Carole Singer's Christmas (30 page)

‘I’m glad you find it funny,’ he said, glowering. ‘Matilda, I think we’ve established I’m not a suitable stand-in. As I said in the beginning, I really feel Bert Threadgold would be far more suitable for the part.’

‘Bert Threadgold!’ Matilda repeated as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. ‘Of course! Now why didn’t I think of that?’

‘I think we both know that you did,’ Nick replied. He seemed far from amused. ‘Even before I suggested it ten minutes ago. I’m not sure what you’re playing at but if this is some ploy to get Carole and me together, I think you’ve wasted your time and ours. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get out of this ridiculous outfit.’ He removed the hat and beard and tossed them onto the chair.

‘There’s no need to be quite so rude,’ Carole snapped. ‘It was a silly idea I agree, but don’t shout at Matilda. I think we both know who’s behind this, and don’t worry, I’ll tell Gran and Mum to mind their own business in future. You’ve made it perfectly clear you have absolutely no interest in me and I don’t know why they thought this would make you change your mind. Excuse me please, Matilda.’

‘
I
have no interest in you and this won’t make
me
change
my
mind?’ Nick sounded angry and confused.

‘Okay!’ Carole exclaimed. ‘There’s no need to emphasize the fact. I got the message loud and clear, thank you very much!’

‘What message? What are you talking about?’

‘Matilda! Please will you excuse me?’ Carole asked again, her anger rising rapidly.

Nick was beside her in an instant. ‘I asked you what message? I didn’t send you a message.’

‘No! You didn’t. And by not doing so, you did. Loud and clear.’

Nick shook his head. ‘Run that by me again.’

Carole tutted, pursed her lips, crossed her arms in front of her and tapped one foot as she scowled at Matilda. She couldn’t manhandle the little old lady out of the way and she hoped her body language would do the trick.

It didn’t.

‘This is really none of my business,’ Matilda commented, ‘but what Carole is saying, Nick dear, is that she hasn’t heard from you and despite being single and quite clearly available for several days now, you haven’t even asked her out.’

Carole seethed quietly. She saw Nick frown, stare at Matilda, frown again, stare at her and finally, open his eyes wide as if a huge bright star hung over his head lighting his way to comprehension.

‘Oh! There seems to have been a bit of a misunderstanding.’

Carole glared at him. ‘Misunderstanding? What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Matilda?’ he said. ‘Would it be too much trouble if I were to ask you to kindly give us five minutes alone, please?’

‘Of course not, dear,’ she replied, ‘you take as much time as you need.’

She opened the door, shot out and closed it behind her before Carole had time to open her mouth.

‘I’d rather not ... Oh! How did she move so fast?’

Carole stepped towards the door but Nick beat her to it and leant against it.

‘You’d rather not ...?’ he asked.

‘I’d rather not discuss this now.’

‘Well, that’s a pity because I would. Have I understood this correctly? Are you saying you’ve been waiting for me to call you and ask you out?’

‘No! I’m saying nothing of the sort.’

‘But you’ve been expecting me to?’

‘No. Far from it.’

‘But you wanted me to?’

‘Absolutely not!’

Once again, she stuck her chin out and put her shoulders back. He studied her face and she met his eyes. She saw the smile spread across his mouth and light up his dark eyes.

‘Oh!’ she said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

‘Well, let’s see if you get this message.’ Within an instant he’d wrapped his arms tightly around her and was kissing her deeply. The near silence was broken only by the sound of several seams of Santa’s suit, ripping apart.

It was several minutes before Nick spoke again. ‘I suppose I’d better get out of this before all the other seams burst.’

‘I’d offer to give you a hand,’ Carole replied, ‘but it might give Matilda a heart attack!’

‘If that kiss was anything to go by,’ he said, looking into her eyes, ‘it’ll be me who has the heart attack.’

She smiled wickedly. ‘I’m not that sort of girl anyway. I never have sex
before
my first date.’

‘Just as well we stopped when we did last Sunday then,’ he said, grinning.

‘
We
didn’t stop.
You
stopped. Why was that?’

