I smiled. ‘Of course. You can meet Ben.’
Connor raised his glass aloft. ‘Olivia, your matchmaking skills from heaven are amazing.’
Once we’d said our goodbyes and they promised to drive down on New Year’s Eve, I took swig of cold tea as I tapped out, ‘Hello’ onto an email to Dad. He always added his address to the bottom of his Christmas and birthday cards. I added, ‘Love Rachel’, and pressed send.
The next morning, Grandpa and I explained to Maddie the situation with Layla. We all were drinking tea at the table and talking about the drama of Christmas Day. I’d got up early and cleared up a lot of the mess.
My sister’s eyes grew wide in shock as I told her about everything Layla had been dealing with. ‘I didn’t know she was homeless. Frank never told me.’
‘Layla needs some security and I hate to see her living with such worry.’
Maddie gave me an approving nod. ‘Let me talk to her. I think she should stay here.’
‘Really?’
Maddie nodded. ‘She can be our housekeeper. I think I might need her when the baby arrives.’
I threw my arms around Maddie’s neck. ‘Thank you.’
We looked up as a worried Layla and a hobbling Derek entered the kitchen. ‘I’m not disturbing anything, am I?’ she said.
I led her and Derek to the table. ‘Maddie wants to talk to you. Don’t worry.’
Layla squealed with joy after Maddie explained about needing her to be a live-in housekeeper. ‘Oh God, this is the best Christmas present ever.’
I wiped away a tear of pride as Layla hugged Maddie. Derek beamed as he and Layla jumped up and down. ‘I won’t let you down, Maddie.’
‘I know, Layla. We can discuss pay later this evening.’
Grandpa stood up and gave Layla a hug. ‘You are one of the family now.’
I placed my hand on Layla’s shoulder. ‘This is the start of your new life.’
Layla pointed to me. ‘Maddie, your sister is an angel. She rescued me this Christmas.’
Grandpa nodded. ‘And me too, Maddie. Rachel has given me a fabulous Christmas and I admit at times I have been a little wild, but she’s proved to me that I still have a life to live.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I have an announcement to make.’
We all looked at him and I braced myself for something shocking. One thing I’d learnt from this holiday was that Grandpa was full of surprises and shocks.
‘I have decided that I am not happy living in my bungalow with Aunty Karen and Uncle Robert looking after me. Maddie has kindly agreed for me to move down here. I am going to live at Harp Brook and get to know my great grandchild.’
Layla cheered and hugged Grandpa. ‘Eric, that’s brilliant news.’
He nodded. ‘I am still engaged to Dorothy, but we are going to take things slowly.’
We all broke into a round of applause, and he did a little dance which made us all laugh. Maddie put her arm around him. ‘To have my baby with my family, friends and the man I truly love here in Harp Brook is the best Christmas present ever.’
Humphrey began to bark, and I stroked him. ‘Can we also give credit to Humphrey, the unsung hero. We have all wrongly assumed he’s naughty. He’s a little hero.’ We all clapped and cheered which made Humphrey race around the kitchen in a dog victory parade.
‘I bet you didn’t get a chance to finish Olivia’s notebook?’ Ben asked, while we took Humphrey for a walk in the snow. It had been a good opportunity to tell him about everything that had happened with Maddie, Grandpa’s decision, our new business venture and my conversation with Mum.
‘If you must know I did finish her notebook late last night.’
‘Well?’ He pulled us both to a stop.
I smiled. ‘She rented The Duck House years ago – didn’t she?’
Ben nodded. ‘When you told me about The Duck House, I wanted to tell you.’
