The Christmas Sisters

“What was he doing there?”

“This is where he lives. You were the one in the wrong place. He was being friendly.” Posy wrapped her arms round the pony’s neck and gave him a reassuring hug. “Do you need therapy? Poor Socks.”

“Poor Socks? What about me?” Hannah could barely talk through her chattering teeth. She didn’t dare look at the state of her coat. And then she remembered Angie and felt a flutter of panic. She didn’t want her team to see anything other than her most professional self, but this time her camouflage had well and truly disappeared. “I don’t know what happened to my phone. I was in the middle of a conversation.”

Posy glanced around. “I see it.” She jerked her head. “Over there. That gives a whole new meaning to talking a load of horseshi—”

“Do not say it!” Hannah picked her way across uneven, frozen ground and retrieved her phone, which, by some improvement in her luck, was still working. Angie, however, was long gone and Hannah had no way of knowing what she’d heard. She pushed it into her pocket and noticed her sister’s shoulders were shaking. “Could you at least try not to laugh?”

“I’m laughing with relief. I was worried you’d hurt yourself. Oh, Hannah, Hannah—” Posy doubled over, almost choking, and Hannah felt a rush of exasperation and also envy that her sister could find the amusing side to almost any situation. She wanted to steal some of that lightness and wrap it around her serious self.

“I’m glad I provided entertainment.” She knew she was being stiff, but she couldn’t help it. “Please don’t worry that my call was important and that my career might well be over.”

“I won’t.” Posy wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Just kidding. Don’t the people you work with have a sense of humor?”

“I have a serious job. I’d rather people didn’t laugh at me.” Especially at the one thing in her life she considered herself to be good at. “Do you think we can go back to the house now?”

“Yes, but I should warn you that you’re going to be scrubbing red streaks off the kitchen wall.”

“Excuse me?”

“Beth left all that easy-to-use makeup lying over the kitchen table, despite my constant pleas for her to clear it up. You left Ruby alone. Those two actions have collided with cataclysmic consequences. What did Beth call that color? Everyday Red? It’s not looking so hot on the wall, I can tell you, but I can confirm that Ruby did find it incredibly easy to use.”

Hannah felt a rush of horror. “I only left them for five minutes.” She stumbled back across the frozen field with her sister, anxious about the children. “And I checked on them. They were both safe and comfortable. Five minutes.”

“Five minutes and a lipstick is all it takes for Ruby to decide she is Michelangelo and the kitchen wall is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Calm down. It will be fine.”

How could her sister be so relaxed? “She was watching TV!”

“Ruby isn’t a child who sits for long. She’s always on the move.”

Guilt pricked. It had been years since she’d had responsibility for a child. Still, she should have remembered. “You were the same. I had to watch you constantly.”

Posy frowned. “You watched me?”

“Yes.”

“When? How old was I?”

“Forget it. Forget I said anything.” Why had she? She was feeling things she didn’t usually feel, and saying things she didn’t usually say.

“I don’t want to forget it.” Posy stopped walking. “You babysat me? Where were our parents?”

“Climbing. They usually left us at home.”

“They didn’t get a sitter?”

“Sometimes, and sometimes Suzanne came, but there were usually a few hours when it was just the three of us.”

Posy turned the collar of her jacket up. “So—you are pregnant. Are you—”

“Keeping it? Yes.” She was surprised by how defensive she felt. How fierce. Not for a moment would her child think it wasn’t wanted.

And she knew now it was very much wanted.

“I was going to ask if you were pleased.” Posy’s voice was soft. “Do you want to talk?”

The wind was icy and Hannah’s fingers were frozen. It was hardly the place for a heart-to-heart and yet her sister’s words made her feel warmer than she’d felt in a long time. “No, but I appreciate the offer.”