Among The Roses

Chapter 33: Christmas Eve

Even though she'd just lost her father, Chiara had to say that the first Christmas she spent without him, the first Christmas season she spent at Langton with Drew and his family, was the happiest she'd ever been. Drew made a point, every day, of asking her to stay over, of making it plain that he wanted her there but that he wasn't expecting it or taking it for granted that she would.

"And I don't want you to think that I'm snubbing you," he said earnestly as he leaned across her to put the lamp out one evening after they were in bed. "I think I need to be here because mum and Noah are here, but after they're gone, we can sleep at yours sometimes, I promise."

Nor did he expect them to be together every night. Two days before Christmas, Chiara got a call about a downed tree branch that needed clearing up the next morning, and she slept alone at the cottage so she could get an early start, leaving Drew at the French doors with a kiss good night.

Ned asked her one sunny afternoon as she was having tea in the kitchen if she was sure she wanted to go ahead with Drew.

"Yeah," she answered, surprised. "Don't I seem happy?"

"You do, you do," he assured her, smiling. "It's just that I can't forget that kiss we had back in London, that's all. Isn't that bonkers?"

"No, Ned, it's not bonkers," Chiara answered with a laugh. "It was nice. But this thing with Drew, whatever it is, it's just something I have to pursue, something I feel I have to do, you understand?"

Ned nodded. "I guess I have to, don't I?"

Chiara mussed his white blond hair with affection as she rose and put her teacup in the sink.

"You're just about the nicest person I've ever met, Ned Hunter," she declared. "Certainly you're way nicer than I am, I know that."

Ned grinned at her as he finished his tea. "Yeah, people tell me that, but I never seem to get the girl, now why is that?"

And on Christmas Eve, as she sat around the fire and the tree, eating the wonderful cookies made by Ellie and singing Christmas carols in between watching movies and just talking and laughing, Chiara reflected that this first Christmas without her dad was actually the least lonely she'd ever been. They were on their second bowl of Ned's delicious and very potent eggnog.

"You thinking about your dad?" Drew asked, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear and taking another sip of nog. He'd pulled her onto his lap on the sofa, displacing William Wallace in the process and hurting his feelings terribly.

Chiara nodded.

"I'm sorry, this must be hard, you must be lonely," he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

She shook her head. "No, that's the thing, though. Usually the holidays was just him and me, very low key, almost subdued, so in a weird way, this is actually the least lonely I've ever been. Even when my mum was alive, it was still pretty quiet because we didn't have any other family, you see, it was just the three of us.

"I don't want you to think I don't miss him, because I do, desperately," she told Drew. "He would enjoy being here with everyone and telling stories and pulling crackers, drinking nog, the whole bit, he really would, but he's not, and I am, so I just have to make the best of things, I guess. And I know he'd want me to. He wouldn't want me to slouch about and pull a long face and mope and moan all over the place, either. He'd be glad I'm happy."

She turned to face Drew. "He'd be glad I found someone to be happy with, for however long," she said in a quiet voice. This time she was the one who tucked a bit of his hair behind his ear, and kissing the ear in question after.