Authors: Tammy Robinson
Maggie turned back to Jack, embarrassed. “Sorry about him.”
“He’s kind of right though isn’t he. I mean, we have been fairly annoying.”
“Don’t tell him that, he’ll never shut up.”
“I hate to break this moving talk up, lovebirds,” Ray piped up from the backseat, “but you’ve just driven right past the hospital.”
As it turned out,
Ray was incredibly lucky not to do himself any great injury in his accident, coming out of it with only a mildly sprained ankle.
“You’ve been incredibly lucky,” the doctor told him sternly. “If the ground hadn’t been so muddy from the rain which helped cushion your fall, I could be zipping you into a body bag right now.”
Ray hung his head in repentance.
“And fancy putting your daughter through the fright of her life like that,” the doctor
continued with the lecture “I’ve a good mind to give Dot a call when she gets home and let her know just what you’ve been up to.”
Ray
had looked up again quickly. “Aw no, please doc, there’s no call for that. I’ve learnt my lesson. I won’t ride the bike into town anymore.” He gave the boy scouts salute with a flourish, regardless of the fact he’d never been to a meeting in his life.
“You won’t get the chance,” Maggie said, standing at the side of the bed while the doctor finished his examination. “
First thing in the new year I’ll be selling whatever’s left of that damn thing.”
Ray opened his mouth to protest but Maggie
gave him a fierce look. “It’s either that or I let the doc here call mum and she’ll probably shove it off a cliff with you tied to it. At least my way you might get some money out of it.”
Ray shut his mouth again and sighed deeply. He knew when he was beat.
The storm had blown out as quickly as it had blown in, and the sun was just blazing up over the horizon as Jack dropped them back at the house. He and Maggie hadn’t had a chance to continue their conversation but he could see that it would have to wait. She was exhausted by the night’s events. He helped her assist Ray up the steps and onto the couch then he hovered, unsure.
“Dad, aren’t you going to say thanks?” Maggie prompted.
“Thanks,” Ray said. He was still smarting over the plans for his bike.
Maggie rolled her eyes.
“He’s grateful really.” She walked Jack to the door. “We both are. And mum would be too, if she knew.”
“
You’re not going to tell her, are you love? You promised.” Ray’s head popped up over the back of the couch.
Maggie frowned at him. “
I promised no such thing. And funny how you heard that from all the way over there but you can’t hear when I ask you to help with the dishes.” Ray sank back down onto the couch, out of sight.
Jack grinned at Maggie. “I bet you
can’t stay mad at him for long.”
Maggie sighed. “No you’re
probably right, but he doesn’t have to know that.”
“Are you going to tell your mother what happened?”
“Are you kidding? No way.”
He looked over her shoulder, “Where is your mother by the way? And Willow?”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is they’re in a cave in the hills.”
“Fine, don’t tell me then.”
“No seriously, they’re in a cave somewhere up in the hills around the lake. With three of my mother’s friends who also happen to be aged in their seventies but who, just like her, refuse to grow up.”
“See,” Jack said, “just when I think your family couldn’t possibly get any more interesting, you go a
nd tell me something like that. You must tell me more about this cave.”
Maggie put her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn.
“Another time. I just want to get my head down on my pillow and sleep for a few hours.”
“Of course, I shouldn’t be keeping you up.” Jack
leant forward and kissed her on the forehead lightly, “Is that invitation for Christmas day still open?”
“Hmm,”
Maggie pretended to consider it, then she smiled. “Of course it is.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Sleep tight beautiful Maggie Tanner.”
Then he left. Maggie watched him drive off down the driveway. His hand extended out of the window and waved as he turned out the end, and she waved back then shut the door. She yawned again and wandered over to check on her father. He was sound asleep, snoring lightly. Watching him for a few minutes she reflected on Jack’s words; yes, her family might be as crazy as a box of feral cats, but they were her family. And despite their varying eccentricities she wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Chapter
twenty four
“Mum! Mum!” Maggie’s eyes flew open when she heard Willow calling. She rolled over and looked at the clock, eleven. Only a few short hours since she had closed her eyes, but the sleep had done its job and she felt marginally more human.
“I’m in
here baby,” she called, stretching.
The door flew open with a crash and Maggie winced.
“What are you still doing in bed lazy bones?” Willow asked, puzzled.
“Never mind that,
come over here and tell me all about your night. Did you have fun?”
