Authors: Unknown
When she heard the voice, she smiled. Oh, Prentice! If she could not recognise him, then the children certainly would not know who it was.
'And how are some of my favourite children this after noon?' He deepened his voice but Dani recognised the timbre of it.
A chatter of excited voices answered him, but the voice of Sharon topped them all.
'Where are your reindeer?'
Dani grinned. She was well used to the awkward questions her children could ask, but how would Prentice deal with this little girl?
'Well.' For an instant he looked up, straight at Dani, and she smiled more widely and raised her eyebrows. Well, Prentice my love, she thought happily, why haven't you brought your reindeer? He had made her love him, so surely two reindeer were not beyond his resources. 'Well, they only come out on Christmas Eve,' Prentice explained. 'You're Sharon, aren't you?' When a wide-eyed nod was his only answer as the little girl seemed awed by the fact that Father Christmas knew her personally, Prentice continued. 'They have so much work to do on Christmas Eve that they stay in Greenland for the rest of the time. Besides . . .' The green eyes twinkled.'. . . it isn't snowing. My reindeer like snow.'
'Will it snow for Christmas?' Another awkward question.
'I haven't decided yet.' Airily Prentice took responsibility for the weather too. 'That'll be a surprise for Christmas Day. Now—I've got some presents here . . .'
Dani had double and triple-checked the contents of his sack the previous evening before taking it into the kitchens of the Manor for Prentice to collect. There was always a dread in her mind that a child would be forgotten or a present mislaid, and there was always one extra present right at the bottom of the hessian bag, just in case.
She leaned back against her wall and marvelled at the change in her man since his arrival in the village. She felt her stomach knot as the idea crossed her mind. No, he wasn't her man. He never would be. Yet he seemed far removed from the aloof, reserved figure who had crossed swords with her at Marina's dinner party.
Had he really changed? He was a man of contradictions. He had not wanted to play the part of Father Christmas, and he had made no pretence of his aversion to the idea. Yet here he was, with Sharon in his lap, giving himself whole-heartedly to his role. Dani did not understand it.
The small ceremony continued. Dani was not really surprised to realise that Prentice knew the name of every child in the school. It reminded her of the puppet show, which he had treated with the same kind of thoughtful earnestness. Would that be the way he would make love to her? Dani shivered. Would there be careful tenderness or would he, as she suspected she would, go up in flames at the first caress. Beneath the civilised, considerate exterior he had a flaring temper that he tried to smother, but Dani knew that passion was there, too. Did he have the capability to love as she would like to be loved? Fool! She said the word to herself angrily. There's no future in it. Not for either of you.
'Well, I have to be going.' Father Christmas rose slowly to his feet. 'But before I do, I must say goodbye to your teachers and to all the people who have helped to get me here.' Purposefully he advanced on Emma Rowett and kissed her soundly on both cheeks, and Dani had to avert her head so that she should not be seen to be laughing. This was another new facet to his personality that she had discovered; his capability for impishness. She found it very endearing.
To the accompanying close interest of the children, Prentice solemnly made his way around the room kissing every adult present, and Dani saw from his actions that she would be the last in line. Suddenly she had no wish for him to kiss her in public. Whatever was between them—if there was anything at all—she wanted it hidden from people, and in his present mood she was not sure of him. Quietly, when his back was turned, she began to edge her way across to a group of mothers standing on the other side of the room, but he turned just as she reached them.
'Mrs Robertson!' His voice boomed across the room. 'Don't you want a kiss from Father Christmas?'
'Go on, Mrs Robertson!' The children took up the call as Dani knew they would, and reluctantly she allowed them to tow her back to where he stood.
'Shy?' He whispered the word as he gravely kissed her on both cheeks and she was torn between vexation and laughter. He could be so totally unpredictable at times. 'Do you think your Mrs Robertson would come home and cook my tea for me while I get all the presents ready for Christmas Day?' He raised his voice and appealed to the children. 'I promise I'll bring her back safely.'
