Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights

  ‘I don’t know.’ I’ve heard nothing from her since she left, so I don’t even know where she is. And if I do tell Edie, will she be happy for me or not? That one’s going to be infinitely more difficult to judge.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  When I knock on Stan’s door, it takes him a while to shuffle to open it and I stand shivering in the cold.

  ‘How’s my favourite girl?’ he says when he lets me in.

  He’s looking very smart today and I love the fact that he does his best to look dapper, even if he’s only going to be sitting in the chair all day. Even if, sometimes, he doesn’t button up his shirt or his cardigan quite right. And there might be a bit of stray food down the front.

  Danny comes by to help him to have a bath a couple of times a week, but I think we should talk about getting him a walk-in shower fitted after Christmas, and maybe a few other bits to allow him to move round his cottage more easily, though I’m not sure that the narrow, steep stairs and low headroom would make a stairlift an option.

  He sits down and I give him the scrambled egg on toast that Lija has freshly made. ‘Eat it straight away,’ I say, lifting the lid. ‘Before it goes cold.’

  ‘Lovely,’ he says, when he see what it is. ‘My favourite.’

  I make a cup of tea while he’s eating and, when he’s finished, say to him, ‘I’ve got some news. Good news.’

  ‘Not another baby?’

  I laugh. ‘Not this time, Stan. Danny and I are getting married.’

  ‘Oh, how wonderful.’ He picks a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and wipes a stray tear from his eye. ‘I’m so happy. You make a lovely couple. He’s the right man for you.’

  ‘I think so too.’

  ‘That Anthony chap was never your type.’

  ‘I know. Though it took me a long time to realise that.’ There’s never a day goes by when I don’t thank my lucky stars that Danny happened to drop by on his canal adventure. What if he’d just carried on and stopped somewhere further down? I wonder how many people miss their soulmates by seconds, spend their lives never quite meeting the person that they should be with.

  ‘I have something to ask you too, Stan.’ For a moment, I think of my own dad and how pleased he would have been that I’m finally settling down with the man that I love. My throat closes with emotion and tears threaten my eyes. He and Danny would have got on famously. I hope he’s up there somewhere looking down on me now. I clear my throat and take Stan’s hands. ‘Would you do the very great honour of giving me away?’

  ‘Oh, my dear girl. Of course I will. The honour is all mine.’ Then we have a good blub together and a hug.

  ‘I’ll let you know when as soon as we’ve organised it.’

  ‘I’ll see if I can clear my busy calendar,’ he teases. I give him a kiss on his forehead and leave him with a big smile on his face.

  The rest of the day goes by in a blur of sandwiches and mince pies and Christmas cake. Our specials today are chocolate chestnut torte with honeycomb and St Clement’s shortbread sharpened with orange and lemon zest. We should have baked double the amount as they’ve all gone before mid-afternoon.

  Rainbow does, indeed, tell EVERYONE that she’s going to be a bridesmaid. I think by the end of the day that Lija is sick of the word ‘wedding’ already and is hankering for non-stop chatter about Christmas instead.

  When Danny comes home that night, he’s also beside himself with happiness. He winds his arms round me as I’m in the galley scrubbing some jacket potatoes for dinner.

  ‘I’ve booked our wedding for Christmas Eve,’ he says, delighted with himself.

  My heart wants to leap out of my chest with happiness. ‘So soon?’

  ‘They’d had a cancellation. It’s the last booking of the day before they knock off for Christmas. Three o’clock.’

  I get the urge to do a Rainbow-style dance around the boat, but somehow restrain myself and settle for saying, ‘Sounds perfect.’

  Danny looks at me anxiously. ‘You’re pleased?’

  I hold him tightly. ‘More than you’ll ever know.’

  ‘We’ve got to go in beforehand and do the paperwork together, but that’s it. All sorted. We can do the dirty deed and come straight back here for a bit of a knees-up.’

  ‘It’s the wedding I always dreamed of,’ I tease.

  ‘If you wanted Westminster Abbey, I’d make that work,’ he says earnestly. ‘Though we might have to sneak in round the back and tag onto someone else’s wedding.’

  I laugh. ‘I’ve asked Stan to give me away and he was delighted. Lija and Rainbow will be bridesmaids. One considerably more reluctant than the other.’

