‘Stop talking,’ Oliver ordered, leaning into her.
‘But I have to have to last word.’
‘Not tonight,’ he told her.
He pressed his lips to hers, slipping his hand around her back and pulling her into him. This was where he wanted to be, the room warm, the sound of happy voices, his suit covered in multi-coloured foil butterflies, jazz music starting up from the stage and the woman he loved in his arms. Lois and Clark. Together. Making every moment count.
EPILOGUE
CHRISTMAS DAY – THE DRUMMOND RESIDENCE, WESTCHESTER
Hayley slapped Angel’s hand as she reached across the table. ‘Oh no you don’t. Those popovers are for everyone.’
Angel pulled a face, slipping her tongue in front of her bottom row of teeth and pushing it forward.
Hayley put a hand to her throat. ‘Swearing! At the Christmas dinner table!’
‘Angel, darling, you have as many as you like,’ Cynthia said. ‘I can always make some more.’
Cynthia was smitten with Angel. She was like the daughter Cynthia never had and Angel truly had the woman wrapped around her little finger.
Hayley looked around at the grotto of a dining room. Outside, the snow was two feet deep and set to increase overnight; inside, they were all surrounded by garlands of bells, wreaths of holly, pine cones and red bows, a Christmas tree that almost reached the ceiling and Michael Bublé’s Christmas album coming out of the sound system. How different a home it was from the empty, soulless space she’d entered as Agatha. Her, Angel, Dean, Vernon, Oliver and Cynthia – with Randy howling for attention in the hall.
She looked at Oliver opposite her, wearing the Superman T-shirt she’d bought him, sipping at the cheap fizzy wine she’d grabbed at a bodega on the way over. She loved him. She knew that now without a shadow of a doubt. She’d agreed to stay longer but in a week, two, however long it was, she was going to have to leave him. She swallowed, popping a forkful of turkey in her mouth.
‘I’d like to give thanks and propose a few toasts,’ Oliver stated, raising his glass.
‘I think that’s a wonderful idea but I’d like to start,’ Cynthia said.
‘And then me, because it’s women and children first,’ Angel interrupted.
Everyone laughed.
‘Right, well, I would like to give thanks to everyone around this table. Dean and Vernon, it was so wonderful to meet you at the Christmas party last week and I’m so glad you could come today,’ Cynthia began.
‘Thank you for inviting us, Cynthia,’ Vernon said, raising his glass.
‘Oliver, I know how hard things have been for you these past few years and I know we’ve talked it out a number of times but I just want to say… your father would be so proud of the man you’ve become.’
Hayley watched Oliver swallow and shift his eyes to his plate of food.
‘And last but not least,’ Cynthia said, looking to Hayley and Angel. ‘I would like to propose a toast to Agatha and Charlotte. Who came into my house and reminded me it was a home.’ Cynthia raised her glass. ‘To Agatha and Charlotte.’
‘Agatha and Charlotte,’ everyone chorused.
Her cheeks flushed as Oliver caught her eye and mouthed thewords ‘Agatha and Charlotte?’, not understanding at all. She shrugged and mimed glugging from a bottle, nodding her head towards Cynthia.
‘My turn!’ Angel announced, munching up half a popover like a hungry guinea pig.
‘Be respectful and don’t mention George Washington,’ Hayley suggested.
Angel cleared her throat. ‘Did you know that the tradition of Christmas lunch in America came from our traditions in the United Kingdom? And in medieval times, a pheasant or boar were served up instead of a turkey.’
‘I didn’t know that and my life was a lot poorer for it,’ Hayley said, nodding.
‘I’d like to give thanks for my mum,’ Angel continued. ‘Because she helped me find my dad, even though she really didn’t want to see him again, because she didn’t really remember much about him, but she did it anyway and now I’m getting to know him and he’s getting to know me.’ Angel blushed as she finished the sentence. ‘And he’s cooking me a second Christmas dinner tonight and I can’t wait to stay over and thank you, Mum, for letting me. And Oliver, you can take my place in Mum’s Christmas night tradition.’ Angel turned her gaze to Hayley. ‘Share nicer than you do with me.’
‘Is this a good tradition? I’m a little scared right now,’ Oliver said, looking to Angel.
