of Esther’s hand, where she’d scratched it on a rose bush doing some gardening earlier.

  ‘Will you be very firm about getting me home to bed?’ Esther teased, her eyes dancing in the firelight.

  ‘There’s no hope for you, Esther Dunwoody.’ Liam gave a hearty laugh, but he lowered his head and kissed his beloved wife soundly.

  ‘My goodness, ladies, what cool-looking clothes. Very SJP, Kate. Love the puffball skirt, Lia,’ Alison approved, as the twins appeared at her bedroom door all dressed and ready to go, awaiting the promised lipstick.

  ‘Just a light touch,’ Olivia warned, her damp hair sticking up as she stood on the landing in her bra and pants ironing a pair of black trousers.

  ‘I’ll do that for you – go and put your make-up on and dry your hair,’ Alison offered. Her sister was flushed and harassed-looking, having bathed the girls and washed and blow-dried their hair.

  ‘Oh thanks, Ali. It’s typical – I’m never organized to go out, and end up slapping make-up on to my red face because I’ve been rushing,’ Olivia moaned.

  ‘Look, stop panicking, you go and pick up the parents. I’ll go with the girls to the restaurant, and Michael can go and pick up Uncle Leo while the ladies here’ – she winked at her nieces – ‘and I do the meet and greet—’

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Kate, whirling around in her purple flared skirt, which she wore over black leggings.

  ‘We meet the guests and greet them and thank them for coming,’ Alison explained.

  ‘Who are the guests?’ Her niece looked perplexed.

  ‘We’re having a surprise party for Gran. We all have to shout “Surprise! Surprise!” when she comes in,’ Alison explained, enjoying the look of delight and excitement on their faces.

  ‘Deadly,’ enthused Kate.

  ‘Do we have to shake hands?’ Lia asked, not sure if meeting and greeting was as good as it sounded, and not too sure about shouting ‘Surprise! Surprise!’ She was easily mortified compared to her more outgoing sisters.

  ‘No, not at all,’ Alison assured her. ‘I’ll do that.’ The twins were chalk and cheese: Kate so airy-fairy and Lia so earnest and serious, although she had a great sense of humour and the most delightful giggle.

  ‘Cam I, emm . . . cam I do the thing too?’ Ellie asked anxiously, having just trotted into the room in her finery, eyes like saucers, and determined not to be left out.

  ‘You can of course, sweetheart. Now let me iron your mom’s trousers and then I’ll put on your lipstick and off we go.’ Alison was enjoying herself immensely. Her nieces were at a fun age, and she loved that they had become more grown-up and were so into fashion, clothes and make-up.

  But Olivia was right about the lack of free time, Alison reflected. Her sister never seemed to get a minute to herself. It was constantly, ‘Mom, can I do this?’ ‘Mom, can I have that?’ ‘Mom, will you fix this for me?’ ‘Mom, she won’t give me my Nintendo.’ It was never-ending. What a pity she had to count her pennies, Alison thought regretfully. It would have been lovely to treat her sister to a spa day somewhere. Maybe she’d get her a facial in a beauty salon in Malahide or Skerries, she decided, running the iron over Olivia’s trousers.

  Alison yawned as tiredness and jet lag smote her. She’d gone to bed around eleven, and fallen into a deep sleep in the lovely warm bed that her sister had so thoughtfully heated with the electric blanket. Olivia had woken her at two thirty and given her lunch, and then they’d gathered the greenery, holly and ivy that Michael had cut for them, collected the flowers from the florist and gone to the restaurant, where Alison had spent an hour and a half decorating the room after sending Olivia off to get the candles and ribbons.

  Her head felt cotton-wool light from jet lag, so she took another gulp of the hot, strong coffee Michael had made for her. She should have come home a day earlier than the party, but when she’d booked the ticket in September she’d had a job and was reluctant to be away from work too long. What good had it done her . . . none? Jobless and jet-lagged and worrying about money on the night of her mother’s surprise seventieth-birthday party. Who would ever have thought it? If the family only knew, what a shock they’d all get. She just couldn’t bear to let them know of her failure, Alison thought glumly, half dreading meeting the relatives, knowing that she’d have to bluff and lie her way through the night. It was difficult keeping up the façade, much harder than she’d imagined. She longed to tell the family of her troubles, but the timing was disastrous and her pride was more of a problem than she cared to admit.

  She’d always liked being looked up to as the family success story. She liked the admiring glances she’d got as she walked down the village when she was home on holidays with Melora, when the neighbours stopped to ask her how she was getting on in ‘the Big Apple’. It was hard to let go of that. Was that an indication of mega-immaturity? Alison wondered ruefully.

  ‘Now cam we have our lipstick?’ Ellie looked up at her, her big blue eyes shining with anticipation, interrupting Alison’s moment of introspection.

  ‘ “Please!” Don’t forget to say “please”,’ called Olivia, who was applying her make-up before drying her hair.

  ‘Please cam we?’ Ellie said in exasperation. Alison hid a smile.

  ‘Right, youngest first,’ she
said firmly, having copped on to the fact that a note of authority worked wonders.