Willow skipped across the room and jumped up onto the bed beside her mother.
“Ouuf,” Maggie said, as she got an inadvertent knee in the stomach.
“Sorry.”
Willow snuggled in beside her mother, on top of the covers. “I missed you,” she admitted.
“I missed you too baby girl,” Maggie pulled her in and kissed her daughters face in a series of fluttery kisses until Willow pushed her away, laughing.
“Stop, it tickles,” she protested.
“So how was your night?”
“It was really cool mum. I know why Gran likes going there now; it was so much fun, like camping, but cooler.”
“Did you get wet in the storm?”
“Nope, we were nice and dry inside the cave. Lois lit a fire so we were really warm.”
“And what did you get up to?”
“Mum, you know as well as I do that what happens in the cave, stays in the cave. Gran told me you went when you were little and that you had to take the secret oath as well.”
“Oh right,” Maggie bit her lip to stop from grinning, “the secret oath. Yes I remember that. Ok I’ll let you off from telling me anything. As long as you’re ok and you had fun I’m happy with that.”
“I did, and I’m fine. Although – ” she pulled a face.
“What?”
“Well listening to Hazel sing was a bit like torture. She’s terrible, almost as bad as you.”
“Hey! You take that back.” Maggie tickled Willow hard on her ribs until giggling, she apologised.
“Is it safe to come in?” a voice asked from out of sight around the door.
“Yes mum,” Maggie said, “you can come in.”
Dot entered the room, looking rueful. “You’re not angry with me?”
“No I’m not angry, I’m
furious
. And if you
ever
take my daughter away again without first consulting me I will move out of this house and you will never see her again, are we clear?” But there was no real venom behind Maggie’s words, they were more token as she reasserted her motherly authority.
“Crystal,” Dot nodded with relief.
“Why are you still in bed? And why is your father asleep on the couch?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Do I want to hear it?”
“No,
it’s probably best you don’t.”
Dot nodded. “I’ll take your word for it.
”
“Right, time for you to get up, sleepyhead.”
Willow crawled off the bed and peeled the covers off Maggie. “Tomorrow is Christmas,” Willow continued, “and you have so much to do.”
“Like what?”
“Duh, like wrap lots of presents. There’s only a couple under the tree and that can’t be right.”
“Cheeky,” Dot
swotted her. “Go and wake your grandfather up.” She watched fondly as Willow ran from the room.
“I’m sorry I didn’t ask you,” she apologised again to Maggie. “I was afraid you would say no and after everything she’s been through lately with the discovery of Jon and the funeral, I just figured she could do with a
special little getaway.”
“It’s fine mum. I was pissed off at first but I
know your intentions were good. Just promise to never take her away again without talking to me.” Maggie’s face became very serious. “That girl is everything to me. I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to her.”
“Nothing is going to
happen Maggie, she’s fine and she’s got all of us looking out for her. You’re a wonderful mother, you really are.”
“Thanks, it’s nice to have it validated once in a while.”
Mother and daughter shared a tender smile, then Dot checked her watch. “Willow is right, it’s time to get out of bed. We have things to prepare for tomorrow.” She was almost out the door when Maggie called after her.
“Mum?”
“Yes?”
“We have an extra guest
for Christmas, I hope that’s ok.”
“Of course it is, the more the merrier. Anyone I know?”
Maggie looked down at the bedspread and fiddled with a loose string. “Jack,” she said quietly.
“Sorry, I couldn’t quite catch that, who?”
“I said Jack and you heard me perfectly. You’re just making me repeat it to be mean.”
A
glint appeared in Dot’s eye. “Oh wonderful,” she said. “I take it things are back on track?”
“
We’re friends again, yes, if that’s what you mean.”
“Friends?
”
“Yes,
friends.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Nothing more on the cards?”
“Well now, I didn’t say
that
exactly.”
“I’ll just watch this space then
shall I?”
“You do that.”
The rest of the day passed in a flurry of present wrapping, food preparation and house tidying. The scents of cinnamon and nutmeg mingled with the scent of pine from the tree. Last night’s storm was a distant memory and the land, washed clean, basked in the heat from a hot, summer sun. Willow vanished as soon as she knew there were chores to be done, and did not return until the sun was going down on Christmas Eve. The four of them ate salad and cold chicken on the porch, and then went inside to enjoy a drink and watch The Grinch who stole Christmas. It was cosy and soul warming and Maggie felt like she might burst open from the happiness that swelled up inside.