  ‘I can imagine.’

  I feel myself smiling contentedly. ‘Actually, a Christmas Eve wedding sounds very romantic.’

  ‘We’ll give it a good go.’ He turns towards me and kisses me deeply. ‘I can still do romance.’

  Then, quite frankly, the jacket spuds go to pot. We spend the evening in bed, our love the only sustenance we need. Though, in fairness, we do get up at midnight to make toast.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  ‘My nana’s mate runs the charity shop in WHATSIT.’ Rainbow gestures in the general direction of ‘Whatsit’. ‘It’s only ten minutes from here. Nana’s just texted me to say that they’ll stay open late for us tonight if we want to go and rummage for wedding outfits.’

  ‘Will she? That’s fantastic.’ I was wondering when we were going to be able to get away from the madness to go shopping for anything. I can’t afford the prices in the shops and I can’t exactly order my bridal dress online from China when we have so little time to organise everything. Christmas is now hurtling towards us, unstoppable. The food, at least, shouldn’t be a problem. We are, after all, a café and a few extra cakes and butties at short notice shouldn’t faze us.

  ‘Shall I tell her we’ll do it?’

  ‘Yes, please. If we finish briskly at five, we could be tidied away and up there by six.’

  ‘COOL,’ Rainbow says and texts that information back. When she’s finished she shouts out, ‘SHOOOOOPPPPPIIIIIIING!’ And does her now familiar little dance round the kitchen.

  I grin and Lija rolls her eyes. ‘How are you feeling today?’ I ask.

  ‘Fat. Bloated. Tired. Sick. Worried.’

  That’s quite a speech for Lija who would normally just say, ‘Effing awful.’

  ‘We have the wedding to distract us and then, after Christmas, we can start making plans for the baby.’ She hugs her arms round herself and I put my hands on her shoulders. ‘It will all be fine. You’ll see. We’re finally getting back on top.’

  ‘Every time you say that, shit falls on my head.’

  ‘Next year will be different. I promise. I can feel it in my bones.’

  ‘I hope that you are right, Mrs Glass-Half-Full.’

  We have a lovely, busy day. An office party comes in for afternoon tea and are boisterous and fun. They’re all wearing Christmas hats and have party poppers. They order lots of extra drinks and bring their own champagne for toasts. I catch Rainbow making eyes at one of the young men. Her reindeer antlers, and many other parts of her, jiggle even more enthusiastically than usual. The object of her affections doesn’t seem to mind a bit.

  When they’ve gone, Lija and Rainbow blitz the kitchen and I sweep up the dining room floor. There are so many coloured feathers floating about, it looks as if a million parrots have been flying around in here.

  When we’re done, we jump into Lija’s car and head up to the charity shop – Lija driving as if we’re in a getaway vehicle.

  ‘So,’ I say to Rainbow, ‘did you get his phone number?’

  ‘OMG! Yes!’ She rolls her eyes. ‘Did you see him? FIT or what? He looked like Brooklyn Beckham and EVERYTHING.’

  ‘He seemed very sweet.’

  ‘Wait till I tell my nana.’ Rainbow punches in a text as we speed down the country lanes.

  Even when we hit the city, Lija doesn’t slow dow
n and we get to the charity shop in double quick time.

  ‘This is WELL cool, this shop,’ Rainbow informs us as we clamber out of the car and head for the door. ‘It’s done out like a boutique and EVERYTHING. My nan’s friend watched that Mary Portas programme on the telly and now she thinks she’s running Topshop or WHATEVER.’

  The bell jingles as we enter and an elderly lady with cropped red hair greets us. ‘Hello, lovelies. I hear you’ve come to do wedding shopping. Who’s the lucky bride?’

  ‘I am.’ I put my hand up somewhat coyly.

  ‘Congratulations. A Christmas wedding! How romantic! I’ve put out our selection of wedding gowns and bridesmaid’s dresses. We’ve not too many, but there are some pretty ones.’

  Rainbow rushes over to them. On a separate rail, there are three or four traditional 1980s’ wedding dresses – confections of lace and big shoulders. She flicks through them squealing with delight.

  ‘OMG! These are AMAZEBALLS! You would look TOTALLY cool in that.’ Rainbow holds up something with lots of frills. ‘VINTAGE!’

