Page 104 of The Merry Christmas Project

I nodded. ‘Don’t let me go.’ Then I gasped, remembering the choir. ‘Cole ! The children on stage. They’ll be scared to death.’

Hand in hand, we dashed back into the square. It was chaos. After an initial second or two of shocked silence, people were shouting to each other, kids shrieked or cried, dogs barked, parents were flocking to the stage to retrieve frightened children and Mrs Flowers, Tom and Sally were desperately trying to keep tabs on who exactly was removing which child.

Cole let go of my hand and tried his phone again and I could feel myself trembling.

‘Excuse me ?’ The photographer from the newspaper shone his phone torch in my face. ‘Merry Shaw, isn’t it ? The one in charge ?’

‘Yes ? How can I help ?’ I forced myself to concentrate on him.

‘I’ve got some shots of all the trees, but I really need to take a picture of your kids’ choir on stage before I go.’

‘I’m sorry about this,’ I said, taking a deep breath. ‘I’m sure the electricity will be back on soon. Cole, how long do you think … ?’ I turned to him to ask if he had any bright ideas, but he wasn’t there. ‘Cole ?’

I whirled around, searching for him, but he seemed to have vanished.

Suddenly a huge flashlight lit up the stage and shone onto the face of a man in a hard hat and fluorescent coat.

‘Really sorry folks,’ he yelled at the top of his voice. ‘Wetherley Town Council engineer here. We’ve cut through a cable. We’ll have the power on as quick as we can.’

‘How quick is quick ?’ someone shouted.

The man shrugged. ‘Hard to tell, an hour ? Two ?’

‘But we can’t wait around in the cold !’ shouted a diminutive old lady with a surprisingly booming voice. ‘Some of the elderly ones will catch their death.’

I bit back a sob. This was turning into a disaster. And where was Cole ? I could have done with his comforting presence right now.

Tom touched my arm. ‘Merry ? Shall I tell the music teacher to let the kids go home ? They can’t wait for an hour.’

‘No, not yet !’ I cried, feeling tears sting my eyes. ‘This is what we’ve been planning for months. Let’s hang on a bit longer, I can’t admit defeat. I don’t want to be a failure.’

‘You’re not a failure, Merry,’ Tom said, giving me a cuddle. ‘None of this is your fault. It’s the contractors who’ve cocked it up.’

A crowd of people had gathered around me looking for answers and I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

Behind me someone cleared their throat to get my attention. I looked around to see the photographer putting the cap on his lens.

‘I think I’ll head off. There’s a Santa sack race in an hour in Bakewell, I’ve got to be there at the finish line.’ He stuck his hand out for me to shake. I took it briefly, wondering how he’d managed to stay so warm ; my teeth were starting to chatter.

‘Of course, I understand,’ I said glumly.

‘Sorry,’ he said, taking pity on me. ‘Shame those kids haven’t got Victorian lanterns to go with their outfits.’

‘Oh !’ A picture popped into my head of the two hundred and fifty samples of Midnight Forest I’d got sitting upstairs in the workshop. I couldn’t conjure up lanterns, but I could lay my hands on a large number of candles. ‘You’ve just given me an idea. Please don’t go. This is going to make a lovely photo. Give me five minutes.’

He sucked in air. ‘Go on then, as it’s Christmas.’

I started to feel a bit brighter, and my eyes were getting accustomed to the darkness too. If only I knew where Cole was. I was worried about him. And Harley, poor kid.

Nell, hand in hand with Olek, appeared by my side. ‘Do you know what’s happening ?’

‘Yes I do and you’re just the people I need to help me.’ I grabbed hold of them and began dragging them to the old bank. ‘We’re going to do this by candlelight. I’ve got enough candles to give one to almost every adult.’

‘Give ?’ Nell squawked. ‘You’re giving all your candles away for free ?’

‘Yep.’ Using the light from my phone, I unlocked the door and we all raced up the stairs. I loaded cartons of candles into Olek’s arms and tucked several boxes of safety matches into his pockets. Then Max appeared wanting to know what was going on, so I gave him a box to carry down too.

‘Cool,’ he said, nodding. ‘Can my friends have one ?’