Page 63 of Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle

Ollie speaks before I can give it any more thought. ‘All right, he’s not wrong about the marriage record. The wedding celebrant we used, he was… a bit dodgy, you know? We thought it was completely legit, but we only found out months later that he didn’t have the right licences after all. We always intended to do it again properly, but life gets in the way. After so many years together, it wasn’t a priority when we found out that the certificate wasn’t completely official after all. It didn’t make any difference to how we feel about each other.’

Ollie’s hand tightens around mine, and no matter how many emotions are swirling inside me, the loudest one is the desire to back him up. It’s what any wife would do, even a fake one.

‘And the children… Well, I assure you, they’re ours. Maybe your skills at snooping into people’s private records need a bit of work, because my pelvic floor knows exactly where they came from.’ I think of Ollie’s words from the day I arrived. ‘What are you implying, Clint? That we’ve taken someone else’s kids and passed them off as our own? And over Christmas too? Does that sound realistic to you?’

‘Yes!’ Clint barks.

‘He’s lost the plot. I’m so sorry.’ Gisela smacks him again. ‘They’ve just given us the best Christmas we’ve had in years and this is how you thank them! Talk about ungrateful. You’re embarrassing all of us.’ She tries to cover both the twins’ ears with her hands. ‘What I wouldn’t give for a husband who looks at me the way Oliver looks at Lucy, and vice versa!’

Ollie squeezes my hand and drops a kiss onto my head, his lips miming a ‘thank you’ against my hair.

‘They’re head over heels for each other – anyone can see that from a mile away!’ Michelle sticks up for us as well. ‘An official piece of paper means nothing when you’re as besotted as these two are!’

It makes me feel weirdly nice. Nothing has felt pretend with Ollie since the day I got here, and I didn’t realise that would come across so effortlessly. All we’ve done this week is… be ourselves. I feel guilty that Clint is right, but buoyed by the fact they think we’re a real couple, even in the face of evidence that we aren’t.

‘Trying to discredit your colleagues doesn’t make you look better, Clint.’ Dand is not even trying to hide his disappointment. ‘In fact, I think we’ll need to discuss this at a team meeting in January. I can’t abide such behaviour. You’re supposed to be part of a team, not trying to undermine each other, and don’t even get me started on snooping around in personal records and searching for private information. I would never have expected such scheming from you.’

Clint realises this hasn’t gone the way he wanted it to, but instead of back-tracking, he doubles-down. ‘He’s the one scheming, I swear!’

Gisela finally has enough and shoves him towards the door, trying to herd him, the two boys, and three suitcases outside, and Hamish dashes to help her, leaving pin-drop silence in the hall.

The bosses look at their feet, the wives at their nails, and no one knows what to say.

‘Well, that was awkward,’ Rory pipes up after a moment. ‘Poor guy must’ve really wanted that job.’

Dand and Halston nod in agreement, looking grateful for someone breaking the tension. ‘Nothing but proof we chose the right person.’

Ollie swallows hard, his body tense next to mine. I can feel the guilt whirling through him. ‘I can explain…’

I’m not sure if he intends to tell them the truth, but both bosses wave him away. ‘No need. This has been such a wonderful Christmas, and your family are a credit to each other. I almost don’t want to give you the promotion because I selfishly want you all to stay in Scotland so we can see more of each other, but at the same time, you’re exactly what our up-and-coming London branch needs. Your family values will set you in good stead there, and our clients love nothing more than a man who loves his family and understands how important making money is so you can take care of them. The very lifeblood of our firm.’

‘Congratulations again, Oliver.’ Halston claps Ollie on the shoulder. ‘Enjoy the rest of your Christmas break, and we’ll look forward to seeing you in January with the contracts. In the meantime, you’d all better start packing!’

The teenagers are already at their respective cars, and the bosses and wives leave in a flurry of suitcases and bags and congratulatory hugs. We stand at the top of the castle steps – me, Ollie, Maisie, and Rory, and wave them off like a real little family.

‘That didn’t feel good,’ I say as the last car pulls out and Hamish locks up the gates behind them. ‘Clint’s a bit of a tit but he was spot on. He’s the only one who saw through us, and we made him feel like he was in the wrong for it. We should have…’ I trail off because I don’t know what we should have done in that situation, only that we didn’t do it.

‘What?’ Ollie snaps. ‘Given up the whole charade because of his hunch? What would that have achieved? We knew we’d be questioned – that was the whole point of practising so much. I can’t believe I didn’t even think about official records. Anyone could’ve checked at any time…’

‘And yet, they didn’t because they trust you.’

‘Aye,’ he mutters. It doesn’t sound like a good thing.

23

Back inside the entrance hall, I’m filled with the same sense of dread that I had when I walked into Calloways four weeks ago. The sense that everything is crumbling around you and it’s entirely your own fault because you should have known that something like this would happen.

I should have got to work on time that day. I should have known that Ollie would get the promotion on this day. I should have known he’d say yes, and yet somehow, I didn’t. I didn’t think the animatronic Santa would malfunction. I didn’t think he’d accept the job.

There’s a lump in my throat and I try to swallow it down. ‘So I guess congratulations are in order…’

‘Don’t, Lu.’ Ollie’s voice is hoarse and he sounds like one wrong word is going to make him lose his grip on his emotions.

Everyone looks like they don’t quite know what to do. I can hear Brian trying to shush Rocco’s tantrum from the kitchen. Mira is looking torn between hugging me or going to help Brian. Mum and Dad are looking at each other awkwardly.

‘Maybe we should take our leave too,’ Dad says. ‘We were going to set off later, but we may as well start out now. I’ll take the bags…’

Mum gets everyone ready to start the long drive home, and there’s another round of goodbyes. All I can think of is how happy I was on the day my parents arrived. How welcoming Ollie was. How proud I was to call him mine, even just for a little while.