Christmas Wishes at Pudding Hall by Kate Forster
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Early Christmas morning, Christa woke in Marc’s arms. The sky was dark still, though she could hear birds singing outside, and she moved in closer to him. He stirred then kissed her and pulled her to him.
‘Good morning,’ he said and before she could answer they were tangled up together again.
Later, they woke again to the sounds of the twins yelling.
‘Santa’s been,’ said Ethan.
‘Dad is Santa, you big baby,’ yelled Seth and Christa looked at Marc and made a sad face.
‘When did you stop believing in Santa?’ he asked her.
‘I don’t think I ever did to be honest,’ she admitted.
‘Me neither, otherwise Santa was an arsehole who totally forgot about us and that would be too hard to take as a kid.’
Christa kissed him. ‘We should go and see the kids,’ she said, but Marc pulled her close.
‘One more kiss,’ he said and she kissed him and then jumped from bed and pulled on his robe that was on the chair.
She went to the window and pulled back the curtains and squealed.
‘Oh it’s snowed; like proper snowed. God it’s so beautiful. Come and see,’ she said and Marc pulled on sweat pants and a top and stood behind her and wrapped her arms around her.
‘Okay, that’s pretty awesome,’ he said and he kissed her head.
‘Do the boys know yet?’ she asked and then she heard the boys yell.
‘Dad, Dad, it’s snowed.’
‘Better get going,’ he said.
‘Wait, I’ll go to my room and come from there,’ she said picking up her bag.
‘Why?’ Marc frowned.
‘Because they don’t know I’m in here with you,’ she said. ‘We can’t force us upon them. They need time to adjust.’
Marc snorted. ‘Put on some clothes. I want to show you something downstairs.’
Christa showered quickly, dressed in the nice pants and a pretty lace-pattern woollen jumper and boots. She put on a slick of pink lipstick and walked into the hallway where Marc was waiting.
‘You look amazing,’ he said. ‘Black suits you, so does pink.’
She touched his face. ‘I could wear a potato sack and you would say that it was made for me.’
He took her by the hand and led her down the stairs.
‘The boys are dressed and outside in the snow,’ he said. ‘They’re making a snowman.’
‘Oh that’s so cute,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and help them.’
‘Yes, but before we join them, I want to show you something.’
They walked past the tree and down the hallway and into the kitchen and there on the table stood the gingerbread house.
It was a very wonky version of Pudding Hall, complete with garden at the back, on green icing and with paths and the maze, made from cardboard.
‘There’s Bill and Meredith,’ she said. ‘And some deer,’ she added. ‘The monkeys are in the trees.’ She laughed.
‘Look in the maze,’ Marc said and she moved closer to look over the top. There in middle were two cardboard figures facing each other, propped upright with sticky tape. A woman with short black hair and an apron on, holding a wooden spoon. And a man with sandy hair and a computer in his hand.
‘That’s us,’ Marc said.
‘Am I about to whack you with my spoon?’ she joked.
‘I don’t know that I’m not boring you to death, talking you through my next deal,’ he said. ‘I don’t always take my laptop to the maze but clearly I did this day.’
Marc gently lifted the figures from the maze.
‘Oh don’t break them,’ said Christa, looking out in case the boys where coming.
‘Look,’ said Marc and he showed her the faces of the figures. There were words written on Marc’s face in tiny writing, coming from his mouth.
‘I love you.’
She bit her lip. ‘Oh my God, that’s so cute. We clearly did a terrible job at hiding our feelings.’
She held the little Christa in her hands. She had ‘Are you hungry?’ written on her face and she burst into laughter and tears.
‘This is perfect, truly.’
Marc put the figures back into the maze and pulled her to him.
‘I love you,’ he said.
‘Are you hungry?’ she asked.
‘Always.’