‘But what about your lunch?’ Alex objected. ‘If I take you home already full your mother will kill me.’
‘It’s real cream,’ Bobby pointed out.
‘Lots and lots of it,’ Mitzi said ecstatically.
‘Does Mummy allow you to eat cream buns before lunch?’
They considered.
‘No,’ Bobby said regretfully.
‘No,’ Mitzi agreed.
‘Well, then!’
Bobby regarded him innocently. ‘But Mummy isn’t here.’
Alex made the mistake of engaging him in debate.
‘But aren’t you equally bound by her rules even when she’s absent?’
‘No,’ Bobby explained. ‘Because it’s Christmas, so she might have changed her mind, just this once. We don’t know, do we?’
‘I suppose we don’t,’ Alex said, eyeing his son with new respect. ‘Mind you, I’ve got my phone. We could call and ask her.’
‘That wouldn’t be fair,’ Bobby said quickly. ‘Mummy’s very busy, doing last-minute things. We shouldn’t interrupt her.’
‘Ah!’ Alex gave this idea his full attention. ‘You think we could simply assume her agreement-out of consideration for her?’
‘Yes,’ Bobby said firmly.
They shook hands.
‘When you want a job,’ Alex told him, ‘come to your old man. The thought of you arguing on the other side scares me stiff. You’ve got every trick.’
‘I learned them from my dad.’
‘Oh, no, you don’t!’ Alex said at once. ‘I’m not taking the blame for your devious mind.’
Bobby grinned.
They each had three cream buns and two cups of cocoa, and Alex thought he’d never tasted anything so delicious. Then they went home to confess to Corinne. But she wasn’t fazed.
‘Fine. It’ll save me cooking a big lunch. Uncle Jimmy’s here, kids.’
Overjoyed, they dashed into the next room where Jimmy, swathed in plaster, was reclining on the sofa. Alex followed and was in time to see them climbing up beside him, moving carefully, not to hurt him.
Mitzi was on his uninjured side and put her arms about him. ‘Poor Uncle Jimmy,’ she said. ‘Is it very bad?’
‘Not really,’ he said cheerfully.
‘What did you do?’
‘Fell in the road,’ he said at once. ‘Silly me.’
Alex regarded him with mixed feelings. It was decent of Jimmy not to have blamed him. On the other hand he couldn’t like him, especially as Mitzi was greeting him with real affection. Bobby was less effusive, but he was on Jimmy’s injured side.
‘Tea up!’ Corinne called, entering with a cup.
She handed it gently to Jimmy, who smiled, receiving it, while Mitzi solicitously plumped up his cushions.
A shiver went through Alex. It was absurd, of course, but for a moment they had looked like a family.
The stockings and socks were in place, hanging from the mantelpiece. Jimmy, clowning, had produced one full of holes, which had reduced the children to fits of laughter.
‘Right now, you two,’ Corinne said. ‘Bed.’
‘Mummy, we haven’t left things for Santa,’ Mitzi urged. ‘In case he gets hungry and thirsty.’
‘What do you want to leave, pet?’
‘Jam tarts and milk,’ Mitzi said at once.
‘Ginger biscuits,’ Bobby said. ‘And some beer.’
‘You can’t leave beer,’ Mitzi said, scandalised.
‘Why not? He’d hardly be drunk in charge of a reindeer after just one beer!’ Bobby said.
‘But it won’t be just one,’ Mitzi pointed out. ‘’Cos he’ll have been to lots of other people first, and drunk what they left, and-’
‘Well, they won’t all have left beer,’ Bobby argued.
‘Will.’
‘Won’t.’
‘Will.’
‘Won’t.’
‘Will.’
‘Won’t.’
Corinne tore her hair. ‘Break it up, you two. Peace on earth, goodwill to all men.’
‘And all women?’ Jimmy suggested.
‘Especially all the women,’ Corinne clowned. ‘They’re so busy cooking for everyone.’
‘I’d do it for you if I had more than one arm.’
‘Yeah, sure you would,’ she jeered.
‘You’re a hard woman.’
They grinned at each other. Alex tried to tell himself that they were like brother and sister, but there was something about the cheerful ease of their relationship, the way they shared the same sense of humour, that troubled him.
‘Anyway, I vote for jam tarts and milk,’ Jimmy insisted.
‘I vote for ginger biscuits and beer,’ Alex said at once. ‘I think Santa gets left a lot of milk, and beer will come as a nice change for him.’
In the end they compromised, which meant that Bobby left out a can of beer and some biscuits, while Mitzi stubbornly left out a carton of milk, jam tarts, and two glasses.
‘Why two?’ Bobby demanded.
‘So that he doesn’t have to drink milk and beer out of the same glass,’ she riposted.
‘He won’t drink the milk at all.’
‘He will.’
‘He won’t.’
‘Will.’
‘Won’t.’
They vanished.
‘I think I’ll go up too,’ Jimmy said.
‘You look all in,’ Corinne agreed. ‘Have you had your pills?’
She fussed over him until he’d taken his medication and at last, to Alex’s relief, Jimmy took himself off to bed.
‘That’s it!’ Corinne brushed the hair back from her brow. ‘I’m bushed.’
‘It’s been a great day,’ Alex said.
‘Yes, it has. You’ve been terrific.’
‘Have I?’
‘The kids are so happy. Haven’t you seen?’
But it wasn’t quite what he wanted to hear.
‘What about you?’ he insisted.
‘It’s not about me. It’s about you and them. Alex, I’ve never seen them so much at ease with you. And Bobby- surely you’ve noticed how he-?’
He kissed her.
He did it so fast that she had no time to resist. Surprise had always brought him results in business, and for a moment he thought it was working here. Corinne didn’t try to push him away, but neither did she embrace him back. Instead, she remained so still that it finally got through to him.
