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Anya looked between Lottie and Hannah and gave a chuckle. “Excellent. Very glad to hear that.”

Hannah took a sip of the boozy hot chocolate. She hadn’t thought she had room for anything else after the enormous lunch Lottie and Freya had prepared, but this slipped down nicely.

“Another Christmas in McLennon Castle,” said Anne-Marie with a sigh.

“My twenty-first,” said Lottie, deep in thought. Hannah wondered what was going through her mind. She had her own ideas beginning to form, but now wasn’t the moment to share them.

“Where are the bairns?” asked Anya.

“Freya fell asleep on the sofa, and Zack and Tom are reading the books they bought each other for Christmas,” said Lottie.

“Sweet,” said Sunitra.

“So wholesome,” added Anya.

“That’s my boys,” said Lottie. “But anyway, since when have you been offering to take on Freya as your protégé?”

“Ah yes,” said Anya, her cheeks going pink. “I kept on telling her she needed to talk to you about it, but she said she wanted to wait until she knew for sure what her plans were.”

“Oh, thank God,” said Anne-Marie, “she’s told you then?”

“Did everyone know except me?” exclaimed Lottie.

Hannah could see that Lottie’s objection was for show, and she smiled along.

“She didn’t want to disappoint you,” said Anne-Marie.

“Disappoint me?” Lottie furrowed her brow.

“She had some idiotic idea that because you went to university, and because Tom did, she should do the same,” said Anya.

“But I’ve always told her she has to do her own thing, I never put any pressure on her” This time, Lottie sounded genuinely aggrieved.

“I told her that a hundred times,” said Anne-Marie. “I think she thought that because of what happened to you when your sister died, what she did was even more important.”

Lottie’s eyes filled with tears. Hannah squeezed her hand beneath the table. “I would do it again, given the choice. I’ve never once regretted it.”

“We know, hen,” said Anne-Marie, her own eyes filling with tears.

“And she knows it, too,” said Anya, patting Lottie’s arm. “It just took her a while to work it all out.”

“I guess we all take a while to work things out sometimes,” said Lottie, squeezing Hannah’s hand back.

Hannah found a smile growing on her face. The warmth and the love Lottie had among these people was infectious, and she couldn’t deny how much she enjoyed being part of it.

“And what about you, Hannah,” said Anya, turning her body to face Lottie’s companion. “What’s your plan now?”

“I’m not sure, yet,” Hannah replied. “I’ve got some time off work, and I’m definitely not going home tomorrow. But we’ll see.” While her ideas were beginning to form, she didn’t want to say anything until she’d spoken to Lottie, who seemed to be looking at her intently.

Chapter Forty-Seven

LOTTIE

That night Lottie and Hannah watched a film with Tom, Zack and Freya, and then made their excuses.

They climbed into Lottie’s bed. “Not as grand as your hotel king-size, but it’ll have to do,” said Lottie. “I’m not going out in the cold again.”

“I’ll sleep in any bed you’re in,” said Hannah, raising her eyebrows.