Last Christmas

‘You know, earlier on,’ she said. ‘Ruby said a rude word and we told her off, and then rather than Angela being angry she told a funny story about Noel. Surely you can’t have forgotten already?’

‘No, no, of course not,’ said her mother, but she had a slightly perplexed look on her face. ‘Right, where do you want these?’

She lifted the washed plates from the table where Cat had left them.

‘In the cupboard they normally go in,’ said Cat.

‘Which is?’

‘That one,’ said Cat, pointing to the relevant cupboard. ‘Mum, are you all right?’

‘Never better, dear,’ said Mum brightly. ‘Oh, of course, silly me. They go in here, don’t they?’

‘Yes,’ said Cat, with a prickle of unease. Was it her imagination, or was her mother becoming more and more forgetful?

‘Have you seen this latest about the new eco town?’ Pippa was practically exploding as she sat at her kitchen table reading the local paper.

‘No, what?’ Gabriel had just dropped by to pick up Stephen. He’d been out in the fields since early that morning, tracking down his flock, ready to bring them indoors for lambing. Most of the farmers round here left their sheep on the hillside, but Gabriel preferred having his under cover: when, as had occasionally happened, he’d bred from different stock, the occasional large lamb was born, causing complications that were more difficult to deal with out on the hillside. A couple of sheep were still missing though. He was going to have to go out again tomorrow.

‘That bloody Luke Nicholas,’ said Pippa, practically spitting with venom. ‘Can’t think what Marianne can ever have seen in him.’

‘Why, what’s he done?’

‘Just announced that his eco town is going to have a brand new supermarket up the road, which conveniently his company is also building. I bet some money’s changed hands with a dodgy councillor over that. It says here that the supermarket is going to be donating a new leisure centre for the eco town. No wonder they got planning permission.’

‘A leisure centre doesn’t sound very green and, come to that, nor does a supermarket,’ said Gabriel.

‘Not unless they harness all the energy from the exercise bikes to power the place,’ snorted Pippa. ‘The whole thing is mad. We don’t need a new town this close to Hope Christmas. Besides, I’m sure that land he’s building on used to be designated a flood plain. Do you remember that Christmas a couple of years ago when it rained so heavily? The fields round there were waterlogged for weeks.’

‘Doesn’t it all still have to be approved, though?’ said Gabriel. ‘Surely he can’t just steamroller the thing through?’

‘Why shouldn’t he?’ said Pippa. ‘He’s got money and influence, hasn’t he? I tell you, that bloody town is going to kill Hope Christmas stone dead. What with that and the post office, I despair, I really do.’

Something stirred inside Gabriel. Something that Ralph Nicholas had said to him weeks ago about keeping hold of the things you loved. He looked out at the hillside, towering over the house in the gathering gloom. Gabriel had lived in Hope Christmas for most of his life, and he realised, somewhat to his surprise, that he loved it with every fibre of his being. He couldn’t bear the thought of it being under threat. He’d been so preoccupied with his own personal problems he’d given less thought to those of the people around him. Hope Christmas was built around a community that in many cases just about eked out a living. Losing the post office would be a blow, but the eco town could prove the nail in the coffin.

‘Can’t we challenge it somehow?’ he said. ‘I seem to remember reading somewhere that there are a lot of protests about eco towns elsewhere. Maybe we should try and find out a bit more.’

‘Ooh, Gabe,’ teased Pippa, ‘you’re becoming quite the environmental campaigner, aren’t you?’

‘Well,’ said Gabriel, ‘I think you’re right. If we don’t act now, it might be too late. Maybe it’s time to widen our campaign to saving Hope Christmas itself.’

‘What do you propose to do, then?’ said Pippa, her interest piqued.

‘I’m not sure yet,’ said Gabriel. ‘But I think I might just pay Ralph Nicholas a visit. I wonder how much he knows about what his grandson is up to.’

Noel sat in the boardroom at a budget meeting feeling something akin to despair. Matt Duncan was doing a great brown-nosing job agreeing with everything that Gerry Cowley was saying, however stupid it might be. It also appeared Noel was more out of the loop than he’d thought, as Matt seemed to have access to figures and documents that Noel hadn’t ever seen. That had meant that Noel had been unable to answer half the questions asked about this year’s sales projections. He’d looked like a real tit. Which is what Matt was after, presumably. Noel half expected Gerry to morph at any moment into Alan Sugar, point at him and say, ‘With regret, my friend, you’re fired.’ Not that he was getting paranoid or anything, but it was clear the writing was on the wall.