Chapter
twenty five
Christmas morning, as if in an effort to make up for its failure the day of the storm, the sun turned the heat on early and by eight the road was blurry with a heat haze hovering just above the surface and the smell of hot tarmac had started to pervade the air. Maggie knew this because she had looked down the driveway towards the road at least twelve times since rising. Each time on the pretence of doing something else, like throwing a tea towel in the laundry hamper, or fetching the mail, despite the fact the mailman almost never delivered before one in the afternoon and certainly never at all on holidays.
“What?” she asked defensively when her mother and father exchanged glances upon her return to the
house.
“Nothing,” they both chorused
.
The four of them exchanged presents and drank a glass of bubbly wine with breakfast, which consisted of bacon and eggs, hash browns and French toast.
“Oh hell,” Ray groaned afterwards, holding the sides of his stomach, “and it’s only just begun.”
Finally, at just after eleven, the sound of tyres crunching over gravel could be heard and Maggie
came flying out from her room where she had been checking her outfit, also for the twelfth time that morning. She came to a halt when she saw her family watching her.
“I
think Jack might be here,” she said, trying to sound casual.
“Well you’d best go check then, hadn’t you?” said Ray.
“You know, just to be polite and hospitable,” Dot added.
“After all,” Ray said, “he may have forgotten where the door is.”
They grinned at each other again like they were the funniest people on the planet.
“I’m going to bang your heads together if you two keep grinning at each other like that,” Maggie warned.
“Like what?” Dot protested innocently. “Can we help it if we’re happy? It’s Christmas after all.”
“You know exactly what. And you’d better not say anything stupid
in front of Jack. Not unless you want secrets to start popping up out of the woodwork.” She looked meaningfully at Ray when she said it. His face blanched.
“I’ll behave,” he
said.
“Secrets?
What secrets?” Dot asked. “What’s she on about?”
But Maggie had already left the room, walking at a more normal pace out onto the porch to greet Jack. She waited at the top of the stairs while he parked under the shade of the Magnolia tree. Willow and Nick were taking turns to push each other on the tyre swing, although from what Maggie had observed that morning it seemed to be Nick who was doing most of the pushing.
Nick’s family weren’t overly into Christmas. They did the present thing and ate a big breakfast and then that was them done for the day. She saw Jack get out of the truck and exchange words with Willow and Nick, though she couldn’t hear what from where she was standing. She saw Willow roll her eyes and shake her head as if Jack had said something lame. Jack opened the door wider and Rufus bounded out and over to Willow, jumping up to place his paws on her shoulders and lick her face. Maggie could hear Willow giggling from where she stood and the sound warmed her heart. Jack looked up and saw Maggie watching and waved. She waved back and tried to ignore the fact that her heart had started beating a whole lot faster.
God he was good looking. She didn’t know how she had ever thought otherwise.
She pretended she was picking splinters out of the wood on the railing while he walked over.
“Merry Christmas,” he smiled, coming up to stand beside her.
“Merry Christmas to you too,” she said back, although she didn’t turn to look at him, watching Willow and Nick instead. She felt both nervous and excited to see him again.
“Get anything good?” he asked.
She struggled to remember, the now familiar smell of him standing so close had made her feel light headed.
“A book from mum and dad and a pretty photo frame from Willow.
You?”
“Oh Rufus presented me with an old sock in bed this morning.
”
“Oh that’s, um,
lovely
. Very thoughtful of him.”
“Not really, he gives me the same thing every year. Doesn’t go to a lot of trouble, just steals one
from the laundry basket.”
“Cute
.”
“Here,” he handed her a small parcel.
“What is it?”
“Traditionally, I think you’re meant to unwrap it to find out rather than
ask the giver.”
She ran a fingernail under the tape and peeled back the paper to reveal an unmistakable small jewellery box.
“Oh,” she said. “I couldn’t possibly accept this.”
“How do you know when you haven’t eve
n opened it? It might be a walnut for all you know.”
“A walnut?”
“First thing I could think of.”
“So it’s not a walnut?
Now I’ll be disappointed.”
“Ho
pefully when you do eventually open it, you won’t be.”
She lifted the lid and
frowned. It was a sterling silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a witch on a broom. “A witch?” She didn’t grasp the significance.
“
Don’t you like it? I thought with you being so magical yourself you would.”
