One Family Christmas: The perfect, cosy, heart-warming read to curl up with this winter

by Bella Osborne

  ‘Oh my gosh! This is so exciting!’ Lottie clapped her hands together like a toy monkey with new batteries. Tears filled her eyes. She was beyond happy for her brother, and she flung herself forward and hugged him tight.

  ‘Ooft! Okay, calm down. I hope Emily reacts half as well as you. Do you think she’ll say yes?’

  The pregnancy test flashed into Lottie’s mind and she struggled to form a sentence. Perhaps now was a bad time for him to ask Emily. Perhaps she would say yes for all the wrong reasons. Lottie’s mouth opened and closed.

  ‘Well, that’s hugely reassuring. Thanks, sis – I’m really glad you’re on my team.’ He shook his head.

  ‘Sorry. Of course she will. But for now we need to focus on finding the ring. Where did you put it exactly?’

  ‘In the tree,’ he said deliberately, as if talking to someone a bit slow on the uptake.

  ‘I know it’s in the tree, but where exactly?’

  ‘Third branch up. Nestled against the trunk and right next to a fairy light that lit it up perfectly. But it’s not there now.’

  ‘And when did you put it there again?’

  ‘Yesterday afternoon.’ He lowered his guilty eyes. ‘When you caught me sneaking about.’

  ‘Ah, I knew it. No wonder you weren’t interested in the little car. You’re a rubbish liar.’

  ‘Can we please get back to my crisis?’

  ‘Okay. You hid it late afternoon. Jeez Zach, anything could have happened to it since then.’

  She scanned her memory, playing back the events of the previous day as if on fast rewind. Her eyes widened and so did Zach’s as they hit on the same moment at the same time.

  ‘Dave,’ said Lottie and Zach together.

  ‘That scruffy mutt has eaten it!’ Zach started marching up and down the hallway running his hands roughly through his hair.

  ‘We don’t know for sure. It might just be on the floor. But if he has … Then the bright side is you should get it back sometime tomorrow.’ Zach gave her a look that didn’t need any words.

  Lottie popped back into the drawing room and whilst tidying up bits of paper around the tree had a thorough check to see if the ring was on the floor. It was nowhere to be seen. She returned to Zach, who was pacing in the hallway.

  ‘Nope. I can’t find it,’ she said.

  ‘Bloody Dave has eaten it.’

  ‘Maybe Joe could X-ray Dave, then we’d know for sure?’

  ‘Oh what, with his portable X-ray machine he brought with him?’

  Lottie was nodding until Zach’s sarcasm registered. ‘Hmm, good point. But he’s a vet. He might have some other ideas for removing an engagement ring from a dog?’

  ‘This is such a mess.’ Zach shook his head and Lottie felt sorry that his romantic plans had gone awry. He slumped against the wall, nudging a photograph of a long forgotten relative. Lottie made the picture level and leant against the wall next to him.

  ‘It’s still lovely that you want to marry Emily.’

  Zach was staring at his feet. ‘You like her, don’t you, Lot?’

  ‘Yeah. I mean I don’t know her that well, since she’s not been able to visit because we’ve all been so ill for such a long time.’ If Lottie had worn glasses she’d have been looking at him over the top of them.

  Zach’s head snapped up. ‘I was hoping you’d not noticed that. I just wanted to be sure before I introduced her. No point in scaring her off early.’

  ‘She seems like a lovely person, and she’s thoughtful towards Jessie too. And if she’s not scared off by our weird family then I’d say she’s a keeper.’

  ‘Thanks, that means a lot.’ Zach gave her a friendly nudge.

  They went silent for a bit and contemplated the situation. At the same time their eyes looked skywards as the floorboards creaked above them. They looked at each other and nodded – they’d had the same idea.

  They took the stairs two at a time. ‘Rhys?’ Lottie rapped her knuckles on the box room door.

  There was no immediate response so Zach joined in. ‘Rhys!’

  The door opened a fraction and Rhys’s face appeared with one earphone lifted, a question mark of an expression on his face.

  ‘Do you think we could borrow the metal detector, just for a mo?’ asked Lottie.

  Rhys’s eyebrows showed his surprise. ‘We’ll only be a few minutes. We’ll look after it. Promise,’ added Zach.

