Escape To Christmas at Corner Cottage

by Sarah Hope

  ‘Oh, darling. Well, I was going to tell you when Evie gets down, but I’ve got you a mobile to share so you can take that with you next time. That way you will be able to ring or message me any time you want to. Day or night, it doesn’t matter. Even if you wake up at three in the morning, I’ll be here. Ok?’

  ‘Really?’ Sophia sprang from the rug and ran up the stairs. ‘Evie, Evie. Guess what?’

  Chapter 9

  ‘Mum! Sophia! Quick, wake up! Look outside.’

  Chrissy stirred, pulling her duvet down, the chill in the air jolting her awake. ‘What’s the matter, Evie?’

  ‘Look.’ Grabbing Chrissy’s hand, she pulled her mum towards the window. ‘It’s snowing!’

  ‘Oh, wow, it is. It looks as though it’s been snowing most of the night too, judging by how deep it is.’

  ‘Wow. It’s mega deep.’ Sophia joined them at the window, pressing her nose to the glass.

  ‘Is it deep enough for sledging? Can we go?’

  ‘It’s certainly deep enough. That’s if we can get out of the house.’ Chrissy laughed.

  ‘Are we snowed in?’ Evie asked, her voice high pitched, a cross between excited and nervous.

  ‘No, no, I’m just joking. Although, if it carries on like this, we might be.’

  ‘Can we go now?’

  ‘You’re eager, Evie. Let’s get dressed and I’ll make some pancakes first, and then we’ll go out.’

  ‘Ok, come on Sophia! The sooner we get dressed, the sooner we can have breakfast and go out.’

  ‘DOES STAR REALLY HAVE to stay here?’ Evie wrapped her scarf around her neck and looked at Star who was sat next to the front door.

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. She gets snowballs in her paws and if you want to stay out for a while she’ll just get cold. We’ll take her out for a quick walk when we get back.’ Grabbing her gloves from the radiator shelf, Chrissy stuffed them in her pockets. ‘Are we all set? Sophia, have you got your gloves? That’s it, pull your scarves up to cover your chins.’

  ‘Have you got the shed key, Mum?’

  ‘No, thanks for reminding me, Sophia. We’ll get the sledge out on the way.’

  ‘MY TURN NOW!’ SOPHIA stopped, the sledge coming to a standstill beside her.

  ‘Ok. I’m going to see how fast I can run pulling you.’ Jumping out of the sledge, Evie waited until Sophia was settled in it, gripped hold of the string and pulled. Running as best she could in the thick snow, Evie overtook Chrissy.

  Taking her gloves out of her pockets, she pulled them on. She hadn’t seen the girls laugh this much since she and Andrew had sat them down and told them they were splitting up. It was lovely to see them so happy and carefree and actually getting on.

  ‘Which way, Mum?’ Evie came to a stop, the sledge sliding along and catching her on the ankle. ‘Ow!’

  ‘You ok, Evie?’ Chrissy trudged through the snow until she came to them.

  ‘Yes. I’m fine.’ Evie rubbed her ankle. ‘Which way?’

  ‘Umm, let’s go right. There’s that big field that slopes down just outside the village.’

  ‘Yes! That’ll be great for sledging. Come on, Evie, see if you can go a bit faster!’

  ‘I CAN SEE IT!’

  ‘Not far now. Come here and we’ll cross over.’

  ‘I don’t think there’s going to be any cars coming down here today, Mum.’ Sophia said, laughing.

  Looking up and down the road, Chrissy laughed too. ‘You’re probably right, Sophia. It’s just automatic.’

  ‘How do we get in?’

  ‘Up here. Look. We just need to climb over the style.’ Chrissy climbed over and held her hand out. ‘Here, pass me the sledge.’

  ‘Aw, can’t I carry it over?’ Sophia hauled it up over her shoulder, holding Chrissy’s hand and clambered over the style.

  ‘Careful. Right, your turn Evie.’

  Evie jumped up and over. ‘How quick was that, Mum?’

  ‘Very quick. Race you to the top! On your marks, get set, go!’ The three of them raced up the hill as fast as they could, their wellies sinking into the snow which was even deeper here than it had been down in the village.

  STAMPING HER FEET, Chrissy wriggled her toes. They must have been out for at least an hour now, the twins happily taking it in turns to sledge down the hill.