  In my book vintage is a close bedfellow to old tat. I make sure the lovely shop manager isn’t looking before I grimace. ‘I was thinking of something less … frothy,’ I whisper to Rainbow. ‘And something warmer. I’d freeze to death in one of these. I don’t want to be blue when I say my vows. Sleeves would be nice.’

  She puts it back on the rail looking thwarted in her attempt to dress me up like one of those old-fashioned crinoline lady toilet roll holders. I glance at all the rest, but there’s nothing really here for me. It’s tricky getting married at my age. I’m worried about looking like mutton dressed as lamb. I want Danny to be proud of me. I don’t want the first thing he thinks of when he sees me to be whether we’ve got any Andrex in the cupboard.

  The bridesmaids’ dresses are predominantly shiny satin in pastel colours. Rainbow gushes over every one. My other bridesmaid and I are less keen.

  Lija looks at them with disdain. ‘No. Flipping. Way.’

  Only Lija can say ‘flipping’ and make it sound exactly the same as … well … you know what.

  ‘Any good, lovely?’ The manager joins us.

  ‘I was thinking more casual,’ I tell her. ‘The wedding is very low-key, informal, and I’d like to look a bit Christmassy, if you have anything like that?’

  ‘Let me see.’ She puts her glasses on and wanders away into the depths of the shop.

  ‘Just go and find what you’d be comfortable wearing,’ I say to Lija. ‘I want you to be happy. There’s no colour scheme. I don’t have a theme.’

  ‘OK.’ Lija also wanders off.

  ‘OMG! I, like, totally LOVE this one!’ Rainbow holds up a white cotton maxi dress. It has smocking across the bust and long sleeves with smocking at the cuffs. She does a twirl.

  ‘It’s very pretty.’ She looks like a little angel.

  ‘Nineteen seventies’ original,’ the manager says as she bustles by. ‘Ideal.’

  Rainbow jigs with excitement. ‘Can I wear this? Can I wear this? Can I? Can I?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘I’ll try it on.’ She dashes for the changing room.

  While she tries on her dress, I go in search of Lija. I find her at the back of the shop, rooting through a rail of black dresses. No surprise there.

  She pulls one out and gives it a cursory glance.

  ‘This.’ This one is three-quarter length, a heavy material. It’s got a V-neck and one of the shoulders has a grey lace panel over the black fabric. When she turns it round, the whole of the back down to the waist features the same lace.

  ‘That’s fantastic.’

  ‘It does not say “wedding”.’

  ‘No. But it very much says “Lija”. I love it.’

  Eventually, Rainbow comes out of the changing room. She twirls round and round in her dress.

  ‘You look beautiful,’ I tell her, a lump in my throat.

  ‘OMG! I’m not taking it off. EVER.’ She admires herself in the mirror. ‘Wait till my nan sees this. She’ll blub her EYEBALLS out!’

  I think that’s probably a good thing in Rainbow World.

  A moment later, Lija stomps out of the changing room and glowers in the mirror. ‘Is fine,’ she says. Which means that she also adores the dress.

  ‘You look wonderful too.’

  ‘Am fat as flipping house,’ she complains and disappears into the changing room once more.

  Now there’s just me to sort out.

  The manager appears again. ‘I’ve had this in the back for ages,’ she says. ‘It needs a few repairs. I was going to take it home to do some stitching so we could charge a bit more, but I never got round to it. I’d almost forgotten it was here.’

  She holds out a dark red, velvet coat dress. ‘I think this is 1970’s too. It’s lovely quality. A couple of the buttons are a bit loose and the hem’s coming undone. If you’re not too bad with a needle, that’s easily fixed.’

  ‘Oh.’ The dress takes my breath away. This is perfect. The material is worn, but luxurious. It’s buttoned all down the front with velvet-covered buttons, studded with crystals, as is the collar. It’s nipped in at the waist with a broad belt in the same fabric. The sleeves are full, buttoned at the cuff. Very bohemian with a touch of old-school glamour. ‘It’s gorgeous.’

  ‘That is TOTALLY cool.’ Even Rainbow is slightly speechless.

  ‘I can’t think of anything better for a Christmas wedding,’ the manager says. ‘Try it on.’