“You think I’m a witch?”
He smiled. “How else could you have cast such a spell over me?”
She smiled, touched. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever bought her. She wasn’t about to tell him that though. “You get away with corny lines like that back where you come from?”
“Oh yes. City girls lap up stuff like that.”
“Just how many girls are we talking about here, for interests’ sake?”
“Not too many. The usual amount. May I?” He gestured towards the case and she handed it over. He took the necklace out, placing the case down on the banister beside him.
Maggie turned her back to him and lifted her hair with one hand while he threaded the necklace around her neck and fastened the clasp. His fingers lightly tickled the fine hairs on the back of her neck and she felt them stand
up involuntarily. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of being so close to him again.
Jack was also enjoying the lack of space between them, and without
a thought he leant forward and touched his lips to the back of her neck. He felt her shiver.
“Mmm,” he murmured. “You smell delicious
, what
is
that intoxicating smell?”
“
Lilac soap,” she told him, turning back to face him. She wondered if he would remember handing her the soap that day in her shop and the meaning on the card.
His eyebrows shot up, which indicated to her that he did.
She blushed slightly.
“Wait here,” she told him, and hurried inside to fetch her own present for him. When she returned she seemed almost reluctant to pass him the parcel.
“I’m sorry but it’s nothing as fancy as a necklace,” she apologised. She’d bought it as a tongue in cheek gift but now she was regretting her choice.
“I’m sure whatever it is I’ll love it.” He opened the paper and then it was his turn to frown at her
quizzically.
She reached over and pulled out the heavy duty
green rubber gardening gloves.
“They’re for next time
Bruno comes in to see you, so you don’t get scratched again.”
He laughed. “What a
thoughtful gift. Thank you.”
“You’re
very welcome. I know you don’t share my special animal whispering talent, so I thought these might help you deal with him.”
“I’m sure they’ll come in very handy.”
“Merry Christmas Jack.”
“And Merry Christmas to you too, beautiful Maggie Tanner.”
He replied softly, reaching out a hand to brush some hair from her face. “May I?”
She nodded.
He leant forward and kissed her, softly at first then hungrily. The only thing that stopped Maggie pushing him back against the wall of the house and ravishing him right there was the sound of groans and fake vomiting from Willow and Nick. She pushed Jack away and put a hand to her mouth.
“Oh god I forgot they were there,” she said, horrified. This wasn’t how she planned on Willow finding out, but when she looked at her daughter there was no shock on her face. Instead she smiled at her mother and gave her the thumbs up to signify her approval.
“Get a room!” Nick called and Willow punched him hard on the upper arm.
Dot’s head appeared in the doorframe. “Grubs up!” she called.
“Oh hi Jack, I didn’t know you’d arrived,” she said, her face a picture of innocence. “Merry Christmas to you.”
“Merry Christmas to you too Dot.”
“You hungry? There’s a feast laid out inside. Ray is chomping to get started, despite already inhaling his body weight in bacon at breakfast. I swear, that man does this every year. He’ll eat himself fit to burst then complain all the night long how sick he is. Then he’ll get up tomorrow and start eating all the leftovers. He hates to waste any food you see.”
“
Let me see if I can help him out with that. I’m pretty hungry myself and the smells you’ve bought out with you are causing my taste buds to leap right off my tongue.”
“Good boy,” Dot nodded. “I do like a man with an appetite. So does Maggie by the way, she’s an excellent cook.”
“Mum!”
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
Jack hid a smile. “Lead the way.”
“
Oi! You two! Get in here now or I’ll lock this door and you’ll miss out altogether,” Dot called to Willow and Nick.
“Yeah right!”
Willow hollered back.
The adults were seated around the table when Willow and Nick finally came running inside, tripping and elbowing each other to be the first to get to the table. They fought over the sa
me chair but a swift kick from Willow won out and Nick collapsed into the other one, hurt and nursing his pride.
‘Lift it, don’t scrape it.”
“No you don’t, you two,” Dot scowled.
“What?”
“Didn’t we raise you better than that? Scram and wash your hands, the pair of you.”
Nick and W
illow took off out of the room, jostling to see who could get to the stairs first.
Dot watched them go and nodded to herself
happily.
“Oh yes,” she said
to no one in particular, “it’s fairly obvious what’s going to happen with those two.” Then she caught sight of Maggie’s expression and hastily added, “Oh far,
far
in the future. Obviously.”