Love to Hate You: Three's a Crowd

Chapter Thirty-Three - Full Circle

It was Christmas. Again. Which meant another gathering at Ramona's mansion, this time with three crawling babies. It meant yet more disappointing Christmas presents (if your name was Mattie Paxton), and Lydia spending her first Christmas with her boss, who was no longer her boss, because they were partners.

'Happy Christmas,' Rafe said, shaking her hand – he refused to kiss her cheek – as she stepped into the mansion on Christmas morning. All the parents had stayed over – Ramona had enough room for everyone – but Tobias and Lydia had spent Christmas Eve at her home in Belsize Park. Ostensibly, because being childless meant they had no need to get up at the crack of dawn. Nor did it take them three hours to leave the house. But also because Tobias had asked her to sit on his face as an early Christmas present, and she could get noisy when she did that.

'Happy Christmas,' Lydia smiled, handing him a bag full of gifts. 'There are more in the car. I'll just be a moment.'

'Christ, let Tobias get them. What's the point of dating a submissive man if you don't let him do the donkey work?' And although she knew that he meant it as a criticism of his brother, he spoke no lie. Still, he took the bag she'd given him and began to carry it through to the living room, with the intention of placing the gifts under the tree. 'Or do you want to keep them separate?' he checked, at the last minute.

'No, mix them in. They're mostly for the kids. Tobias is quite good at choosing presents for children, I think,' she said, as she took off her coat.

'That's because he's never grown up,' Rafe drawled, before ducking into the living room and leaving his brother to finish unloading the car.

'Hello,' Amy said. 'Merry Christmas.' She did press a kiss to Lydia's cheek. She got on with the woman quite well. Probably because she didn't work with her, and so she didn't get whiplash from her dual-personality. But also because they were on the same level. That is to say, they were not peculiar women like Mattie and Vicky. Or Aunt Vee.

'Hello, love,' Ramona said, hugging the woman fleetingly. 'How was the drive down?'

'Very clear,' Lydia replied. They'd spoken on the phone only the evening before, so they didn't have a great deal to catch up on. 'Where is everyone?'

'Carl is in the kitchen making a start on Lunch. Vee is upstairs with Xander and the triplets, Rudy's watching all of the older children whilst Vicky showers. She had a bad night so she's only just got up.'

'Back ache?' Lydia asked.

'Hips, I think,' Ramona explained. 'Raffey was in the garden with Mattie – she's a bit low this morning about her dad – but I think I saw him in the living room a moment ago.'

'Yes, he let me in, actually.'

'Hopefully Raffey will be able to cheer Mattie up with a present or two,' Amy suggested, having not paid close attention to the wastepaper bins he'd bought last year.

'He's more likely to cheer her up with sex,' Aunt Vee put in, as she glided down the stairs to meet them. 'Hello, Lydia,' she said, pressing a kiss to the younger woman's cheek. There was no term of endearment, because although Aunt Vee thoroughly approved of the woman as a match for her nephew, Lydia was too measured and put together to require any maternal input from her, and so she couldn't offer her the full Aunt-Vee experience that she did to the three younger women.

'Hey!' Tobias called, when he'd finally finished bringing in the bags and shut the front door behind him. 'Which room are we in? My usual, or are Isla and Evie in there again?

'Your usual. Isla and Evie are in with the boys in the main guest suite. I thought they'd have more fun if they were all in together; like a sleepover.' Kate had slept over at her wealthy boyfriend's Caribbean villa, so she'd managed to part with Evie for Christmas Day. Just once.