Christmas for One: No Greater Love (20 page)

‘There is one other thing,’ Meg whispered into the woman’s shoulder.

‘Tell me.’ Isabel pulled away and smiled at the mother of her grandson.

‘Edward is an American. A proper American, living in America.’

Isabel blinked slowly and frowned. ‘Oh, Meg,’ she sighed. ‘I can see why you kept that quiet. How utterly, utterly ghastly.’

‘Lucas, this is for when you are on the aeroplane.’ Meg held up a Monsters, Inc. colouring book and a new set of pens. ‘I’ll pop them in your rucksack and if you get a bit fed up or bored, you can have a colour-in. I think there are puzzles to do as well.’ She tried to sound jovial, ignoring the catch in the back of her throat as she tidied his bedroom, placing his clothes into piles destined for either a suitcase or his chest of drawers.

‘I won’t need that book, Mum.’ Lucas was quite clear.

‘Oh, why not?’ She hid her disappointment. When she was little, that would have been the best treat imaginable.

‘Because I am going to watch a movie and when that’s finished I’m going to play on my new iPad that Christopher and Pru have bought me, but it’s a surprise and they are going to give it to me before we get on the plane to Barbarbados and I can play with that instead. It’s got lots of games!’

Meg put her hands on her hips. ‘How do you know they have bought you an iPad if it’s a surprise?’

‘Because Milly and me said we’d tell each other what we got for presents if we found out and we wouldn’t tell anyone else. So she told me that and I told her about hers.’

‘I see. And what present has Milly got that you know about, Lucas?’ She admired his guile.

‘Her talent lessons!’ He beamed.

Meg laughed into her palm. She had indeed booked Italian lessons for Milly, which would start in the New Year. It made her chuckle that Lucas hadn’t quite managed to spill the beans. She knew that it would drive Milly crazy trying to fathom just what a ‘talent lesson’ might be. Ha! Well that would serve her right for trying to get information from a small child.

‘I’m going to have the Barbarbados Christmas and then the proper Christmas when I get back here, aren’t I, Mum?’ Lucas peered up at her as he kicked his little leg against the bed.

She nodded. ‘That’s right. But I’m going to really miss you over the next couple of weeks, pal.’ It was going to be the longest they had been separated.

‘I’m going to miss you too. Are you going to ’Merica to work?’ He held his red wooden car against his chest.

Meg sat on his bed and looked him in the eye. ‘No. I’m kind of going on a holiday, going to see someone and I can’t wait to get back and tell you all about it!’

‘Is it a lady?’ Lucas asked as he ran his car over the track printed on his rug. This kid was astute.

‘No.’ She gave a small cough. ‘It’s a man.’

‘What’s his name?’ Lucas looked at her now.

‘His name is Edward, but he likes to be called Edd.’

‘Edd,’ Lucas repeated.

This one syllable sent an immediate rush of love for her child into her stomach. Hearing her little boy testing out the name that she hoped would become familiar to him was quite a moment.

‘I love you, Lucas. I love you so much.’ Meg enveloped him in a tight hug, from which he immediately tried to wriggle free. ‘I want you to take lots of photos of yourself in the pool and of everyone enjoying themselves in Barbarbados and you can send them to me on your iPad. Christopher will help you.’ She kissed his hair, which smelt of sweet shampoo.

‘Having second thoughts?’ Milly asked from the doorframe on which she leant.

‘Yes and then no and then yes again immediately after,’ Meg confessed as Lucas climbed down from the bed.

Milly snorted. ‘Look, it’s easy. If you change your mind, just jump on a bloody plane. You’ll be with us in no time!’

‘You can bring your friend!’ Lucas did a little jig on the spot.

‘He’s right.’ Milly smiled. ‘You can. And do me a favour, Meg, go check on Juno and the new site, make sure there are no more D.E.A.D. B.O.D.I.E.S. lurking behind the counter or in the cupboards. I think that might be off-putting while people are trying to tuck into their tarte tatin.’

‘I will.’ Meg smiled.

Early the next day, after a flurry of kisses and last-minute hugs, Meg waved Milly and Lucas off in the back of their luxury taxi bound for Gatwick. She sat in front of her laptop and read the latest email from Juno – who was apparently being stalked by Elene, getting daily reminders not to forget her invite to the big launch party! Meg laughed out loud. She could just imagine it.

