Page 41 of Mistletoe and Mulled Wine at the Christmas Campervan

‘The children from the village primary school come along and sing for us too.’

‘Great. Can I do anything to help at all? Maybe I could make some panforte to go with the mince pies.’

‘What’s that then?’ Paul quirked an eyebrow.

‘It’s an Italian-style fruit-and-nut cake,’ Louise chipped in, knowledgeably.

‘Yeah, my nonna has a great recipe for that. It’s a family favourite at Christmas time. Filled with almonds, fruit, honey and spice.’

‘That sounds delicious. I’m sure it will be very welcome. I’ll let Brenda on the committee know,’ Cathy replied.

The chat continued for a while, all calm and leisurely, until the mulled wine ran out and the teapot was drained. With tummies pleasantly filled, festive plans afoot, plenty of new Christmas book recommendations to check out, and just a few weeks left until the big day itself, the last Driftwood Book Club of the year came to a very jolly close.

Lucy headed home with a festive spring in her step. But as she turned the corner onto her street, something seemed amiss. At first, she thought it was ice glinting, but as she neared, she saw a smattering of glass was lying on the pavement near to her cottage, glimmering in the light of the old-fashioned street lamp.

Lucy’s heart started to beat double-time, she quickened her pace to find that her Jeep’s passenger window had been shattered. A circular hole glaring at her as if a stone had hit it. She felt her heart sink – her good mood immediately shattered too.

Not again! This couldn’t be coincidence, surely? Was somebody actually targeting her? But who, why? Or was she just putting two and two together after the tyre incident, and scaring herself needlessly, when it could well be just some freak accident?

She moved around the Jeep, her palms all clammy with nerves, and looked at the horsebox; might that have been sabotaged again too? But checking it out up close, that vehicle, at least, seemed unscathed. Finally, she turned to scan the front of her little house. The door, the windows, they were all intact. Thank heavens for that, as little Daisy had been home alone while she’d been out at the Book Club.

Oh … did they know she was out? Had someone been watching her? Her blood ran cold. She glanced over her shoulder, felt a prickle of anxiety, then grabbed her keys from her purse and bolted in through the front door, locking it firmly behind her. Telling herself all the while that there was probably a simple explanation, some accident, or perhaps tomfoolery gone a bit too far with the local kids. But despite her reasoning and the flood of warmth from her cosy cottage haven, her new life here suddenly felt threatened. Her bolt-hole violated.

She was overreacting, she repeated to herself, trying to stop the flow of anxious thoughts. But as she found Daisy, with her tail wagging away in the kitchen, Lucy couldn’t yet still the hammering of her heart.

Invitation to

Christmas Tree Light Up and Carols

Embleton Village

Friday 3rd December, 6 p.m.

Chapter Twenty

Tonight was the ‘Christmas Tree and Carols Celebration’. And just about every cottage, shop, pub and hotel was doing its part with window displays, fairy lights and even a flashing Santa Claus and reindeer swinging between the rooftops at the far end of the village – the real Santa would certainly know to stop here.

There was a real buzz about the place with villagers, young and old, watching and helping to decorate the massive Christmas tree (yes, it was even bigger than Lucy’s, haha!) which had been hoisted up on the grassy area at the end of Front Street, just down from Cathy’s shop and next to the Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel. There was even a cherry picker in situ, with a chap reaching for the top branches, trying to secure the last loop of multicoloured lights.

Caught up in the festivities, Lucy had placed a row of pretty fairy-lit wooden stars along her front windowsill and had added a fir wreath to her mantelpiece. She’d also bought new Christmas stockings for her and Daisy to hang up by the fire. She’d even considered getting one for Jack, but then wondered if that might be yet another step too far and give him the wobbles once again.

She wondered what they might in fact both do over Christmas? It was still early days in their relationship, so they’d most likely be spending Christmas Day with their own families, but aside from that, could she dare to hope that they might get some special time together too? After a rather lonely last Christmas, that would certainly be rather lovely.

The sound of hammering brought her back to the village activities. The lighting-up ceremony was to take place later on at 6 p.m., once it had got dark. Lucy had already baked her panforte, ready to help out with the village hall catering. Her cottage kitchen was still filled with the aromas of toasted nuts, cinnamon, fruit and spice. She’d just stepped out to take a look at proceedings and to show off Daisy, who was trotting along beside her sporting her latest Nonna creation – an Argyle-style cream-and-green winter knit.

Walking the village loop, Lucy came across Cathy stood by the massive pine, giving instructions to the heavens. Well, actually to her husband Kev, who was the chap up the cherry picker stringing out loops of coloured bulbs and dangling very big baubles.

‘Hey, Cathy, the tree’s looking great.’ Lucy smiled.

‘Oh hi, Lucy. Well, it’ll be even better tonight with all the lights on. That’s when the village starts to look really magical.’

‘You all ready for Christmas, then?’

‘Hmm, getting there. Mind you, with the village shop open right up until five o’clock Christmas Eve, I certainly have to be organised.’

‘Oh, I bet. It’ll be all go.’

‘It is indeed. Luckily my mother-in-law doesn’t mind cooking the Christmas dinner, so we all pile around there for a big family get-together.’