Christmas of New Beginnings: An uplifting festive romance full of warmth by Ferry Kirsty

Author:Ferry, Kirsty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Choc Lit Contemporary Romance: A Joffe Books Company
Published: 2023-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Christmas Past

Yes, it’s still One Year Ago

A few days later, on Christmas Eve, my parents, Edie and I all squeezed into a corner of the Spatchcock next to the fire. Mum and Dad didn’t really do pubs, but as they were my festive guests, I’d persuaded them to come along and have some mulled wine and some sherry after the carol service at the church.

‘It’s a kind of a “thing”, you see,’ I told them, as they sat looking rather dazed in amongst an excited crowd of Padcockians. (I’m not actually sure if that’s what the villagers would call themselves, but I quite like the sound of it.) ‘We all do the carol concert, then come here. There’s a bit more singing and some festivities, and then we go home. But there’s a Midnight Mass service as well, which I’ve been told is good . . . but I’m usually in bed by then.’

‘Cerys. This CD is rubbish. It’s the same one Sam plays every year. Will you entertain us instead?’ Edie suddenly asked.

I knew that Edie found this time of year quite difficult, what with being completely on her own. Her mum and step-dad travelled a lot, and she wasn’t that close to either of them anyway.

From what she’d told me, her mum had her when she was quite young and she’d been passed around like a parcel between her mother and her gran and boarding school all her life. And I’d only ever met one friend of hers; a lovely guy called Barnaby who she knew in London. She called him Earnest Barnaby, because she said he always looked “very earnest”. She was right.

But I digress. I was just really glad Edie was there and part of our celebrations. It was a shame Geraint wasn’t there, but he happened to be working at a theatre in London over Christmas. It was a gig he’d got last minute, and I’d been a little bit huffy because it was the first time since Alwen-Gate that there would have just been our parents and us — and Edie, of course — for Christmas. My aunt and uncle were going on a cruise, which was bonkers to me — why would you want to go on a cruise over Christmas? And risk rolling waves, unfriendly weather and combine it with a huge Christmas lunch? It was recipe for disaster — guaranteed.

Sea sickness, anyone? Another Kwell with your sprouts, madam?

Nope. No thanks.

My parents had agreed with me and Geraint that a cruise was rubbish, and so had decided to come here instead. But then Geraint had called off. I couldn’t really blame him — it was a good job and good pay in one of the big theatres doing the pantomime. It had solved the accommodation problem anyway — I’ve only got two bedrooms, and my parents would have been in the spare room, so my brother would have had to sleep on the sofa.

However, Edie was now suggesting that I entertain the hordes in the pub, which hadn’t been my plan at all.

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