For a short time, the sewing had helped keep Lottie’s thoughts from dwelling on the bizarre wedding ‘rehearsal’. Since she’d walked up the ‘aisle’ with Jay, she’d seen him in passing, going in and out of the cottage and crossing the stable yard to the offices, but they hadn’t spoken.
‘Ow!’ Lottie cried out.
‘Auntie Lottie! You’ve prickled your finger!’ Myra cried, bringing Lottie back to reality.
‘Like Sleeping Beauty,’ Jodie said. ‘There’s blood on your finger.’
‘Oh. It’s only a tiny drop,’ Lottie said, sucking her finger where the needle had cut it. She dabbed it with a tissue and resolved to concentrate on the job in hand.
Myra’s donkey had proved relatively simple, fashioned from a grey fleecy throw and an Eeyore hat that Myra already had. It turned out that she’d volunteered for the role of donkey precisely because of the Eeyore hat. It had seen some action and needed some running repairs.
The lobster was more of a challenge.
‘Bloody Love Actually has a lot to answer for!’ Steph declared, explaining that Jodie had seen a trailer clip of it on the TV and been adamant that no other creature would do.
‘She was probably high on poster paint fumes at the time,’ Steph had said, frantically googling ‘How to make a lobster costume’. ‘I’d completely missed the email from the school!’
Steph had managed to get a lobster hat from a dodgy fancy dress site on the Internet. With some fiddling around with a scarlet catsuit from the dance shop and an old pair of gardening gloves and barbecue tongs, they’d managed to fashion some ‘claws’.
‘While you’re at the hospital tomorrow, I’ll go into Keswick to try and get some brown tights for Myra,’ Lottie said, looking at the costumes hung on the doorframe.
‘Thanks, you’re a star. If by some miracle, you see any red tissue paper, can you get some?’ Steph asked. ‘We could make the claws look a bit more realistic.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Lottie said.
The twins squashed onto the sofa with Lottie. ‘Is Jay coming to the nativity play?’ Myra asked her.
‘I don’t think so, darling.’
Steph held up her hands. ‘It wasn’t my idea!’
‘Please ask him, Auntie Lottie!’ The squeals hurt her ears.
‘He’s very busy at the moment,’ Lottie insisted, not wanting to have to ask him but also wanting to do anything she could to make the girls happy and Steph’s life a little easier.
‘Promise you’ll ask him!’
‘Girls, don’t get your hopes up. Jay probably can’t leave the Christmas tree centre.’
‘Please try …’ Myra’s upturned face, and hopeful eyes, pierced right through Lottie. ‘OK, I’ll ask him but don’t get too excited yet.’
‘Will he bring the reindeer?’ Jodie asked.
Lottie sighed. Asking two five-year-olds not to get excited was like trying to ask them not to look forward to Christmas too much.As for Jay, after the ball and the rehearsal, she’d no idea how he was going to react – to the invitation or to her.
While Steph was at the hospital, Lottie went into Keswick, on her mission to help with the costume bits and bobs and do some Christmas shopping for the family. They’d agreed with their parents to save their present exchange for when they came over in early spring so there was no rush to post their gifts to them. She still wished they could have celebrated together, but they’d been twice already since Steph had been diagnosed and couldn’t afford the sky-high Christmas flights.
It boosted her spirits to see that Christmas had seized the little town with a vengeance, and there were hordes of people filling the shops, pubs and a festive food market that was camped in front of the old town hall. Having found the finishing touches for the costumes, she started her own shopping, ending in Abbott’s, a chocolate shop that was sheer confectionery heaven. She loved buying her Christmas gifts from there, and apparently so did half the Lakes as the place was rammed with locals, kids and walkers with backpacks.
She fought her way to the novelty animals display, her basket bulging with truffles, pralines and chocolate liqueurs. There were some cute packs of foiled chocolate reindeer that would make a lovely stocking filler for the twins.
‘Ow!’ She cried out as someone’s wire basket dug into her hip.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry!’
‘I’m OK—’ Lottie inhaled sharply with shock. ‘Oh my God, Fiona!’
Fiona’s face lit up. ‘Lottie. Hello, how lovely to – erm – bump into you.’
Panicking at being caught so unprepared, Lottie embraced Connor’s mother with her free hand. ‘Gosh. You too.’
‘I must apologise about bashing you.’ Fiona rolled her eyes. ‘I’m still a little clumsy after the Thing.’
‘The Thing? You mean the stroke?’ Lottie said. ‘I heard. I’m sorry.’
‘Yes, my stroke.’ Fiona looked puzzled. ‘I call it the Creature from the Black Lagoon as it struck so suddenly from the depths.’ She smiled. ‘If you already know about it, I’m guessing Alicia told you – or did you hear about it from someone else?’
‘Alicia …’ Lottie scrabbled for a reply, trying to work out at lightning speed what she was meant to know about Fiona and who from. ‘Erm …’ The horror at having to be ready to tell another pack of lies to keep Connor’s secret flooded her. Her secret too, since she’d agreed to continue with it.
‘Alicia said she’d bumped into you at Firholme when she was walking the dogs?’ Fiona said.
‘Oh yes, of course. Yes, it
