Christmas at the Farmhouse - Rebecca Boxall Page 0,61

leftovers, all of the little ones obligingly taking their naps then, too.

It was just as I began to clear the table that the doorbell rang.

‘I’ll get it,’ I said lightly and I made my way to the front door.

‘You made it,’ I said, smiling at the man on the doorstep. He was tall, with thick white hair, and had a lined, friendly face. ‘Have you checked in at the bed and breakfast?’

‘I just dumped my bag there and raced here. I’m not too late?’

I shook my head. ‘Just in time. Come in.’ He followed me through to the dining room. ‘Everyone,’ I said. ‘The second part of my surprise has arrived.’

I stood aside and the man entered the dining room. I looked at Magnus and saw confusion on his face, but when I turned to Susan I saw total clarity. She stood up.

‘Robin!’ she said and as I watched them take each other in across the dining table I knew that – despite the passage of time – the love between them had never died.

Chapter Thirty-two

Thursday 26th December 2019

Susan

In all my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined waking up on the day of my son’s fiftieth birthday celebrations in his home, welcomed so fully by him and his family. I got myself ready in the little attic shower room and then returned to the bedroom and was drawn to the dormer, with its view out to sea. I opened the window and took a deep breath of salty air, then went downstairs to give Magnus his present. When he went off to get the picture of himself as a baby I must say I did struggle; I so wished I had the memory to go with the photo. But Magnus promised to show me lots of pictures of him through the years and, though I knew it would be hard, I wanted to be taken through the albums.

It was during breakfast that Freja said that snow was forecast and I decided to ask Magnus to help me get on an earlier flight. Partly it was that I wanted to make sure I was back to pick up my cat, Lavender. But also I was eager to ensure that I didn’t outstay my welcome. Ken always used to say that guests and fish stink after three days and, if snow did arrive, I couldn’t be sure how long I’d be marooned with them.

Magnus and Jo had their party at noon and the girls busily introduced me to lots of lovely people, all seemingly fascinated by the adoption story.

And then, of course, came the surprise after lunch. Seeing Robin standing there, handsome as he ever was, gave me the shock of my life.

‘You’re not dead!’ I said to him, ridiculously.

‘It would seem not,’ he replied, smiling and looking slightly quizzical.

‘But I heard…’ I tried to think who’d told me, erroneously, that he’d died, but I couldn’t think. And what did it matter now?

‘Your wife?’ I asked him.

‘We divorced three years ago. I got back from a holiday in the States on Monday and discovered Jo had been trying to get in touch. We finally spoke on Christmas Eve morning. She explained everything to me, telling me she’d only just managed to make contact with you and that you’d been planning to have Christmas alone as your husband had passed away. She said you were going to be arriving at the house on Christmas Day and then she suddenly had a bright idea and invited me too. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a flight at such short notice until today. I couldn’t wait to get here. To see you. And, of course, our son.’ He turned to Magnus then and as I watched them step towards each other and embrace I could feel tears sliding down my face.

‘Are you okay?’ Jo asked me, handing me a tissue, and I nodded, smiling despite my tears. ‘As soon as I invited Robin over I was worried that perhaps it wouldn’t go down well with you,’ she explained to me. ‘I mean, I had no idea until you got here what the circumstances of Magnus’s adoption had been. But Robin promised me that it wouldn’t be awkward.’

‘Not awkward at all,’ I agreed. For a moment I thought about Ken and felt a pang of guilt, but in my heart I knew that he wouldn’t begrudge me another chance at happiness.

I missed my flight, of course, but it didn’t matter. I rang the cattery and they agreed to