Read A Proper Family Christmas for Free Online

nanny. …It’s the nanny, Tony. …No, the new one!”
    â€œCan I take a message?” asked Frances.
    â€œOh it’s not in the least important,” the friendly voice went on. “We only rang to wish them Happy Christmas, but I’ll ring again on the day. They’re having the old man over, aren’t they?”
    â€œActually there’s been a change of plan.” Frances explained about the damp proof course.
    â€œOh, how dreadful for them! So you’re all going over to Haseley for Christmas?”
    This too was passed on to Tony.
    â€œAre they, by God?” she heard him say.
    There was some whispered conversation, questions, exclamations.
    â€œWe’ll catch them there then. Thank you, darling, you’ve been most helpful.”
    â€œEr… Who shall I say rang?” asked Frances quickly before the mysterious caller could vanish into the ether for ever.
    â€œIt’s Julia, of course.”
    â€œOf course,” murmured Frances as she put the receiver down. “Who the hell is Julia?”
    â€œShe’s my Auntie,” the reply came unexpectedly. Tobias was standing by the door. “She wears big dresses and she smells nice, and for my birthday she gave me a toy theatre, only I have to wait for it till I’m bigger.”
    â€œI see,” Frances digested this. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
    â€œShe’s Posy’s Mummy,” Tobias continued to expound his family history, moving to settle down beside her.
    â€œRight. And what about a hot drink before you go back to sleep?”
    â€œI’m not going back. I’m waiting here for Mummy to come home.”
    â€œI don’t think so. Let’s see what we can find in the kitchen.”
    Tobias eyed her for a moment, then took her outstretched hand. “Posy’s got a nanny,” he informed her. “That’s why I had to.”
    Hilary packed for Haseley with mixed feelings. Having been so firm about spending Christmas on her own in London, she felt rather as if she was betraying something by not seeing the thing through. On the other hand it would have been idiotic to let William down for some silly principle. He needed her, and she tried not to feel guilty at her relief at being offered such a perfect excuse not to test herself.
    â€œYou’re quite mad,” she thought, as she packed her thickest jerseys, long-johns and a hairy old skirt she hadn’t worn for years. “It’ll be freezing down there, and you could have been warm and comfortable at home.”
    She was just wondering whether she ought to be trying to find Christmas presents for the Shirburns, when the phone rang. Hilary recognised her brother-in-law’s voice, and groaned inwardly.
    â€œI hear everyone’s going to Haseley House for Christmas.”
    Leo always spoke with a plaintive, upward inflection that seemed to imply a second half to his sentences, an unspoken sub-text.
    â€œOh, not everyone , I don’t think..” …Who had told him? Certainly not William, who couldn’t stand Leo. And Margery had no time for her younger son.
    â€œThey are, you know. I’ve just been talking to Julia. Stephen and Ratso are driving down tomorrow - she had it from their nanny, and she and Tony are bringing Posy and her nanny…”
    â€œOh no! Are you sure? William didn’t mention it.” Why had Julia taken it into her head to join them for Christmas, and what on earth had possessed her to let Leo know? Didn’t she realise that if he thought he was missing out on some mass family gathering, they’d be lumbered with him at Haseley too?
    â€œI suppose, if everyone’s going, I’d better do my family duty.”
    â€œOh no…” Her brain raced for the right words. She wondered if other people had this feeling of being put on their guard whenever they were talking to Leo, and if so, whether he noticed. “Your mother