Page 26 of The Cotswolds Christmas Fair

Jen wasn’t planning to stay. She was very much hoping that she wouldn’t need to use the room at all, that the trains would be running again in an hour or two and she would be safely on her way back to London and her own life, unimpinged by memories of a past she’d rather not think of.

‘I love it,’ she said, picking Amy up and swinging her around so that she squealed and giggled. ‘I’m never going to leave!’ She looked at Julia. ‘This must have taken ages; thank you.’

‘Oh, not that long. And you know – we have small children, we’ve been up since five, so . . .’

‘Five?’ Jen was filled with horror. She and Ted had only just called it a night at five that morning, and her sister and the children were all beginning the day? She had no intention of joining anyone in that disgusting habit. She needed to get home to her civilised eight-thirty alarm.

Julia laughed. ‘Oh, you get used to it. But don’t worry, we won’t expect you to get up at that time!’ She smiled, knowing from years of experience that Jen was not a morning person.

Silently, Jen willed her not to tell the story of how her teenage self had told their dad to bugger off when he brought her a cuppa at nine o’clock one Sunday morning. She braced herself, but Julia said nothing more. Though there was a glint in her eye which almost certainly meant she was thinking of that exact occasion.

Amy jumped onto the bed and began showing her the toys. ‘Do you like these ones? We choosed all the best and goodest toys so you won’t be lonely.’ She held out a soft blue rabbit and a teddy wearing a Santa hat and red scarf. Jen, grateful for the distraction, sat on the bed and listened intently as Amy held out the toys one by one, telling her their names and where they’d come from.

‘Me-me!’ George shouted, tottering over to the bed and trying to clamber up. ‘Me-me!’

Amy sighed and gave Jen a long-suffering look. ‘That’s what he calls me,’ she explained. ‘Because he’s too little to say Amy. Aren’t you, Georgie?’ She lay on her belly and pulled on George’s hands, and with her pulling and his scrambling he soon joined them on the bed.

He crawled over to Jen and settled in her lap, sucking his thumb as they both watched Amy display all the teddies. And Jen felt the weight of him as he leaned into her, watched the sweet, serious expression on Amy’s face as she explained who all the toys were as though they were people, and her heart swelled with warmth. She should never have missed a single chance to spend time with her niece and nephew.

Julia watched on, smiling indulgently, and more snow began to fall outside the window. And Jen knew that, right at that moment, there was nowhere in the world she’d rather be.

The front door slammed, and the sound of feet stamping on the mat could be heard.

‘Daddy’s home!’ Amy cried, and she scrambled off the bed, helping George down, before they both raced downstairs.

The commotion of excited children greeting their dad made itself heard through the floorboards, and was soon followed by heavy footsteps up the stairs.

‘Babe, you up here?’ Dan called.

Of course he would call Julia ‘babe’. How utterly cringy.

His heavy footsteps, followed by Amy’s scampering ones, grew closer.

‘Babe? Weather’s terrible, I didn’t know if I was going to make it back from the supermarket, the roads were . . .’

Dan arrived in the room, in a slightly rumpled jumper and stockinged feet, holding George and patting Amy’s head as she danced around him. His eyes fell on Jen, and he stopped mid-sentence.

‘Didn’t you get my message?’ Julia asked.

Dan simply shook his head, still staring at Jen as though she was a mouse the cat had brought in. They’d never really seen eye-to-eye; Jen had always considered him a dull choice for her bubbly sister and secretly thought that Julia could do better. But they’d been friendly enough to one another in the beginning, each tolerating the other for Julia’s sake. It was only since things had turned frosty between the sisters that Jen had sensed this outright hostility from Dan.

Amy stopped her jumping and chatting, frowning in confusion as the adults all stood in awkward silence. George, in his dad’s arms, looked around at them all.

‘Dada,’ he said, pointing to Dan. Just in case anyone was unsure of the situation.

It didn’t take long for Dan to recover his manners.

‘Jen,’ he said, sliding George to the floor and striding towards her with an outstretched hand and almost-convincing smile. ‘Julia mentioned that you were in the village, but I didn’t know whether we’d get to see you.’

‘Well, I was supposed to be going home this morning,’ Jen said, ignoring his hand until he dropped it. ‘But my train got cancelled, so . . .’

‘Ah, of course.’ He rocked back on his heels. ‘The snow.’

‘Exactly.’ Sherlock Holmes he wasn’t.

‘I just thought – with Jen being so close, and then a sort of forced stay . . .’ Julia laughed nervously. ‘It would be a good chance to have a bit of a catch-up.’

Her expression was one of mixed emotions – embarrassment, fear, and that desperate sort of hope that Jen kept seeing in her eyes.