Cristy turned to be greeted by an extremely distinguished-looking man with neat silver hair, deep-grey eyes and an ironic sort of smile.
‘Graeme Ogilvy, my partner,’ Andee quickly explained.
Liking him on sight, Cristy said flirtatiously, ‘I kept wondering why she was hiding you away. Now I know.’
He laughed. ‘I’m lucky I get to see her at all; she always has so much going on. You look stunning, by the way – and this is a beautiful party.’
‘We’re very honoured to be invited,’ Andee assured her, ‘and this house … We were just talking to David’s daughter, Anna, who I believe built it?’
‘She had a lot of help.’ Cristy laughed. ‘But she was very involved in the design … Oh, David,’ she cried, noticing him pressing a path towards them, ‘have you met Andee and Graeme yet?’
‘I have,’ David told her, and leaned in slightly as Graeme said something in his ear. ‘OK, everyone’s here now,’ he declared, ‘so let’s get you in position …’
Intrigued and not a little apprehensive, Cristy allowed David to lead her through the crowd as Connor and Harrygently ushered everyone to clear a space in the middle of the room. At the bar, David turned her around and called for everyone’s attention as Matthew, Hayley and Aiden came to stand the other side of her – and if it were possible for Hayley to look more excited or Matthew more pleased with himself or Aiden more chilled, she didn’t know how.
‘What’s going on?’ she whispered to Matthew. ‘What have you done?’
‘You’ll see,’ Hayley interrupted, and grabbing her brother’s arm, she gave it a vicious squeeze.
‘What the … ?’ Aiden cried, shrugging her off.
Laughing, Cristy turned back to David as he began to address the gathering.
‘I know it’s a little early for speeches,’ he said, ‘so lucky for you, that’s not what this is. However, I’m sure you’ll agree that we can’t possibly allow the party to continue without the guest of honour being present.’
Cristy turned to him curiously.
‘I know you think that might be Cristy,’ he continued, ‘but there’s someone else here tonight who she certainly will consider just as important, perhaps even more so … OK, you can come join us now.’
As everyone turned to the door, Cristy watched a tall man in his early fifties step into view. He was slightly balding, had a close-shave beard and was dressed in a stylish black dinner suit – and her hands flew to her mouth in shock.
‘Oh my God!’ she cried, unable to believe her eyes. ‘Tom? Is that … ?’ And sobbing with joy she rushed across the room, straight into her brother’s open arms.
‘Happy birthday, sis,’ he murmured into her hair, his voice thick with emotion, his embrace as encompassing as he could make it without crushing her. Almost six years might have passed since they’d last been together, but in this moment it felt like no time at all. ‘You didn’t think I was going to miss this, did you?’ he teased.
‘No. Yes! I mean … Oh God, I can’t … You look … wonderful. When did you get here?’
‘Yesterday. I’ve been lying low at a hotel in town.’
‘I told you you were going to love it.’ Hayley laughed, coming to hug them. ‘Uncle Tom, you’re amazing for coming all this way … Thank you …’
‘It was my idea to invite him,’ Aiden interrupted, grabbing his uncle’s hand.
‘It was mine!’ Hayley protested.
‘I don’t care whose it was – it was brilliant,’ Cristy declared. ‘Oh, Tom, just look at you. I swear you’re more like Dad than ever …’
‘I’ll take it,’ he twinkled, ‘and you, of course, are the image of Mum with a little bit more height and bluer eyes. Matthew.’ He grinned, hugging his ex-brother-in-law as he joined them. ‘It’s good to see you … It’s been all of four hours since we last shared a drink?’
Cristy laughed. ‘So that’s where you all were this afternoon,’ she scolded Matthew. ‘I wondered what had happened to you. Oh, Tom, there’s so much I want to ask you – I hardly know where to begin. Where’s Sandie?’ she demanded, looking around for her sister-in-law. ‘Did she come too?’
‘Long story,’ he replied wryly, ‘not for tonight, but she sends her love and … David! I think we pulled it off.’
Grinning, David passed Tom a glass of champagne. ‘I wondered a couple of times if she’d guessed. Did you?’ he asked Cristy.
‘No, not at all. I mean, it’s such a long way to come from Canada, and you’re always so busy,’ she ragged Tom.
‘Unlike you,’ he responded dryly. ‘But here we are now, and you’ve got all these guests dying to talk to you …’
