A Winter's Wish. Alice Ross

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СКАЧАТЬ a sign pinned to the side of a huge oak tree, proudly bearing the name of The Cedars. Without further deliberation, she swung her Mercedes Coupe off the main road and up the narrow drive towards the house. And what a house, she concluded a minute later as she parked on the semi-circular sweep of gravel in front of the white two-storey Georgian villa. It looked utterly adorable; like it hadn’t changed at all in two hundred years; like Ms Austen herself could swan around the corner at any moment. But it wasn’t Ms Austen who sailed out of the bottle-green front door with an enormous holly wreath pinned to it. It was Amelia’s sister, Annie, looking effortlessly pretty in faded jeans, a white Arran jumper, and beige Ugg boots.

      Amelia, in a grey tailored trouser suit and high heels, immediately wished she’d worn something more casual. But that thought was swiftly nudged aside by the warm, welcoming smile on her sister’s face. Such a warm, welcoming smile that a rush of unaccustomed affection surged through Amelia. Desperate to cling on to what was left of her equilibrium, she sucked in a deep breath, tucked the sides of her honey-blonde bob behind her ears, forced the corners of her lips upwards, and prepared to greet her sibling.

      ‘Hi,’ Annie gushed, as Amelia scrambled out of the car. ‘I’m so pleased you’ve arrived safely. And before it’s too dark. How was the drive?’

      Before Amelia could reply, Annie enveloped her in an embrace. Amelia didn’t normally engage in shows of physical affection. She found it easier to keep people at arm’s length – to maintain a respectable distance between herself and her fellow man. But, with her sister’s arms around her, breathing in her subtle scent of roses and fresh bread, something tugged at her heart, bringing tears to her eyes.

      Thankfully Annie didn’t seem to notice as, all at once, she released her hold and bent down to the car.

      ‘Get out of there now, Pip!’

      Amelia whipped round to find a scruffy white Jack Russell with a pair of plastic reindeer antlers on its head sitting smugly on the cream leather driver’s seat.

      ‘I’m so sorry,’ apologised Annie, swiping up the dog and slamming shut the car door. ‘This is Pip. He doesn’t like to miss anything. Anyway, come on in and have something to eat. We’ll bring your stuff in later.’

      Amelia gave a weak smile of consent, not daring to speak in case it brought forth the threatening tears. Instead, she followed her sister into the house and found herself in a huge, perfectly square entrance hall, dominated by an enormous Christmas tree dripping with all manner of decorations. Original green patterned tiles covered the floor, while the dazzling white walls were dotted with black-and-white family photographs.

      ‘Everyone’s in the kitchen,’ said Annie, marching off down a corridor leading off from the hall. ‘The children can’t wait to see you.’

      Observing the children’s smiling faces in the pictures, Amelia doubted that very much. She never knew what to do or say around children. Their unpredictability set her on edge.

      ‘Look who’s here,’ Annie announced, when they eventually reached the vast kitchen. An obvious recent addition to the house, its back wall consisted entirely of folding doors leading onto the garden. Opposite, against the natural stone of the wall, rested a collection of sleek aubergine units, bookshelves, a refrigerated wine rack, and, bang in the centre, a fuchsia-pink Aga. The place was modern, stylish and homely and smelled exactly like Annie: of bread and roses, with the addition of spicy parsnip soup.

      Running down the centre of the room was a long plank table littered with crayons, paints, paper, glitter and jigsaw pieces. At one end sat Jake, Annie’s husband, with his laptop. He jumped to his feet and strode over to Amelia the moment she entered.

      ‘Hi,’ he gushed, enveloping her in another hug. ‘How are you? So sorry to hear about the job. It must’ve been a huge shock.’

      ‘You could say that,’ mumbled Amelia, the urge to howl increasing by the second.

      ‘Still, on the plus side, it gives you a chance to spend some time with us,’ he continued. ‘The kids have been dying to see you. Are you going to say hello to Aunty Amelia, guys?’

      Kneeling on the bench at the table, seven-year-old Sophie, the double of her mother, her mass of golden hair squashed into two fat pigtails and a Rapunzel-like hat on her head, gazed at Amelia with huge green eyes.

      ‘Hello,’ she said.

      Amelia managed a watery smile back.

      ‘And what about you, Thomas,’ chivvied Jake. ‘You remember Aunty Amelia, don’t you?’

      Kneeling alongside his sister, two-year-old Thomas, in a Spiderman outfit topped off with a policeman’s helmet, ran an appraising gaze over his aunt. ‘No,’ he replied flatly.

      Jake snorted with laughter. ‘Sorry, Amelia. You’ve caught him on a bad day. We ran out of yogurt popsicles earlier which, I’m sure you can appreciate, is almost a national disaster.’

      Despite having no idea what a yogurt popsicle was, and being devoid of the energy to ask, Amelia opted for another weak smile.

      ‘Anyway, never mind our wayward offspring,’ cut in Annie, setting the antler-bearing dog down on the floor, and marching over to a pan on the Aga. ‘You must be starving. Parsnip soup okay for you?’

      ‘Accompanied by my homemade bread,’ chipped in Jake. ‘Thomas and I made it especially for Aunty Amelia, didn’t we, mate?’

      Without bothering to raise his head from his elf jigsaw, Thomas nodded gravely.

      ‘I sometimes help mummy make cakes,’ announced Sophie, without looking up from her colouring-in book.

      Amelia gulped. What should she say to that? She’d never made a cake in her life. ‘Well, that’s, um, nice,’ she heard herself murmuring, as she slipped onto the bench opposite her niece.

      Sophie cast her an unimpressed glance, before returning to her colouring book.

      Thankfully, the moment was broken by Annie.

      ‘I thought you’d just want to chill this afternoon,’ she said, pushing a spoon and a bowl of steaming-hot soup in front of Amelia. ‘You must be exhausted after the drive. But I’ve arranged a babysitter for tonight. I thought us three grown-ups could go to the pub for a meal. If that’s okay with you.’

      Amelia’s already low spirits took a further dip southwards. The last thing she needed was to sit in a noisy pub, surrounded by people, making polite conversation. But to say so would be rude and unsociable. And she didn’t know her sister well enough to be either of those.

      ‘Lovely,’ she consequently uttered. She hoped the addition of, ‘But I don’t want to be any trouble,’ might permit her a reprieve.

      It didn’t.

      ‘Oh, believe me,’ chuckled Jake, resuming his seat at the table, ‘we don’t find it any trouble going to the pub. Annie practically lives there.’

      Annie placed her hands on her slender hips. ‘Er, excuse me, Mr O’Donnell. I’ve been all of half a dozen times this year. Although, now that we have our super-reliable, gorgeous babysitter, I might well increase my visits.’

      ‘Our babysitter is called Ella and she lets me stay up until nine o’clock, but I’m not allowed to tell СКАЧАТЬ