‘I told you. You were dating two other men. I’m not that sort of guy. I had to wait until you decided what you wanted. Who you wanted. I hoped you’d decide you didn’t want Sebastian or Dominic but I still wasn’t sure you’d want me.’

‘What would you have done if I’d chosen one of them?’

‘I’d like to think I’d have tried to be your friend if you really loved either of them but there’s a very strong possibility that I would have abducted you and locked you up in a tower or something until you came to your senses and chose me.’

‘Oh really? But ... why didn’t you ask me out? When you knew I’d finished with both of them. Why didn’t you call me or come and see me or anything? And just now, you said Matilda was wasting her time trying to get us together.’

‘I thought you needed time. I thought you wanted time. I thought if you wanted me, you would come and see me, to tell me in person that you’d finished with them. When you didn’t and then you seemed to be avoiding me, I thought you’d decided you didn’t want me either. It was only just now, when I saw you were hurt and angry that I realised I was wrong.’

‘So does that mean you’re going to ask me out then?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘When?’

‘As soon as I get out of these clothes but first ...’ He pulled her closer and another seam gave up the ghost.

***

On Sunday morning after her first date with Nick, Carole asked Jacob Marley if she could show Nick her old family home and he happily agreed. He said that he had to be in the village anyway to look at the offices of a former estate agency called
Jarvis and Jarvis
which he and his partner Mr Scrooge were thinking of taking over, so it was no problem to show them around.

Carole was very nervous and she wasn’t sure what Nick would think but the moment he walked through the gate she knew that it would be fine. Better than fine. It would be perfect.

‘I’ll have to put some oil on these hinges,’ he said.

‘Now I don’t want you to say you like it just because I do, Nick. I want you to be honest.’

He pulled her to one side smilingly sheepishly as Jacob Marley opened the door.

‘I’ve got a confession to make,’ he said. ‘I drove past this house yesterday and I phoned to get the details. I didn’t know this was the house you grew up in. I ... I was looking for somewhere to buy so that I can move out of the cottage I’m renting.’

Carole couldn’t believe her ears and when they went inside and she told him about her Christmases here as a child, she could tell from the expression on his face that he was picturing Christmases of the future.

‘I know we’ve only had one date,’ she said, ‘and I know anything could happen but if things work out with us ... if ...’

‘Are you proposing to me, Carole?’ he asked jokingly.

‘No!’ Just thinking that ...’

‘The answer’s yes, whatever the question is.’ He took her hand and they explored each room excitedly. When they left, he stood at the gate. ‘She’s beautiful,’ he said, ‘and so are you.’ Then he kissed her just to prove it.

***

Snow began falling just before dawn on Christmas Eve and it didn’t stop for three hours.

By the time the village hall opened its doors for the performance of
A Christmas Carol,
as Bert Threadgold had decided the musical would now be called, several inches covered the ground.

Mitsy was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to get there because of the heavy snow but Nick and Jamie strapped the wheelchair onto one of the larger sledges Nick had for sale in the garden centre and they were able to get her to the hall with no trouble at all.

The audience received a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine on arrival. There were soft drinks for the children and as the village hall filled up, it seemed as if every member of the population of Jutsdown had come out on this snowy Christmas Eve.

Carole and Josie rather cynically, thought that it had more to do with wanting to discuss the bizarre events of the last few days than it had with watching the Christmas musical but whatever the reason, the hall was full to bursting and Bert Threadgold’s position as the kingpin of the village was firmly established.

This was the position formerly held by Justin Jarvis, but since he, his wife and even his son, Sebastian, had left the village rather suddenly four days ago, Bert’s role was undisputed.

The villagers were certain that Bert Threadgold would not turn out to be a secret pervert, unlike Justin Jarvis whose nefarious activities only came to light when a young woman reported him for making lewd remarks and groping her in a queue at the post office stores. Several other women came forward with a similar complaint and Josie discovered she was just one of a very long list of women. In fact, Carole began to wonder what was wrong with her, as she was one of only a few whom Justin Jarvis had
not
attempted to seduce.

She even asked Nick but he replied, ‘Nothing my darling, you are absolutely perfect,’ and as he took every opportunity he got, to touch and look at, kiss and caress every inch of her, and had done since their first date on Saturday, she trusted his judgment completely. And … she could say the same about Nick.

