Page 63 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘Your stall looks stunning, Eve, like a Christmas fairy-tale tableau.’

‘Aw, thanks, hun. And yours, my love, is a Christmas platter of pudding perfection!’

Rachel made her way down to the ‘Teashop in the Castle’ to grab a couple of coffees – a caffeine hit was much needed after this morning’s early start.

‘Well, best of luck, hun.’ The two friends pretend-clinked their takeaway paper cups.

Rachel glanced at her watch. ‘Doors open in half an hour.’

‘Yes, not long now. Ooh look, there’s Emma and her gorgeous chocolate stall across the way. I might have to nip and get a few bits for my mum’s Christmas parcel.’ Eve went over and was soon chatting animatedly. Emma then waved at Rachel, who headed across.

‘Hi, there, Emma. Isn’t it amazing here? What a cool place,’ said Rachel as she joined them. ‘Thanks so much for giving us the nod.’

‘Oh my, look at all these divine chocs, Rach.’ Eve was practically drooling.

The rich smell of cocoa drifted from the stall, which was laid out so prettily with gold and silver boxes and ribbon-tied bags of chocolates and fudge. Rachel couldn’t resist choosing some treats for Jill and Granny Ruth, and some white chocolate stars that would be ideal for Maisy’s Christmas stocking.

‘Well, have a good day both of you,’ said Emma, handing them their chocolate gifts. ‘Here’s to lots of sales and success!’ She grinned and they made their way back to their own stalls with a little trepidation. After all the hours of baking and crafting, they both hoped this event would prove to be worthwhile and give their fledgling businesses the boost they needed.

They needn’t have worried; customers flowed in from eleven o’clock and both Rachel and Eve made several sales straight away – result! The next few hours flew by. A constant stream of visitors came through, lots of them asking for Granny Ruth’s famous Christmas Puddings, and checking that they were the ones mentioned in the local paper. The other flavours were proving popular too and Rachel was very glad they’d gone all out this past week with the extra baking.

Eve seemed to be doing equally well with her crafts, which was brilliant. The ten-pound notes were building up nicely in the cash tin and the stack of puddings was going down. With the takings flowing nicely, Rachel began to feel hopeful that she might be able to get Maisy some nice Christmas gifts after all.

Tom arrived at the Fayre after lunch time with Maisy. Her little girl came bounding across the hall to give Rachel a hug.

‘Hi, petal. All ready for your singing later? You look very smart in your uniform, I must say.’

‘Yes, Mummy.’

‘Hello, Tom.’ Rachel looked up, finding herself feeling a little awkward. Concerns over Caitlin’s reappearance were still fresh in her mind, and their lack of time together of late seemed to have placed a distance between them. ‘Thanks for bringing Maisy across,’ she added, aware she was sounding far too polite.

‘It’s no problem.’

A customer then nudged in front of Tom to muscle in on one of Ruth’s Christmas Puddings.

‘We’ll just go and take a look about.’ Tom moved out of the way, reaching to take Maisy’s hand in his own. ‘It was three o’clock for the carol singing wasn’t it?’ he checked. ‘I’ll be sure to get her to the group well before then.’ He glanced down at the little girl. ‘Don’t want you to miss your moment, do we, Maisy?’

‘No way. We have been practising at school all week. Can we go look at the big tree, Tom?’

‘Of course, that’s our next stop.’

‘Thank you.’ Rachel managed a smile, then turned to serve the next customer.

She looked up, wishing they hadn’t had to dash away, and then began to lose sight of them in the crowd. She hoped so much that she’d got this wrong about Caitlin, whatever it might be.

A busy spell followed on the stall, and Rachel had to focus on the task in hand. Keeping her smile up, chatting with everyone about the various pudding flavours, and offering a little taster plate for people to try. With fab friend Eve calling across, now and again, ‘I can vouch for them, they’re utterly delicious!’ if anyone seemed to be dithering about buying. Forty-five minutes later, Tom reappeared with Maisy who was beaming as she held up a rather gaudy plastic doll. ‘Look what I’ve got from the Grotto, Mummy! Father Christmas let me choose it.’

‘Ah, very good.’

‘Yep, we’ve been to see good old Father Christmas,’ confirmed Tom. ‘He was a bit gruff and grumpy, I must say,’ he whispered to Rachel, then more loudly, ‘You enjoyed it, didn’t you, Maisy?’

‘Yes, he’s going to be a very busy man soon. Got the whole wide world to do,’ Maisy chirped.

Rachel smiled and gave Maisy a little pocket money to go and choose something from the stalls and off the pair of them went again, Maisy weaving her hand through Tom’s. It was lovely to see her little girl and Tom getting on so well. Her mind inevitably drifted back to the circling rumours of Caitlin’s reappearance in the village … she so hoped that it was nothing to worry about.

It was starting to get dusky and chillier outside in the courtyard, and the carol singing was due to begin so Tom came back into the hall to warn Eve and Rachel.

‘Go on you two, get yourselves outside quickly, they’re nearly ready. I’ll keep an eye on the stalls for you. Go and watch your girls.’