Part 25 (2/2)

'But do you love me? You don't say it very often.'

'Well, I'm a bloke, aren't I?'

'Mickey tells Loveday all the time ...'

'Well that's just Mickey.'

'Do you love me?'

He kissed her nose. 'Of course.'

'Say it.'

'You know I do.'

'Say it.'

He took a beat, and in the silence Greer could hear the hiss of the flame-effect fire. She waited until he said, 'I love you.'

In the end, Christmas was spent at Pencil Cottage, just the three of them.

Greer used all her design skills to turn their little home into a cosy and inviting grotto.

The front door sported a wreath made of preserved apples and bundles of cinnamon sticks tied with gingham ribbon.

The Christmas tree was the biggest Jesse could fit into their tiny front room. It glistened with red, green, silver and gold baubles and countless strings of bright white lights.

The fireplace was cloaked in a fresh swag of fir, pine cones, holly, and heavily berried ivy.

Freddie was helping. 'What's in this box, Mummy?'

Greer watched as Freddie shook the box, then she knelt down next to him.

'Something special. One box for you, and ... look, there's another box for Louisa.'

Freddie stretched across the pile of tissue paper and empty boxes of fairy lights. 'This one?'

'Yes.'

'I will open it for Louisa because she can't.'

Greer's heart contracted with love for her son. 'Good idea.'

Inside lay a small and glittery pink fairy carrying a wand.

'Ooh,' said Freddie. 'She'll like this.'

'There's a little b.u.t.ton by her wand. Can you see?'

'Yes.'

'Press it.'

His warm little fingers found the b.u.t.ton and pressed it. The wand lit up.

'Isn't that pretty?' smiled Greer.

'What's in my box?' asked Freddie, bored already with the fairy.

Greer laughed. 'Open it.'

He opened it and inside was a small cowboy wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt that read, 'Happy Christmas, Freddie Behenna.'

'Is this Woody from Toy Story?' asked Freddie, his eyes like saucers.

'Yep.'

'Has he brought Buzz?' Freddie, with Woody in one hand, was riffling through the tissue paper to see if there was another box.

'No. Buzz is on a mission. But he might come next year.'

'OK.' Freddie stopped looking for Buzz and picked up Louisa's fairy. 'Shall we put them on the tree? Woody on the top?'

'I think the fairy should go on the top.'

'No, Woody should. Then he can look for Buzz in the sky.'

'We'll be the only people in Trevay with a cowboy on the tree and not a fairy!' said Greer.

Freddie knitted his brows and thought for a moment. 'Don't tell Louisa, but I don't really like fairies.'

Greer took a moment before she could speak.

'I don't think she'll mind.'

Part Two

25.

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