‘Oh! I presumed we’d have it here, as usual.’ It hadn’t occurred to Sive that it might be different this year. But she realised now her sisters might have other options, other demands on their time. Mimi was part of Rocco’s big, close-knit family now, and she might be expected to spend the day with them. Jonathan and Sam were orphans like themselves, but nevertheless they may have other arrangements.
‘Did you have something else in mind?’ Aoife asked Mimi.
‘No, I want to have it here – all of us. Unless anyone has other plans?’ She looked around the table.
Jonathan shook his head. ‘No plans.’
She turned to Sam, eyebrows raised.
‘You mean … me too?’
‘Of course you. You’re part of this family now,’ she said matter-of-factly.
‘I’ve no plans.’ He grinned. ‘I’d love to come.’
‘What about you, Rocco?’ Aoife asked him. ‘Will your family expect you to go to them?’
‘No. I’ll be wherever Mimi and Marlowe are.’ He slung an arm around Mimi’s shoulders. ‘They’re my family now.’
Mimi smiled and took his hand, her face flushed with pleasure.
‘But we can do it at my house, if that’s easier. You won’t have much time, with the show on.’
The theatre would only be dark for Christmas Day. There would be a matinee on Christmas Eve, but no evening performance.
‘I’d like to have it here,’ Sive said. It occurred to her that it might be the last time they’d all have Christmas together in this house. ‘And I’m sure we can manage if everyone mucks in.’
‘I agree,’ Mimi said.
‘I’ll be finished at the Gaiety on the twenty-second,’ Aoife said. ‘And Jonathan’s not working Christmas Eve either. So we can do the shopping and start dinner prep.’
‘And I’m a man of leisure,’ Rocco said, ‘so I can be here whenever I’m needed.’
‘Yay!’ Sive grinned, already excited about it. She’d loved Christmases with her sisters, when it was just the three of them celebrating together. But it was the time of year when their orphaned status hit hardest and she missed her parents the most keenly, and she’d always looked forward to a time when there’d be more – more presents under the tree, more people sitting around their dining table, eating too much, wearing silly paper hats, pulling crackers and laughing over the awful jokes. She was excited that that time had finally arrived. ‘We’ll need the biggest turkey in the shop!’
‘I’ll take care of the turkey,’ Jonathan said.
‘And I’ll bring the smoked salmon and champagne,’ Rocco said. ‘And lashings of non-alcoholic fizz for you,’ he added to Sive.
‘So we’ll have dinner here,’ Mimi said, ‘but I would like to get together with Rocco’s family on Christmas Day too. So I thought we could have drinks – you know, a sort of open house for a few hours in the morning when people could come and go wheneversuits them, like Detta used to have. We can all invite whoever we want. What do you think?’
‘Yes! I’d love that.’ Detta’s tiny cottage in the Liberties had always been thronged on Christmas morning, filled with the sounds of happy chatter and the pop of champagne corks. Their great-aunt had loved to throw a party.
‘It sounds like a lot of work, though, on top of everything else,’ Jonathan said.
‘Ah, well, you’ll all have to muck in,’ Mimi said. ‘Like I said, you’re part of the family now – it cuts both ways.’
Jonathan nodded. ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
‘Great. That’s settled then.’ Mimi picked up her plate and stood. ‘Now, who’s for dessert?’
22
Sive had never been morerelieved to make it through to dress rehearsal. Tech week had been particularly demanding, with music, dancing and ghostly special effects as well as all the usual disparate elements to pull together. With such a large cast, the staging ofA Christmas Carolwas complex and the blocking was particularly challenging in the confined space of Halfpenny Lane. But by the end of the week they’d ironed out all the kinks, and the show was running smoothly, cast and crew operating as a single organism in perfect control of all its moving parts.
All three Tiny Tims attended for the dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon and would take turns to perform in different scenes, so the rehearsal had an audience of three, with Irene, Maria and Ciara watching from the front row of the stalls. Alan’s plan was to draw lots for which one of the children would play the part on opening night. It meant the chance to be seen by the critics and hopefully mentioned in reviews, so it seemed the fairest way to deal with it.
But when Alan proposed this before the rehearsal got underway, James took himself out of the running straight away because he’d worked out that if he performed on opening night,it would be his turn again the first Saturday evening and that would clash with his friend’s birthday party. He was unusually loquacious on the subject, and it was as if he was afraid of hurting Alan’s feelings by choosing his friend’s party over the play as he went to great lengths to explain that there would be laser tag and pizza, and that Gordon was his best friend. ‘It’s not that I don’t like doing the show, I think the show is brilliant—’
