Grace

Chapter 32

When I went up to bed on Christmas Eve night I found the curtains already drawn, but there was a lamp on behind them and Ben was talking to his dad. They always did Christmas on Christmas Eve as there was a lot of stuff for a King to do on the day itself – the speech, practicing for the speech, watching the speech to see how it turned out. Ben had come up here about two hours ago so that he could video chat with his dad in private. I was under no illusions that this was an all happy and dancing conversation. Everyone had to do their first Christmas without their parents at some point.

Ben's wasn't supposed to be this early on in his life. I'd known that the whole holiday had been difficult for him, but he hadn't mentioned it. It wasn't like there was much anyone could do except keep him busy.

I put another log on the fire, changed into pyjamas and then peeked into the bed. Ben was sat leaning against the headboard and had stacked his laptop on top of a bunch of books.

"Balloons arrived," Ben said to me. "Lord Wilson went with them."

"Good," I smiled. "Hello, Christian," I said and waved at the camera.

"Hi, Grace. You ok?"

I nodded. "Not bad, yeah. You?"

He nodded and his stomach growled. "About to make a late dinner. How does baked Alaska sound?"

"Where you are – treasonous."

He laughed. "I'll have to be quiet about it. Well, I'd best get cooking before I keel over. Sleep tight."

"You too, Dad," Ben said and quickly ended the call.

For a moment he just sat there staring at the screen, but then he got moving and shut it down. As he put it and the books away I got under the covers and fluffed up my pillow which I then sunk into with a sigh.

"I really wish he was here," Ben sighed and lay down. He turned onto his side to face me.

"You could jump on a plane now and just about make it in time for Christmas."

"Even if I did, he wouldn't let me anywhere near Toronto."

I turned to face him and brushed some hair from his eyes. "We'll have fun tomorrow. Promise."

*

Dad woke us up in the morning. At seven in the morning. Once I'd got over the shock of being woken up by an adult who was acting about five, I tried to roll back over into Ben's arms but smacked my head against his chest.

"You're really going along with this?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It's probably going to be easier."

I supposed he was right. I turned around and put on a sweet smile. "Morning, Dad."

"Put these on and then do your stockings. I'll have breakfast ready before you're downstairs," he said, kissed my head and then bounced towards the fire place.

"Elf outfits?" I asked incredulously. "You want us to dress up like elves?"

Dad paused by the gap in the glass. I realised he was dressed up as a beardless Santa which meant Mum was probably going to be dressed up as Mrs. Clause. "Elves," he grinned and then disappeared.

"Oh my god," I groaned. "I'm so sorry about him."

"It's nice," Ben smiled. "It'll be fun, remember?"

I scowled and headed for the bathroom, awful costume in hand. Not one single bit much of a morning person even after having to get up at seven on school days and only an hour later on Sundays for three and a half months, I knew that the only thing that was going to wake me up was a hot shower. I jumped in wondering how long I could delay leaving my room without annoying my father. I had never ever been as excited for Christmas as he was.