Christmas at Mistletoe Cove

by Holly Martin

  ‘Hey, he took some of our snow,’ Bella protested.

  Eden quickly packed the contraband snow tighter onto the ball, just in case Bella and Isaac tried to take it back.

  They didn’t but she felt a thwack against her back as one of them hit her with a snowball.

  ‘Hey!’ Eden turned round but when Dougie stopped to see what they were doing she laughed when he got a face full of snow too.

  Dougie laughed as he wiped the snow from his eyes. ‘I guess I asked for that.’

  ‘There’s plenty more where that came from,’ Isaac called across.

  Eden giggled as she turned her attention back to the giant snowball.

  They finally got their snowball back into the middle of their bay and set about making a slightly smaller one for the middle of the snowman. It felt good to be working alongside him.

  ‘Don’t make it too big, we won’t be able to lift it onto the other one,’ Eden said.

  ‘Don’t worry about that, I’ve been working out.’

  ‘I noticed,’ Eden said, without thinking.

  Dougie stopped what he was doing. ‘Oh, you noticed my body then, did you? Do you like my muscles?’

  He struck a pose, flexing the muscles in his arms, and Eden burst out laughing.

  ‘Stop that, you look ridiculous.’

  Dougie was undeterred as he created several different model poses. ‘You can touch my muscles if you want.’

  Eden couldn’t stop laughing. ‘You’re so silly.’

  He grabbed her into a big hug. ‘You love it really.’

  She smiled up at him, feeling her heart swell with love for him. ‘It’s good to have you home. I’ve really missed you.’

  The humour faded from his eyes and he smiled at her, fondly. ‘I missed you too.’

  Aware that some people were looking at them, Eden removed herself from his arms and returned her attention back to the snowman. ‘And that’s the only compliment you’ll get out of me.’

  Dougie joined her at her side. ‘I’ll take it.’

  They worked side by side to create the three large balls and Dougie had no problem lifting them into place. They packed snow in between the different layers and spent a while smoothing out the balls with their hands.

  Eden looked over at the other teams and saw that most had just gone with a bottom and a head rather than three separate parts. But whether that would help them to win or not remained to be seen.

  Dougie grabbed two thick branches from the small pile that had been provided for them and stuck them either side of the middle ball.

  ‘OK, time for props,’ Dougie said as he picked up his bulging bag. ‘I visited your aunt’s charity shop for a lot of these things.’

  ‘Oh no, you didn’t?’ Eden loved her aunt Cassie dearly but there was nothing in her charity shop that had ever been in fashion. ‘What on earth did you get from there?’

  ‘This.’ Dougie pulled out something that was velvet and deep red. He shook it out and Eden could see that it was in fact a velvet smoking jacket, with a black satin collar and a red velvet tie for the waist.

  ‘Oh wow, our snowman is going to look like he belongs in the Playboy mansion,’ Eden said.

  Dougie pulled out a burgundy cravat, a top hat, a monocle and a pipe as well. Eden couldn’t help but laugh.

  ‘When you said our snowman would be the best dressed, I never expected this.’

  ‘I think Hubert will look very dapper,’ Dougie said, placing the top hat on the snowman’s head with an affectionate pat.

  ‘You have five minutes left,’ Angela called out over the megaphone.

  ‘Quick, we need to get him dressed,’ Dougie urged.

  Eden helped him to get Hubert’s jacket on, which was a lot trickier than it looked with his stiff arms. As Dougie tied the belt around the waist, Eden glanced over to see what Bella and Rome were doing with their snowmen. Bella and Isaac had gone for the traditional snowman, twigs for arms, coal for eyes, but had given him a sprig of holly as a button hole and a wonderful green scarf and woolly hat to match. But Rome and Freya had decided to decorate their snowman with glass from their stained glass studio. There was a glass bow-tie, round blue glass beads for eyes and buttons and even an orange glass carrot.

  ‘Oh no, Rome and Freya have made theirs out of glass,’ Eden said as Dougie was hurriedly trying to add buttons for the eyes.

  Dougie looked over at them. ‘That’s cheating.’

  ‘And a smoking jacket isn’t going a bit over the top?’

