Christmas Wishes at Pudding Hall by Kate Forster
30
‘Dad?’
Marc looked up from his laptop in his study.
‘Not now, Ethan, we’re busy.’
Adam was sitting opposite him, tapping furiously at the screen.
‘No, Dad, we need to talk to you.’
Seth’s face appeared now.
‘If it’s about Christa, I can’t get her back here. She isn’t returning my calls or my texts, so you will have to deal with shepherd’s pie until I get a new chef.’
‘Dad, it’s not about Christa,’ said Ethan.
‘Well, it’s kind of about her but it’s also about the douche,’ Seth added.
Marc didn’t bother to correct them because Simon was a douche and had been so unbearable since he won the soufflé competition the day before that Marc and Adam and Paul and the twins went out for a very sombre dinner at the local pub.
Marc sighed. ‘I know he’s annoying but he will be gone after Christmas.’
The twins were in his study now and they closed the door behind them.
‘Dad, I need to show you something,’ said Ethan, his face troubled.
Marc closed his laptop and pulled the child to him. He had been distracted and he had been rude. He would have been furious with the boys if they had ignored him like he had ignored them. They deserved better than that dismissive side of him.
‘Okay, buddy, what is it? I’m sorry I tried to brush whatever it is away. Tell me, what’s up?’
Seth put the video camera onto the desk.
‘Dad, you need to watch this.’ Seth looked at Adam. ‘Can you plug this into the monitor?’
Adam took the cable from the camera and did as Seth instructed and then Ethan pressed some buttons and the Pudding Hall kitchen came into the view and there was Christa.
‘When was this?’ he asked, his heart aching to see her again.
‘It’s the soufflé competition,’ said Seth as Ethan fast-forwarded through the footage, giving Marc a view of what had been happening when Marc was in the dining room waiting to judge the final dishes.
He watched Christa and Simon cook. He noticed her concentration and precision even on fast forward. She barely looked up while Simon seemed to be performing as though he was on camera.
‘Did they know you were filming this?’ asked Marc, still watching.
‘No,’ Ethan answered. ‘I set up on the mantelpiece so I could edit it later. I wanted it to be natural, so I didn’t tell them.’
Marc nodded as they kept watching. He didn’t know what was coming but he was pretty sure it wasn’t good for someone who was cooking.
Ethan stopped fast-forwarding and Marc saw them put the soufflés in the oven and then Christa’s knees buckled. She spoke and then rushed outside and Adam and Paul and the boys followed her.
‘What happened? Why didn’t you tell me she was upset?’ He turned to Adam, furious.
‘She said she needed air. We offered her water but she said she was just nervous.’
The camera was still filming Avian and Simon who didn’t seem bothered by Christa’s near collapse and instead he could see them talking by the bench. Avian was gesturing wildly and Simon was shrugging and throwing his hands up at her.
And then it happened.
Simon went to the oven while Avian watched the door and he swapped the soufflés.
‘You slimy mother fu—’ Marc started to say.
‘We can sue him. We can sue him for fraud, for misleading you, and anything else I can think of,’ said Adam his face bright red.
Marc turned to the boys. ‘Thank you for showing me this,’ he said and he hugged both of them.
‘I think you might have just saved Christmas, boys.’
The boys looked pleased with themselves but Adam stepped in.
‘You cannot tell your mom or Simon about this, okay? It’s now up to us to deal with it.’
The boys nodded and Ethan looked downcast.
‘I wish Mom didn’t do it.’ His son’s words made Marc remember what it was like to be so disappointed in a parent. How many times he had hoped his own parents would step up and pull through, only to be let down again and again.
‘I know, buddy. I will talk to her – but later, okay? Let me find Christa first and then I can talk to your mom.’
Ethan and Seth went to the door.
‘And can we finish the gingerbread house later?’
‘We sure can,’ Marc promised, meaning it, as the boys closed the door.
‘I’m going to text Paul and show him and then get him to take the boys out for the rest of the day. That okay with you?’ Adam asked.
Marc nodded as he wondered what to do.
Paul watched the video, his face shocked as the deception became apparent. ‘The audacity of those two. I am shook, as the young people say,’ he said. ‘I’ll take the boys far away today to the Viking Centre. There is an enormous fossilised Viking turd they can look at. That will entertain them. We could put Simon on display as real-life human shit but it might be harder to sell tickets.’
Marc laughed despite himself as Paul left him and Adam.
‘Wow. I am shocked but not surprised,’ Adam stated.
‘Me neither. I knew Christa had cooked that soufflé. I could tell.’
Adam looked at him. ‘What will you do about it then? And make sure it’s legal, okay?’
Marc leaned back in his chair.
‘I need to tell Christa but I also need to deal with Simon and Avian. If I kick him out and Avian goes with him then that’s on her. I will tell her she can stay for the boys and then let her decide.’
Adam nodded. ‘And Simon? Surely you’re not just going to give him the boot and then forget it happened?’
Marc shook his head. ‘No, I am going to kick him right where it will hurt him most.’
Adam made a face. ‘That sounds like a police charge.’
‘No, I’m going to kick him right in his ego,’ Marc said. ‘Make the deal with Cirrus TV, buy today.’
‘Are you sure? With Blind Baking going?’
‘Oh yes, buy it,’ Marc said feeling surer than ever. ‘I am going to make my own cooking show, one that will blow Blind Baking out of contention. Get me a time to speak to the guy from The Hollywood Reporter. I need him to write a story for me.’
‘On it,’ said Adam.
He stood up and grabbed his phone.
‘And now I have to find Christa. Wish me luck.’
‘Ask Peggy,’ said Adam.
‘Peggy?’
‘She said she saw her this morning in York. Says she’s devastated.’
Marc rushed to the door. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
And without waiting for an answer he rushed through the house calling Peggy’s name.
Seth and Ethan’s Gingerbread House Recipe
Ingredients
250g/8¾oz unsalted butter
200g/7oz dark muscovado sugar
7 tbsp golden syrup
600g/21oz plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger
For the icing
2 egg whites
500g/18oz icing sugar
Method
- Heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a large bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. If it won’t quite come together, add a tiny splash of water.
- Cut out a template. You can find these free online. Put a sheet of baking paper on a work surface and roll about one-quarter of the dough to the thickness of two £1 coins. Cut out one of the sections, then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking paper, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front and back wall and two roof panels. Any leftover dough can be cut into Christmas trees, or monkeys for the trees around your house.
- Bake all the sections for 12 minutes or until firm and just a little darker at the edges. Leave to cool for a few minutes to firm up, then trim around the templates again to give clean, sharp edges. Leave to cool completely.
- Put the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag with a medium nozzle. Pipe generous snakes of icing along the wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together. Use a small bowl to support the walls from the inside, then allow to dry, ideally for a few hours. Ask Christa to do this part as it’s really hard.
- Once dry, remove the supports and fix the roof panels on. The angle is steep so you may need to hold these on firmly for a few mins until the icing starts to dry. Dry completely, ideally overnight, and then decorate as you wish.