Underneath the Christmas Tree
: Chapter 25

Maya’s hunch was right. By the time we rejoined the party, there were a circle of guests standing where we’d all been dancing and Noah and Michael were in the centre of it. Noah was saying something, but I couldn’t work out what because of the buzzing in my ears which had started when Ned had told me he’d raised the money to buy me out. However, reading the expressions on the faces of those closest to the two men, I guessed it was something romantic and when Noah dropped down on one knee, I knew exactly which four words he was going to utter next.

Tears sprang to Michael’s eyes and his hands flew to his face in surprise, but I knew he had said yes. He pulled Noah to his feet and the pair hugged as the circle around them erupted into cheers and Abbie, wheeled herself forward to let off a confetti cannon, showering the happy couple in a cloud of rainbow coloured paper. Clearly, she’d known what Noah had in mind for the evening and had come prepared.

As everyone began to sing a rousing rendition of ‘For They Are Jolly Good Fellows’, my gaze flicked to where Ned was standing. He was with Maya who was singing and clapping along, but he looked as absent as I felt and I wished I knew what he was thinking. It was utter torture, but I couldn’t seem to stop my head from imagining the same scene playing out next year, only with him and Maya at the centre of the circle and a very beautiful solitaire diamond sparkling in a turquoise box.

I tried to push my way out of the crowd, but couldn’t and then Noah and Michael were doing the rounds, hugging and kissing everyone with the happiest smiles lighting up both their faces and I knew I was going to have to endure it a little longer. If I left now, my absence would be noted and that was the last thing I wanted.

‘Congratulations!’ I beamed. ‘I’m so happy for you both.’

‘I can’t believe it,’ said Michael, who hugged me as if he had known me forever. ‘I had no idea.’

‘I blame my brother,’ said Noah, trying and failing to sound as if this was an everyday occurrence. ‘What with all his talk of romance and marriage. It must have been catching!’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘I’m truly thrilled for you. This is certainly one Christmas party that no one’s going to forget in a hurry.’

I knew certain details were going to be imprinted on my memory forever.

‘Are you suggesting the party I had planned needed something extra, Liza?’ Maya pretended to pout, as she appeared at my side with a tray of champagne.

‘No,’ I told her, unable to meet her eye. ‘Of course not. It was already amazing Maya.’

‘I know,’ she giggled, ‘I’m only teasing. I wonder who’ll be next,’ she then beamed, with a blatant look in Ned’s direction.

I couldn’t bring myself to answer and looked away as her gaze swung back to me.

‘Where did you replace fizz at such short notice?’ Michael asked, thankfully deflecting her train of thought.

‘Yes,’ said Noah, handing me a glass, before passing another to Michael and picking up one for himself. ‘I didn’t arrange this.’

‘I did,’ said Abbie, who came to join us. ‘I just knew Michael was going to say yes, so I couldn’t resist making sure we had something other than mulled cider to toast you both with. Not that the cider isn’t delicious,’ she added, winking at Maya who was pouting again.

‘You,’ said Noah, stooping to kiss Abbie’s flushed face, ‘are a total sweetheart.’

‘I know,’ she said, looking a little misty eyed. ‘It’s why you love me. Although, apparently, you love Michael more.’

‘Afraid I do,’ said Noah, reaching for Michael’s hand and kissing the back of it. ‘I would have asked you instead Abbie, but with you wanting all those babies, I thought I’d better stick to my man here. He doesn’t want offspring either. Do you?’

‘No,’ laughed Michael. ‘Don’t panic, Noah. I’m not going to change my mind about that.’

‘In that case,’ said Abbie, raising her glass, ‘cheers to you both.’

‘Cheers!’ Maya and I joined in, but I didn’t drain my flute as the others did. I needed a clear head and no more alcohol flowing through my system for what I had in mind to do next.

It didn’t take long for everyone to start dancing again and as they were all so absorbed in having a good time, I was finally able to slip out unnoticed. My path across the yard back to the lodge caused the floodlights to come on, but I didn’t look back until I reached the veranda. Thankfully, no one had followed me out.

‘Come on then,’ I said, letting Bandit out of his sanctuary in the utility room. Ned would have heard his barking between songs, and the dog wouldn’t stop now he knew someone was in the house. ‘You can come upstairs with me, but you have to be quiet and promise not to tell anyone.’

The daft dog cocked his head to one side and I bent to give him a hug, instantly dissolving into tears the moment my fingers buried into his thick warm coat.

‘I’m going to miss you pooch,’ I told him, once I was all cried out and having wasted precious minutes. Not that I expected the party to end anytime soon, but I had things to do.

It was well past midnight by the time I heard Ned come in and, assuming my ears weren’t playing tricks on me, he had Maya with him. I strained to listen and knew there were definitely two voices talking in the room below and one of them was female. I rolled over in the bed and pulled the duvet right over my head as Bandit scrambled to get out.

‘Traitor,’ I muttered.

A couple of minutes later, I heard light footfall on the stairs.

‘Liza,’ I then heard Ned whisper, ‘are you awake?’

I ignored him and he quietly closed the door. I gave it a few seconds, then rolled on to my back and looked at the clock. How long should I give them, I wondered, before I made my move? I didn’t have to wait long. The noise of the shower was the perfect cover and I snuck out of bed, arranging the pillows to look like I was still in it, and then went downstairs.

