Page 97 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

There were two bottles of prosecco chilling in the fridge, and two more of white burgundy ready to go with the dinner, thanks to Tom.

‘A little glass of fizz might just set the day away well,’ grinned Frank.

‘Sounds a good idea to me. I’ll do the honours, Mum,’ offered Rachel.

‘Thank you, love.’

Granny Ruth began chatting with Frank, whilst Maisy helped gather together Ruth’s best wine glasses ready to be filled. She and Amelia were going to have one of the ‘special’ glasses with some lemonade in.

The cork popped with a merry bang, just as Eve, Amelia and Ben appeared at the Pantry door bearing gifts and grins and apologising for being slightly late.

Rachel wondered then if Jake would actually remember to ring Maisy. It would be a minor miracle, but she knew it would make Maisy’s day. Well, she could live in hope. Christmas was a time for miracles, after all. Perhaps she’d send a text message with a thank you for the gift for Maisy to put her in his thoughts, that might stir him to action.

Amelia and Maisy skipped off to the far end of the room to sit beside the sparkly Christmas tree with their special lemonades. Maisy was desperate to tell her friend all about her new toys and clothes. Amelia had brought her favourite gift, a Glow Art set with her, too. So the girls were sitting happily playing, whilst the grown-ups stood talking, sipping their drinks contentedly in the Pantry, with the waft of roast dinner drifting across tantalisingly from the farmhouse.

‘Ta dah!’ Half an hour later, Christmas dinner was served. The turkey was carried across ceremonially, already carved and sliced and covered with silver foil to keep it warm, along with jugs of gravy, trays of vegetables and roasting tins full of crispy golden potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. There was stuffing, bread sauce and cranberry sauce. The table looked so pretty and festive with the candles flickering gently in Eve’s floral centrepiece. There were Christmas crackers to pull, paper hats to put on, along with silly jokes and merriment.

Before they ate, Rachel stood to say a big thank you to Jill, who’d done the majority of the cooking, then she raised her glass to ‘friends and family’, taking a deep breath as she spoke. There was still, would always be, someone missing from that table, but they had to carry on and make the most of the life they had left without him, and the special group of people here with them today were all helping them to do that. Rachel, Jill and Ruth shared a knowing, loving look, as they raised their glasses silently to Robert too.

And so they settled down to eat, and, despite their sore hearts, there was much chatter and laughter too. The future seemed brighter than it had done for several years and together they were starting to find their silver lining after the darkest of times.

There was a lull after the main course, with no one having room for pudding just yet, and they sat around the festive table, content but too full to move.

Rachel’s mobile phone suddenly buzzed to life. ‘Oh, excuse me.’ She stood up from the table and stood to one side. ‘Oh, hi Jake. Merry Christmas.’ Wow, so he had remembered.

‘Daddy!’ Maisy had heard and was up like a shot. She soon took the phone and was chattering away, about her Santa mouse, her Twister game and her bracelet, then she remembered her manners and thanked Jake for the dress. Rachel was pleased to hear that.

Maisy then added, loud and clear for the whole table to hear, ‘And Santa put Tom in Mummy’s bed.’

There was a splutter from Eve who’d been about to take a sip of prosecco. Frank gave a wink to Rachel along with a big grin, and everyone else looked slightly awkward, particularly Tom. Eve and Ben started snorting and tried to stifle their giggles.

Rachel daren’t think what Jake’s response to that statement would be. Oh well, at least he knew the full picture now. She didn’t want to hide her love with Tom away.

Maisy bulldozed on oblivious. ‘Tom’s still here, he’s the one that gave me the bracelet, and my friend Amelia, and we’ve all had dinner and there’s going to be ice cream and strawberry rang-er pudding in a minute.’

There was a quiet moment, whilst Jake was evidently speaking.

After a few seconds, Maisy replied, ‘Yes, okay. Oh, and I do love my dress. Happy Christmas, Daddy! Thank you.’ She sounded genuinely happy, bless her. ‘Mummy, he wants to talk to you now.’

So, after that very open conversation from Maisy, Rachel took the phone. Awkward moment alert. ‘Hi, Jake. Yes, yeah we’re having a good day thanks.’ Rachel could hear chatter in the background down the line and then, ‘Yeah – just one minute, Kelvin, I’m on the phone. Go ask your mum.’ Suddenly Rachel could picture them there all together – Jake’s instant family – while the little girl he had left behind waited for a weekly call if she was lucky. She felt riled, but Rachel was determined not to let it spoil hers or Maisy’s day. So she put on a chirpy tone and a smile for Maisy saying, ‘Happy Christmas, Jake.’ After all, this particular wayward leopard was never going to change his spots. He finished the call, promising to ring Maisy again in a few days’ time.

After a wonderful dessert feast of Granny Ruth’s award-winning Christmas pudding, with a side portion of Berry Pavlova, a giggle-filled game of charades ensued. That was then followed by Twister, Maisy’s all-time favourite. Granny Ruth nearly seized up at one point in her forward crab position during the game, but Rachel and Eve managed to straighten her up, and a further glass of sherry and a sit-down seemed to put her to rights. Moss and Mabel had settled happily together by the log-burning stove, and looked rather loved up, after polishing off a treat of turkey leftovers.

The only cooking disaster of the day was discovered when Jill headed back over to the farmhouse to be met by a slightly smoky aroma – the pigs in blankets were still sitting in the bottom oven of the Aga – she’d totally forgotten about them. Unfortunately, they now looked very like ‘pigs in charcoal’ but she and Rachel laughed it off. Nobody had noticed they were missing and the rest of the meal had been delicious, after all.

It was time for Tom to head over to his parents’ house. Rachel slipped out from the table to see him off. She’d so enjoyed having him here for Christmas Day with them, but totally understood that he needed to spend time with his own family too.

‘Thanks for being here with us all today. I’ve had such a lovely day so far.’

‘Me too. It’s been brilliant, and as per usual at Primrose Farm, I’ve eaten far too much. It was thoroughly delicious, mind. Your mum is just the best cook. And you’re a very close runner-up.’

‘I think I’ll take that as a compliment.’

Tom then stepped closer to take Rachel in his arms and a rather romantic kiss ensued. The spell was broken by Maisy shouting out to the group inside, ‘Ooh, look, Mummy’s kissing Tom!’ which was followed by warm laughter, and a whoop from Eve.

Tom and Rachel smiled broadly. At least Maisy didn’t seem to mind; she was just curious at this newfound public display of affection.

‘Can you come back this evening? I’d love you to stay again,’ whispered Rachel hopefully, her body already filled with longing for him. Well, you can’t kiss someone like that and not expect a reaction.