  ‘I didn’t want Hubert getting cold.’

  ‘Well, looks like you’ll have to pay up on our deal,’ Eden said, wondering what she could get him to do.

  ‘Not so fast, I have a plan,’ Dougie said. ‘Here, put the monocle on for me and don’t judge me for what I’m about to do next. Hubert won’t feel a thing.’

  Confused, she placed the monocle over the eye as she heard a cracking. She looked round to see that Dougie had broken one of Hubert’s arms in half so he could bend it round in front of the body.

  ‘Dougie!’ Eden said, not sure why she was so mortified about Dougie breaking a branch. She had to close her eyes when he did the other one, it looked so brutal. He positioned the arms round so they were just below the snowman’s face as Eden tied the cravat round Hubert’s neck. As Angela called out there was only thirty seconds left, Dougie pulled a book out of the bag and positioned it in the fingers of the branches so it looked like Hubert was reading. Confused about how this was supposed to make them win, Eden moved round to see what the book was.

  ‘Douglas Harrison, if that’s not cheating I don’t know what is,’ she said as she saw Angela’s crime fiction book.

  Dougie grinned and shrugged and Angela let off the air horn to signify the end of the competition.

  One of the teams had somehow lost their snowman’s head and another hadn’t brought any props with them at all, but had managed to carve out what looked like arms and legs in the snowman.

  Angela paraded up and down the line, claiming how wonderful they all were, but Eden could see she was torn between Rome and Freya’s glass work snowman or Eden and Dougie’s playboy Hubert.

  ‘Has she seen the book?’ Eden murmured.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  As Angela walked back towards Hubert again, Dougie tweaked the position of the book slightly. This time Eden knew that Angela had seen it as her whole face lit up.

  ‘Oh, ha ha, very good, very good indeed,’ Angela said. She looked back over to Rome and Freya’s snowman but Eden could see her mind was made up.

  Angela raised her megaphone. ‘The winners are… Eden and Dougie!’

  The crowd cheered and Angela strolled over and pinned the rosette to poor Hubert’s chest. Angela’s assistant handed over a box of mulled wine chocolates, a box of mince pies and a tub of white hot chocolate.

  The crowd dispersed, going off to explore the delights of the rest of the Christmas festival, and Bella, Isaac, Freya and Rome came over to inspect Hubert for themselves.

  Bella spotted the book. ‘We were robbed.’

  ‘Isn’t that called bribery?’ Rome said.

  ‘You’re all just jealous that we won,’ Dougie said.

  ‘Our glass creation should have won,’ Freya said, as she stared at Hubert with a smile. ‘Though I do love that your snowman has a monocle and a pipe.’

  ‘Very clever, my friend,’ Isaac said, staring at Hubert with admiration.

  Dougie opened the box of mince pies and offered them to his friends and they all took one, any animosity over Dougie’s cheating quickly forgotten.

  Just then Angela came back over to them.

  ‘I do love your snowman, I think he looks very smart and, um… if you want me to sign your book for you, I’m more than happy to do so.’

  Dougie gave her a winning smile. ‘Angela, I would be over the moon if you would.’

  As Angela rushed off to get a pen, Eden smiled at him and shook her head. It really was good to ha
ve him home.

  Chapter Six

  Eden walked up the hill with Dougie at her side. Every Friday she, Rome and Bella went for dinner at their parents’ house. Over the last few months, Freya and Isaac had come along as well. Dougie always came when he was on the island; her parents adored him. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t with him; he belonged with her and her family.

  She knocked at the door and heard footsteps thundering down the hall as if someone was excited to see them. She loved her parents but they had only one setting: completely overenthusiastic about everything.

  The door was flung open and her dad Finn, with a big grin on his face, enveloped them both into a big bear hug, squashing Eden and Dougie together against his chest.

  ‘Ah Dougie, it’s so good to see you again, we’ve all missed you.’

  Finn pulled back to look at them both and Eden smiled at the bright red Christmas jumper with the gormless Rudolph staring out from the middle of it.