Edd’s email was less funny, more moving:
I’m wondering how I get through the festive season without you. This separation thing doesn’t seem to be getting any easier…

Meg closed the lid and squealed with anticipation, thinking,
You don’t have to, my love. I’m on my way!
She clenched her fists and closed her eyes, beyond excited.

After retrieving the post and booking her cab for the airport, Meg was in the front hallway when she felt a wave of panic wash over her. Sitting on the step, she ran her fingers through her hair, still damp from the shower.

‘Oh God! What am I doing?’ she muttered at the floor, her head hanging down.

‘Morning, chérie. All okay?’ Guy bent down and lifted the curtain of hair that covered her face, then let it fall again once he was confident there were no tears.

‘Oh, Guy, am I doing the right thing? I can’t believe I’m doing this. What if I am about to make the biggest mistake of my life? I waved Lucas off earlier.’ She couldn’t help but think of the nights she had spent in care, away from her family. She had to admit that this was very different, in that he was off to stay in a lovely villa in the Caribbean where he would be doted on morning, noon and night, but still, Meg felt like she was abandoning him nonetheless.

‘Lucas will be spoilt rotten and have a ball. He told me he was getting an iPad!’ Guy laughed.

Meg giggled, wondering who else he had told. ‘It’s not only that I’m worried about Lucas. I know nothing about this man really and I am about to jump on a plane and turn up, declaring my undying love and wanting to stay for Christmas! Am I mad? Is this insane?’ She glanced up for the first time with a look of panic.

‘Yes. You are a little bit mad and yes, it’s insane…’

‘Please tell me there is a “but”.’

‘But, you know, Meg, when you first came here, all beated up and pregnant and grubby…’

Meg screwed her nose up; she hadn’t realised this was how he saw her.

‘… I would never have imagined how you would have bloomed like a flower in front of me. You are beautiful, Meg, and so young still. You have to live this life and if that means following your heart and taking a risk…’ Guy raised his palms and shrugged. ‘… then that’s what you should do. If you don’t, you will regret it forever. Anyway, one look at you and anyone can see that you have already fallen; it’s too late to reverse your heart.’

She smiled at him and his lovely expression. He was right, it was too late to reverse her heart. ‘Thank you, Guy.’

‘Mon plaisir. And don’t forget, chérie, if it’s not what you think it is, you can always come home to those who love you. We’ll be here.’

‘Thank you,’ she said again, thinking of Christopher’s similar words of support. It was so lovely being loved.

‘Now!’ He clapped his hands. ‘Are you rushing off to the airport or do you have time for a warm frangipane aux framboises with thick cream and a strong cup of coffee?’ He inhaled. ‘I can smell them from here!’

Meg stood and dusted down the back of her jeans. ‘I’m not flying until eleven and besides, I’ve always got time for warm frangipane aux framboises!’

Guy placed his arm across her back and ushered her inside. ‘Your French accent is terrible, we need to work on that.’

‘I’ll try harder.’

‘Bon.’ He beamed.

‘I wasn’t grubby, Guy,’ she whispered as they stepped into the café.

‘Oui, chérie, you were grubby,’ Guy murmured.

‘Is that because your English isn’t too good? You don’t mean “grubby”, do you?’ She looked up at him.

‘My English is perfect and you were grubby.’

*

Meg checked in and took a seat in the departure lounge. Nerves and excitement swirled around inside her stomach. She pulled out her phone and devoured the latest text from Edd.

6 a.m. and already been for my morning run. Impressive, huh?! Gotta keep in shape, I have a hot British girlfriend who I have to impress. Kinda wish she was closer right now…

Sames
, was Meg’s succinct reply.

She held the phone to her chest and blinked slowly.
She will be closer, and sooner than you think!

As she watched the planes coming and going at the various gates, her head was with Lucas, way up above the clouds. He was probably playing with his new iPad, if everything had gone according to plan. Lucky boy! She smiled at the thought of him.

