He nods. ‘I get that. At least you’ve got a feel for the place now. We can walk back round to the car the way the carriage is going to drive.’ There’s a smile playing around his lips. ‘You wouldn’t happen to be hurrying back because you heard Poppy’s got chocolate cake baking?’
I almost melt again. ‘She has?’ My mouth’s already watering. I haven’t actually eaten since my croissant-fest when I was getting ready for Marilyn, which feels like days ago now, even if it was only early this morning. ‘In that case, maybe we’d better hurry back.’
As we reach the car, Teddie is obviously missing his audience. When Rory slides him into the back of the car he starts to whinge. By the time Rory’s lining him up with his car seat, he’s screaming and kicking and holding his body rigid.
In mid-struggle Rory suddenly stops and stares back at me over his shoulder. ‘Don’t have kids with Luc, Holly Berry, have them with me.’ Hesoknows how to wind me up. If this is his way of taking my mind off the wedding stress, it isn’t going to work. Nothing’s going to do that.
His comment’s not even worthy of a dismissive snort. ‘Eff off, Rory.’ I’m careful to avoid meeting his gaze directly.
He’s grinning now. ‘Our kids would be awesome. We could even train them so we didn’t have to put our knees in their stomachs to get their car seat straps done up.’ Somewhere along the line, with the whole baby-adoration thing, Rory’s definitely lost the plot.
‘Sorry to be the one to point this out, but seeing you don’t have relationships or girlfriends, you having kids won’t actually be happening.’ Which reminds me, I need to check out why that is at some point. Although definitely not now. Thank jeez I’m saved that one. However, I realise as I say it that Erin’s managed to have children all on her own. Who’s to say Rory couldn’t find a surrogate or even adopt at some point if he wanted to?
His bottom lip is close to jutting. ‘With the kids, though, I really don’t mean to be this shit. I thought it would be the one thing I could do. At this rate they’ll be home before Gracie’s even smiled.’ He couldn’t sound any more defeated.
He’s not wrong about the first bit, but at least I can offer some comfort on the Gracie front. ‘She nearly smiled when the big dwarf produced her snowman.’
‘Yes, but she didn’t really.’ He gives a sigh. ‘She doesn’t even like me. If she doesn’t have to hold my hand for health and safety reasons, she won’t come anywhere near me.’ The look on his face is so genuinely sad, my chest is contracting.
‘You could always get an Olaf costume?’ That’s a joke to cover up the awful sensation of wanting to reach out and pat him again. ‘But seriously, Gracie’s away from her mum and old enough to know it. She’s bound to be unsettled.’
‘It still makes me feel like a total failure.’ As he gets behind the wheel again, he couldn’t look more dejected.
‘I’m sorry if I was mean to you before. I just thought if you embraced the kids instead of fighting them, you’d all enjoy it more.’
He smiles wanly. ‘You’re right, though. I couldn’t be any more crap at it. Every single thing they need it’s down to me to provide it. It’s way more full on than I ever imagined.’
It’s way easier to sympathise with him when he’s admitting he’s finding it tough, than when he’s acting like a know-it-all uncle-of-the-year. ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s a lot to take on two kids when you have no experience. Whatever I say, I’m damned sure I couldn’t do it.’ I’m racking my brains for something positive to suggest. ‘Story-telling might help. I’ll look out for books when I go back to town. Or you might find some ideas on Google.’ This time my hands are wedged safely under my bum. And as we pull back out into the lane, I’m poised for his Supernanny snipes.
But he just gives a shrug and a sigh. ‘Maybe we’ll all feel better after cake in Poppy’s kitchen.’
And possibly for the first time ever, I agree with him.
Chapter 24
Wednesday 13th December
In Poppy’s kitchen at Daisy Hill farm: Sweet spots and roast potatoes
‘Someone’s been busy with the decorations. Did you ever see so many hearts in one place?’
Okay, I know the girl who’s banned herself from thinking about Christmas shouldn’t be enthusing. But seeing as I love Poppy so much, it’s hard not to. Since I was last in the kitchen at Daisy Hill Farm, a whole load of garlands have been strung around the walls, with so many wicker hearts and hessian bows it looks as though someone grabbed the Range’s entire seasonal stock.
Poppy laughs. ‘Rafe bought this lot to welcome me home last Christmas.’ We can take it from this he was ecstatic to see her come back then. But we all knew that already.
Immie’s looking proud and she high fives Gracie, who breaks off from her felt tips and colouring for just long enough to oblige. ‘Rafe, Gracie and I hung them up this afternoon while Pops was making the cakes for Sophie and Saffy. Seemed like a good idea to make the most of the quiet time before the pre-Christmas storm.’ If she’s referring to the next two weddings in terms of metaphorical bad weather, I’m with her on that.
I’m hazy about how things work at any wedding, let alone a double one. ‘Is each couple having their own cake, then?’ There are sponges on cooling trays and wrapped in cling film, lined up all along the granite work surface on the long side of the kitchen. If they’re only having one cake between them, it’s going to have at least ten tiers.
Poppy smiles. ‘They’re two sets of twins, but they’ve got very different tastes. Sophie and Taylor are having plain sponge, covered in buttercream icing, with fruit decoration. And Saffy and Travis have gone for nude chocolate cake, with fresh-cream filling and flowers. Four tiers each.’ She’s got her feet up on the sofa and she’s rubbing her bump. Although she can’t have been sitting down for long.
Rory puts Teddie’s chair down by the sofa, then goes to inspect the line of cakes. ‘Did you mention an extra one?’ He’s slightly later coming in as he took Teddie back to Home Brew Cottage for a nappy change.
We women all grin at each other, but Immie takes pity on him first. ‘Your cake’s waiting over by the Aga, next to the pile of plates.’ She passes him a knife as she heads for the kettle. ‘You do the honours and cut it up and I’ll pour the tea.’
You have to have tasted Poppy’s chocolate cake to know how delicious it is. This one’s got a tiny bit of orange zest in the deep layers of dark-chocolate sponge to remind us about our five a day, and a splash of Cointreau to soften the lashings of pale-chocolate buttercream. At dusk on a windy winter’s afternoon, there couldn’t be better pick-me-up. As I close my eyes and let the icing melt on my tongue, it transports me to my own personal heaven. I completely forget that Luc’s probably packing his suitcase as we chew. That there are still four brides and weddings to negotiate before I can finally get properly stuck into myFriendsboxed set. And that Rory’s given up annoying the hell out of me and started worrying about the kids instead. Although it’s not long before the man himself crashes very rudely into my momentary happiness bubble. After two monster slices of cake, Rory’s obviously forgotten all about being a down-hearted loser of an uncle and he’s back to his high-energy positive self.
‘So I was looking on BuzzFeed just now when I was changing Teddie. Apparently you can actually incorporate babies in your home-fitness workouts.’
