Once Upon a Christmas

‘Can I go and see her there?’

‘Sure,’ Jack said immediately. ‘We’ll go together.’

Tears suddenly welled up in Lizzie’s eyes and Jack immediately leaned forward and lifted the little girl onto his lap.

‘Don’t cry, baby,’ he said roughly, stroking her hair with his strong hand and exchanging an agonised look with Bryony. ‘You were brilliant. My little star. All those grown-ups were panicking and you were cool as ice cream.’

Lizzie gave a sniff and pulled away from him, but her little hands still clutched at his jumper. ‘I told the paramedics everything you wanted, just like you said.’

‘I know you did.’ Jack smiled down at her, pride in his eyes. ‘You were unbelievable. And I was so proud of you. You really helped save Annie.’

‘I helped?’ Lizzie’s face brightened slightly. ‘Really?’

‘Really.’ Jack nodded, his handsome face serious. ‘You see, you did all the right things. Everyone was scared and I bet you were, too, but you didn’t let being scared stop you from doing what needed to be done. And that makes you a very special person.’

‘It does?’

‘Certainly. I don’t know many grown-ups who would have been as calm as you and remembered all those things and done what you did.’ Jack lifted a hand and stroked Lizzie’s blonde curls away from her face. ‘One day, if you wanted to, I think you could be a very important doctor.’

Bryony swallowed down a lump in her throat and Lizzie’s eyes widened. ‘Like you and Mummy?’

Jack grinned. ‘Maybe not quite as important as me,’ he said teasingly, winking at Bryony who smiled back weakly. ‘But important, just the same.’

Lizzie gave a gurgle of laughter and punched him on the shoulder. ‘That’s boasting, Jack,’ she said reprovingly, and wound her arms round his neck. ‘I’m glad you and Mummy were there.’

For a brief moment Jack squeezed his eyes shut, his jaw tense, and Bryony knew exactly what was going through his mind. He’d been imagining a scene where he hadn’t been there, a scene where there hadn’t been a doctor on site to administer first aid, a scene where Lizzie might have been the one near the bonfire.

She gave a little shudder, imagining the same scene, and Jack’s eyes opened and locked on hers for a meaningful second.

‘Time for you to go to bed now, angel,’ he said softly, lifting Lizzie off his lap and tucking her under the covers with her mermaid. He leaned across and switched her little pink lamp on. ‘Your mum and I will just be eating some supper in the kitchen. Shout if you want anything.’

‘I don’t want you to go home tonight.’

‘I’m not going,’ Jack said immediately, sounding rock-solid, dependable and altogether too male for Bryony’s piece of mind. ‘Tonight I’m sleeping in your spare room.’

Lizzie gave a smile and they were just tiptoeing to the door when she spoke again.

‘Jack?’ Lizzie’s voice was a little-girl whisper and Bryony saw Jack’s face soften.

‘Yes, angel.’

‘Tomorrow when we wake up, will you play with me?’ Jack grinned. ‘Absolutely.’

‘Can we play Weddings?’

‘My favourite game,’ Jack said softly, walking back across the room and bending down to kiss her one more time. ‘Now, get some sleep. I can’t marry you with black rings under your eyes.’

Lizzie chuckled, sounding much happier. ‘Mummy, will you leave the door open?’

‘Of course, sweetheart. And I’ll pop my head in later.’

Jack followed Bryony out of the room.

‘Thank you for that,’ she said quietly, walking through to the kitchen and opening the fridge. ‘You said all the right things. In fact, you did all the right things, too. My instincts were to just get her out of there.’

‘That would have been my instinct, too, if she hadn’t already seen her friend engulfed by flames,’ Jack said wearily, sinking down on one of her kitchen chairs with a groan. ‘To be honest, I was mostly concentrating on Annie, but I did think that if Lizzie knew she’d helped, she might feel better.’

‘Which she did.’ Bryony removed a bottle of wine from the fridge and handed it to him along with a corkscrew. ‘I just hope she doesn’t have nightmares.’

‘She’s a tough kid,’ Jack said, yanking the cork out and setting the bottle down on the table. ‘She’ll be fine. As soon as Annie is a bit better we can take Lizzie along to see her.’

We.

Listening to him talking as if they were a family, Bryony found it harder and harder to remember that she was supposed to not be thinking of Jack in that way any more.

Remembering how skilled he’d been with Annie brought a lump to her throat. ‘You’re amazing, do you know that?’ She reached into the cupboard for two glasses, trying to keep her tone light. ‘You never lose your cool, no matter what. I just saw Annie on fire and I froze.’

‘Only for about three seconds,’ Jack said easily, stretching out a hand for the glasses and filling them both to the top. ‘And working in a well-equipped A and E department is very different from immediate care, as you know. Here. Have a drink. I think we both need it.’

‘I should cook some supper first.’

‘Forget cooking.’ Jack took a mouthful of wine and gave a groan of pleasure. ‘That’s good. Let’s send out for pizza or something.’

Bryony giggled. ‘I can’t do that. Lizzie will find the boxes in the morning and she’ll kill me. Pizza is her treat.’

Jack shrugged. ‘All right. Indian, then. I left a menu by your phone last time I was here.’

‘It would be nice not to cook,’ Bryony agreed, and Jack stood up.

‘That’s decided, then. Indian it is. What do you want?’

Bryony shrugged. ‘You choose.’

So he did and the food arrived half an hour later and was wonderful.

They were well into the bottle of wine when they heard Lizzie’s screams.

Both of them sprinted to her bedroom to find her sobbing and clutching her mermaid, her face blotched with tears.

‘I keep thinking of Annie.’

Bryony cuddled her close, rocking her gently. ‘Well, of course you do, darling. Annie is your friend. She’s going to be fine, Lizzie.’

As she said the words she prayed that she was right. If anything happened to Annie …

Eventually Lizzie calmed down and fell asleep again and the two of them tiptoed back to the kitchen.

Bryony felt totally stressed and she was seriously worried about the effect of the accident on her daughter. As Jack had rightly said, she’d actually seen it happen. What sort of impact would that have on her in the long term?