  ‘Did you see how fast I went that time?’ Sophia ran back up the hill, the sledge bobbing along behind her.

  ‘I did! You went so fast that time.’

  ‘Look. Is that Adam over there?’ Evie shielded her eyes from the snowflakes which were still falling, and waved her arm. ‘Adam! Adam! Over here.’

  ‘Why are you waving him over? He’s a boy.’ Her eyes wide, Sophia looked down the hill and shook her head. ‘Actually, maybe we could race him and Kane. Girls against boys!’

  ‘Good idea.’ Evie ran down the hill towards Adam. ‘Adam. Do you want a race? Girls against boys. Best of three goes?’

  Chrissy watched as Evie, Sophia, Adam and Kane trudged back up the hill to find a good starting point. Some distance behind Adam and Kane, she could just about make out Natalie, flanked by two men. Standing and watching them coming closer, she soon realised that one of the men was Luke. The other must be Natalie’s fiancé, Graham.

  Running her fingers through her hair, Chrissy hoped her hair wasn’t too flat from wearing her hood. She straightened her scarf, she hadn’t seen Luke since the morning after their drunken night together last weekend. It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to see him, but more that she felt awkward. She wasn’t sure where she stood. Had it just been a one-night stand or was it the start of something? Not that Chrissy felt ready for another relationship, and she probably wouldn’t for a very long time. She tucked her hair behind her ears. It would be nice to have someone to go out with, to spend time with though.

  Shaking her head, she shoved her hands in her pockets. If it had been anything, then Luke would have made sure they’d run into each other during the week. Yes, Chrissy had avoided going to Natalie’s house or anywhere she thought she might see him, but that wasn’t the point, he knew where she lived. Things had been fine on Saturday though, they’d spent most of the day together recovering from their hangovers by watching back-to-back comedies and eating take away pizza, so maybe she wasn’t being silly. Maybe he was giving her the brush off.

  She looked over to the children who had made it to the top of the hill and were now drawing a start line in the snow. There was no point second guessing what was going on in Luke’s mind. It didn’t matter anyway, she was making a new life for herself and the twins, she didn’t need any complications.

  ‘Hi, Chrissy. How long have you been here? Oh, this is Graham, by the way.’ Natalie indicated to the tall man standing next to her sporting Poppy in a baby carrier on his front.

  ‘Nice to meet you, Graham. Going by how numb my toes are, I’d say we’ve been here about an hour already.’ Chrissy grimaced.

  ‘You must be freezing.’ Natalie shoved her hands in her pockets, quickly pulling out a navy blue glove. ‘Excuse me. Kane! I’ve got one of your gloves.’ She began trudging up the hill towards him, waving the glove in one hand.

  ‘He’s always trying to get out of wearing his gloves.’ Graham rolled his eyes. ‘And I’m sure he gave me his other one. Somewhere.’ He felt in his own pockets before pulling out the matching glove and following Natalie up the hill, waving the one he had.

  ‘What are they like?’ Luke laughed. ‘So, have you been trying to avoid me or have you turned into a hermit?’ Luke nudged her shoulder playfully.

  ‘It takes two to avoid.’ Chrissy stamped her feet, trying to recover some feeling in her toes.

  ‘Ok. I guess that’s true. But in my defence, I wasn’t sure where I stood after Friday night and I thought I’d run into you anyway.’

  ‘Well, that was kind of why I was avoiding you too, because I didn’t know where I stood.’ Was this what relationships were like nowadays? Complicated?

&nbs
p; ‘In that case, I guess we have two choices then.’

  ‘We do?’

  ‘Yep. We either rack it up as a one-off or we decide to see where it goes.’ Luke turned to look at her.

  She returned the look, his blue eyes reflecting the brilliant sunlight bouncing off of the snow. ‘I guess we do.’

  ‘I don’t know about you, but I’d quite like to see where it goes.’ He lifted his hands, palms facing Chrissy. ‘No pressure though, I completely understand if you want to write it off as a one-off. I know you’ve not long split from your husband.’

  ‘I’d like that. We’ll go with the flow and see what happens.’ Chrissy smiled.

  ‘Deal. Well, in that case, to celebrate, I think we need to test the course before the little darlings end up crashing into a tree.’

  ‘What? No. No, I’m fine standing right here, thanks.’

  ‘No, you’re not. You’ve already said you’re cold. The best medicine for that is a sledge ride.’ Luke grabbed her hands and began pulling her towards the starting line.