  Rhys shrugged, disappeared for a few moments and reappeared. ‘I think these dolls are reproducing. There weren’t this many last year.’ He opened the door and Zach recoiled at the sight of the fixed expressions staring back from every surface.

  ‘Blimey, it’s the Botox queue at Pins and Needles,’ said Zach with a chuckle.

  ‘Sorry about the dolls.’ Lottie bit her lip. ‘Detector?’

  Rhys thrust the detector through the door. ‘According to the instructions it emits a high …’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Zach as Lottie grabbed the device and they both went thundering back downstairs.

  Lottie slipped into the drawing room and tapped Joe on the shoulder. When he looked up she pointed at the dog and beckoned him into the hallway.

  ‘What’s up?’ asked Joe as he joined them, clutching a wriggly Dave.

  She gave Joe a rushed summary of the situation, explaining that Dave had likely eaten Emily’s present – but not that it was an engagement ring. The fewer people who knew, the better.

  Joe put the dog on the floor. ‘What’s the plan?’

  Zach switched on the metal detector and held it aloft as it gave a whistle. ‘This will tell us if he’s eaten it.’ Dave was instantly enthralled by the whistling machine and appeared to be barking his thoughts on the matter as he pogoed to try to grab the end of it.

  ‘I’ll take that,’ said Joe, seizing the detector.

  ‘Good idea, you’ll know where to aim it,’ said Zach. ‘Shall we put him on the kitchen table or what?’

  ‘Neither. Are you two insane? You can’t run a metal detector over a dog.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Zach.

  ‘Will it hurt him?’ asked Lottie.

  ‘No, but would you like it?’ She detected the merest hint of a scold in his tone. They both shook their heads. ‘And the chances of it giving you an accurate reading are pretty slim.’ He switched it off and Dave stopped barking.

  ‘How do we find out if he’s eaten it?’ she asked.

  ‘He has,’ said Zach. ‘It’s the only explanation. Can you operate on him?’

  Joe squeezed his eyes shut. ‘Bit drastic, mate. And all I’ve got is my basic kit and no working premises.’

  ‘Could you ask another vet if you could use theirs? I mean they won’t be working Christmas Day?’ Zach was starting to sound desperate.

  ‘Not really, no.’ Lottie could tell that Joe was hoping Zach wasn’t serious.

  ‘X-ray then?’ said Zach.

  ‘Don’t happen to have one of those on me either, or an ultrasound, before you ask. X-ray would give the best results, but he’d need an anaesthetic whereas with ultrasound the animal doesn’t have to keep perfectly still so there’s no need to knock him out.’

  Lottie threw up her arms. ‘Farmer Giles.’

  Joe sniggered. ‘Is that a condition you suffer from?’

  ‘Not rhyming slang for piles.’ She was trying her hardest to stay cross with him. She gave him a hard stare and continued. ‘Giles Hutton. He was in Zach’s year at school. He went to agricultural college and now he’s into mating animals.’ Joe cheekily raised one eyebrow. ‘Husbandry,’ she explained, but he was still grinning. Lottie ignored it. ‘He was in the Bleeding Bear a few weeks ago showing off this portable ultrasound he’d been using to check sheep to see if they were carrying lambs. He was actually using it to see which of the rugby lads was storing the biggest fart in their bowels—’ why was she talking about farts? ‘—but anyway. He’ll be home for Christmas. It’s worth a shot?’ Joe was nodding.

  Zach didn’t look so sure. ‘I st
ill say we open him up.’

  Lottie ignored her brother and made the phone call and was soon relaying the information to them. ‘Giles is home and nursing a hangover, but he has the ultrasound and we can borrow it.’

  ‘Hi. Is everything all right?’ asked a concerned-looking Emily, exiting the drawing room. The other three stood stock still, looking at each other.

  Zach stepped forward. ‘Yeah, it’s all fine. Look, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a bit for your main present. Bit of a hitch.’

  ‘That’s okay. I’m happy with my hand cream.’ She turned to Lottie. ‘Can I help with dinner?’

  ‘Crap! Yes, you can,’ said Lottie, running for the kitchen. Thanks to all the lost ring drama she’d completely forgotten about dinner, and now she was behind.

  Emily followed Lottie as she skidded through the kitchen and began unpacking crates of veg.

  ‘Nana ordered all this, and I added some more to be on the safe side,’ said Lottie, clutching a bunch of carrots.

