‘Ha, ha,’ she said, looking past him for a glimpse of his girlfriend. This was something of a milestone, because she’d not met her yet, and Zach had made her promise in triplicate not to make a fuss. But this was the first girlfriend he’d brought home for Christmas since his wife had died; it felt like a big deal to Lottie. She put on her best smile and turned to greet her. ‘Oh, hello,’ said Lottie, wrong-footed by the sight of the blushing woman in front of her – it was the woman she had sold a pregnancy test to when she had been doing her shift at the village stores.
Lottie tried to hide her shock by greeting Emily with a kiss on each cheek, but both women were too rigid and kept turning in the same direction. A nervous laugh escaped from Emily.
‘Nice to meet you. I’m Emily.’ She offered Lottie the bottles of wine with shaking hands.
Lottie cleared her throat and tried to act nonchalant. ‘Lovely to meet you too. Ooh, Saint-Émilion – thank you.’ She knew it sounded like she was reading from a dodgy script, but that was how it felt. She couldn’t stop her eyes darting to Emily’s stomach and then back up to her wide eyes. She looked terrified, poor thing. Lottie gave her a smile. ‘Come in and get yourself warmed up.’
‘Auntie Lottie!’ shouted Jessie, pushing past Emily and throwing herself into Lottie’s arms, almost displacing the wine.
‘Jessie!’ She put down the bottles, picked the little girl up and swung her around, thankful for the distraction. ‘You are getting taller – look at you.’
‘I told Santa I would be here for Christmas so he knows where to deliver my puppy,’ said Jessie, excitedly. Her father spun around and she made a quick amendment. ‘Presents. I meant presents.’ She gave a big cheesy grin.
‘You are a smart cookie,’ said Lottie, putting her niece down and avoiding eye contact with Emily.
‘Nana Rose!’ called Jessie and all the adults froze.
‘I thought she knew,’ whispered Lottie to her brother.
‘She does,’ replied Zach.
Zach crouched down in front of his daughter. ‘Jessie.’ His voice was tender. ‘Do you remember what I said about Nana Rose going to be with the angels?’
Jessie frowned. ‘I thought she wanted to be made into ash to help the garden?’ Lottie was glad she wasn’t the one having to answer the tricky questions.
‘Yes, but your soul, the bit that makes you special, that goes to Heaven to be with the angels,’ explained Zach.
‘Or a star,’ said Jessie.The Lion Kingwas one of her favourite films.
‘Yes, or a star,’ agreed Zach.
Jessie appeared to be thinking hard. ‘But can’t she be a ghost and carry on living here?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ said Zach.
‘Is that because there’s already a ghost that lives here?’ asked Jessie.
Emily made a noise somewhere between a croak and a gasp. ‘Ghost?’ she asked.
‘You hear it moving things at night,’ said Jessie. ‘Where’s the Duchess?’
‘Not sure,’ Lottie replied. ‘She’s a bit out of sorts at the moment, so she could be anywhere. Why don’t you see if you can find her?’
Jessie didn’t need asking twice and ran off.
‘Duchess?’ said Emily, her voice a little shaky. ‘Your mum’s a duchess?’
Zach and Lottie burst out laughing and took a few moments to get it under control.
‘Not in the slightest,’ said Zach.
‘It’s the cat’s name,’ said Lottie. She saw Emily’s shoulders drop with relief.
Lottie eyed her brother. ‘Gingerbread?’ Zach didn’t answer; he raced to the kitchen with Lottie hot on his heels. There was a brief fight over the cake tin until Zach pulled the lid off and stared at the contents with a puzzled expression.
He poked the deformed figures crouching at the bottom of the tin. ‘What are these? Ginger dead men?’
‘Oi! I made them yesterday. They took me hours.’ Lottie grabbed the tin off him and ran to the other side of the table.