  ‘No, seriously. I haven’t been on a sledge in years.’

  ‘That definitely needs rectifying then.’ Dropping her hands, he turned towards the children. ‘Kids, me and Chrissy are going to test the course out for you. Girls, your mum’s feeling a bit shy, come and give me a hand, will you?’

  ‘Mum, are you really? Are you really going to have a go on the sledge?’ In her excitement, Evie ran headfirst into her, knocking her back a little.

  ‘Come on then, Mum.’ Sophia started pulling her up the hill. ‘This is going to be epic!’

  Knowing she was trapped, Chrissy shook herself, winked at the girls and turned towards Luke. ‘Ok, you’re on. But beware, Luke, you’re going to lose.’

  ‘Don’t be so sure about that!’

  At the top of the hill, Chrissy tipped the sledge on its side and knocked the snow from it before lowering herself onto the cold plastic.

  ‘Are you both ready?’ Evie squealed. ‘Sophia, you go that side and we’ll make sure they go at the same time. No cheating, Mum, ok? Luke, no cheating for you either.’

  ‘Hold on, Kane. Quick, let’s get down to the bottom. We can be the referees and see who wins.’

  ‘Good idea, Adam.’ Evie called after him as Adam and Kane trudged quickly down the hill.

  ‘Ready?’ Sophia looked at Evie and they both shouted at the top of their voices. ‘On your marks. Get set. Go!’

  Chrissy pushed off from the snow with one hand, while gripping the rope with the other. The sledge, slow at first, built up speed quickly. Clinging onto the thin white rope with both hands, Chrissy laughed as she bumped over mounds of snow and fallen branches, her hair flying out behind her.

  ‘Faster, Mum, faster. Luke’s catching up with you.’

  ‘Quick, Mum. You can do it.’

  The twins ran ahead of them at first, until the sledges picked up speed and flew past them, leaving Evie and Sophia running behind.

  ‘Catch my snow, I’m coming past.’ Luke’s blue sledge flew ahead of her, spraying up a thin sludge of melting snow behind him.

  Leaning as far back as she could without her head touching the snow behind her, Chrissy’s sledge sped up.

  ‘Uncle Luke, you’re going the wrong way! Quick, steer it back towards us.’ Adam screamed at Luke as his sledge went off course and headed towards a copse to the side of the field.

  ‘I’m trying! I think the steering wheels broke.’ Luke’s voice cracked between laughter.

  ‘There’s no steering wheel, Uncle Luke! Use the rope.’ Kane jumped up and down and began running in the direction Luke’s sledge was heading.

  ‘Quick, Mum, you can win!’

  ‘I’m trying.’ Chrissy twisted her neck, glancing back at Sophia and Evie as they ran, their boots sinking into the snow with every footstep. She hadn’t seen them both look so happy in such a long time.

  Up ahead of her, Adam waved his arms, indicating to her to slow down. Sitting up and pulling back on the thin rope, Chrissy turned the sledge, snow spraying into her face as she brought the sledge to a stop.

  ‘That was brilliant! You won, Mum! You won!’ Running towards her, Sophia and Evie wrapped their arms around her neck.

  ‘Yay! I can definitely say that’s the first time I have won a sledging ride for a very very long time!’ Laughing, Chrissy let herself be pulled to standing. ‘Where did Luke get to?’

  ‘I’m here.’ Luke waved as he trudged towards her, Kane running alongside pulling the sledge.

  ‘Mummy beat you!’

  ‘She sure did, Evie. Here, come here for a celebratory hug.’ Luke held his arms open.

  ‘Aw, are you needing some consolation after your mega loss?’ Chrissy laughed and walked towards him, allowing herself to be drawn into a tight hug.

  ‘I’m fine, thanks, but you won’t be!’ Luke gripped her with one hand and shoved a fistful of snow down the back of her neck with the other.

  ‘Noooo!’ Jumping back out of his grasp, Chrissy bent her head, trying to get the icy snow out of her coat. ‘You’re horrible!’

  ‘Just a bad loser, that’s all. Now, kids!’

  Chrissy ducked and squealed as snowball after snowball plummeted her. Running away, she bent down, rolling a quick snowball in her hand before launching it back at Luke. ‘Sore loser! Girls! You should be on my side!’

  Pausing, Evie and Sophia laughed before launching a fresh batch of snowballs, this time aiming them at Luke, Kane and Adam.

