‘Honestly, I’d do it again in a heartbeat,’ I said. ‘I mean it. If the boarding school conversation ever comes up again, I want to put it out there that they can come and live with me instead. I’ll take them to school every day.’
He laughed. ‘I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Particularly when you have such a cavalier approach to their education, such as taking unsanctioned snow days.’
I pulled a guilty face. ‘Yes, I might have made a unilateral decision but, come on, you remember how much fun a snow day was when we were little. I wasn’t going to let them miss that.’
‘Weren’t going to let who miss what?’ asked Layla, bringing through the remains of the Christmas pudding and a bowl of congealed brandy butter.
‘Oh, nothing. Your uncle’s just established that I basically enabled truancy while the boys were here.’
‘She’s a terrible influence, Uncle Richard,’ Layla said. ‘It’s a wonder I turned out the way I did, frankly.’
‘Lucky your father’s such a rigid disciplinarian,’ I said. ‘Otherwise, goodness only knows where you’d have ended up. Not on a degree course at Uncle Richard’s former esteemed seat of learning, that’s for sure.’
‘Uhm, speaking of Dad, he wondered whether it was time to crack open the cheese and pickles,’ said Layla. ‘And the Christmas cake.’
‘Bloody hell,’ I said. ‘Surely not. We’ve only just finished lunch.’
Layla looked at her watch. ‘Yes, but it is six o clock,’ she said.
‘Well, you tell him, if he wants more food he can come in here and sort it out himself,’ I said, dragging the last of the roasting trays out to drain on the side. ‘I think there’s still a few presents to open anyway so maybe we’ll do those and then cheese and biscuits after that…’
‘And then we’ll head off,’ said Richard. ‘But yes, there are a couple of presents left, including one for you.’
‘Me?’ I said. ‘I thought I’d had all of mine?’
‘No, the boys have got something extra for you.’
‘Oh, gosh. Well, they really didn’t need to. The Jo Malone candle was so generous. It’s more than enough.’
‘This is something special though,’ said Richard. ‘They’ve been really excited about it.’
‘Excellent.’ I peeled off my washing-up gloves and dropped them on the side of the sink. ‘Let’s go!’
We found Hugo and Lawrence with Jaqueline, Joe and Mum. Not a natural trio of grown-ups but the boys were providing sufficient distraction and social lubricant for everyone to appear quite relaxed.
‘I hear Uncle Joe has been asking for more food!’ I said to the boys. ‘Is that possible when he had two helpings of pudding and some of the pavlova?’
‘When we ask for more food sometimes Magdalena calls usSeñor Gloton, which means Mister Greedy in Spanish,’ said Hugo, looking up from the game of Battleships he was playing with Lawrence.
‘Señor Gloton,’ I said. ‘I like that.’
‘And Maman says we have a stomach in our heels, which isl’estomac dans les talons,’ he continued.
‘That’s a bit like having hollow legs,’ I said, ‘which is what Granmerry used to say when your daddy and I were little.’
‘Boys,’ said Richard, crouching down to their level. ‘Didn’t you have something special you wanted to give Aunty Harriet?’
Hugo gave a sharp intake of breath. ‘We did!’ he said. ‘We do. It’s in my new messenger bag I got for Christmas. People who do important jobs have messenger bags,’ he said, turning to me. ‘My best friend Temi has one.’
‘Lucky Temi,’ I said. ‘Has he been your best friend for long?’
Hugo gave me his default serious look. ‘Quite a few weeks,’ he said. ‘Yes. Temi doesn’t speak very much English so it means we can just get on with fun stuff like karate and chess.’
‘At the same time?’
‘Hmm. No. Not usually. Anyway, Aunty Hattie, I’ll go and get your present, but you’ll have to close your eyes.’
‘Is it a messenger bag?’ I said, squeezing my eyes shut.
