A family of my own.
‘I reckon if you asked for it,’ I tell her, ‘Theo would see your entire back lawn covered in snow come Christmas morning, even if he has to get a machine in to do it.’
She laughs, hurrying up the last of the steps and unlocking the front door.
‘Honey, we’re home!’ she calls, shoulder-barging it open, careful not to crush the enormous wreath as she wrestles the gnome and all her bags over the threshold.
I follow with my own haul, doing my best not to knock over the slender hallway tree or the avalanche of decorations lining every wall.
‘Jesus, Sadie, it’s like Santa’s elf threw up in here.’
‘I know I went a bit crazy – anddon’tsay anything to Theo, because we’ve done that fight a hundred times already. But you can never have enough…’ She glances at the gnome. ‘Hold that thought.’
She swings open the understairs cupboard, tucks the gnome inside, and whispers, ‘I’ll come get you when Grumpy Theo isn’t looking.’
I shake my head as she blows it a kiss and shuts the door.
‘What?’ she says defensively.
‘Nothing,’ I say, letting her take a couple of bags from me now her contraband is secured. ‘Nothing at all.’
‘It’s our first Christmas in our forever home, and I want it to be the best ever for Lottie.’
‘Of course you do, and it will be.’
‘Though speaking of Lottie—’ she says, barely drawing a breath, already turning, ‘let’s slip these inside Theo’s study so curious little hands don’t find them.’
She opens the door to her left and ushers me in. The room is a mini version of Theo’s penthouse, monochrome-tastic, save for the fluffy pink narwhal sitting proudly on his desk. I grin. The man simply cannot help himself.
‘Mummy! Aunt Tay-Tay! Come look! Come look!’
Little feet patter along the herringbone floor, and Sadie startles. ‘Quick! Quick!’
She herds me back out, shutting the door just as Lottie skids to a stop in front of us, reindeer antlers bobbing with her pigtails.
‘We made cookiez shaped like starz ’n’ snowmen ’n’ bellz!’
She grabs our hands and drags us towards the kitchen.
The sound of the men talking grows louder, blending with festive music and the scent of mulled wine and roast dinner – yum!
But not asyumas the man sitting at the island in a black polo neck and jeans.
He runs a hand through his beard, eyes locking on mine aswe walk in, and I close the distance in a loved-up, slightly breathless trance.
‘Miss me, Baby Girl?’ he murmurs, arms wrapping around me as I step between his legs.
‘Always,’ I brush against his lips, slanting my mouth to kiss him deeper, and?—
‘Ewwww!’ Lottie shrieks, her head poking up beside us.
We choke back laughter, mouths barely separating, bodies tightly locked.
‘Never mind eating each other,’ Theo says, his specs fogging up with the steam rising off the roasties clutched in his oven mitts. ‘Dinner is ready and you two need to wash your hands. You two as in Tay and Sadie, not you two with your hands— Oh God, never mind.’
We’re all laughing as we branch off. The men and Lottie take the dishes to the table. Sadie heads to the loo, which she can’t seem to go without for more than five minutes lately – all that festive excitement, I guess. And I take myself to the kitchen sink.
I sense Axel a second before he comes up behind me, hands on my hips, lips to my neck. ‘How soon is too soon to nick off to the spare room?’