  ‘I’M SORRY ABOUT THE snow fight. It was Kane’s idea.’

  Chrissy glanced at Luke as they trudged back up the hill, the children running ahead eager to race down the hill. ‘Umm, why do I not believe you?’

  ‘Ok, it was my idea and a particularly brilliant one, I thought.’ Grinning, Luke stumbled on a half-hidden tree root, grabbing hold of Chrissy’s arm to steady himself.

  ‘Do you think that root was trying to get you back for ploughing a sledge into one of its kind?’ Laughing, Chrissy smiled back at him.

  ‘I think you might be right. Ok, sensible faces on now, we need to pretend to be proper adults in front of my sister and Graham.’ Luke straightened his face and cleared his throat.

  ‘I’m sure they know exactly what you’re like.’ Chrissy laughed.

  ‘And what would that be?’

  ‘Umm, childish, a very sore loser... Shall I go on?’ Chrissy ticked each point off on her gloved fingers.

  ‘I think you mean gorgeous, an absolute catch, kind, considerate...’

  ‘I think you’ve certainly shown your true colours there! Putting freezing cold snow down someone’s back is not considerate.’

  ‘Ahh, I can explain. That was not what it seemed. That was a celebratory tradition. All the top, professional sledge racers do that to the winner.’

  ‘Is that right?’

  ‘Absolutely! Here, you’ve got snow in your hair.’ Pausing, he reached out, gently brushing snow from her hair.

  ‘Thank you.’ She could feel the warm flush creeping up her neck.

  Chapter 10

  ‘Girls, can you come in and make a start on your homework, please? It’s got to be in tomorrow.’ Holding the back door open, Chrissy shivered against the cold wind gushing into the small kitchen. ‘Hurry up, you’re letting the little heat we do have escape.’

  ‘We’re going to freeze tonight if we run out of logs.’ Evie shook her boots off, sludge spraying across the tiled floor.

  ‘No we won’t. Not if we keep the heat in anyway. Plus, we do have radiators! I know they’re not very good, but they’re better than nothing. Come on, Sophia. You can finish your snowman later.’

  ‘Do we really have to do our homework?’ Sophia closed the door behind her. ‘School will probably be closed tomorrow anyway. Especially if it keeps snowing like this, won't it?’

  ‘It might be, but you still need to get your homework done in case it’s not. Hang your coats on the back of the chairs to dry and go and get your homework
books out, please?’ Turning back to the sink, Chrissy began peeling the potatoes. She couldn’t wait until she could start making a proper Sunday roast again, until then, meat cooked in the slow cooker with mash and veg instead of roast potatoes would have to do. Mr Lowen still wasn’t answering her emails, so she’d started scouring the social media selling sites in the hope that a second-hand cheap oven would come up. Hopefully, she’d manage to get one before attempting Christmas dinner.

  ‘Urgh, there’s tonnes of it.’ Sophia slapped her book onto the small table pushed against the wall.

  ‘Best make a start then. Let’s have a look.’ Placing her hand on Sophia’s shoulder, she peered at the homework.

  ‘It’s not that much, Sophia. We’ve only got spellings, maths and a reading comprehension.’ Evie slipped into the chair opposite, a pen already in her hand.

  ‘Why don’t you make a start on the maths? Get that out of the way and then do the reading comprehension. You can always copy out your spellings later, they won’t take you long anyway, will they?’

  ‘There are twelve spellings, Mum. It will take forever.’

  ‘You’d better make a start then. You can do it.’ Chrissy turned back to the potatoes.

  ‘Ooh, I like these. Look, Mum, we’ve got short multiplication. I love doing these, they’re so easy!’ Evie grinned, bent her head and began, her tongue sticking out in concentration.

  ‘Well, I don’t like them! How can anyone love maths anyway? You’re just weird, Evie.’

  ‘I’m not. And I can like maths if I want to, can’t I Mum? You don’t have to like the same things as me just because we’re twins.’

  ‘Yuck, don’t remind me. I feel sick every time I think about sharing a womb with you.’

  ‘Girls, girls. Come on, be nice. Here, let me finish peeling this potato and I’ll come and help you, Sophia.’

  ‘I don’t need your help. I’m not thick, you know.’

  ‘I know you’re not. You’re a very bright girl, you both are, but maybe if I explain again it might help a bit.’