  Taking the coat dress from her, I rush to the changing room. It fits like a glove and when I look in the mirror, there’s a beautiful woman looking back at me. I step out of the changing room with a ‘Ta-dah!’

  Rainbow bursts into tears. ‘OMG! I’m all TEARY.’ She fans her eyes with her fingers.

  Lija nods her approval. ‘Nice.’

  ‘Shall I get it?’ Will Danny like it? is what I mean. Will I look as lovely as I possibly can do for him?

  ‘Say YES to the DRESS!’ Rainbow squeals.

  ‘I wanted thirty pounds for it,’ the manager says as if she’s asking for a king’s ransom. Which she might as well be due to the parlous state of our finances. ‘If you buy all three dresses, I’ll do you a deal.’

  ‘Done.’ I swirl the skirt of the coat, thinking that thirty pounds is a bargain as this dress has made me feel like a million dollars.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  I’m still back at the boat before Danny, so I hide my purchases in the small cabin – having a last little peek at my gorgeous dress before I secrete it away. Christmas Eve and the wedding are close upon us now. I’m yet to go into full panic mode, but it can’t be too far away until I do. As it is, I’m feeling relatively calm. Lija, Rainbow and I sorted out the catering in the car on the way back from the charity shop. We’ll keep it simple – Lija has promised to make her wonderful goulash to her grandma’s recipe and her usual mountain of rice. I can make some salads too – the sort of food we prepare every day. We’ll do it all together in the morning before the wedding as the café is closed then. I’ll take a run to the local trade warehouse in the next few days and buy some cheap prosecco for a toast or two. I still have to give some serious consideration to the cake, and I have to face the fact that if I go for anything too fancy then I’m probably not going to have time to make it myself. For flowers, I’m going plain and simple. I’m not planning to have a formal bouquet, but I’ll buy some blooms the day before for us all. Christmassy, if I can. I’m sure the supermarkets will have loads. Job done. I’ll become Mrs Danny Wilde with a minimum of fuss and I couldn’t be happier.

  When Danny finally comes home, he’s exhausted and I hate to see him so tired. He takes me in his arms and I rest my head on his shoulder as we sway together for a while.

  ‘It’s good to be home,’ he says with a weary sigh.

  ‘You’re late.’

  ‘We’re inundated with work at the yard. Which is great, in some ways. My boss, Tommo, says he’s goi
ng to keep me on into the new year and for the foreseeable future.’

  ‘That’s brilliant news.’

  ‘It’s certainly a relief,’ he agrees. ‘I’m not going to make my fortune there, but it’s a steady income and I do enjoy the work even though it’s back-breaking. At least we can make some plans now.’

  ‘You’ll still manage a few days off over the holiday?’

  ‘Tommo is only planning to close on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. That’s it. I asked for Christmas Eve off for the wedding and he even wanted me to work in the morning.’

  ‘You said no?’

  He laughs. ‘I did. I’m going to have to get Stan and myself ready. That could take for ever. You know how high-maintenance Stan is,’ he jokes. ‘I’m planning to cook us both a full English breakfast on the boat to start the day.’

  ‘He’ll love that.’

  ‘My favourite,’ we say in unison and then giggle.

  I’m assuming that I’ll stay up at the house with Lija the night before. We’ve tidied upstairs a bit after the flood and the leaky roof, but there’s more to do to make the spare room habitable again. After Christmas, we need to think about what to do with the roof too – see whether Danny is able to repair it or whether it’s a lost cause and we’ll have to find the money for a new one. I keep thinking that if we can only get to Christmas, then we can relax. But the truth of the matter is that we’ve got even more to contend with in the new year.

  We eat, chill out on the sofa for an hour and then fall into bed, knackered. The next morning, Danny is up and out before dawn.

  I head to the café early too. The air is biting cold, the sky white and heavy with snow. The weather forecasters keep predicting a downfall but, as yet, it’s still not appeared. We haven’t had a white Christmas for years and it would be lovely. I don’t want so much that it grinds the traffic to a halt and our customers can’t get to us, but you know what I mean. Everything looks so much more seasonal with a dusting of snow. Proper Christmassy.

  We have a busy day, as always. Even though I’m early, Lija and Rainbow are already elbow deep in scones and sandwiches by the time I arrive. The kitchen table is laden with mince pies and Victoria sponges, the icing sugar picking out a snowflake design.