  At last Lottie handed Emily the final stalk of Brussels sprouts and they surveyed the mountain of food now on the table.

  ‘There’s a possibility I may have over-ordered,’ said Lottie, with a pout.

  Emily wasn’t sure how to answer; she’d only ever seen that many vegetables in a supermarket. ‘Always better to have more than you need.’

  ‘True,’ said Lottie, waving a pointed finger at the potatoes. ‘But I think we only have one peeler.’

  ‘How about I do the cauliflowers? They don’t need peeling.’ Emily picked up one of the five from the table. ‘Are some of these for tomorrow?’

  Lottie blinked. ‘I have absolutely no idea. Nana used to do it all. I wish I’d asked questions; paid more attention. Or insisted on helping when Nana shooed me away. Can you cook?’ Desperation stared out from Lottie.

  ‘I’m more of a salad or stir-fry kind of person. My family’s not big on veg, so one cauli would do four of us. Shall I do three?’

  Lottie started picking up and putting down random vegetables and muttering incoherently under her breath. Emily wished Zach would join them; she was fearing for Lottie’s sanity. ‘Lottie. Shall I cut up three?’ She waved a cauliflower in front of Lottie’s face.

  ‘What do we do with this?’ Lottie waved a pineapple at her. Emily dodged out of the way for fear of losing an eye. ‘Pineapple. Where does that feature in Christmas?’ Lottie was frowning hard. ‘I’ve got to conjure something up for vegetarians. No, they’re vegans. Vegetarian would have been too easy.’ She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand.

  ‘They should be okay,’ said Emily, indicating the vegetables heaped on the table.

  ‘What’s this?’ asked Lottie, holding up what on first glance looked like a large nut.

  Emily leaned closer. ‘Nutmeg,’ she said, feeling quite proud of her identification.

  ‘You’re right. Nana put some in the Christmas pudding. But dessert is sorted. So what the hell is it for?’ Lottie appeared to be expecting an answer, but Emily just shrugged. Lottie rushed over to the fridge, had a rummage and produced a carton of buttermilk. ‘And this. What’s this for?’

  Emily didn’t know. ‘Hot chocolate?’ It was a guess.

  ‘Oh my gosh. I don’t know what I’m doing,’ said Lottie, pulling out a chair and sitting down with a thud. ‘I thought it would just turn out all right on the day. That it would be obvious what I was meant to do; but it’s not. I literally don’t have a clue what I’m doing.’ She waved her hands about as if trying to cool herself down, even though the kitchen was quite chilly.

  ‘Ask your mum?’ suggested Emily, and she could have sworn she actually saw the colour drain from Lottie’s face.

  Lottie shook her head. ‘Oh, no, no, no. That’s a very bad idea. There are things you need to know about our mother. Firstly, you should never ever show any sign of weakness.’ She was counting them off on her fingers. ‘Secondly, she’s never cooked anything more complex than a ready meal in her life and thirdly …’ Lottie paused and stared at the mound of potatoes. ‘This is my mother we’re talking about, so whatever level of disaster I’m facing right now she will be able to take it to DEFCON one.’

  Emily found herself nodding, although she was quite unsettled by the tirade. ‘I guess we can’t all be worthy of Masterchef.’ Emily gave a little giggle to show she was trying to lighten the mood, but Lottie was still looking panicked.

  ‘We should have gone to the pub. Is it too late to go to the pub?’ Lottie’s eyes pleaded.

  ‘I think so. All you can do is your best.’

  Lottie was shaking her head. ‘There’s a million people in there expecting me to cook them a perfect Christmas dinner.’ She was getting paler. ‘They want more than my best. They want a Nana Rose Christmas. But I’m not Nana.’

  Emily smiled through clenched teeth. ‘It’s okay. Nobody’s expecting it to be perfect.’ Lottie’s head shot up and she looked hurt. ‘Let me rephrase that,’ said Emily, wondering where the hell Zach was. ‘What’s important is everybody getting together. Nobody really notices the food. It’s just a roast dinner.’

  Lottie took a sharp intake of breath and Emily knew she’d said the wrong thing again. ‘Just. A. Roast. Dinner?’ Lottie’s voice was quiet.

  ‘That’s what my mum says. People get all het up about it, but she does one every week and says it’s super easy and—’

  ‘Can you get her on the phone?’ asked Lottie, blinking rapidly.

