‘Oh darling, is there a wedding on the cards?’ said Bunny, looking much brighter. ‘Mummy will be delighted, but only once she’s coughed up my hundred pounds. I alwayssaidyou’d settle down eventually.’
‘You had a bet with our mother over whether I’d ever get married?’
‘Oh, don’t look so outraged, it was years ago. But I’m going to hold her to it. Can I be a bridesmaid? I suit pastels.’
‘No, you can’t, and shut up about weddings. I’ll propose to someone when I’m good and ready and onlythencan you start bickering over colours and claiming your immoral winnings.’
The lunch continued in this good-humoured vein, and even Lando loosened up. I realised that, as well as being Bunny’s brother, Lando knew him from the City – where Xander still worked – and my ears pricked up for any information about the previous life Hetty and Cecil had hinted at. But he batted away any reminiscences that Xander touched on, and only asked after a few people that they had in common.
‘You’re missed there, you know, Lando, especially at Carter, Mills and Rumsfeld. Rumour had it they were going to make you a partner within a year or two. I’m sure there would still be an opening if you’ve had enough of the pastoral idyll. Plenty of money still to be made in the Square Mile.’
Xander drained his wine glass and cocked an eyebrow in Lando’s direction. For the first time, there was a slightly uncomfortable silence, then Lando spoke.
‘I’m not going back. Ever.’
A little tipsy, Xander seemed to miss the note of warning in Lando’s voice.
‘Ah, come on. I’m sure Zara would welcome you with open arms, and if she doesn’t, there are plenty of others who will. You can’t play Farmer Lord forever.’
‘I’m not going back,’ said Lando flatly.
‘Drop it, Xander,’ said Bunny. ‘You heard him.’
Finally reading the atmosphere, Xander shrugged and smoothly moved the conversation back to something more trivial, and before long we were laughing at William’s story about a particularly obnoxious child who had come into Santa’s grotto the day before. The uncomfortable moment having passed, I glanced over at Lando, who hadn’t spoken again, or joined in with the merriment. He looked strained, and I wondered what painful memories had been dredged up for him. He glanced up then and caught my eye. Instinctively, as I do with a worried child, I smiled at him. His gaze darted away immediately, but almost as quickly came back and he gave me a brief smile and a nod before turning to Caspian, who was on his left, and asking him about his visit to the village that morning.Who is Zara, I thought,and would I ever get to know this intriguing, talented yet possibly damaged man any further beyond his brittle public face?
After an incredible pudding of slippery, sweet crème caramel, with a beautifully bitter burnt sugar sauce and kirsch-soaked cherries (I was careful that Seraphina and Caspian got the plain syrup version as I wouldn’t have put it past Xander to swap them as a joke), all I really wanted to do was lie down and let my poor stomach get to work on digesting all the rich food that I loved but wasn’t used to. But William stood up and tapped his knife against his glass.
‘Oyez, everyone, listen up. Flex your festive fingers – especially you two.’ He wiggled the knife at the twins who giggled with pleasure. ‘This afternoon is the Grand Decoration. No one is exempt, no matter how much wine they’ve had.’ This time the knife wagged in Xander’s direction, who stood up with a good-natured smile and took a bow. ‘The tree has been hauled into place while we’ve been eating, the swags are outside and the boxes of decorations old and new brought down ready for the opening. Let no man – or woman – rest until this house is fully Christmasified.’
He produced two crackers with a flourish and held one out to each child. They seized them and pulled, and a cloud of confetti came out, causing them to scream with joy. Unable to wait a moment longer and uncaring of their full tummies, they leapt up and ran into the hallway where their shouts indicated to the rest of us, as we heaved our unwilling bodies out of our chairs, that they had found the tree. We followed them out to a truly impressive sight: a tree that must have been fifteen feet tall and looked magnificent next to the sweeping staircase, nearly touching the ceiling. Lights had already been wound around it and switched on, so all that was left for us to do was to start putting on the decorations. Phina and Caspy were already diving into one of the large cardboard boxes that stood nearby, even they, at their young age, able to reminisce about decorations from previous years.
‘Look! Here’s the star I made at nursery – I made it out of dough.’
‘Here’s my reindeer! I called him Deer, but I might call him something else this year.’
I turned to Bunny, who was smiling at the children and taking photos on her phone.
‘I always love decorating the tree,’ I said. ‘This one is amazing. Is there some kind of plan or pattern? How does Lando like it to look?’
‘Oh, no, nothing like that,’ she replied. ‘Just grab whatever you fancy and pop it on. We always think it’s much more fun if it’s a family effort, rather than too strict.’
Lando, who was standing nearby, turned to us.
‘Absolutely. Christmas is not the time for worrying about colour schemes and perfection, not in my house. Not anymore, anyway. Do you remember the year Zara had the tree delivered predecorated?’ he asked Bunny. ‘Everyone was so disappointed.’
‘Oh yes, it wasterrible,’ she said. ‘Luckily, the twins were too small to care, or Christmas would have been ruined for them. This way is much more fun. Come on, Pixie darling, let’s dig in.’
I needed no further encouragement. Gleefully, I delved into a box, pulling out a flat, brown paper bag. Intrigued, I carefully opened it and then unwrapped the soft white tissue paper inside to find three dainty lace decorations. One was a star with a candle, one an intricate snowflake and the third an angel. I held them up, marvelling at how pretty and delicate they were.
‘Ah, you’ve found the ones my German friend Annike sent me,’ said Lando, appearing at my shoulder. ‘Lovely, aren’t they?’
‘They’re gorgeous. I’ve never seen anything like them.’
‘Well, get them up on the tree or we won’t be finished before Boxing Day.’
He grinned at me, and I saw a glimpse of the charming man the villagers had told me was lost. Perhaps he was still in there somewhere? I started looking for the perfect places to hang each piece of lace, then realised that around me things were happening rather differently, and I was liable to get left behind if I ummed and ahhed for too long. The twins were working their way around the bottom of the tree, seizing anything they could find and hanging it on – now that their precious new decorations had taken pride of place, of course. Bunny was halfway up the stairs, methodically plucking baubles from a bag and hanging them wherever she could reach, which resulted in a not unpleasing swath of red and gold glitter down one side of the tree. William seemed to know where each thing had been stored and was darting about from box to box, winkling out the most beautiful of the pieces and hanging them strategically but swiftly, using an ingenious long rod to reach the awkward middle parts of the tree. Lando was using a long ladder, leant up against the banisters along the landing, to thread in lengths of tinsel. Timothy had never let me put tinsel on our Christmas tree as he thought it was tacky, but I have always loved it. It’s so merry, the way it reflects the light, and its particular dusty, metallic smell never fails to remind me of my childhood. Even Pilar appeared and ceremoniously hung up several baubles before protesting that she had too much to do in the kitchen to stay any longer. Anyway, I realised I was going to have to up my game if I wanted to contribute more than three items to the overall effect, so I quickly positioned the German lace and delved in.
When Lando finally slid down from his ladder and stood back to survey our handiwork, I was surprised to look at my watch and see that an hour had passed.
