The Loving Gift

In the beginning Jade had assumed the friendly cat had wandered over from one of the cottages close by, but after several days of returning home to find him sitting on the doorstep waiting for her she had found out from a neighbour that the cat belonged to no one, that the old lady who had once owned him had died some time ago and the cat hadn't let anyone near him since then, living wild.

Two strays together, Jade had thought ruefully. Whether he had sensed some need in her that matched his own, or whether he had just decided she looked soft-hearted enough to feed him without demanding too much in return, she didn't know. But, whatever the reason, he had made the cottage his home the last few months, and when the time came for Jade to leave she didn't know what she was going to do about him. Wellington had become her constant companion, her confidant, someone she could talk to without fear of judgement or rebuttal, and she believed that in his own feline way he had come to care for her too, curling up to sleep on the foot of her bed every night, like a sentinel on guard. But at the same time she knew she couldn't take him back to be cooped up in her rented apartment in London, and there was no way she could afford to buy a house of her own out of town.

But there could be no doubt that Wellington had attached himself to her, and she to him.

His drink finished to his satisfaction, he now strolled across to stretch himself out in front of the fire Jade had lit when she came in, proceeding to wash himself with leisurely strokes of his tongue, pausing in the task to look up at her enquiringly as he sensed her gaze upon him.

She quirked mocking brows. ‘So, you're finally ready to listen now, are you?’ she derided, putting the milk bottle away in the fridge before joining the cat in front of the fire, taking with her the cup of tea she had just poured for herself, knowing she had been right about his readiness to listen to her now as he contentedly began to wash again. ‘You're very definite about your priorities, aren't you, boy?’ she teased, absently stroking that silky fur, receiving a rasp of the pink tongue over her hand for her trouble.

She leant back against a chair, giving a pained sigh. ‘I have had the most awful afternoon, Wellington.’ She shook her head, thinking back to what had transpired after Simon had interrupted that conversation in the store-cupboard.

She had stared at ‘Father Christmas’ with wide, horrified eyes, noticing as she did so that her slap to the side of his face had knocked the flowing white beard slightly askew, some of it having parted with his cheek completely, revealing a face that, although very similar to Simon's in features, was obviously younger than the other man's, something that was unmistakable now that his face was more fully revealed.

Before she could say a word, ‘Father Christmas’ had burst into speech. ‘She slapped my face, Pen!’ he told the other woman excitedly before once again giving that triumphant laugh. And he didn't seem able to stop.

Jade looked from Penny to Simon, wondering why one of them didn't step forward and slap ‘Father Christmas's’ face again—this time for hysteria. But the couple just looked on bemusedly, and so it was left to Jade to take the initiative before the whole thing turned into more of a farce than it already was.

Because her victim was more of a moving target this time, her aim wasn't quite so good, and instead of making contact with the man's cheek she caught the side of his eye. To her horror, this only seemed to fuel his excitement!

‘My God, I'll probably have a black eye from that one,’ he cried excitedly. ‘Penny, Simon, do you realise what this means?'

Jade had more than a good idea; the man behind the Father Christmas suit was ever so slightly insane. No one in their right mind could possibly be pleased at having their face slapped, not once but twice! This man's disturbed state of mind might also explain Penny's ashen face when she had realised it wasn't her husband beneath the disguise, for it was obvious now that that was the reason Penny had looked so distressed when ‘Father Christmas’ came into the room. Simon, she could see at a glance, was as sober as he always was.

‘I was attracted to her on sight,’ ‘Father Christmas’ was rambling on. ‘But now I know I'm going to marry her!'

Marry her? The man was definitely certifiable!

Penny was the first one to recover her voice. ‘David, can't you see you're distressing her?’ she soothed. ‘Jade isn't used to—no woman is, I'm sure—–’ she added with brisk dismissal ‘—to six foot two Father Christmases proposing marriage to her at their first meeting!'

David. At least she could put a name to the man now, and from the similarity between him and Simon she would say his surname was Kendrick. David Kendrick. No wonder Simon had never spoken of having a brother; David was definitely the ‘black sheep’ of the family!

And, if anything, Penny was understating her reaction to David's claim that he was going to marry her; she was more convinced than ever that the man in the Father Christmas suit was in need of medical help!

‘But, Penny, can't you see it's like a sign?’ he was insisting now. ‘And she didn't just slap me once, but twice!'

Penny eyed Jade uncertainly, obviously alarmed by the pallor of her cheeks. ‘David, I don't think you should persist in this just now.'

Jade had had enough, couldn't take any more today. ‘I think I should be going now, Penny—–'

‘You can't go!’ David pounced, grabbing both her hands in his, holding her captive. ‘I've only just found you—do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you to come into my life?’ he prompted eagerly, continuing to talk before she could even attempt an answer to his question. ‘Do you think I'm going to let you walk away from me now, when all I know about you is that your name is Jade and you're great with kids?'

And that he intended marrying her. Incredible, absolutely incredible. And the day had progressed so normally until his advent into her life, too!

‘David, I really think it might be better to leave this just now,’ Penny intervened again, shooting Jade nervous glances.

‘But I can't,’ he insistently refused, keeping a firm grip on Jade's hands. ‘It's like a sign, Penny,’ he repeated firmly. ‘A blessing—–'

‘If I read all the signs correctly just now, Jade is getting ready to shout “escaped lunatic”!’ Penny stepped forward to pointedly release Jade from the steely grasp. ‘David, there has to be a better place and time for this,’ she told him firmly.