  ‘Sure, if you think it’d help?’

  Lottie nodded and already looked a little brighter.

  Emily had already had a brief word with her mum to wish her a merry Christmas before she’d lost signal. She’d felt strange not being at home with them all. In an odd way she was even missing her sister’s sniping. Sometimes they’d had Christmas at her aunt and uncle’s, and she’d worked a couple of years, but she’d never spent it with people she hadn’t met before. It felt a bit like cheating on her parents, although they had seemed fine about it – but that had only made her feel more homesick. They were always supportive of whatever she did, even if it was something they didn’t really agree with. The whole late period thing wasn’t helping either. She wished she was at home. Sometimes all you needed was a hug from your mum. Although she was starting to understand that a hug from Angie wouldn’t do the trick for poor Lottie.

  Lottie cleared her throat, pulling Emily from her thoughts. She fumbled with her phone and dialled home. As she’d expected, her mum was more than happy to help. Lottie hung on to her every word, asked a multitude of questions and wrote down copious notes including a running order for what went on the hob or in the oven and in what order. Her mum was even able to tell them that the nutmeg and buttermilk were probably for making bread sauce, which they had unanimously decided nobody really liked and would take too much effort, so it had been scrubbed from the menu.

  They ended the call with lots of thanks and an open invitation from Emily’s mum to call any time if they got stuck. ‘Your mum’s a lifesaver,’ said Lottie and Emily felt quite proud. Her mum was brilliant; but then didn’t everyone think that about their parents? ‘Thank you,’ said Lottie, giving Emily a quick squeeze. Emily smiled; it was a lovely gesture and went a little way to making her feel accepted. ‘Right. We have our orders. Let’s get to work,’ said Lottie, picking up the vegetable peeler and attacking a very large parsnip.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lottie quite enjoyed preparing the veg with Emily, sharing giggles over oddly shaped carrots. It helped to get things in perspective, and Emily was good company. It was also an opportunity to learn a little bit about her. They both managed to steer clear of the possible pregnancy – she didn’t even know if Emily had done the test or not. Lottie supposed she would have to say something before the day was out, especially with a proposal looming; assuming that Dave coughed up – or ‘deposited’ – the ring at some stage.

  ‘So you and your sister have a bit of a competitive relationship
then?’ Lottie had been picking up vibes.

  ‘Understatement. She’s made one-upmanship an Olympic sport. I put decking in my garden – she gets decking and a pergola. I buy Mum and Dad a voucher for afternoon tea – she buys them a holiday in France.’ Lottie couldn’t hide her astonishment. ‘She drives me crackers.’ Emily pulled a Christmas cracker from the nearby box.

  ‘Crumbs,’ said Lottie, dusting down the worktop. Emily giggled. ‘I thought Zach was a pain in the bum, but he’s nothing like that. He was annoying when we were kids. You know, the usual stuff: Chinese burns, blaming me for trumping, telling tales. But as an adult he’s great. Still a bit annoying, but I know he’d always be there if I really needed anything.’

  ‘My sister’s not all bad … as kids we used to have fun, in between the squabbling. We’d make dens and pretend we were lost fairies. And she gave me a ride home on her bike when I cut my knee – but then she had pushed me off a swing, so technically … But now it’s just the squabbling.’

  ‘Where did it go wrong, do you think?’ Lottie was chopping carrots.

  ‘When my sister got my parents what they really wanted.’

  ‘Which was?’ Lottie paused the chopping frenzy.

  ‘A police officer for a daughter.’ Emily’s cheek twitched.

  ‘Ah, tricky. Mum’s never been interested in what me or Zach do for a living. Although she was keen for me to work on the cosmetics counter at Boots so she could use the discount.’

  They both sighed and carried on chopping with increased vigour.

  Emily slid her carrots into a saucepan. ‘What was Melissa like?’

  The question made Lottie freeze; she had to employ her best acting skills to look natural. Any mention of Melissa always put Lottie on edge; this was what secrets did. ‘Melissa was lovely,’ said Lottie, and she returned her attention to the parsnips.

  ‘I’m sure she was, but what was she like as a person?’

  Lottie swallowed and had a little think about how best to word it. ‘She was ambitious, very focused. A good person.’

  Emily seemed to be biting her lip. ‘A lot to live up to then.’