Especially my nephew and niece.
“What other decorations are in that box?”
Jackson’s words brought me back to reality. “Several. There are some that Ava made.” I rummaged them out, sparkly things that had glitter welded to them. “And I think there’s one that was Max’s.” I found the doll Max had defaced, adding what seemed to be a witch’s hat on top, just in green material with a red tinsel trim. It also had a broomstick and on its back was the name ‘Claire.’
I passed it to Jackson.
“Looks like a very good voodoo doll of our sister. I know when Max made this, actually,” Jackson said, standing to place it on the tree. “It was when she was doing her best to kill us both.”
“Sounds familiar.” The remark came from Killian who walked through the door with Eliza at his hip. “The Wonderful Witch that is mummy is currently taking a nice relaxing bath in the hope she’ll come out of it in a better mood.”
“We’ve been hoping that for three decades, mate,” Jackson muttered. “I’m surprised there’s no ornament made by you in here.”
Killian shrugged and passed Eliza to me. “She needs a nappy change. All yours, Uncle Seph. Daddy needs a break for half an hour.” He gave out a groan as he collapsed. “Claire’s not sleeping well, which means I’m not sleeping well.”
Eliza cuddled into my knee, playing with the decoration I’d been looking at. It was an old one, a Christmas fairy with feather wings and a slightly tarnished crown.
“I’ll have her for a couple of hours.” Even though she smelled of poop and definitely needed a change. “When are you starting toilet training?” I looked at Killian.
“After Christmas. Feel free to come stay with us and help out. In fact, maybe I can order you a book on toilet training and you can do it for us.” Killian pushed himself down into the comfy chair that was known as having the power to make you fall asleep in two minutes flat.
Eliza chose that moment to fly off my knee and run at her father. “Daddy!” She dived straight on him, tugging his beard. “Pway time!”
I stood up. “Let’s get you cleaned up and we’ll go and play on the swing.”
“Yay!” And then it was my turn to have a toddler run straight into my legs at full throttle.
7
A Xylophone – From Teddy to Eliza
Payton
“What’s this?”
I grinned at Ava as Victoria walked into the room and spoke, the room that we’d nabbed for a couple of hours this afternoon. It was decorated to Ava’s standards; big helium balloons in silver and champagne, material draped over the sofas to make it look like a boudoir and the table had been decorated as if it was high tea at the Ritz.
“Your mini-hen do. I hear Max is having a surprise stag tonight.” Ava beamed.
If she hadn’t been an interior designer, she could’ve gone into event planning. Some days her job seemed to blur, elements of planning, design and even art blending into what she did to make people happy in their homes. Ava had a talent that had surprised us all, considering she’d applied to universities in the States and never shared with us what she intended to do.
“By surprise, does he actually know?” Victoria sat down and looked suspicious.
No one had a chance to answer: the door opened and over a half dozen more people piled in. Claire, Vanessa, Jacob, Sophie, Amelie, a colleague of Victoria’s from the history department where she worked, and Katie - Claire’s sister-in-law - piled in.
“Are you all here to make sure Max definitely gets married?” Victoria was pulled into a big hug by Amelie, one of our oldest family friends.
Claire headed straight for the sandwiches. “Absolutely. Sorry, was I meant to wait?”
I shrugged. I wouldn’t tell Claire not to eat food even when she wasn’t what seemed fifty-five months pregnant.
There was noise, lots of fussing, questions and jokes. Jacob made some comment about the size of Max’s dick that made me and Ava double over with laughter, but when Ava stopped laughing, I saw something else in her expression.
“You want to grab five minutes?” I linked my arm through hers. She hadn’t stopped for the last hour, dressing the room as soon as the balloons and food were delivered, while I made sure Victoria didn’t find out what was going on.
“I think so. Let me just tell Vanessa we’re nipping out.”
Ava broke away from me and tapped Vanessa on the shoulder. I couldn’t hear what was said, I just saw Vanessa nod and smile, pat Ava on the shoulder and then head to the tables where the nibbles for the afternoon tea were spread.
