Page 59 of Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle

‘Yeah, anyone would think they’d only just met,’ Clint says loudly, which breaks through the haze of loveliness that Ollie’s words had left me in.

My mum takes over quickly. ‘We’re thankful for such a lovely son-in-law who lets us come on holiday to this gorgeous place any time we like, free of charge.’

Ollie laughs and raises his wine glass to her, even though she’s probably already planning their holidays for the next three years.

‘I’m thankful our daughter has found someone who makes her so happy.’ My dad raises his glass to Ollie and then to me, and the look in his eyes makes me start to well-up. That’s not pretending either.

‘Know what I’m grateful for?’ It’s Clint’s turn to sip his wine. ‘A real loving wife, who’s always there for me, not just at Christmas.’

Dand and Halston give him a curious look, and I catch Ollie’s eyes because my suspicions are confirmed. He’s onto us.

I scan through the castle in my mind because he must be looking for evidence to confirm his suspicions, but our bedroom doors are locked and no one’s pressed the wedding photos issue. Ollie’s clearly doing the same thing, but surely there’s nothing he can find, no matter how much poking around he does.

The rest of the gratitudes pass and dinner is started with a slew of appreciative noises. Silence falls around the table and everyone loads their plates up, and I look between Ollie, and Nancy and Hamish, watching silently with matching smiles on their faces. A big Christmas at Hollybrae Castle is something that’s been missing for many years, and I’m grateful to have been even a small part of recreating that.

Dand is sitting to my left and he’s unable to resist work talk for long. ‘Your home is lovely, Lucy, I’m surprised you’re happy to leave it and move down to London should Oliver get the promotion…’

It’s a leading question and it sounds like he’s been waiting for an opportunity to ask it. I know from my chat with the girls yesterday what’s expected of me – the strong, supportive wife and loving parent who wouldn’t dream of putting up any fuss.

‘It’ll be a bit of a disruption for the children, but you know how kids are, they’ll adapt soon enough. It’s all a new adventure, and there’ll be weekends and holidays when we can come home.’

I don’t expect Dand to laugh quite so raucously. ‘Oliver will be working so hard that there won’t be any weekends, and certainly no holidays. To take on the start-up of a new branch, a new era of the firm no less, is not to run off home for holidays every few minutes. Once the branch is established, maybe two to three years from now, there will be time for holidays, although probably not weekends, to be fair. My wife can attest to that!’

I catch Ollie’s eyes across the table again, probably ensuring he knows that he’s the topic of conversation down this end, but really I’m trying to hide how sick I suddenly feel. If it was a job Ollie loved, that would be one thing, but it isn’t, and the thought of him working even more than he does currently isn’t a good one.

I swallow hard. ‘I’m a firm believer in not crossing any bridges until we come to them, and he hasn’t got the job yet so we’ll figure it out if he does.’

‘Between you and me, my biggest concern about choosing Oliver was simply his young age, but seeing your wonderful home and delightful family, it’s clear that age is nothing but a number and he’s got all the support he needs behind him right here.’

‘Of course.’ I nod, but nothing takes away the edgy feeling that pervades the rest of our Christmas meal.

After dinner, Rory announces it’s time for the annual Hollybrae Castle slinky races and rattles off the rules like a veteran of a tradition that didn’t exist until he and Ollie made it up a couple of weeks ago.

Despite complaints that they’re too full after dinner, each family has a race between themselves, with Nancy and Hamish deployed as anti-cheat adjudicators to make sure no slinkys are subject to any extra encouragement, and then the winners from each family take on each other in a grand finale. It’s basically Gladiators without the skimpy Lycra.

It makes me unreasonably happy to see everyone joining in. The three wives, their troubles momentarily forgotten because of the rainbow plastic toys, even the very serious Dand and Halston are merrily cheering slinkys on, and Clint forgets himself and has a good time too.

In the Bracewell family race, Maisie and I start at the first floor on one side of the castle and Ollie and Rory start on the other, and our slinkys have to gain enough momentum to round the corner of the first landing and make it back down to the entrance hall.

Somehow, mine wins, after Maisie’s crashes into a wall, Rory’s takes a left turn and gets stuck between baluster posts, and Ollie’s just isn’t fast enough. The final battle is between me, Mira, Halston, Orla, and one of Clint’s twins.

‘Do it for the Bracewells!’ Ollie, Maisie, and Rory are cheering me on from the bottom of the stairs as the racers accompany our slinkys from the top, urging them onwards. Mira’s stalls on the landing corner, and Halston’s twists around itself and curls up and Rory decrees that stopping to untangle it is grounds for immediate disqualification. On the final leg, it’s just me, Orla, and a twin in the race. Mine is last, but it doesn’t stop my pretend family and my real parents cheering like I’ve won a bronze Olympic medal. Ollie goes in for a victory hug as I reach the bottom step, but his foot slips and we tumble backwards and land in an ungainly heap in the bottom corner of the stairs.

I make sure he’s okay and go to get up, but his arms tighten around me, like not even falling over is going to deter him from the hug.

‘I think that might be the most fun I’ve ever had.’ I lean my head back against his shoulder.

‘We’re going to have to do this again next year then, aren’t we?’ His mouth moves against my ear, and I feel like I’m still tumbling downwards at the implication of what he might mean.

‘I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun!’ Orla is breathless from laughing, and Dand slings an arm around her shoulders and they share the kind of look I don’t think they’ve shared for a very long time.

‘You okay down there, Oliver?’ Dand peers down at us.

‘The best I’ve ever been.’

I can’t see his face, but I can hear the smile colouring his voice.

‘Talk about the best Christmas ever. Can we come back next year? How much would you charge to make this an annual thing?’