With Christmas music playing, a blanket decorated in reindeers tucked over their knees, they sipped mulled wine and ate mince pies. Nell had gone a little overboard and bought Tom more presents than she realised. Luckily, even though Tom had been worried by his health, Mr Christmas had still got his shopping done and they were busy exchanging gifts.
‘Oh, Tom, you got me that scarf I wanted. Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome and thank you for my new winter gloves.’ He put them on, and Nell giggled because every year without fail, Tom would put on every item of clothing she’d bought him. He was currently sat in two jumpers, hat, scarf, gloves, a musical Christmas tie and enormous slippers that looked like cooked turkeys. When she’d calmed down and opened her next present from Tom – a set of expensive bath soap – she paused before handing over her next gift.
‘So, I’ve been thinking about your shop and the changes we need to make so you can carry on working for as long as possible.’
He moved to the floor, rifling around in the giant stocking he’d brought over for her. ‘And?’
‘And, I was thinking there are a gazillion ways you can keep your business and keep working. I know you don’t want to give it up.’
‘Do we have to talk about this now, Nell? It’s Christmas Day.’
Nell frowned at him. ‘Okay, I’ll say it quick then we can put on your favourite song and eat some truffles.’
‘Okay then.’ He sat back against the front of an armchair, the orange flames roaring next to him.
‘So, what if we hire a delivery driver for a few hours a day until Janie passes her test? And I was thinking you could start training Janie up to take over some more of the managerial stuff? She’s amazing and so, so clever. She’s just like Tallulah. And I’ve found these amazing magnifiers that fix to your tabletop so you can keep working. And I’ve been looking at how to change your computer settings to make everything bigger.’
‘Okay.’ Tom laughed, holding up his hands to slow her down. ‘Sounds good. How’s Tallulah finding Niall?’
‘She loves working for him but I’m going to poach her for some extra hours.’
‘Does Niall mind?’
She shook her head. ‘Nah, she’s going to work weddings with me. I’ve already had some bookings. Two for next year, and one for the year after. And she’ll be a brilliant wedding coordinator. I’m going to ask her after Christmas. And she emailed HotelRater coming clean about the reviews and they’ve taken them down. I’ve even had some bookings for early next year for Valentine’s Day.’
‘Did the Langdon Mansion get told off?’ Tom asked, turning his musical Christmas tie on to play once more. The tiny lights studded in it flashed on and off in time with the music.
‘It hit the industry press and the chain issued a statement to say this behaviour wasn’t typical of their staff and apologised to me. It mentioned something about internal disciplinary action but nothing more. I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs over it, not at Christmas. I just hope they get a telling-off. Tallulah told me that she’d heard Find the Sun weren’t happy at how shifty they’d been and slammed them too.’
Tom shook his head. ‘You’re very kind, you know.’
‘Thanks.’ Nell pushed herself off the edge of the sofa and sat on the floor opposite Tom. The fire warmed her face and she pulled her gigantic Christmas jumper over her knees, thinking that there was nowhere else she’d rather be. Mr Scrooge snuggled in a ball on the hearth, and she stroked his soft fur. Normally, when the exchanging of gifts was over, Nell felt some of the Christmas magic ebb away, but this year she was savouring the day. From the corner of her eye, she saw Tom rifling in the bottom of the stocking he’d brought her.
‘What are you doing?’
‘You left something in your stocking.’
‘Did I?’ She was pretty sure she hadn’t.
Tom handed over a small box, giftwrapped in gold paper with a tiny silver bow on top. Tom knew she loved tiny wooden decorations to put on the tree and she hoped he’d bought her one from the Christmas market. As Nell opened the box, her fingers shook, and the tremble sprang through every nerve in her body. When she glanced up, Tom was on one knee, wrapping his own shaking fingers around hers and the engagement ring: a beautiful gold band with a small circular diamond in the centre. The exact ring she’d described to him the day they decorated the care home.
‘Nell,’ Tom began tentatively, his face searching hers for a sign that he was on the right path. If her silly grin didn’t tell him so, then he knew nothing about women. ‘Will you marry me?’
The squeal that erupted from her mouth made Mr Scrooge jump into the air. When he landed on all fours, hair on end, he looked at Nell indignantly. She threw herself into Tom’s arms, knocking him over so they both fell onto the floor. ‘Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!’ No other answer would ever have crossed her mind. No matter what the future held for them both, however full of adversity it might be, she wanted to be there with Tom every step of the way. ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes!’
Tom pulled Nell up to standing. He wrapped his arms around her waist then brushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ear. He was studying her face, imprinting it on his memory as he’d talked about. His eyes