‘The poor girl will come to no other conclusion than that you have a few screws loose if you continue to talk in this way,’ Simon put in softly.

If he continued…? Jade was already convinced the man had a serious problem!

David looked perplexed. ‘But you both know the significance—–'

‘Yes, yes,’ Penny quickly silenced him, shooting Jade an embarrassed smile. ‘Why don't we all discuss this later over dinner? You are staying to dinner, aren't you, David?’ The normally practically assured woman looked less than certain for once.

David's expression gentled as he gazed at the other woman. ‘Longer than that, if I'm welcome?’ He looked a little shame-faced.

‘Of course you are.’ Penny blushed her pleasure. ‘The kids will be overjoyed to see you.'

‘I've missed them.’ David's voice was husky with emotion now.

Jade was a little puzzled by the hesitant pleasure in Penny's face, at Simon's emotional smile as he looked on—but she was even more concerned about the thought of dinner tonight, not least because she had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be dining at the Kendricks’ this evening! The first week she had arrived here Penny and Simon had invited her over to dinner on a Friday night, a practice that had continued, and as today was a Friday… She had no intention of meeting David Kendrick ever again, and certainly not over a cosy family dinner tonight!

‘Maybe I should give dinner a miss for tonight?’ she hastened to excuse herself. ‘You all sound as if you have quite a lot of catching up to do, and so—–'

‘My dear, most of the talk will be about you, if I read my little brother correctly,’ Simon drawled in an amused voice, blue eyes twinkling teasingly. ‘So you might as well come along as arranged and avoid all that unnecessary ear-burning!'

It was her face that burnt now. Penny and Simon really were the nicest couple—she could believe that again now she knew Simon hadn't turned into a drunken lecher!—and she had greatly appreciated those weekly dinners with them in the past, but she really would rather not spend any more time in David Kendrick's company than she had to.

He seemed to sense her impending refusal, giving a wry smile. ‘I really haven't “escaped” from anywhere—although I understand if at the moment you think perhaps I ought to have done!’ he acknowledged ruefully. ‘But if anyone opts out of dinner tonight it really should be me; I'm the unexpected guest.'

And, as he very well knew, a very welcome one!

Jade frowned her irritation at his deliberate manipulation of the circumstances; she would look very petty now if she still insisted on refusing the invitation.

‘I'll be around at eight o'clock as usual,’ she finally answered Simon, completely ignoring David Kendrick, hoping that the way that she swept from the tiny room was regal and didn't show how she really felt—like a frightened rabbit!

David Kendrick had had a very determined glint in his eye as she turned to leave, and she seemed to be the purpose he was determined on.

‘And now I have to spend the whole evening in his company,’ she wailed to Wellington as they still sat in front of the glowing fireplace, only to look down and find he had gone to sleep somewhere in the middle of her tale. ‘A lot of help you are!’ she muttered, getting up to leave the cosily warm lounge with long strides to enter her much cooler bedroom; the radiators that heated the tiny cottage were warmed by the coal fire, and as that had only been alight a short time…

It was only one of the things she had found strange to adjust to when she moved into the cottage, being what she had always considered a ‘townie', with all the modern conveniences that conveyed; central heating had been taken for granted back in her flat in London. Having coal delivered, lighting the fire each day, keeping it alight, were all alien to her. She usually found that the cottage had just reached an acceptable temperature when it was time to go to bed, but then the fire would go out during the night and she would get up to a freezing cold bedroom! Still, the cottage did have its advantages, the major one being that the cottage was so pretty that you quickly forgot about the lack of heating and the dozen or so other little quirks it had. A thatched cottage, with all of its original beams still intact, was still the sort of home ‘townies’ dreamt about.

And, despite what she had heard about villages, the neighbours were all so friendly; unobtrusive, but helpful if they should be needed.

Not that Jade ‘needed’ them very often, preferring, apart from her inevitable involvement with school mothers, to keep herself to herself. The locals seemed to accept that being from London made her prefer it that way. Although she wasn't actually from London originally, what was left of her family—and that wasn't a great deal—still lived in the Yorkshire town she had grown up in. But she rarely returned there now.

Usually she looked forward to these Friday evening dinners as her only social outing of the week, a time when the three of them had mutually agreed not to discuss work but to simply enjoy each other's company. But tonight that was marred by the presence of that man.

David Kendrick. What was he really like under all that make-up and disguise? Simon's brown hair, which was thinning a little on top, was cut more for practicality than style; would his brother's be the same? Their eyes, she knew, were the same deep blue, just as their voices were very similar, but the rest of David Kendrick was an enigma. For all she knew, there might not have been any padding under the Father Christmas costume! Even as the slightly ridiculous idea came to mind, she knew, by the slenderness of his hands and the cotton pads in his mouth to make his cheeks look fatter, that David Kendrick had probably needed more padding than his brother to play the role.

He was probably handsome as the devil, and with a charm to match—and he had claimed he intended to marry her!

Marriage wasn't something she contemplated with anyone, let alone when suggested to her by a complete stranger who had made her seriously doubt his sanity by his strange behaviour!

Maybe he wouldn't be handsome, after all; maybe he had a permanent squint, or acne? There had to be something wrong with him—besides his tendency towards insanity—for him to still be single in the early to mid-thirties he must be to be Simon's ‘younger’ brother. Insanity certainly wouldn't exclude a reasonably eligible man of that age from the marriage market, not if some of the married couples she had observed were anything to go by!