Mrs Harlow gave Miles and me a warm smile as she proffered the tray.
‘So lovely to see you both,’ she said. ‘Gosh, the children are growing so quickly, although they’re not children anymore, I suppose.’ She gave them an adoring look.
‘Madge,’ Miles said, kissing her on both cheeks. ‘It’s good to see you. Mother hasn’t got you working too hard, I hope?’
She tssked at him. ‘I always want to make myself useful, you know that.’
Mrs Harlow had worked for the Weisses since Miles and Tristan were boys, and they looked upon her as family. I took a flute of champagne, grateful for the liquid courage.
The room was already filling with Weiss family members, their voices a low murmur punctuated by occasional laughter. Jeannie appeared, resplendent in a crimson dress that hugged her still enviable figure. Her cropped silver hair was swept up in an elegant quiff, and diamonds dripped from her ears and throat.
‘You all look wonderful,’ she announced, though pursing her lips at Martha and Callum’s choice of attire.
Her eyes swept over me almost approvingly as she said, ‘Golly gosh, Olivia, I see you’ve learned a thing or two since that first Christmas.’
I smiled, feeling as awkward as my two teenage children. Part of me lit up within– it was so uncommon for me to receive a compliment from her that a traitorous part of me felt a little pleased by it. Before I could respond, a commotion out in the foyer caught everyone’s attention.
By the sounds of it, Tristan had arrived, fashionably late as always. Mimi glided in first, her glossy dark hair matching perfectly with her effortlessly chic black dress, a mink stole draped around her bare shoulders. Every bit the Coco Chanel to my River Island.
‘Sorry we’re late,’ Tristan announced, ‘the roads were a total piss-take!’ He brushed back a lock of blond hair and flashed a shockingly white and suspiciously uniform set of teeth. I scanned the room for Miles and we caught each other’s eye. I gave him a look that I hoped said,Did you see his teeth?He nodded excitedly. We would enjoy picking that apart later.
As the room turned to greet Tristan and Mimi, I noticed Gloria was sitting like a sentinel at the door, her large brown eyes watching us rather forlornly. I headed over to her, bent down and stroked her luxuriously soft head and ears, her expression conveying exactly how I felt. I noticed Jeannie had tied an absurdly large red bow to the back of her collar that flopped about awkwardly. The retriever gave a little shake, then craned her head back in order to see what the hell was going on. I unwound the wire on the bow and chucked it into a nearby plant pot before whispering, ‘Go on, Glors, go and have a nice lie down in front of the fire.’ She seemed to like that idea, and trotted off past the new arrivals with nary a glance in the newcomers’ direction.
Jeannie threw her arms open wide for Mimi, who flashed her a sparkly dentured grin.Holy hell, they were some white gnashers. I saw that Miles had spotted them, too.
‘Turkey teeth?!’ I mouthed to him, and he nodded conspiratorially.
Jeannie turned her attention to Tristan. ‘My poor darlings! I’m sorry to hear that the roads were bad. I hear there’s a storm coming.’
Of course Tristan would arrive late with his outlandish teeth and say things like ‘piss-take’ and be fawned over. If he’d strangled a carol singer on the driveway, Jeannie would probably congratulate him on his decisive leadership skills. They made theirmwah-mwahsounds as I peered up at the portrait of Eugene, whose eerily lifelike eyes looked down over us, a faint smirk twisted upon his lips.
As I greeted Miles’s family and drifted around the room making small talk, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Eugene’s eyes followed me. The champagne flowed freely, and soon the room was filled with the buzz of conversation and laughter.
Jeannie worked the room like a pro, flitting from one person to the next, very much in her natural habitat. She chatted in earnest about her work owning a PR firm, as if she still worked there and hadn’t retired twenty years earlier. Miles once confided in me that it was how his mother and father met. Apparently, George had become embroiled in a scandal for cooking the books at the goldmine, and Jeannie had been called in to minimise the damage to the family name and image. That sounded infinitely more romantic to me than the generic tale they put out– that they had met in The Ivy members club. A story as dreary as today’s weather.
Outside, the sky had darkened ominously. Through the window I could see the first fat raindrops beginning to fall. A flash of lightning illuminated the manicured gardens, followed by a low rumble of thunder.
‘What’s on the menu tonight then, Mother?’ Tristan boomed.
‘You’ll see!’ she teased.
I found myself drifting towards the large bay window, seeking a moment of quiet amidst the growing noise.
‘Penny for your thoughts?’ Miles’s voice startled me out of my reverie. He handed me a fresh glass of champagne, his fingers reassuringly brushing mine.
‘Just admiring the view,’ I said, forcing a smile. I didn’t want to tell him what I was really thinking– that I loved him dearly but I wished he’d left me at home so I could finish my damn novel before Christmas.
‘Well, how are you both?’ Tristan said as he sauntered over, a Scotch in hand. ‘Good to see you, brother.’ He gave Miles a swift slap on the back.
‘Tristan,’ Miles said coolly. ‘How are you?’
‘Ah, you know, same old, same old. Very busy with work, it’s been an absolutely crazy year.’ He turned his sights towards me, ‘Well, well, if it isn’t my favourite sister-in-law,’ he said, giving me an approving once-over, his eyes skimming across my chest. ‘How are you, Livvy?’
Miles rested his hand protectively on my lower back. Protectively, territorially, both? I couldn’t quite tell.
‘I’m well, thanks, Tristan,’ I said with a smile. ‘You’re looking dapper as always.’
Tristan smirked, running a hand through his perfectly coiffed blond hair. Strange that two brothers could be such opposite sides of the coin in every way, Tristan being fair and slightly heavy-set, the epitome of what he liked to think of as an alpha male, Miles being dark-haired and academic, but totally drop-dead gorgeous. That extra attention his brother had received from girls when they were growing up had stuck in Tristan’s craw so badly, he’d made it his life’s ambition to best Miles in every way.