Everyone remarked on Carole’s ‘lucky escape’ and what a good thing it was that she’d fallen so deeply in love with Nick and dumped Sebastian before discovering he was more like his father than anyone guessed.

Sebastian’s soon-to-be-ex-wife Julia, was currently ‘trashing’ him on various social networking sites, as were three of his mistresses. When a young woman of twenty-six came to the village just two days ago with a ten-year-old daughter, looking for Sebastian, Carole realised exactly why he’d left her at the altar ten years ago and gone to Australia.

She thanked her lucky stars that he had.

Carole and Nick were sitting back stage watching the audience take their seats. Nick would be helping move the scenery during the musical and Carole would be dressing the stage between sets.

‘By the way,’ she said, ‘you still haven’t told me your surname and you did promise to tell me on Christmas Eve. This morning you said you’d tell me after you’d opened your birthday presents but you didn’t.’

‘Well that was your fault. Firstly, for giving me all those presents and secondly, for giving them to me when we were still in bed.’

‘Well, you’d better tell me soon, the musical is about to start. I still don’t know why you’ve been so secretive about it.’

‘There’s a reason for that. I’ve told you that I started to fall in love with you before we’d even met because of the photos Mitsy showed me and the stories she told me about you.’

‘Yes. And that was why you tried to pretend you were indifferent to me, because I had a boyfriend.’

‘Two boyfriends.’ He kissed her on her nose and grinned. ‘Well, she also told me how you’d come to hate your surname since your father’s death and how desperate you were to get rid of the ‘Christmas’ connection. I wanted to wait until you got to know me. I was hoping that, when you did, it wouldn’t matter. Of course, I couldn’t be sure that you’d dump your boyfriends or that you’d fall in love with me but that first night we met, I knew I didn’t want any more obstacles in the way.’

She eyed him anxiously. ‘What wouldn’t matter? What obstacles? Your name can’t be any worse than
Carole Singer
, surely?’

Nick nodded. ‘I’m afraid it can.’

‘
Really
? What is it?’

He hesitated for a moment, took both her hands in his and looked her directly in the eyes. ‘Please don’t get mad and please say it doesn’t matter. It’s only a name, after all. All that matters is we love each other.’

She nodded and held his gaze. ‘Nick. Tell me.’

‘It’s ... Christmas. My name is Nicholas Christmas.’

Carole didn’t answer. She just stared at him and then smiled broadly. ‘So ... if this relationship lasts, and assuming you do actually propose to me, and on the basis that you don’t leave me standing at the altar, I would go from Carole Singer to Carole Christmas! Nick. You really should have told me!’

‘Are you really cross? It’s just a name, Carole. Just a silly name.’

Carole caught a glimpse of the children from the village school exchanging anxious but excited looks as they prepared for their big opening. They were to sing a carol before the start of the musical and the adults would sing one at the end.

A mischievous smile spread across her mouth. Nick was right. It
was
just a name and what did it matter if people made silly jokes about it? There were far worse things in life. Like not being with a man you adored.

‘You’re right,’ she said, moving closer to him and slipping her arms around his waist. ‘Why the Dickens should I care about a name? Mrs Carole Christmas isn’t that bad. In fact, I think I could get used to it. In fact ... I could keep my name as well and be Mrs Carole Christmas-Singer! I rather like the sound of that!’

‘Do you know what?’ he declared, beaming with love, pride and happiness, ‘So do I, and I think the sooner we do that, the better.’

He swept her into his arms in a long, lingering kiss. When he finally released his embrace, he smiled lovingly, staring into her eyes. ‘You know, as far as name’s go, we got off pretty lightly really,’ he said, undoing the top button of her blouse. ‘Don’t forget my sister’s name is Mary, so she was really keen to get married.’

‘What’s wrong with ...? Oh good grief!’ she exclaimed. ‘Mary Christmas!’

His lips twitched with merriment. ‘Precisely! And a Merry Christmas to you too, my darling.’

He kissed her again and she knew that wishes made on shooting stars really did come true as his arms held her in a way that assured her this would be a truly wonderful Christmas – and not just this Christmas but every
Christmas Yet to Come
.