'Oh yes, Mrs Robertson!' Dani found herself and Prentice surrounded by children all urging her to go and cook Father Christmas's meal. 'You'll get a ride in the sleigh,' Darren reminded her, and as she hesitated, not sure whether Prentice really meant the invitation, his hand closed over hers.
'Come on, Mrs Robertson,' Her fingers were tugged, and with some of the children pushing from behind, she was propelled into the hall and then out into the crisp chill of the December afternoon.
'I don't even have a coat!' The idea of a sleigh ride was romantic, but Dani hated to be cold.
'At your service, my lady.' Prentice reached into the sleigh and pulled out a cloak, a rich red in colour and with a thick trimming of white fur around the hood.
'Mrs Christmas!' Someone, some precocious child, started the chant and Dani felt her cheeks flame as Prentice drew it around her shoulders and fastened the clasp that kept it in place.
'Mrs Christmas, indeed,' she muttered, embarrassed that some child could be so accurately have voiced her own thoughts.
'Don't grumble.' There was more than a hint of laughter in his voice, but as he pulled up the hood and framed it around her face, she saw the softness in his eyes and relaxed. 'Come on, Mrs Christmas,' he said, and Dani took his hand to climb into the sleigh, sliding along the bench seat and folding her hands in her lap as she meekly waited for him to join her.
He could drive as well as he could ride. The ponies were turned around and flicked into a smart trot, and Prentice turned and waved as they began to move down the drive.
'Wave, dear,' he said sweetly. 'You inveigled me into this, so the least you can do is to look happy.'
Dani wondered if he really considered that he had been blackmailed into the role he was playing. She felt vaguely disappointed. He had seemed as though he was enjoying himself. She turned in her seat and waved obediently to the children, smiling despite herself at the picture they made gathered in the porch with the light streaming on them.
'You were marvellous!' She turned back in her seat again as the children receded and Emma Rowett began to usher them indoors. 'You should have been an actor.'
'No, thanks.' He leaned back in his seat a little and pushed his hood back from his head, pulling off the white wig with it. 'Oh God, I'm hot!'
'What on earth are you wearing?'
'My sweaters, Dad's over the top and then Brian's over the top of Dad's. And a thick anorak.'
'No wonder you're hot!'
'Yes. Well, if you're going to do something, you may as well do it properly. Actually . . .' He grinned suddenly. '. . . it wasn't as big an ordeal as I'd thought it might be.'
'I'm glad,' Dani said softly.
'Are you?' He struggled with the beard, peeling it from his jaw. Then he turned to look at her. 'Are you enjoying your ride?'
'Yes, thank you.' Dani answered him sedately, but then saw the way his eyes widened and caught her breath apprehensively. 'What's wrong? she asked.
'Nothing's wrong. You look . . .' He seemed to struggle for the right word.'. . . wonderful. Come here.'
Obediently she moved closer, and he put one arm around her and snuggled her against him.
'This is nice,' she said softly.
'Are you warm enough?'
'Yes, thank you.'
'My, aren't we polite today!' The mischievousness had not left him. 'Relax, Dani-girl. It's Christmas.' He shook the length of bells that hung beside his seat and began to hum a carol under his breath and Dani, torn between exasperation and amusement, laid her head lightly against his shoulder and swayed with the rhythm of the sleigh.
'And what do you want Father Christmas to bring you this year?' he asked suddenly.
'Snow.' It was the first thing that came into Dani's mind.
'Snow? What on earth do you want snow for?' They had turned off the main drive now and were on the private road that would take them to the stables. Dani watched the bare, leafless trees throwing gaunt branches up to the sky for a few moments and then shrugged.
'Why not? We haven't had snow at Christmas for years.'
'If you could have anything in the world, what would you ask for?' The ponies had slowed their pace to a walk, but Prentice did not seem anxious for them to go any faster.
I want you. She felt like abandoning caution and screaming the words aloud. I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you and making you happy. I'd like to see you laughing with me, sharing things with me, loving me, just being with me.
'I don't know.' She lied quite deliberately. The truth was impossible and she could think of nothing else that would satisfy his curiosity.
