The Unexpected Holiday Gift

‘I’m sure,’ he said instead. ‘My heart is fine.’

‘Well, I suppose it will be good for you to have some closure at last,’ his mum said dubiously. ‘But are you sure—’

‘Apparently it’s done,’ his father interrupted. Jacob’s mother looked at James in surprise.

‘Well, I only meant—’

‘And I meant it’s decided. We’re all having Christmas in Scotland.’ Jacob couldn’t quite tell if his father was pleased or disappointed by this news until he smiled, a broad grin that spread slowly across his whole face.

The tension in Jacob’s shoulders relaxed slightly. This was a good idea after all.

‘It’ll be good to see Clara again too,’ James said, casting a meaningful look in Jacob’s direction.

Jacob wasn’t at all sure that Clara planned to hang around long enough to be seen, but the moment his dad spoke the words he knew he’d try to make it so. His dad had always adored Clara; they’d had a strange connection she’d never quite managed with his mum or sister. Suddenly, Clara was just one more thing Jacob wanted to give his father for his perfect Christmas.

Even if it was only temporary. After all, Clara had never stayed past Boxing Day.

CHAPTER SIX

‘HAVE WE GOT the decorations?’ Clara asked, checking the list on her clipboard for the fiftieth time. They’d started their final checks at 6:00 a.m., and now it was almost seven. The early start was a pain, but necessary. Nothing could go wrong with this project.

‘Ours or theirs?’ Merry’s head popped out from deep inside a box emblazoned with courier logos. ‘I mean we have both, but which list are you ticking off right now?’

‘Theirs first.’ Organising two perfect Christmases at once had turned out to be rather more work than Clara had anticipated. What with Jacob’s ever-increasing wish list and Ivy’s last-minute announcement that, actually, she needed to send another letter to Father Christmas because she’d changed her mind about the colour of her bike, the last week had been rather more tense than Clara had hoped for.

Still, it was only two days until Christmas Day and the courier boxes were almost ready to go. Most would be sent to the Highland castle for the Fosters’ Christmas, and one or two would go to the hotel down the hill from the castle where Clara, Merry and Ivy would be spending their Christmas.

Ivy was still snoozing at home with her usual childminder, who’d come over super early as a favour. Clara had them all booked on the mid-morning train, first class, and planned to be at the hotel in time for tea.

She had an hour-by-hour plan for the next seventy two hours, much to Merry’s amusement. But there was plenty of setting up still to be done, and Clara wasn’t taking a single chance with the project. Everything had to be sorted, seamless and—most important—all in place before Jacob and his family arrived on Christmas Eve. That way she could be back at the hotel with Ivy and Merry in time for mince pies and mulled wine by the fire, and she wouldn’t have to see her ex-in-laws at all. She couldn’t run the risk of any of them meeting Ivy before Clara wanted them to.

It was all going to be perfect, as long as they stuck to the plan.

The plan also had an extra secret page that Merry would never see. A page planning exactly how and where to tell Jacob about Ivy. At the moment, she was opting for January. She’d set up a meeting with him early in the New Year, ostensibly to review the Perfect Christmas Project and discuss terms for the divorce. There was no sense in doing it sooner—she was pretty sure that discovering he was a father would not give Jacob his ideal Christmas. And by January surely she’d know for sure how best to do it.

Merry taped closed the box of decorations and added it to the stack waiting for the courier. ‘Okay. What’s next?’

‘Presents.’ It might have taken five hours, but Clara was pretty sure they’d found just the right gifts for Jacob’s family. Of course, if they had any sense they’d know instantly that Jacob hadn’t chosen them by himself. But then, Clara had found in the past with clients that they believed what they wanted to believe. So the chances were that James, Sheila and Heather would all open their gifts on Christmas morning and gush at how wonderful they were to Jacob.

Quite honestly, as long as Clara wasn’t there to see it, she didn’t care if the whole family spontaneously began believing in Santa again when they opened them.

‘Right. I’ve got all the gifts from Jacob to his family here, wrapped and labelled. I’ve got the presents that he dropped round from his mum and dad to ship up there too. And I’ve got Ivy’s bike, plus her stocking, and a suspiciously shiny gold parcel with no tag on it...’ Merry looked at Clara expectantly, gold parcel in hand. She gave it a little shake and listened carefully.

Clara rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, that’s yours. And no, you can’t open it until Christmas Day.’

‘Spoilsport.’ Merry pouted.

‘What about our suitcases?’ Clara asked as Merry put the gold parcel back in the courier box.

‘All packed and ready to go too.’ Merry gave her a patient smile. ‘Honestly, Clara, I know you want everything to be just perfect, but we’re on top of it. In fact we’ve gone one better than Santa already.’

Clara frowned. ‘One better than Santa?’

‘We’ve already made our list and checked it at least three times! We’re ready. It’s time to start looking forward to Christmas instead of fretting about it.’

Clara didn’t think she was going to be looking forward to anything until at least January the first—especially with the Harrisons’ Charity Gala still to pull off when they got back from Scotland. She’d been working double time after Ivy was in bed all week to try and get everything organised, and to make sure she could still take Boxing Day off to spend with her girl.

‘I just don’t want anything to go wrong. We just need to stick to the plan...’

As she said the words, the door from the street opened and she felt her heart drop. There, standing in the doorway in his coat and bright red wool scarf, was the one person guaranteed to make her life more difficult.

‘Jacob,’ she said, trying to muster up a smile. It would all be so much easier if the very sight of him didn’t send her mind spiralling into thoughts of what might have been, all over again. ‘You’re up bright and early. What can we do for you? We’re pretty much ready to go here, so if you’ve got anything you need to add to the courier boxes, speak now.’

‘No, I think you’re right.’ He flashed her a smile but his eyes were still serious. ‘We’re all ready to go.’

‘Great!’ Merry clapped her hands together. ‘In that case, I’ll get these picked up and we can go and catch our train!?

? Clara allowed herself just a smidgen of hope. Maybe her plan could stay intact after all.

‘Actually, I came here to suggest some alternative arrangements,’ Jacob said.

No. No alternative arrangements. No deviating from the plan.

Clara swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry and uncomfortable. ‘Alternative arrangements?’

‘Yes. It seems silly for you to go by train when I’m driving up myself. We’d get up there with much more time to spare. Why don’t you come with me?’

Clara glanced across at Merry, wondering how exactly to explain without words that driving to Scotland with her ex-husband sounded like the worst idea anyone had ever had in the history of the world. From the wideness of Merry’s eyes, she suspected her friend already knew that.

And she didn’t even know about Ivy being Jacob’s daughter.

Oh, this was just a nightmare.

* * *

Jacob watched as Clara and Merry appeared to undertake some sort of lengthy conversation without actually saying anything. He wished he was adept at translating the facial expressions and eye movements they employed but, as it was, he couldn’t follow at all.

Still, he could probably guess the gist of it. Clara would be begging her friend to help her get out of driving to Scotland with him, and Merry would be asking how, exactly, she wanted her to do that.

He was still the client, after all. And the client was always satisfied when it came to Perfect London.

The idea of asking Clara to drive up with him hadn’t occurred to him until he was halfway home from his parents’ house the day before. Once it had, it had all seemed astonishingly simple.

His father wanted Clara there for Christmas. And, if he was honest, so did Jacob. This was a last-chance family Christmas and, whether she liked it or not, Clara was still family. She was still his wife.

But not for much longer. He was ready to let her go. But if keeping her by his side one last time made his dad feel like all was right with the world, then Jacob would make it happen.