Page 75 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘Maisy, petal. Wake up.’ Rachel gently shook her shoulder.

‘Ah …’ Maisy blinked her eyes open. ‘Is it time for school, did I sleep in?’

‘No, petal, something magical is happening. Look.’ She pulled the curtains back.

Within minutes they were out in the yard in their waterproof overalls and wellingtons, with Moss now frolicking about too. The falling snow cast enough light in the deep-grey morning air for them to see, their eyes soon adjusting. Rachel opened her mouth to feel the cold melt of it on her tongue, just like she used to as a child.

They made snow angels in the back garden and a cute little snowman with dark stones for his eyes and mouth, and a couple of twigs for arms. Snowballs flew between them next, until they began to feel numb frosty fingertips, and were blinking snow off their eyelashes.

Jill came to the door then. ‘What on earth are you pair up to out here in the dark? What’s all the rumpus?’ Then she looked around her. ‘Ah!’

‘It’s snow, Grandma! We’ve been making snow angels, and Moss has been our snow dog!’

He too was covered in half-melted snowballs.

‘Ah, I see.’ Jill couldn’t help but smile. ‘Well, you snow angels need to get in and get warm and get ready for school.’

‘Aaaw …’ Maisy pulled her lip down.

‘That’s right, petal. Time’s up,’ Rachel agreed. ‘Hopefully, it’ll still be here when you get back after school.’

‘I bet it won’t.’ The little girl folded her arms crossly.

‘Well, at least we didn’t miss it,’ soothed Rachel.

‘No, we didn’t, did we?’ Her arms loosened. She looked up at Rachel from snowy lashes. ‘Thanks, Mummy. That was so fun.’

‘You’re welcome, my little angel.’

Sometimes the simple, happy things that came for free in life were the best.

Their two body prints, little and long, lay beside each other in the snow, touching hands with gorgeous sweeping angel wings.

Rachel and Tom’s relationship, however, was undeniably complicated, and not particularly happy, at this moment in time.

He caught up with her later that same morning, as she was filling the wooden feeding troughs out in the snow-dusted fields with sheep nuts, carrying and pouring out sacks of the stuff from the back of the Land Rover. The pregnant ewes would need all the extra nutrients they could get in this weather and the animals nudged in hungrily beside her.

Tom pulled his quad to a stop.

‘Hi,’ she said softly, turning to greet him.

‘Hey, what happened to you last night? You just upped and left,’ he said, launching right in. ‘What’s going on, Rach?’

She hadn’t yet had chance to explain or ask her burning questions. And now here he was, being grumpy with her. Perhaps it was Tom who had some explaining to do. She remembered how she’d felt, seeing Caitlin’s name appear on his phone. It still stung. His ex was back in his life in some capacity and he was lying to her about it.

Tom’s indignant stance as he got off the quad set her off.

‘I’ve been worried sick, Tom. First, Vanessa, in the village said Caitlin’s been back on the scene, and then Eve thought she saw her driving into your farm the other day. And all these phone calls. I saw the Caller ID when I was at your house. What’s going on, Tom? Are you seeing her again?’

‘Whoa, now hang on there, Rach! So, you’d rather listen to tittle-tattle from that old bat in the village than talk to me? Come on, Rachel, what do you take me for?’

Rachel really didn’t know what to think. Her fears had built and burrowed away inside her these past few weeks. But she needed the truth. And there was something else on her mind. ‘And I turned up to see you one night. It was late, past eleven thirty. I just wanted to be with you, spend a couple of hours with you, but there was no one home. No truck, even.’

‘Okay, so when exactly was this?’ His brow was furrowed.

Was he just getting ready to form his alibi?

‘It was a Friday, maybe a month ago. What was I supposed to think, Tom? When you weren’t there? And then hearing that Caitlin was back on the scene?’