Coming Home For Christmas: Warm, humorous and completely irresistible!. Julia Williams

       Chapter Five

      Marianne heard the key in the lock and Gabriel’s voice saying with false cheer, ‘Here we are, home at last!’

      She got up from the sofa, where she’d been reading to the twins, to greet Gabriel, Eve and Steven, who had insisted on going to the hospital to pick his mum up. The twins followed Marianne curiously, and clung to her legs, looking at this strange woman whom they’d last seen some months ago.

      ‘Eve, how lovely to see you,’ Marianne said with forced enthusiasm, giving Eve what she hoped felt like a welcoming hug. The hallway seemed narrow and constricted. Suddenly there were too many people in it, and Marianne had a pang of trepidation about what they were doing. Was this really the right environment for Eve? But then again what was the alternative? She clearly had nowhere to go, and it wasn’t her fault she was ill. Giving Eve somewhere safe to come was the right thing to do, however hard it was going to be. Marianne and Gabriel had discussed it at length, and agreed they’d have to make the best of it. But it was a little odd having your husband’s ex to stay in the house they’d once shared.

      Eve clearly felt the same.

      ‘This is weird,’ she said, looking quite nervy. Weight had never been an issue for Eve, but Marianne was shocked at how thin she had got.

      ‘I hope it’s not too weird,’ said Marianne, giving her as welcoming smile as possible and trying not to feel too concerned about the size of the enormous suitcase Eve had brought with her. Marianne’s heart sank. Just how long was Eve planning to stay? Gabriel shot a grimaced look at her, and she felt slightly reassured. ‘Come on, why don’t you come and sit in the kitchen and have a cup of tea.’

      But as they walked into the kitchen, Dolly, who was one of the nosiest lambs they’d ever fostered, chose that moment to come out of her basket and investigate who was there. She came straight up to Eve and nibbled at her leg. Eve promptly screamed and threw her arms in the air, hitting Gabe so hard on the nose it started to bleed. While Marianne went to grab a tissue, Dolly took advantage of the confusion to bolt out of the door.

      ‘Dolly, no!’ shouted Marianne, but it was too late, the lamb was pelting round the hall causing chaos. In the space of seconds she had knocked over a couple of vases, and chewed some carpet. She took a quizzical look around her, and decided upstairs looked like a fun place to be.

      ‘Steven stop her!’ shouted Marianne, as she shoved some tissue at Gabe who was standing with his head back pinching his nose, while Eve continued to scream like a banshee.

      ‘Dolly, stop!’ yelled Steven as he went tearing after her, followed by the twins in hot pursuit, deciding it would be really fun to join in the chase. It took ten minutes, a lot of thumping and shouting from upstairs, but eventually Steven came back into the kitchen triumphantly holding a wriggling Dolly in his arms.