Twins For Christmas: A Little Christmas Magic / Lone Star Twins / A Family This Christmas

The conversation stopped as soon as Emma entered the general store that was between the greengrocer and the bakery. She lifted her chin and put on her brightest smile.

‘Good morning. I’m looking for some coloured paper. Do you have the kind that’s sticky on the back?’

The blank stare made Emma reconsider her decision to shop in the village instead of driving for half an hour to get to the nearest larger town. It wasn’t easy to keep the smile on her face.

‘I want to make paper chains,’ she explained. ‘For Christmas decorations.’

The women exchanged heavily significant glances.

‘Christmas decorations?’ one of them murmured. ‘In Dr McAllister’s hoose?’

The subtext was in capital letters. You couldn’t really celebrate Christmas in the McAllister house. Not without being duly reluctant anyway. Even the children were all too aware of that and it wasn’t fair. She’d taken them to watch the big tree in the square being decorated yesterday and Poppy’s eyes had been huge.

‘I love Christmas trees,’ she’d whispered. ‘They’re so pretty.’

‘We’ll make your Christmas tree just as pretty at home, you’ll see.’

‘We don’t have a tree at home,’ Oliver had said. ‘Gran says it’s because it makes Dad sad.’

‘It makes me sad,’ Poppy had said, ‘not having a tree.’

Emma had lain awake last night, mulling this over. She was here for the children, wasn’t she? And she was here for Christmas.

And Christmas was for children.

It was a no-brainer, really. Surely she could find a way to persuade the taciturn Dr McAllister to put up with a few decorations? When Catherine had called from Canada early that morning to talk to the children before they went off to school, Emma had gathered her courage and asked quietly if it would be such a terrible thing to do.

‘It would be the best thing to do,’ Catherine had assured her. ‘It’s no guid for anyone, being stuck in the past. I’ve tried but …’ The sigh said it all. ‘Maybe you’ll succeed, pet. He can’t afford to chase you away, can he? Not before Christmas, anyway.’

The tone that suggested it wouldn’t be an easy task was being heavily underlined by the shocked look these women were now sharing.

‘It’s for Poppy and Oliver,’ Emma said firmly. ‘They’ve been making decorations at school and they want to make some at home, too. Paper chains are what I always made when I was their age.’

The mention of the children made one of the women nod. ‘Aye,’ she sighed. ‘It should be all about the bairns, shouldn’t it?’

‘The paper’s over yon,’ the shopkeeper told Emma. ‘Beside the magazines.’

The conversation didn’t stop this time as she returned to the counter.

‘Poor man,’ one was saying. ‘To lose the love of his life so young.’

‘Like a princess, she was,’ another agreed. ‘Always so well dressed.’

Emma felt the collective scrutiny of her jeans and oversized jumper beneath her puffy anorak and she was perversely delighted that she was wearing her Tibetan knitted hat with its rainbow stripes and ear covers that trailed into long tails she hadn’t bothered tying. That would really give them something to disapprove of at length as soon as she went out the door.

Her bravado faded as she picked up the guitar case she’d left by the umbrella stand at the shop door and went out into the chilly, grey afternoon, however. If making a paper chain or two was such a big deal, maybe she was only going to make things worse? How happy would the children be if their father was even more upset by someone who wasn’t prepared to spend Christmas in a kind of muted mourning?

The Christmas tree in the square had taken days to decorate but it was looking magnificent now, with big, coloured lights and enormous red and silver baubles. Despite the cold, Emma perched on a bench near the church. She had half an hour before she was due at school. Checking her watch, she made a quick calculation. They were about eight hours behind Californian time and that meant that Sharon was probably at home. She hit the speed dial.

‘Emma … I was just thinking about you. Is it snowing in Scotland?’

‘Feels like it could be any second. I’m in the village square and it’s absolutely freezing.’

‘Ohh … I’m homesick. It’s too warm to be Christmastime here. It’s just wrong. But … you shouldn’t be sitting out in the cold. Go and find somewhere warm, for heaven’s sake. You have to take care of yourself.’

‘I’m fine. It’s too cold for bugs to survive here and my immune system is pretty much back to full power. I’m just killing some time before I go to the school for carol practice.’

Sharon laughed. ‘I got your email. I can’t believe you’ve got involved with village life that fast. No … on second thoughts, it doesn’t surprise me at all. You’ll be starring in the Christmas pantomime by next week.’

‘No. That’s Ollie and Poppy. They’ve been chosen to be Joseph and Mary for the school nativity play. They’re so excited. I’m going to have to make costumes for them.’

‘Uh-oh … Do they know you can’t sew?’

Emma laughed. ‘No. They don’t even know I can’t cook yet. Their gran left so much food in the freezer I’ve been able to keep my lack of talent well hidden.’

‘Imagine if you gave the only doctor in town food poisoning?’

‘Hey … that only happened once. I give chicken a wide berth now.’

‘Good thinking. He wouldn’t be happy.’

‘He’s not happy anyway. Do you know I haven’t seen him smile once yet?’

‘He’s Scottish. He’s supposed to be dour.’

‘He still wears his wedding ring and it’s three years since his wife died.’

‘Hmm. He must have loved her.’

‘Who wouldn’t? From what I’ve heard, she was either a princess, an angel or some kind of saint.’

‘Nobody’s that perfect. People just forget the bad stuff when they’re dead.’

Emma smiled but couldn’t help wondering if Sharon would forget about the food poisoning incident if …

‘Oh, my God … what is that horrendous noise?’

Laughter chased away the dark thought. ‘There’s an old guy in a kilt near the Christmas tree. He’s warming up his bagpipes.’

‘What? Sounds like a tribe of donkeys braying.’

‘No. That’s even worse. You should hear Jemima waking us all up in the mornings. She’s very cute but remind me that I never want a donkey as a pet in the future, will you?’

‘What was that? I can hardly hear you.’

‘I’d better go, Sharon. I’m due at school. Talk soon. Love you.’

The piper was playing a real tune by the time Emma tucked her phone into her pocket and, instead of the brisk walk she had intended to get her circulation moving again, she sat there and listened for a minute.