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That makes us all laugh, and Joanna giggle even more. “You’re incorrigible,” Heidi scolds.
He grins. “I pride myself on it.”
A bit later, when he excuses himself to go to the bathroom, Heidi whispers to me, “He wouldn’t make a move on her, would he?”
I chuckle. “If she wasn’t your mum? Maybe.”
Her eyes widen. “Really? But she’s, like, twice his age.”
“Saxon doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks of him. If he liked her, her age wouldn’t stop him. But he wouldn’t seduce the groom’s mother at a wedding. Even he has some boundaries.”
“Are you sure about that?”
We watch him walking back across the room, stopping occasionally to talk to someone and make them laugh. He’s always walked as if he owns the joint. “I know he seems cocky,” I say softly, “but I’d trust him with my life. He’s one of the good guys.”
She smiles as he rejoins us and takes his seat. “Mack told me what happened when you went camping as kids,” she says to us both.
“Yeah, that wasn’t the most fun vacation I’ve had,” I reply. “It got pretty scary when the temperature dropped below freezing, especially when Saxon got a concussion.”
“I’m just surprised it wasn’t you who fell over,” Mack states.
“I’m only clumsy with inanimate objects,” I say. “Saxon’s the one who’s broken every bone in his body and knocked himself out half a dozen times.”
“Don’t exaggerate,” he says.
“All right, how many have you broken?”
“Fifteen. That’s nothing,” he says as Heidi inhales in shock and the others exclaim, “Evel Knieval had four hundred and thirty-three fractures.”
“How have you broken so many?” she asks.
“I like motorbikes. They don’t always like me, though.”
“He’s got a death wish,” I tell her. “He’s always jumping out of planes or bungee jumping or snowboarding or something.”
“Jeez, don’t tell Oliver,” she says.
“Don’t tell Oliver what?” It’s Huxley, with Elizabeth, coming to join us for the main course.
“Saxon likes skydiving,” Heidi states.
Huxley holds Elizabeth’s seat for her, then sits and shudders. “I thought jumping off the Sky Tower was bad enough. I couldn’t do it out of a plane.”
“Not even to show me how much you love me?” Elizabeth asks.
“Sorry sweetheart,” he says, “but if you don’t believe me after I fell over six hundred feet, I don’t see why I should plummet for ten thousand.”
We all laugh, and the conversation continues while we eat. It’s midwinter at the moment, and while it’s not snowing, the clear skies mean it’s freezing, so they’re serving mulled wine and hot toddies, and there’s a magnificent hot cocoa bar where you can help yourself to various toppings like marshmallows and chocolate flakes. The menu is just as impressive: we start with a hearty vegetable soup, then there are traditional roasts for the mains, including venison and pheasant, vegan pasties with mushrooms, lentils, and red wine, root veggies roasted with thyme, Portobello mushrooms stuffed with cranberry and pistachio and onions with sun-dried tomatoes and hazelnuts, and huge roast potatoes, all served with a rich gravy.
“Oh my God, I’m so full,” Heidi complains when she scrapes the last fragment of a roast potato up.
“There won’t be any water left in the hot pools once we all get in,” Huxley says.
“Especially when I join you,” Elizabeth states with a groan, smoothing a hand over her bump. “I must weigh about five hundred pounds now.”
He chuckles, nuzzles her ear, and whispers something in it.
She groans again. “Not until my dinner’s gone down.”