  ‘Come in, come in,’ Finn ushered them into the hall and closed the door behind them. ‘We heard that you two had finally got together, but Rome said that you hadn’t and it was a big misunderstanding, but Lucy and I were talking and we think that you really are together and just pretending that you’re not because you want to keep it secret.’

  ‘No it’s not—’ Eden tried before Finn continued.

  ‘And quite rightly so. When you first get together it’s all new and wonderful and you just want to keep it between yourselves for a while. Sometimes, I’ve walked through the park and seen a couple kissing and it’s been so passionate that I’ve thought they should perhaps take it somewhere a bit more private. Not that there’s anything wrong with kissing in public or showing your love with holding hands or a cuddle, but this couple I saw the other day, he had his tongue so far down her throat it could have choked her and his hands were not exactly in a respectable position either.’

  Eden chanced a glance at Dougie, who was grinning like an idiot at Finn’s monologue.

  ‘I mean, I like kissing with tongues as much as the next man,’ Finn said. ‘But some things should be done in private, don’t you think? Myself and Lucy weren’t exactly discreet when we first got together, she loves a bit of outdoor sex and we were caught in some compromising positions around the island, let me tell you, and there’s nothing wrong with that, if the mood takes you, but you don’t want to be an exhibitionist.’

  Her mum, Lucy, suddenly joined him and Eden was relieved that this embarrassing conversation would be over.

  ‘Well of course you might like that sort of thing,’ Finn went on. ‘Voyeurism, I think they call it. Where you enjoy people watching you having sex.’

  ‘No, voyeurism is where you enjoy watching other people having sex,’ Lucy interrupted.

  ‘Oh.’ Finn looked thoughtful. ‘What’s it called when you like people watching you?’

  ‘Dogging, I think,’ Lucy said and Dougie snorted so hard that he ended up coughing. ‘But I think you need a car for that.’

  ‘Why do you need a car?’ Finn asked.

  Eden could see Rome, Freya, Bella and Isaac all peering round the kitchen door, laughing at them.

  ‘So you can have sex in the back of the car and then people watch through the windows,’ Lucy patiently explained.

  ‘That sounds a bit creepy,’ Finn said and then turned back to Eden and Dougie. ‘But if that’s what makes you happy, then we’re happy,’ he said.

  ‘Are you two dogging?’ Lucy asked and Eden wasn’t sure whether to laugh or die of embarrassment. Dougie was in full-blown fits of giggles now and was clearly not going to step in and help her anytime soon.

  ‘No, we’re not,’ Eden said, firmly.

  ‘Well we don’t have many cars on the island,’ Finn said. ‘Might be a bit difficult if you did want to. We have golf buggies, I guess that would work in the same way.’

  ‘Bit small though,’ Dougie said and Eden looked at him incredulously. Why was he joining in? ‘You might have to get creative about the positions you used.’

  Finn nodded. ‘Yes that’s true.’

  ‘And where would you do it? I can’t see the mayor being happy about you doing it in the main high street,’ Lucy said.

  ‘We’re not having sex,’ Eden blurted out. ‘We’re not together, we’ve never even kissed and if we were together we certainly wouldn’t be doing it in the back of a golf buggy so the whole of Hope Island could watch.’

  Lucy and Finn stared at her.

  ‘Well dear, if you want to keep your relationship to yourselves then we will of course respect that,’ Lucy said and Finn gave a theatrical wink. ‘We’ll say no more about it. But don’t knock outdoors sex until you’ve tried it.’

  ‘Though maybe wait until the summer,’ Finn said. ‘Bit cold at the moment and certain parts shrink in the cold and we wouldn’t want that, eh Dougie?’

  ‘No, quite right,’ Dougie said.

  Lucy walked off back into the kitchen and Finn followed, leaving Dougie and Eden alone in the hall.

  ‘I love your parents,’ Dougie said, grinning at her.

  ‘They don’t need any further encouragement from you.’

  ‘I wasn’t encouraging them, I was just… agreeing. Come on, I don’t want to miss any other hilarious conversations.’

  He took her hand and led her into the kitchen where Bella, Isaac, Rome and Freya were already sitting at the dining table grinning at them. Clearly they had heard every word. Dougie sat down at the bench and patted the place next to him. She smirked and sat down beside him.

