Page 63 of The Perfect Gift

‘Honestly, Ed!’ their mother exclaimed, but she said it with a laugh and a shake of her head.

Liam was next. ‘Accounts for Dummies. Very droll.’ Prior to moving home to take over running the hotel from their great-uncle, Liam had been a financial wizard in the city, earning big bucks for his skills.

‘Now you’re getting on a bit, I thought you might need a refresher,’ Ed said, then dived out of the way when Liam took a swipe at his head with the book.

‘You shouldn’t have.’ Rick’s tone was dry as the Sahara as he held up the pink sparkly notebook with a rainbow-horned unicorn on the front.

‘An important man like you is always in need of a new notebook,’ Ed pointed out with a grin. Rick might not be into pink sparkles, but Freya certainly was and, as Ed had expected, she’d taken ownership of it within a matter of seconds.

‘I think it’s only fair you open yours now,’ Liam suggested with a sly grin.

Their father walked over and dropped three identical packages in Ed’s lap. They were nondescript rectangles, making it impossible to guess what was inside. He ripped the paper of the first and revealed a box of hair dye. The woman on the front had hair of a violently bright hue. ‘Purple Pantheress.’ Ed held the box up next to his face and showed it to Frankie. ‘What do you think?’

‘Anything would be an improvement.’

A chorus of oohs, laughter and a cry of ‘Shots fired!’ from Harry greeted her pithy response. The sparkle had returned to her eyes and she gave him the ghost of a wink as Ed clutched at his chest and pretended to collapse back on the floor. He soon recovered and, as he’d suspected, his brothers had all had the same hilarious idea, as the other two gifts were also hair dye in equally garish shades of Red Hot Chilli Pepper and Denim Damsel. ‘At least you showed some imagination with the colours,’ he said to Liam.

‘We got advice from an expert,’ his brother replied, pointing over at Maud, who was sitting on a dining room chair next to their great-uncle Davy. Her immaculate bob was a shimmering curtain of candyfloss pink.

With a laugh, Ed got to his feet and went over and presented the three boxes to her. ‘I think these’ll be more use to you than me.’

Davy looked at the boxes and frowned. ‘I don’t mind the red or the purple, but blue? Really?’

‘Oh hush yourself, Davy Penrose,’ Maud scolded him as she accepted the boxes from Ed. ‘Just because you’re determined to spend the rest of your days being a boring old fart, doesn’t mean I have to do the same.’

Davy grumbled something under his breath but he was smiling as he leaned over to kiss Maud on the cheek.

And so the present opening went on, everyone taking turns until they were all sitting with a pile of gifts at their feet. Ed had enough pants and socks to keep him going for a year, not that he minded because it saved him the bother of buying them.

Frankie was looking delighted with her little haul. His mum, Aunt Helen and Ma had obviously put their heads together because they’d bought her a wash bag, a make-up bag, and a folding jewellery organiser all decorated in the same pretty floral material. ‘We thought they’d come in handy, given all the travelling you must have to do,’ his mum had said when Frankie had thanked her profusely.

Ed thought about the gift still sitting in his rucksack, then decided to throw caution to the wind. His dad was going around the room collecting the discarded wrapping paper into a bin bag. Ed stood and offered to take it away, using the time out of the room to retrieve the small gold-wrapped box. Resuming his seat next to Frankie, he reached over and placed the box on top of her pile.

‘What’s this?’ she asked, turning wide, wild eyes towards him.

Ed glanced back at the small square box and realised it could be mistaken for something far more significant than its actual contents. ‘It’s not a ring!’ he burst out. ‘I haven’t completely lost my mind.’

‘Oh, thank God!’ Frankie exclaimed to a great gale of laughter.

‘No need to sound quite so relieved,’ Ed protested, which only earned another chorus of hilarity.

Frankie recovered enough to pick the box up and Ed leaned back on his hands to watch as she unwrapped it. Under the wrapping was a small navy box with gold edging on it. She eyed him again and when he nodded in encouragement Frankie pried the lid up to reveal a silver pendant on a chain inside. She picked it up and held it before her, the pendant twisting slowly as she examined it.

‘It’s a compass,’ Ed told her as he sat up. It wasn’t a casual gift so there was no point in pretending to be casual about it. ‘No matter where you are in the world, you’ll always be able to find your way back to Halfmoon Quay.’

To me.

‘It’s beautiful.’ Frankie’s expression was unreadable as she held it out to him. ‘Help me put it on?’

‘Of course.’ It took him a couple of goes to open the little lobster claw as his fingers were trembling, but he managed to fasten it around her neck. Frankie didn’t say anything, but her hand came up to cover the pendant.

The whole room was silent for a long moment and Ed cursed his impetuosity. He should’ve waited until they were alone to give it to her. Or better yet, should’ve left it in his bloody rucksack and forgotten all about it. Frankie had made her intentions clear and he needed to stop pushing for something she wasn’t willing to give.

‘Right,’ his mother said in a slightly too loud voice as she got to her feet. ‘I think it’s time we tackled that veg mountain, Helen, don’t you? Issy? Frankie? Do you mind giving us a hand?’

‘I’m more than happy to help.’ Frankie scrambled to her feet like she couldn’t wait to get away from him. She left the room with his mother, her eyes fixed on the ground, her hand still covering the pendant. Issy stood too, shooting Ed a sympathetic glance as she walked past.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck! Ed grabbed a nearby cushion, covered his face and lay back on the floor.