A Perfect Cornish Christmas by Phillipa Ashley

Author:Phillipa Ashley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-09-09T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Ellie walked in on a scene of heaven – or hell – depending on your point of view. A giant paper octopus dominated the room, surrounded by hyper kids shrieking and laughing. Others were darting about with lanterns on poles, almost knocking over each other and their families.

‘Eh, mind my cap!’ Troy shouted as a ginger lad almost sliced it off with a paper fish.

Parents were shouting at their offspring to ‘calm down!’ and a girl fell on top of another boy’s lantern, leading to wails of dismay and a heated argument between the families.

‘Hello!’ one of the festival organisers, Chloe Farrow, greeted her. ‘Mad, isn’t it?’

Chloe’s toddler granddaughter was playing with paper.

‘Gan gan.’ She offered a chubby fistful of paper to Chloe.

‘Thank you, Ruby.’

Ruby offered the paper to Ellie next.

‘I’m not sure Ellie wants that, darling.’

‘It’s fine,’ Ellie replied, amused. ‘Thank you, Ruby.’

Her dark brown eyes were so innocent and trusting. Ellie’s stomach clenched. Ruby dropped the soggy mess into her hands. ‘Oh, lovely. All warm and squidgy.’

Chloe wrinkled her nose in apology but Ruby chuckled in delight. ‘It’s almost over. Lucky you,’ Chloe said.

‘Looks like I missed the best of it. That octopus is something else.’

‘Hmm. The Christmas parade will be fun but personally this whole pagan solstice thing reminds me a bit too much of The Wicker Man, though they don’t burn the lanterns at the end of the ceremony.’

‘You hope,’ Ellie said, laughing.

‘Hmm. We don’t want this lot going up in flames. It’s fun for the children before the rowdier stuff gets going.’ Ruby let out a huge yawn. ‘She’s shattered and so am I. Think we’d better get off home now. See you again soon.’

Leaving Chloe to strap Ruby in her buggy, Ellie joined her mum and Scarlett.

‘I made an actual lantern,’ Scarlett said proudly, showing her a star.

‘That is … actually pretty impressive.’

‘Don’t sound so surprised!’

‘It’s lovely,’ Anna said.

Troy grumbled up, adjusting his hat. ‘Bloody kids. One of them near brained me.’

‘They’re not that bad, Troy!’ Evie admonished him with a roll of her eyes. ‘Sorry, have to go. Hazel wants me in the kitchen.’ Evie waved at Hazel and went off at a surprising pace for someone with an artificial knee.

‘Little buggers. God knows what’ll happen when we get these creations near naked flames,’ Troy said, eyeing the hyperactive bunch racing around with their lanterns. ‘Aaron did well to keep away. These kids would drive him mad.’

‘Really?’ Ellie was puzzled.

‘Yes. I remember him saying on one of his trips home that he joined the army to get away from being saddled with a brood before he was twenty-five.’

Ellie laughed but was dismayed. She was hardly at the stage of discussing a family with Aaron but if he was so against kids, it was unwelcome news to her.

‘You had two of your own, including Aaron, and they didn’t turn out too badly,’ she said, trying to make light of his comments.

Troy chortled. ‘Aye, I did that, maid. Eh!’ Troy cried out as the ginger boy bumped into him once more, knocking his cap clean off again.

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