  Ten minutes later the Hammond ladies marched downstairs, with Alison taking up the rear. ‘Is my harem ready then?’ Michael came out into the hall. Alison liked her brother-in-law, a jovial, calm, kind-hearted man who was the perfect foil for her sister’s more uptight, edgy personality.

  ‘OK, I’m off to pick up Mam and Dad. I’ll delay as long as I can. I’ve told everyone to be on time, so have them all in the room and I’ll send you a text when I’m leaving.’ Olivia gave her last-minute instructions. ‘And girls, remember your manners at the table, and no fighting and just one fizzy drink!’ she warned.

  ‘Oh my God!’ whispered Alison behind her. ‘You sound just like Mam when we were young.’

  ‘I know. It’s awful – no need to rub it in,’ Olivia hissed back, and they started to giggle as they walked out into the dark, cold night.

  Leo Hammond fastened his best braces, put on his good navy jacket, made sure he had his glasses in case he needed them, and picked up his walking stick. Old age was the most challenging age of all, he thought wearily as he sat on the end of his bed to catch his breath after his exertions. And now it was time to do something that would make his life easier, and would give him a lot of satisfaction at the same time. He was looking forward to Esther’s party. It was the ideal place to make his announcement, and some people were going to get a right shock for themselves. Yes, indeed – the cat would be set among the pigeons tonight, and the village gossips would have plenty to talk about tomorrow. His brother, Bert, and sister-in-law, Tessa, wouldn’t be too happy, nor would those lazy lumps, his nephews. What was the old saying about assuming making an ass of u and me? Leo’s eyes twinkled with anticipation as he hauled himself off the bed and went downstairs to wait for his lift. There’d be a few asses at the party tonight, but he wouldn’t be one of them!

  Chapter 11

  ‘Hello, Mrs Dunwoody, welcome. We give you nice small room for family upstairs, for your birthday.’ The petite, dark-haired Chinese manageress greeted Esther, Liam and Olivia at the door of the restaurant as Esther went to walk into the dining area.

  ‘Oh, that’s very kind of you,’ Esther exclaimed. ‘How lovely to just be with the family. My daughter’s home from America, you know. It was a complete surprise, Mai Linn.’

  ‘Yes, yes, we know, she upstairs with little girls. Follow me, please.’ Mai Linn led the way.

  ‘Did you know about this?’ Esther turned to Olivia.

  ‘Not at all. I didn’t even know there was a small private room upstairs. I know there’s a function room.’ Olivia pretended innocence.

  ‘I hope Leo didn’t find the stairs too taxing, he’s getting very stiff, God love him,’ Esther remarked as she walked ahead of her daughter. She was starving, and really looking forward to her meal.

  ‘This way, this way.’ The manageress indicated a room with a double door.

  She pushed the doors open and a loud ‘SURPRISE! SURPRISE!’ erupted from the waiting guests. Esther nearly got lockjaw with shock as she stood, open-mouthed, as family, friends and neighbours burst into a roof-lifting rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.

  ‘I’ll kill the pair of you,’ she said, half laughing, half crying as Olivia put her arm around her and Alison handed her a glass of champagne.

  ‘And were you in on this?’ She turned to her husband.

  ‘Guilty as charged.’ He grinned. ‘But thank God the night’s finally arrived. I don’t know how many times I’ve nearly let it slip.’

  ‘So that was why you were telling me to wear this dress, letting on it’s your favourite.’ She patted the elegant, ruby dress with the ruched bodice that fell in graceful folds over her hips to mid-calf.

  ‘It is my favourite, and you look beautiful,’ he murmured, and Esther felt a warm little glow at his compliment because, although she loved him dearly, compliments were not his forte.

  She was immediately surrounded by friends, relations and neighbours kissing her and handing her presents. Even Mrs Harney came up and gave her a peck on the cheek and handed her a bottle of champagne. ‘To drink with your daughters, because they’re good girls and lucky to have you,’ the old woman said with great sincerity. ‘But I might leave after the meal, if you don’t mind, because I wouldn’t be into dancing now or anything like that.’

  ‘You leave whenever you want, Mrs Harney, and thank you so much for coming,’ Esther said warmly.

  ‘Thank Olivia – ’twas she issued the invitation. She’s turned into a grand neighbour herself, follying in your footsteps, Mrs Dunwoody,’ her neighbour assured her. It was the height of a compliment, and Esther took it with pride. Olivia was a great daughter, she knew that, and the comparison was an affirmation that she had reared her well.

  ‘Many felicitations,’ Tessa Dunwoody, Esther’s sister-in-law, said primly at her elbow.

  ‘Ah, Tessa, thank you.’ Esther felt a wave of relief that Olivia had had the sense to invite her aunt, uncle and cousins. If they’d been left out, there would have been a huff. Family politics could be so difficult at times. Tessa and Bert were prickly types. The sort you had to spit out your words and polish them before you uttered them.

