Please don’t recognise him, please don’t recognise him, I repeated over and over. The way things were going, that would be one problem too many.
“Fin,” he replied. He smiled, holding out a hand to formally introduce himself but much to my embarrassment Vee glared in response. Fin let his hand drop, before looking to Mitch, who simply shrugged his shoulders, his face full of sympathy.
“Fin’s a guest,” I said. “He’s staying with me for a while.”
“Since when?” Vee asked.
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
I didn’t respond.
“And your holiday?” Vee asked. “What happened to that?”
I felt like a naughty schoolgirl in trouble with the headmistress. “It got cancelled. Without my knowledge.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She turned to Fin again, with a look of disdain. “Because of you, I suppose. Who are you anyway? And what are you doing here?”
“Hey, Vee. Come on,” I said. Pregnant or not, my sister was going too far and I needed to pull her into line. “I don’t know what’s got into you, but none of this is his fault.” I took a deep breath, resigned to telling the truth. “I didn’t mention my holiday being cancelled because there was no need to. I’m still not going to Mum and Dad’s. I’ve decided to have a staycation instead.”
Vee frowned. “A what?”
Fin stepped forward. “It’s when instead of–”
Vee flashed him a look, enough to silence his explanation. “I need to sit down,” she suddenly said.
“I’ll go and clean that glass up, shall I?” Fin asked.
“Please,” I replied, grateful.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Mitch said, following him over.
With the two of them out of the way, I joined Vee at the table.
“How could you do this to me?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Leave me and Mitch to go to Mum and Dad’s for Christmas without you there for support?” She put her hand on her belly.
“What do you mean, for support?”
“We’ll need you as a distraction. You do know Mum’s taken to calling the baby JC? For Jesus Christ?”
I looked over to my brother-in-law for confirmation. After all, the mood Vee was in, she could easily have made that up. The man nodded, while I did my best not to smile at the news. “I didn’t know that, no.”
“Well she blooming well has. Come on, Holly, you have to be there. She’ll be forcing me to eat laxatives or do star jumps. Mum will do anything to have a Christmas baby. I need you to divert the woman’s attention. And if that doesn’t work, to stop me from killing her.”
“I think you’re exaggerating there,” I said. I knew Mum could be a bit off the wall and more than a tad Christmas obsessive, but no way would she try to induce her unborn grandchild just so she could have her own little baby Jesus.
Vee glared at me again. “It’s just like you to stick up for her.”
“Since when?” As far as I was concerned, Vee seemed to be going into the realms of fantasy.
I looked over at Fin and my brother-in-law. Fin appeared uncomfortable, although in his shoes I wouldn’t know where to put myself either. Mitch, on the other hand, seemed at a loss. The situation we’d all found ourselves in clearly hadn’t been covered in his pregnancy books. Catching their attention, I nodded to the door, my way of suggesting they might want to disappear for a while. Neither of them seemed to understand what I was saying, forcing me to jolt my head even harder. I rolled my eyes at their apparent stupidity. “Fin, why don’t you and Mitch hang some of these decorations?” I said, smiling. “You could even show Mitch the Christmas tree while you’re at it.”
At last, the penny seemed to drop.