  Lucy brought over a huge cooking dish piled high with food.

  ‘Finn has made a delicious monkfish curry but as always he’s made too much, so I hope you’re all hungry,’ Lucy said, placing serving spoons inside the pot and then sitting down as Finn brought over a large bowl of steaming rice.

  It was quiet for a moment as everyone dished up the food onto their plates. Finn was a great cook and his curries were the stuff of legends.

  ‘How are the wedding plans going?’ Lucy asked Bella before she took her first mouthful.

  If Eden hadn’t been watching Bella she would have missed it. She had just happened to glance over at her as Lucy had asked that question and saw Bella quickly plaster a fake smile on her face.

  ‘Great, really great,’ Bella enthused. ‘We’re having the most beautiful ice sculptures. Isaac’s PA, Claudia, has found the most fantastic ice carver from White Cliff Bay and she’s going to do us some ice dolphins and seals to represent Hope Island – as we were having this wedding in London, Isaac and I wanted to take a little bit of Hope Island with us. And because originally me and Isaac wanted a Christmas-themed wedding but now the wedding is going to be end of January, Claudia thought that we should have a winter theme as a compromise so everything is going to be silver with snowflakes and Claudia even found a place that will do snowflake cupcakes.’

  ‘Sounds like this is Claudia’s wedding, not yours,’ Rome said and Eden smiled with love for her brother. Being the eldest out of the three of them, he was so protective and especially of Bella who’d had such a hard time before she was adopted by Finn and Lucy. He was desperate to see Bella happy, they all were, and Isaac had made her happier than she had ever been, but they could all see this wedding was not what she wanted. Only the rest of them were too tactful to tell Bella this whole event was turning into a farce. Rome, it seemed, didn’t have these scruples.

  Isaac’s smile was strained. ‘Claudia is very efficient and also very overenthusiastic about this wedding. But Bella, if there’s anything you don’t want, you must tell her.’

  ‘Likewise, if there’s anything about this wedding you don’t like then you need to tell her too,’ Bella said.

  Eden bit her lip. Why couldn’t they see that this wedding was making them both miserable?

  Isaac stroked Bella’s cheek. ‘I just want you to be happy.’

  ‘I want you to be happy too, I want to give you a wedding you can be proud
of,’ Bella said.

  Isaac frowned slightly at her choice of words. ‘I will be proud to have you by my side, anything else is just aesthetics.’

  Bella smiled and Eden willed her to tell him the truth but she didn’t and, as she turned her attention back to her curry, Eden saw how sad she looked.

  Eden opened her mouth to say something, though she wasn’t sure what she should say, but Lucy got in ahead of her.

  ‘I have to say that this Kensington Tower Hotel looks very fancy,’ Lucy said. ‘Not the sort of place I ever dreamt I would stay in. But our room for the night has its own lounge and a balcony with views over the Thames. It’s all very exciting.’

  ‘We have the biggest ballroom in the hotel, to accommodate all the guests,’ Bella said. ‘It has the most gorgeous chandeliers and you should see our cake.’ She grabbed her phone from her pocket and pressed a few buttons then passed it round to show everyone.

  ‘Wow, that’s huge,’ Finn said. ‘Seven tiers. That’s a lot of cake. What will you do with it all?’

  ‘Well, all the guests will have a slice,’ Bella said.

  ‘How many guests do you have coming?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘Presently, four hundred and eighty-two.’

  Isaac choked on his drink and the table fell silent.

  ‘Four hundred and eighty-two?’ Eden said. ‘How do you know that many people?’

  ‘I don’t. They are all Isaac’s colleagues and associates,’ Bella said, the smile fixed on her face.

  ‘I had no idea it was that many people,’ Isaac said. ‘I just let Claudia handle the guest list. The only ones I wanted there was these guys and my mum. Why so many people?’

  ‘Claudia said these were people that we had to invite.’

  ‘Well, I suppose there are some colleagues that I would invite but that many people seems a bit much.’

  ‘Everyone who was invited is bringing their partners or wives or husbands. If you’re not happy I can try to cancel some of them,’ Bella said.