December
Jeff Forman
couldn’t imagine who would be knocking on the door at 7 am on Christmas
morning, but he opened it anyway and found Maxine’s Aunt Anne standing there.
“Happy
Christmas Anne” he said
“Happy
Christmas Jeff” she responded but without any real conviction.
“Have you seen
Maxine?” she asked “I saw her coming this way last night when I was walking the
dog”
“I went to the
cottage to wish her Happy Christmas and there’s no sign of her and her bed
hasn’t been disturbed” she continued pacing the small hallway.
“All the lights
are still on but there’s no sign of her and I’m really worried”
“Shhh” he said
putting a finger to his lips “Come here Anne, she’s asleep in the lounge”
She crept to
the door and had a glance through the gap into the sitting room.
“How long?” she
asked
“Over six
hours” he replied
“She obviously
feels safe with you” Anne said
“I won’t wake
her” he said
“I’m sorry you
have been disturbed like this” she added
“Nonsense, I
enjoy having a beautiful girl for company at Christmas”
“You think
she’s beautiful?” she asked
“Of course,
doesn’t everybody?” he asked
Anne smiled at
him and kissed his cheek “Happy Christmas Jeff” she said
“Christmas
Dinner is at 3 o’clock”
After Anne had
left, he finished his drink and the lack of sleep suddenly caught up with him
and he knew he had to sleep.
He didn’t want
to leave Maxine to wake up on her own, but he was too tired to sleep in an
armchair.
He thought for
a moment and then went into the bedroom and got out the spare duvet before
returning to the lounge.
He carefully
drew back the throw from around her small frail frame and then picked her up.
“Hmmm” she
murmured as he held her, then he carefully carried the beautiful featherweight
little creature into the bedroom.
Jeff laid her
on top of the duvet and covered her with the spare.
He then went
out and turned off the lights and locked the front door before returning to the
bedroom and gently slipped between the duvets to lay down beside Maxine.
“Hmmm” she
murmured as she snuggled in against him, so he put his arm around her and
drifted off into a contented sleep.
It was
remarkable how life can surprise you, when he rented Honeysuckle Cottage it was
only ever intended as a short let, but he knew when he woke up in bed next to a
smiling Maxine on Christmas morning, he would never leave the village.
The book was
well under way now and he could easily have moved back to civilization, but
while he had struggled with a particularly troublesome chapter, she had become
his muse and his love.
Maxine, who had
for so long held the world at arm’s length and avoided forming emotional
attachments of any kind for fear they might lead to her heart being broken
again, never imagined the course of events would take after she rescued the
panicky man lost in the woods.
She certainly
never imagined she would wake up in his bed three months later or that she
would have fallen in love with him.
When they woke
up, they just lay beneath the cozy comforting warmth of the duvet and talked
for an hour, all the unsaid things they had wanted to say in the weeks
preceding Christmas when they had lost their hearts, before they reluctantly
agreed that they needed to move as they couldn’t disappoint Aunt Anne.
Jeff got up
first and showered shaved and dressed then Maxine showered while he warmed up
the car.
When she had
redressed, he drove her to her house, where she finished getting ready and he
waited in the house.
It was the
first time he had been inside there and it had an almost museum feel to it, no
wonder she was always wandering.
They left the
car outside Maxine’s house and prepared to walk the hundred yards or so to Aunt
Anne’s when it began to snow.
“This is the
best Christmas ever” she said and took hold of his hand
“It’s a perfect
Christmas” he concurred and kissed her
The moment they
walked in through the front door of Annes he realized the wisdom of leaving the
car at Maxine’s because he would not be using it anymore that day as Uncle
Norman thrust a cocktail of gargantuan proportions and indeterminate strength
into his hand and he had no reason to suppose it wasn’t to be the first of
many.
