Darcie Boleyn - Wish Upon A Christmas Cake

‘I’ll be up in a bit,’ Karl replied as he kissed him before he left the room.

Karl came over to my sofa. ‘Hey, Sis, can I finally have some of your time?’

I linked arms with him as he sat down. ‘Of course you can, Big Brother.’

‘You’ve been so busy lately that I’ve been worried about you. Mum and Dad said they’ve hardly seen you since the funeral.’ He gazed at me and I half expected to see a reprimand in his eyes, but all I saw was affection and concern. ‘You’re working too hard, Kitty-Kat.’

‘I know, Karl, I know. But the business is doing so well.’

‘Then employ another person.’

I nodded. ‘We have had two temporary employees working weekends over the Christmas period and we might well ask them to stay on next year – even if it’s just for a few hours here and there. But it’s still been really busy recently.’

‘Your problem is that you’re a workaholic. You know—’ He placed a finger on his chin and scrunched up his face dramatically. ‘I zink zat you are using ze job as a way to forget ozer zings.’

I laughed at his terrible Freud impression. ‘Stop trying to psychoanalyse me, Karl. I just want the business to succeed.’

‘It is succeeding, silly. But you need to live, Baby Sister, before you turn around and find yourself an old spinster. Life won’t wait for you!’ He wagged his finger. ‘I’m just concerned that you’re keeping busy as a way to avoid facing up to the fact that your life is otherwise empty, Katie.’

I sank backwards into the cushions and stared at the ornate Artex on the ceiling. I traced the circles with my eyes, round and round and round. Karl was right. Life wouldn’t wait for me and apart from my family, Ann and Crumbtious, there wasn’t anyone or anything else that really mattered to me. Undeniably, I had moments of panic where I wondered if I’d ever meet the right guy and sometimes I heard my biological clock ticking but I always tried to muffle the sound. Not every woman had to have kids. I was lucky. I had a job I loved and a best friend and a family. Admittedly, I had a family I didn’t see as often as I could do, but they were there and they knew I loved them. Although since losing Granny I had been more aware of the fact that I could actually lose the rest of them too and that thought had kept me awake for more nights than I cared to admit.

‘I just want to see you happy, Katie.’ Karl kissed my cheek and smoothed my curls from my forehead, then gently examined my tender bruise. ‘Harrison was the wrong guy. He messed up but there are other men out there.’

‘And all the good ones are gay.’ I grinned and tweaked his nose.

‘Hey!’ He swatted my hand. ‘But sadly, you’re probably right, Kitty-Kat. I mean, there’s me and then there’s Angelo.’

‘He’s an absolute dream.’

‘Isn’t he just? You know, I think that he might just be… the one .’

‘Oooh!’ I clapped my hands. ‘Are we going to have a wedding?’

‘Well one of us better get hitched soon to keep the matriarch happy.’ He giggled as he glanced at our mother and I joined him. I would much prefer Karl to experience her interference in his wedding any day. Just the thought of trying to please her as I made wedding plans turned me cold. Yes, Karl could be the one to get married and perhaps he could be the one to have kids. As for me, I would just have to eat cake and get a cat.

‘Oh and, Kitty-Kat, I do love you, so you’d prefer me to be honest with you, right?’

My heart sank. What did he have to tell me? What had I done, or failed to do?

‘Ur…yeah.’ I bit my lip.

‘You need to tone it down a bit.’

‘Tone what down?’

‘The bronzer. You’d fit right in on a reality-TV show with your face caked like that. Actually, you’d make a few of those girls look anaemic.’

I covered my cheeks with my hands. What did he mean? It hadn’t been very bright in my room when I’d gotten ready and I had been in kind of a rush.

I stood and peered at my reflection in the mirror above the fireplace. Oh no! I resembled an Oompa Loompa with cheeks to rival Aunt Sally. If Worzel Gummidge could see me now, he’d be offering me a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake. Even worse, was knowing that Sam had seen me like this. So when I’d flattered myself by thinking he was smiling at me over dinner, fantasising that he might be thinking I’d matured into a belle to rival Angelina Jolie – the wine was strong – he must actually have been laughing quietly at my toxic-orange face. How awful! I’d never be able to face him again! I’d have to stay in my room all through the holidays. I would have to hide myself away.

Suddenly grumpy, I asked, ‘Why is Sam here?’ I sank back into my seat and accepted the tissue that Karl offered.

‘Didn’t I tell you last week on the phone? It was a busy one with trying to wrangle my latest contract and jetting back from visiting Angelo’s family in Verona. I must have forgotten and I feel terrible now.’

I shook my head as I rubbed furiously at my cheeks with the tissue until my skin tingled. ‘No, you didn’t say anything about him coming too.’

‘Well he did only decide last minute really. But I thought that it would do him good to get away. I was afraid that it would be weird for the two of you but as so much has happened since…since then , I hoped that you’d be okay with it. It’s the first anniversary, you see, and I didn’t want him and the kids home alone. At least here he can have the privacy and space of the old lodge just off the driveway, whilst being near to us – if and when he needs company.’

‘Anniversary?’

I watched his lips moving as I tried to absorb what he was saying and the words seemed familiar somehow. While I’d been wrapped up in my business and trying to maintain a charade of a relationship with Harrison, one of our oldest friends had been through hell. Correct that; the man I’d once loved with all my heart had been through hell. Sam had lost his wife a year ago on Boxing Day. She was a nurse and she’d been driving to work when she’d been hit by a drunk driver. She’d died instantly and left behind Sam and their two children. My vision blurred. A family had been torn apart, leaving a husband without a wife and two children without a mother.

‘So Christmas will be a truly dreadful time for them then?’ My voice came out all thick and slurry.

Karl eyed me carefully. ‘Yes, Katie. Sam’s parents have been great but they needed a break and jetted off to Italy. They asked Sam to join them but he declined. Said he needed to start standing on his own two feet. I really admire him. He’s a strong guy and he’s doing a great job of bringing up Jack and Holly. Even if Jack isn’t a Santa believer.’ He cocked an eyebrow.

‘Well,’ I swallowed the lump in my throat, ‘we have a duty to make this Christmas a great one for them, don’t we?’ I was filled with a sudden determination. ‘I want to help those babies to enjoy a good old Warham family Christmas that Granny would be proud of.’

Karl gestured at the other side of the room where Mum and Dad were sitting. ‘You sure about that last bit? I know Mum and dad are on board but with Aunty Gina here it could get a bit…crazy at times.’

‘You mean because Granny’s not here to rein her in?’

He grinned. ‘I think she’s mellowed a bit as she’s aged. She’s not half as wild any more.’

I pictured the Christmas when Gina had quite literally climbed the Christmas tree, then the one when she’d insisted that we all stay at a cottage in West Wales and take a Boxing Day swim in the freezing cold sea. She’d certainly been wild at times. ‘Yes, let’s have a good old Warham family Christmas with Santa and a Christmas tree and decorations and crackers and carols and lots of yummy food.’