'Everyone has a dream, Dani.' His voice softened and deepened dramatically, and the arm around her shoulders tightened. 'What's yours? Tell me.'
Tell him what? That she dreamed of being the wife of a man to whom the word divorced was anathema, bringing back memories of his own motherless childhood? That love, for her, the second time around would be deeper and richer and everlasting? That she could make him happy if only she was given the chance? Perhaps, Dani thought, a measure of the truth would satisfy him and underline once again the differences between them.
'I'd like to get married again some day,' she said quietly. 'I'd like to have children . . .' Now she would get the usual bitterness, the withdrawal from her because she was not what he wanted. She waited to be hurt like a condemned man waited for the guillotine to fall. She had raised the thorny problem again and she saw no reason why his attitude should have changed.
'Dani. . .'
'Mmm?' She cringed from the tirade she thought was coming.
'Am I really so arrogant?'
She smiled at the realisation that the careless word had hurt him.
'Not all the time,' she said softly. 'Just when you get angry.'
'And then I frighten you?'
'Not particularly.' She looked sideways at him. 'What makes you ask that?'
'Just curious.'
No, his anger frightened her much less than the golden flame of love that he had ignited inside her arid which refused, steadfastly, to be snuffed out. She realised suddenly that she did want him to make love to her, but that she was scared of failing him in some way. She had lost one love. To lose a second would be devastating. Yes, she admitted to herself, she was afraid. Afraid of loving and losing; of not being good enough; of not being the woman who could make Prentice McCulloch happy.
'Why did you cry that night after the fire?' The unexpected question made her tremble.
'I was tired,' she said.
'And?'
Dani reached for honesty and grasped it firmly. 'If you hadn't lost your temper and stormed out. . .you probably wouldn't have left at all.'
His indrawn breath was a hiss of disbelief. When she turned her head to look at him, he was staring back at her incredulously, and she met his eyes and nodded to confirm her words. The horses skittered fretfully, seeming to sense his emotions as if they had manifested themselves through his hands, and Prentice spoke to them quietly.
Dani turned her head away and stared at the darkness of the oak trees they were passing, shivering as a strong gust of wind whipped across the open land and seemed to strike through her clothes and numb her. It was almost dark now, hut she could just see the white-painted gate that would lead them across the road and into the stable yard. What then, she asked herself miserably? Another goodbye? Another misunderstanding born of their uncertainties? She could not bear it.
'When I came here . . .' He seemed to be concentrating all his attention on his driving. ' . . . I didn't realise that I'd be so damn unpopular, even my own half-brother wasn't exactly-pleased to see me. The idea of the country club was hated, and once or twice I thought about abandoning the whole thing. But I'm happy here now. My father wants to retire, so we've talked it over and he's going to sell up and come down here to live. I'm staying here, too. I'm buying a small factory near Ipswich…'
'Will you be happy with anything small?' Dani regretted the interruption as soon as she had spoken the words, and hoped that he would not ask her how she came to know about his business. Brian had told her that Prentice was a clever and successful executive with his big family company, and Dani had not been surprised by the knowledge.
'It won't be small for long.' He turned to grin at her, and it was the confident smile of a man who knew his own capabilities and liked the challenge of making his ideas work.
They reached the gate, and Dani stayed silent as he checked the road carefully before urging the ponies across it and into the safety of the well-lit stable yard.
'Why are you telling me this?' she asked tentatively.
'Because I want you to know.'
'Yes, but. . .'
'I've got the car here,' he interrupted her smoothly. 'It's too cold for you to walk home.' Prentice brought the ponies to a halt, and as one of the stable girls came out of the tack room and held their heads, he jumped down from his seat, called out a greeting ,to Mary Goss who was watching them, and walked around to the other side of the sleigh. He held out his arms to Dani. 'Come on,' he urged her, and when she put her hands on his shoulders, he lifted her from her seat.
The action brought their faces very close together and Dani felt his breath caress her cheek as he lowered her to the ground. The fleeting instant of warmth was very precious, but just another reminder of how deeply she was embroiled with him. Everything about Prentice was deaf to her, even his temper, and yet they seemed to be drifting apart again.