Page 73 of A Merry Little Christmas

‘I can’t believe I’m telling you this. You of all people.’ Yvonna blew out a shaky breath. ‘Olek and I never used birth control; we decided that what was meant to be would be. But nothing ever did happen until I had a fling with Viktor. Two months later, I was pregnant. I ended it with Viktor and focused on the pregnancy. It was only when Max was a toddler that Viktor came back on the scene.’

‘And you didn’t think you should mention it to either of the men?’

Yvonna’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I know it was bad of me, but I decided to keep quiet. I didn’t know for certain, and Olek was ecstatic about the prospect of being a dad. Whereas Viktor acted like he’d had a lucky escape. The only way to prove it would have been a DNA test – I didn’t want to put anyone through that. It was bad enough when Olek found out about Viktor and me, to then add, “oh and by the way, Max might belong to Viktor too,” seemed too cruel.’

‘So you let Olek bring up a baby as his own son even though you had your doubts,’ said Nell, struggling to keep the disbelief out of her voice.

Yvonna covered her face with her hands. ‘I shouldn’t have done it, but I’m glad for Max’s sake that I did. I love Viktor dearly, but Olek has made a better father than he ever would have done.’

‘He had mumps as a teenager,’ Nell told her. ‘And it’s rare, but I found out recently that it can cause infertility in men. I think this is what happened to Olek, which means he’s been unable to father children ever since.’

‘So Viktor must be Max’s dad.’ Yvonna swore under her breath. ‘I knew about him having mumps, didn’t know about the problems it can cause.’

Nell’s heart ached for her husband; all those years building their close father-and-son relationship, all the proud moments, the happy memories, the shared hobbies … Rightly or wrongly, Yvonna had preserved those for Olek by keeping her suspicions to herself. Nell was the one who’d jeopardised Olek and Max’s relationship. Never had the saying ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ felt more apt. If only she hadn’t gone poking her nose in, all of this could have been avoided. ‘Are you going to tell them? All three of them?’

Yvonna’s face froze in horror. ‘I … I don’t want to. It’ll cause so much upset. And they’ll all be angry with me. I guess you’re going to tell Olek?’

Nell shook her head. ‘It should come from you, not me.’

Yvonna pressed herself back against the car seat and exhaled. ‘Shit. This is a nightmare.’

‘Finally, we agree on something.’

Nell needed Merry tonight more than she ever had done in her life. Under other circumstances, she’d have rung her and asked if the two of them could get together to set the world to rights, but that wasn’t an option anymore. But there was somewhere else she could go, somewhere she was guaranteed to be pampered and cosseted and treated like a child for a while. In fact, she’d go straight there now, no need to even go home first.

‘I think you and I have finished for tonight,’ Nell told Yvonna. ‘I’m driving to my parents’ house now. So if you wouldn’t mind getting out, I’ll be on my way.’

A few days in her childhood bedroom, a chance to revert to a time before her life got so complicated …? Bring it on.

Chapter 29

Merry

Merry gripped Cole’s arm tightly as he guided her from the kitchen at Meadow View out into the dark garden. She was pretty sure that being led blindfolded wasn’t what the midwife had in mind when she’d advocated delegating chores.

‘I’ve never been more nervous in my life,’ she said, her voice muffled under the scarf Freya had tied over her face.

Cole was very strong, and she trusted him, but the ground was slippy underfoot and there was probably a frost.

‘I’ve got you,’ Cole assured her. ‘I won’t let you fall.’

‘Keep your eyes closed,’ Freya chimed in front of her. ‘No peeping.’

‘I can’t see anything with your scarf over my eyes. I promise!’

She felt the hard surface of the terrace beneath her feet.

Cole stopped and tucked an arm around her waist. ‘OK, you can look.’

‘Surprise!’ yelled Harley and Freya together as she pulled down the scarf.

‘You guys!’ Merry beamed. ‘This is amazing!’

The back garden at Meadow View had been given a full-on Christmas makeover: the beech hedge twinkled with lights, a fir tree had been fully decorated with lights too, as well as baubles and even an angel on top. There was a picnic table set with a flask and mugs, marshmallows and biscuits. And as she took in the circle of deckchairs around a glowing firepit, Harley turned on the Christmas music and ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! blasted out across the terrace.

‘This is a lovely surprise, thanks, you three, I’m really touched.’

‘We wanted to do something to cheer you up because your dad has died and you’re probably sad,’ Freya said earnestly.