She patted the small square package that sat snugly in the front pocket of her handbag. She hadn’t considered buying a Christmas gift for Edd. Ironically, even though she was in love with him, she didn’t know him well enough to buy for. What was his taste in socks, music, books? She decided on no present, but maybe a spontaneous gift if they spotted something on their wanderings. Her stomach clenched in excited anticipation at the prospect. She pictured the two of them perusing a flea market before stopping for coffee and a cake at the Doughnut Plant, where she would happily demolish their famous crème brûlée doughnut, one of the finest things she had ever tasted. Fate, however, had had another idea. As she’d made her way along Curzon Street a couple of days before, with an armful of fresh vegetables and an apricot-stuffed loin of lamb, she’d felt drawn to the window of Amy Bauer the jeweller. There, sitting proudly on a little raised glass plinth, was a pair of silver cufflinks. Not just any cufflinks, but cufflinks with seahorses engraved onto them. The flat silver discs, displayed side by side, each carried one of the creatures and they were facing each other, as if they were about to link tails, snout to snout. Perfect.

The taxi queue at JFK Airport was long and snaked back into the terminal. Meg bounded towards it and took her place; as this was the second time in as many weeks that she had been here, the routine now seemed quite familiar. She heard the beep of a horn and the bark of a cabbie and grinned: she was back in New York and within the hour, assuming her man wasn’t at the Yankees stadium or visiting his favourite deli, she would be in his arms. A jolt of happiness fired through her body and ricocheted along her limbs. She twitched with impatience. Edward, Edward… Isabel was right; it was a fine name.

‘Move it along now! Move it along!’ The guard rolled his hand, keen to get this line of passengers off the rank, ready for the next wave of arrivals.

It was busier than it had been last time. Everyone was trying to get home for the holidays, weighed down by luggage, gifts and an extra carrier bag or two of airport-shop booty. The wind had dropped in the six days since she had left and it felt all the warmer for it. Six days, was that all? This was a crazy life she was living, nipping back and forth across the Atlantic like she was a film star. Truth was, she felt like a film star, with the world at her feet.

Meg looked out of the taxi window and narrowed her eyes to better glimpse the Statue of Liberty.

‘Your first time in New York?’ The cabbie leant into the middle of the car to speak through the gap in the grille.

‘No! I’ve been once before. I love it here…’
I do now.
‘And my boyfriend lives here, so I’ve come for Christmas!’ She giggled, still feeling a swell of joy at the idea of her boyfriend, the most perfect man on the planet.

‘You got much planned?’ he asked as he navigated the three lanes of traffic leading towards the city.

Meg shook her head. ‘Not really.’ She pictured them on the sofa, her wearing his Yankees shirt and him in his red and yellow plaid pyjama bottoms. ‘We are just going to eat takeout in front of the television; he has a lot of work to catch up on.’

She smiled out of the window as she mentally formalised the plan for the holidays. Edd could work and she would drag him out to the Greenwich Avenue Deli for a treat. Truth was, she would be happy never to leave the apartment. As long as they were together, that was all that mattered. Uninterrupted time with no alarm set – bliss!

As they got closer, Meg pulled her make-up bag from her holdall and removed the faintest smudge of mascara from beneath one eye. She applied her nude lipstick and then kissed the excess into a tissue. A quick spritz of her favourite fragrance, Calvin Klein’s Eternity, and she was all set.

The taxi driver was delighted with his generous tip, a direct result of her buoyant, heady mood. ‘Happy holidays!’ he boomed.

After straightening her hemline and taking a deep breath, Meg flicked her hair from her collar and walked to the front door of the block on East 12th, pushing the button for apartment 18. She swallowed her nerves, her mouth dry, wondering what her first words should be. She decided to go with ‘Delivery for Mr Kelly!’ and then stand quietly, allowing the penny to drop. She would then place the cufflink box on the flat of her palm and simply stand with her hand out. She almost squealed with excitement.

‘Hello?’ The voice was slightly muffled over the intercom.

‘Oh, sorry! I think I’ve buzzed the wrong apartment!’ Meg released the button and gave a small laugh with her hand over her mouth. The woman didn’t sound too happy at having been disturbed. Meg checked her watch; it was early afternoon, surely not too early.

She ran her fingers over the panel and this time determinedly pressed the circle numbered 18.

‘Hello?’ It was the same voice; this time her tone was more questioning.

‘Oh God, I’m really sorry. I’ve done it again!’ Meg racked her brain, trying to remember Edd’s apartment number; she had clearly got the wrong one.

‘Who is it you are trying to reach?’ The woman’s manner was a little clipped, impatient.

‘Oh, no one, I’m sorry. Well, I mean, yes, someone, obviously! But not you. I was after Edd, Edward Kelly.’ Meg cringed as she hopped on the spot. This was no way to endear herself to his neighbours.