Christmas at the Farmhouse - Rebecca Boxall Page 0,50

through to the kitchen and put the finishing touches to the meal and, just as I’d shouted that everyone needed to go through to the dining room, the doorbell rang. Forgetting I was wearing my unbecoming apron, I opened the door.

‘Oh, hello!’ I said, smiling, as I found both Xav and Jack on the doorstep. It was a frosty evening and it was clearly quite icy between the two of them as well. I ushered them in and took them straight to the dining room where Magnus tactfully put them at opposite ends of the table. I noticed he’d also sat Belle and Heidi as far from each other as possible. Oh, the joys of a big family!

At last, we ate. As everyone tucked into the food and drink, the conversation flowed, and any awkwardness between Astrid’s men seemed to mellow. I had Sunny and Freja on either side of me and was keen to find out more about their situation.

‘So when you asked me to tell Freja that the offer was still there, did you mean marriage?’ I asked Sunny. ‘Had you proposed before?’

‘No, but I’d offered to be there for her. To be a family – me, Freja and the little one.’

‘So you do know Freja’s pregnant! Why did you tell me he didn’t?’ I asked her.

‘Because it was too tricky to explain to you at the time. You see, the baby isn’t Sunny’s.’

I nearly choked on my wine. The whole table seemed to go silent as I spluttered away and Sunny whacked me on the back.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Magnus from the other end of the table.

Freja sighed. ‘The baby I’m having isn’t Sunny’s. We got together a couple of weeks after I conceived. When I found out I was pregnant and worked out the dates I realised it couldn’t be his, so I explained everything to him. I was devastated because, the truth is, I really love Sunny.’ I looked at Sunny and saw pure reciprocal love in his eyes. ‘He said that, if I wanted to keep the baby, then it didn’t matter,’ Freja continued. ‘That we could be together anyway. But I didn’t believe him. I didn’t think he could love me enough to make that sort of sacrifice. So I’ve been pushing him away, determined to go it alone. Luckily for me, Sunny is the persevering type.’ Freja smiled.

‘So who is the father, then?’ Mikkel asked, clearly trying to work it all out; he liked things neatly arranged in his own mind.

‘Ryan,’ Freja replied, and we all gasped.

‘After everything he put you through a year ago, you got back with him?’ Astrid asked, clearly astonished.

‘It was just one night. One very drunken night. A mistake.’

‘And have you told him about the pregnancy?’ Magnus asked.

‘Yeah and, as you can imagine, he isn’t interested.’

‘Well, in a way, if you’re going to be a family now with Sunny, perhaps that’s for the best,’ Lucas said sensibly. Heidi, sitting next to him, had been watching the whole thing as if she were at Centre Court during Wimbledon, her head cracking back and forth, right and left, as she followed the drama. I smiled to myself. Never a Christmas without drama, though at least this time the outcome was good.

‘You’re a saint,’ Freja said, looking across at Sunny, but he shook his head.

‘I just love you,’ he said. ‘Love makes everything simple, don’t you think? Even the most complicated of situations?’

I saw Astrid look beside her and squeeze Jack’s hand. Xav, down the other end of the table, looked like he might cry.

‘I think,’ I said, realising the intense atmosphere in the dining room was in need of a little shake-up, ‘we should abandon all this mess for now and go through to the sitting room for a game of charades. Who’s playing?’

Immediately the tension lifted, as everyone trooped through and the games began. Xav, as always, had everyone in stitches – even Jack – and it felt as though, perhaps, the frost was thawing.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Wednesday 25th December 2019

Jo – Christmas Celebrations

First thing on Christmas morning, before I even reached over to kiss Magnus, I checked my phone. A text had arrived.

Arrived yesterday afternoon with no problems. The Atlantic Hotel is the height of luxury and you are too kind to have treated me to my stay last night. I have packed already and eaten a delicious breakfast. The concierge has offered to give me a lift to your house at eleven. Would that be easier than you