The Christmas Sisters

Basking in the glow of the perfect imaginary life she’d created for herself, Beth pushed open the kitchen door. She gave an anguished scream, stopped without warning, and Jason slammed into her.

“Sorry! What the—” He saw what had made her stop.

It was like a scene from a horror movie.

“Is that...blood?” Beth was shaking so badly she almost collapsed on the spot. Panic weakened her limbs. There had been an accident. A bad accident. “Ruby? Where’s Ruby?” Only later would she reflect that she’d called only her younger daughter’s name, as if knowing instinctively that she was the only one likely to be connected to this carnage. “Is she injured? Dead?” There was no sign of the children, and both her sisters were on their hands and knees scrubbing at the wall. “What happened? Did you take her to the hospital? Is she alive?”

“Will you calm down?” Posy blew her hair out of her eyes. “If this whole PR thing doesn’t work out, you might want to consider a career as an actress. Not Shakespeare. One of those cheap horror movies where the girls walk into dark buildings going Is anyone there? and scream all the time. No one is in the hospital. And it’s not blood. It’s lipstick, although I admit it’s a good color match. I think they should rename it Vampire, not Everyday Red. And, by the way, I can confirm the accuracy of their claim that no kiss is going to shift this lipstick. We’ve tried soap and water and pretty soon we’re moving on to neat bleach. Nothing is budging it from the paintwork.”

Beth’s legs were so shaky she leaned against the wall for support.

She’d been sure it was blood.

Jason stepped past Beth and scanned the extent of the damage. “Shit.”

Ruby bounded into the kitchen at that precise moment and gasped with delight. “Daddy said shit.”

Why was it that children never listened when you wanted them to, but listened perfectly well when it was something you’d rather they didn’t hear? “Daddy said shut,” Beth said. “Shut. He wanted me to shut the door. It’s cold out there.”

Ruby looked unconvinced. “But—”

“Go and find your sister, Ruby. Daddy will be there in a minute. We’ll talk about this later.” She waited until Ruby had slunk away, then turned back to the room.

Jason was staring at the wall with something close to wonder. “Ruby did that? She has talent. It’s magnificent. It reminds me of an early Picasso—”

“Jason!” Beth felt a rush of exasperation. “The door, before we all freeze.”

He roused himself. “Sure. Can I put myself on the other side of it?”

“No. You can follow Ruby and don’t take your eyes off her. I’ll be along in a minute.”

Bonnie padded into the room and Beth gave another gasp as she saw the red streaks on the dog’s golden fur. “She—Oh no—”

“Yup.” Posy glanced at the dog. “Bonnie is modeling Sexy Scarlet. And it looks good on her, don’t you think? I am going to have to lock her up or we’ll have puppies by New Year.” She kissed Bonnie and Jason slid quietly from the room.

All Beth’s frustration and anxiety exploded. “How could you let this happen? You

were supposed to be watching them. When I think what could have happened...” She could barely breathe. “Ruby could have wandered into the mountains and got lost! She could have been buried in a snowdrift and frozen to death. She could have run into the lane and been hit by a car. Cut herself with a knife in the kitchen...”

“I’m sorry. I had to make an urgent call.” Hannah looked stricken, while Posy dipped the cloth into the sudsy water and rubbed at the wall.

“It couldn’t have waited? It was an hour—that’s all! One hour.” Beth forgot that only ten minutes earlier she’d been telling Jason she wouldn’t not have her sisters for anything in the world. Now she could cheerfully have throttled both of them. “Work should not come before family.”

“Yeah?” Posy threw her a cloth. “Says the work-obsessed woman who left the table at least eight times last night to take calls from her psycho boss. Wipe the self-righteous look off your face, Bethany Alice McBride, and start cleaning. Or you can wash my dog. Whichever you prefer, but do something. Don’t just stand there lecturing us.”

Beth stood in shocked silence. When had she last heard Posy stand up for Hannah? She couldn’t remember. And while it was true that she was juggling family and her new role, she wasn’t obsessed. And how could they be so unsympathetic when they were the ones to blame? “You shouldn’t have left them.”

“You shouldn’t have left your makeup all over the table,” Posy snapped. “If you’d cleared up as I asked you to, this wouldn’t have happened, so at least admit you share the blame.”

Beth didn’t want to share the blame. “They could have had an accident.”

“But they didn’t, so we’re all good.” Posy exchanged looks with Hannah. “I can’t budge the red. You?”

“No. I’m doing better with the plum color. It isn’t quite as resistant.”

“What is in this stuff?” Posy scowled at Beth. “You should check the ingredients, because if this is what it does to the wall, you’re not putting any more of it on my face.”

Hannah examined the stubborn streak. “We should search the internet for solutions. Maybe lemon juice or something?”