‘There’s still quite a lot of food to be eaten,’ Thea remarked lazily. ‘Anybody feel like some cold Christmas pudding? Or I could put it in the microwave for a minute. There’s brandy butter and cream to go with it.’
‘No thanks,’ said Stephanie.
‘We can have it tomorrow,’ said Drew.
‘I could manage a small amount now,’ said Jessica, who had always been fond of her food, puddings in particular.
‘We’re running out of logs,’ said Thea. ‘And the fire’s going to go out in a minute. It’s down to a few ashes.’ There was only one log left in the basket, so Drew had to go out to the shed at the back and collect some more.
‘It really has been a fabulous day,’ sighed Jessica. ‘Thanks, Mum.’ Stephanie made confirmatory noises.
‘Well, it’s only once a year, I suppose,’ said Thea, evidently unaware of the import of her words. Stephanie was glad her father wasn’t there to hear them. It often seemed as if she, Stephanie, grasped the ironic undercurrents of what her stepmother said, while Drew took them all too seriously.
‘You don’t mean it,’ said Jessica, switching to anger in a heartbeat. ‘You can’t possibly be as horrible as you make yourself sound.’
Thea was genuinely surprised. ‘What did I say? How am I different from about ninety-five per cent of women in the country? I might be a bit more honest, that’s all.’
Drew came in with a basket full of logs and by mutual consent, the conversation was suspended. But the air was still full of it. ‘What?’ he said.
‘Nothing,’ Stephanie quickly told him. ‘Can we watch a film now?’
‘If we must,’ said Drew. ‘Although I was hoping to just do nothing for a bit.’
Stephanie knew that there was no such thing as doing nothing. You talked, or read, or did a bit of tidying. Even if you just sat still, you were thinking. She also knew that neither of her parents – meaning Drew and Thea – were capable of inactivity for more than about a minute. Nobody argued with him, but the atmosphere was restive.
‘Did you ever phone your mother?’ Drew asked Thea a moment later. ‘Weren’t you supposed to do it this morning?’
‘I did, at about half past eleven. She was in the middle of doing something crucial in Jocelyn’s kitchen, so it only lasted half a minute. Maybe you ought to phone yours.’
‘I don’t think so.’ He frowned. ‘That would be weird after all the years of not. What would I say? She didn’t give us any presents. She never used to like Christmas much.’
‘Another one of the ninety-five per cent,’ muttered Jessica.
‘What?’
‘Oh – Thea says there are very few women who do like it. Too much work, I suppose. All that cooking.’
‘Either that, or they’re left all on their own to make the best of a pork pie and a silly hat,’ said Thea.
Stephanie began to discern a theme, which sent her thoughts flying to Mrs Frowse, who had gone off to be by herself on Christmas Day, in spite of having a perfectly good husband, son and dog willing to spend it with her. The world seemed to be full of unhappy women, wishing the whole thing would hurry up and be over for another year, whether they had families or not. It made her wonder how it would be for her when she grew up. ‘I think I’ll go to a hotel in Spain for Christmas when I’m grown up,’ she announced. ‘Or Australia.’
‘Can I come?’ said Timmy, who had woken up without anybody noticing.
‘You won’t want to. You’ll have a wife who’ll do all the cooking for you, and five children.’ It was Jessica who gave him this unsolicited prediction, like a fortune-teller. ‘And they’ll all want you right there, so they can tell you how much they love you.’
‘Pooh,’ said the little boy, going rather pink at this appealing picture.
‘That’s right,’ said Drew, a trifle too heartily.
‘It was lovely, though,’ Stephanie insisted. ‘All the presents and turkey and crackers.’ She leant over the cardboard box at her side, full of her new things, and then looked up with a wide smile. ‘I can’t wait for Tim to get his fish tank.’ Drew and Thea had given him a promissory note for a tank for tropical fish, with all the trimmings. ‘We couldn’t get it in advance,’ Drew had explained. ‘There’d be nowhere to hide it all. And this way you can choose exactly what you want.’
‘First thing on Wednesday, we’ll go and get it,’ he said now.
‘I don’t think they open again until the New Year,’ Thea cautioned. ‘And don’t forget we’ve got Damien coming.’
Somehow she made it sound like something to dread, every time she mentioned the upcoming visit. For herself, Stephanie was very much looking forward to meeting little Kim and getting to know a new set of step-relations. It would prolong the Christmassy atmosphere, or so she hoped. ‘Next week is fine,’ said Timmy with a very grown-up display of patience. ‘I’ve got loads of other things to be going on with.’ The prospect of the new fish was definitely exciting, and Stephanie could see that her brother was learning that anticipation was well over half the enjoyment when it came to any kind of pleasure.
‘Good boy,’ said Thea.
‘I don’t know how you got so lucky with these kids,’ said Jessica.
‘Mostly good management, actually,’ Thea corrected her. She was never one to let credit for anything slip away into other hands. ‘Although I agree it was lucky I met Drew when I did. Just down the road from here,’ she added reminiscently.
Stephanie took that to mean that her stepmother had no regrets, which was definitely reassuring.
But the day had not quite ended, and the harmony couldn’t last. Afterwards Stephanie could not decide whose fault it had been, or how it might have been averted. Jessica had been harbouring an annoyance with her mother