  ‘Howya, Esther?’ Bert said sourly. And she knew it was the last place he wanted to be. He was so different to Liam and Leo. Bert felt the world owed him a living; he had a chip on his shoulder because Leo had worked the small family farm while he had gone into the car business. He’d never worked a day on the farm but had been highly disgusted when their father had said he was leaving it to Leo for all the work he’d put into it. Liam had been in perfect agreement with his dad, but Bert had carried a grudge that had got even bigger as Leo had added to the farm over the years, leaving him now with a sizeable portion of land with good farming potential. He was, by now, the wealthiest of the brothers, although you’d never know it by him, she thought fondly as she caught sight of him limping over to her to kiss her.

  ‘You look mighty well tonight, Esther,’ he bellowed. ‘Ya’d never think ye were seventy.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, half mortified. There was no need to rub her nose in it. ‘You look very smart yourself.’

  ‘Have me best braces on.’ Leo grinned as he caught sight of the children. ‘There’s my girlies,’ he said proudly as they galloped over to him.

  ‘On guard.’ Kate danced around with someone’s umbrella.

  ‘Parry and thrust.’ He struck a pose with his walking stick.

  ‘Cam I play?’ Ellie demanded, and Olivia went to intervene as Esther found herself in the middle of her book-club group, all delighted for her that Alison was home.

  Later, as she sat at the top table watching everyone eating the tasty food, listening to the ebb and flow of conversation, seeing her two daughters chat to Liam and Leo and the children making pictures on the table with chopsticks, Esther sent up a prayer of thanks for her great good fortune.

  When she came to blow out the candles on the big two-tiered creamy sponge, she felt almost overwhelmed with gratitude and emotion. The expression of delight on her grandchildren’s faces at the sight of the lighted candles – in the shape of a seven and a nought – as they urged her to blow them out would be one of her abiding memories.

  ‘I need your help,’ she told the children, and she wasn’t lying. She was so moved she could have wept as the last note of another rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, and ‘For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ faded away.

  ‘Blow!’ everyone clamoured and she did, as Ellie, Lia and Kate whooshed great gusts of air to extinguish the candles with her.

  She managed to regain her equilibrium, glad that all eyes were no longer upon her as the cake was borne away to be cut up. She took a sip of wine and looked up startled as Liam tapped his glass for silence. ‘Don’t go making any speeches,’ she hissed.

  ‘Take what’s coming to you,’ he ribbed, but Esther knew it was hard for him; he was essentially a shy man.

 
; ‘Ladies and gentlemen, my daughters and myself are so pleased you could join us to celebrate my wife Esther’s birthday. My wife, as you all know, is a wonderful woman – you don’t need me to tell you all that,’ he said to a big cheer, and Esther could feel herself blushing. Olivia and Alison were laughing at her discomfiture, knowing that she was mortified.

  ‘A wonderful woman and a great companion and wife,’ he continued, to more cheers. Liam cleared his throat and turned to her. ‘Esther, you know I’m a man of few words, despite your best efforts. But there is one thing I want to say to you.’ He swallowed, and a faint dusky red crept up his neck. ‘I love you very much,’ he said, staring into her eyes, and this time she did cry. She stood up and hid her face in his shoulder as their guests hollered loudly.

  ‘Oh, Liam, Liam,’ she whispered.

  ‘Well, I do love you,’ he whispered back, ‘I’m just not good at mushy stuff. But I know how you value hearing it so I wanted to say it to you tonight.’

  ‘Ah, Liam, I know you love me.’ She wiped her eyes and kissed him, loving him more now than on the day she’d married him. Another tapping on a glass brought hush as Olivia and Alison stood together, arms around each other’s waist.

  ‘We won’t embarrass you any more, Mother,’ Alison said, raising her glass.

  ‘But we just want to toast the best mother in the world,’ Olivia finished, and the toast ‘To Esther’ rippled around the room.

  Esther was just about to say her thanks when Leo got to his feet. ‘I have an announcement of my own to make,’ he said, turning to look at her. ‘And I want to do it on your birthday, because you’ve been a very kind sister-in-law to me over the years, especially since my dear wife died. And Olivia and Alison are like daughters to me and the girls are the greatest gift of my old age. You all make me feel part of your family and I’m greatly indebted to you,’ Leo said earnestly, and his eyes were bright with emotion as he looked from one to the other.

  ‘I’m telling you this here and now so everyone can hear it from my own lips, and so there won’t be any misunderstandings out there,’ he said, sternly glancing down at Ada O’Connor, who had a propensity to gossip. ‘And I don’t want anyone saying I’m not compos mentis either,’ he added, staring over at Bert and Tessa’s table. ‘I’ve decided to sell the farm; I’ve been made a very, very good offer. I’m buying one of those little bungalows in that new nursing-home place on the Sea Road, and I’m giving each of my girlies – that’s Olivia, Alison, Kate, Lia and Ellie – a plot of land to build a house on if ever they want it, and I’ll be giving them a bit of money to go with it as well. And that’s what I’m doing, so, Esther, my birthday gift to you is to know that, in these difficult times, your children and grandchildren will always have a place to come home to.’