‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘but that’s rough.’
‘My dad had told me to apply before he was diagnosed with cancer but I didn’t think we could afford the fees. It’s expensive,’ she said. ‘Then he died and he had an insurance policy on him from his work, so I could go.’
‘That would have been hard.’
She nodded. ‘It was. Thank you for saying that.’
Their eyes locked for a moment and then Christa drained her cup of tea.
‘I should head to bed,’ she said, picking up his cup and hers, pushing her chair back and standing.
‘Yes,’ said Marc still sitting at the table. ‘Oh, I forgot, we got you an ornament for the tree. The boys asked me to choose one for you.’ He went to a shopping bag with lights and tinsel poking out of the top, rummaged until he found it and came back to the table and handed it to her, wrapped in tissue.
‘You didn’t have to do that,’ she said.
‘I know, but the boys wanted special ones. Seth chose Santa on a skateboard and Ethan chose a Christmas-themed milkshake decoration. Quite unusual selections but very them.’
Christa smiled as she unwrapped the tissue and turned the ornament over in her hand.
‘A deer family,’ she said, sounding surprised.
‘Yes, I don’t know why, it just appealed to me. I could have chosen something food-related but I guessed you would get sick of silly gimmick gifts like that.’
Christa looked at the ornament carefully. ‘I have seen deer here a few times now. Once a huge stag when I arrived and then I saw a stag and a doe. They were just gorgeous.’ She smiled at him. ‘Thank you, this is really thoughtful and sweet.’
‘It was nice actually. Thinking about what to get you.’
‘Did you choose one for yourself?’ she asked.
‘I got a pudding,’ he said, taking the ornament from the bag.
She took it from him. ‘It’s so sweet. It matches my pyjamas.’
He laughed. ‘I suppose we should hang them on the tree.’
‘My pyjamas? I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ she teased.
Marc laughed louder than he’d planned to and quickly covered his mouth.
‘No, these,’ he said, holding his ornament up in front of her.
‘Yes, let’s,’ she agreed and she followed him to the foyer of the house where the tree sat in all its glory.
*
The scent of the pine was one of the many favourite things about Christmas for Christa and the freshness of this tree and its pretty jewels and lights gave her a flutter of excitement.
‘Gosh, where will I hang my little deer family?’ she said.
‘You can hang it anywhere,’ said Marc, putting his pudding on a side branch and adjusting it so it faced forward.
‘No, I can’t. I have to choose the right placement so the deer family can see the comings and goings and can see outside when the front door opens.’
She heard Marc laugh but not unkindly.
Finding a place in the centre of the tree, she carefully hung the family and moved some tinsel away from them, so they had a clear view of the room and beyond.
‘I think that’s just perfect,’ she declared as she stepped back and looked about the area.