Luckily, for the time being, no one was paying too much attention to him as Karl Dear, the finance director, was having a row with Alan Thompson about the budget his department had been given. Alan was arguing that without sensible funding he couldn’t actually build the new freezer stores that Asda had commissioned, and did GRB really want to lose that account, while Karl was patiently and patronisingly telling Alan that no one was immune to the wintry storms blowing over the economic wastelands left behind by the credit crunch, however big the deal they’d wangled. So he was just going to have to compromise like the rest of the company.

Noel was busy doodling on his sketch pad. One of the projects he’d got involved in recently had been to design the heating systems for a new eco town, up in Shropshire. Eco towns were hot property at the moment and everyone was vying for a piece of the action. The company were hoping that if they could make this one work it would lead to more of the same, so the stakes were very high indeed.

There had been talk originally of creating sustainable housing from old workers’ cottages close to the village of Hope Christmas, but that had been eschewed in favour of the brand new shiny eco town that the likes of Matt Duncan were keen to build. Noel had been unfortunate enough to have spent an evening in the company of Matt and Luke Nicholas, who ran the local building firm tasked with creating the new town. Having spent a glorious morning strolling around Hope Christmas, which Noel had instantly fallen in love with, Noel couldn’t for the life of him see why an eco town was even needed so close to such a wonderful place.

Hope Christmas was already eco friendly. Its shops and restaurants sourced their produce from the local farmers, who held their own market in the village square every Thursday. There was a fabulous bookshop and a great antiques market, which was a real treasure trove. Why anyone needed to replace it was beyond Noel. The whole thing had seemed like a huge waste of money to Noel, and he hadn’t made himself popular by saying so.

Noel still felt sure that the cottage route would have been a better fit for this, but he knew throwing suggestions around like, ‘Prince Charles has done a good job of this kind of thing in the Duchy of Cornwall’, wouldn’t get him anywhere. Prince Charles’ vision of sustainable developments that incorporated the notion that keeping the existing communities alive might actually be a good thing didn’t cut any ice in Matt’s shiny world. He was after the glory and so, suspected Noel, was Luke.

The meeting was breaking up, with nothing very much resolved. It was clear that economic conditions were causing nearly all the company’s projects to be scaled down, except for the eco town, as Noel realised when he looked through the figures once again when he was back at his desk. Now why didn’t that surprise him?

Marianne felt hesitant as she drove up the drive of Hopesay Manor. She hadn’t been back for two months. Not since that dreadful night on Christmas Eve. She’d only glimpsed Luke once in the street since. As usual with Luke, his business seemed to be taking him up and down the country, and it seemed that he was rarely at home, preferring to spend more time in his bachelor pad in London.

Marianne had some stuff of his to return. She could have taken a chance that Luke was away and dropped it round at his place, but she couldn’t bear the thought that the blonde bimbo was still hanging about, although Pippa reckoned he’d moved on to the next one by now. On Christmas Day Marianne had toyed with throwing most of his possessions in the lake at the front of Hopesay Manor, but she hadn’t quite been able to bring herself to. And then she’d hoped that, by keeping them, maybe Luke would have to call round to pick them up. Pathetic, she knew, but she couldn’t help that sneaky little hope that he’d still come back. Terrible thing, hope, it kept you going against all the odds, even against the constant battering that Pippa was prone to giving Luke, who as far as Pippa was concerned was systematically trying to destroy all that was good about Hope Christmas.

It was hope that had brought her here now. Hope that if she gave Luke’s things to his lovely charming grandfather, maybe Ralph could smooth the way not only for a meeting, but also for the happy-ever-after reconciliation that Marianne knew she shouldn’t be contemplating, but couldn’t help thinking about. So, here she was, standing like an idiot in front of that imposing door. The first time she’d come here had been the best day of her life. The last time, the worst. What would happen to her here today?

Taking a deep breath, Marianne lifted the large door knocker. She realised looking at it now that she’d made a mistake before—it wasn’t a man squashing a serpent, it was an angel. The wings spread round the circle of the door knocker. How unusual.

The sound of the brass knocker ringing against the door echoed ominously, making Marianne feel more nervous than ever. It seemed aeons before the door opened and Humphrey appeared. His face was implacable and, if he felt any surprise at seeing her, he didn’t betray it.