I’d had the foresight to stash everything I’d packed out of sight behind the sofa. Obviously, I couldn’t take everything I wanted with me, but hoped David would send the rest on to my flat after Christmas. I lingered for a moment to look at the tree, remembering the day Ned and I decorated it, along with all the other things we had done together, mostly because he’d gone to the trouble of arranging them and then, with a heart filled with longing and regret, not only for the man I was leaving behind, but also for what might have been at Wynter’s Trees, I picked up my bags and walked out of the lodge for the very last time.

The boot catch on my car had a habit of sticking so, rather than risk setting off Bandit, who was upstairs with Maya and Ned, I shoved everything on to the back seat. I knew getting out of the gate was going to be tricky so rushed to open it before I started the car. That way I could shoot off and leave it open. I would apologise for the security breach when I messaged and asked David to send the rest of my things on.

Everything went like clockwork until I put the key in the ignition and turned it. The car made a sort of grinding noise, but didn’t start. I turned the key back, counted to five and tried again. Although temperamental, it generally got there in the end. I just had to be patient and hold my nerve.

‘Third time’s a charm,’ I whispered, crossing the fingers on my left hand and squeezing my eyes shut.

I turned the key with conviction and this time the engine spluttered into life. I opened my eyes, ready to put it in first and release the handbrake, but then caught sight of the one person in the world I simply couldn’t face.

Ned charged out of the lodge door, soaking wet and wrapped in yet another inadequate towel. It was my arrival, all over again, only this time, I was leaving. I tore my eyes away and went to move forward, but he had let Bandit out with him and the mad dog leapt about the wheels, barking his head off. I didn’t dare move forward or back for fear of running him over.

‘Wait!’ Ned shouted, rushing over to the car. With Bandit on the case, he’d halted just long enough to pull on his boots which sat, like Dad’s always had, by the lodge door. ‘Liza, wait!’

‘I can’t!’ I shouted back, giving a blast on the horn. ‘Get hold of Bandit, will you? I need to go.’

‘No,’ said Ned, placing his hands on the bonnet. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

I feared for the security of his towel, but no more than I feared for my heart. This was exactly the sort of scene I had been hoping to avoid, not that I had really been expecting him to go to such lengths to stop me from leaving.

Given the look he had given me back in the office when I told him I’d changed my mind about everything I wouldn’t have been all that surprised if he’d come out to wave me off and locked the gate behind me. Good riddance and all that.

But then, did I really think he’d react like that? If that had formed part of my thought process, then why had I engaged in such an elaborate cloak and dagger moonlight flit?

‘Please Ned,’ I said, opening the window a little so I didn’t have to shout. ‘Just let me go. Go back inside to Maya and forget I ever came back.’

He frowned at me through the windscreen.

‘Maya’s not here,’ he said, shaking his head.

‘I heard her,’ I told him. ‘I heard the pair of you come back earlier.’

‘She did walk back over with me,’ he said, starting to shiver, ‘because we needed to properly finish a conversation, we’d started days ago.’

Could that mean that there had been two proposals rather than one? I really hoped not. The thought made me feel sick.

‘But she went ages ago,’ Ned carried on.

‘Even so,’ I said, feeling marginally mollified, but still a bit bilious, ‘I still have to go. Just go back inside Ned. You’re freezing and I don’t know how long my car will keep going if I don’t move it.’

He didn’t budge and I wondered if his hands were actually frozen to the bonnet. It was certainly cold enough for that to happen.

‘I’ll move if you promise you’ll come back in.’

I shook my head.

‘Please, Liza,’ he pleaded, his teeth chattering.

‘What’s the point?’ I shouted over the noise of the engine as I revved it a little and my voice cracked. ‘What’s the point in me staying now?’

‘The point is,’ he shot back, his voice louder as he stared intently at me.

‘What?’ I demanded, revving the car again.

Perhaps the heat from the engine might warm him a little. If he persisted in standing there much longer, he was going to catch a chill and then I’d be held responsible for ruining his health on top of everything else.

‘The point is,’ he said, his eyes never leaving my face, ‘I need you.’

‘Why?’ I shrugged.

Why would he need me? Our relationship, professional or otherwise, was over, wasn’t it? His reaction to hearing that I’d changed my mind and wanted to build a life at Wynter’s Trees had certainly made me think it was.

‘Because I love you.’

My foot slipped off the accelerator and the engine spluttered and died. Thankfully I hadn’t put the car in gear or released the handbrake.

‘I’m in love with you, Liza Wynter,’ he confidently declared, smiling in spite of the bone-chilling cold, ‘and I have been from the very first moment I set eyes on you.’

Wasn’t that the line I’d had stuck in my head for the last few weeks?

‘Did you hear what I said?’ he shivered.

I felt rooted to the spot, but not because of the cold. The heat coursing through me and blazing a trail to my face was searing enough to thaw even the deepest frost. I was rigid with shock. I did manage to open and close my mouth a couple of times, but no sound came out.

‘Are you going to say anything?’ Ned asked, finally letting go of the bonnet and tucking the towel tighter around his waist.

I shook my head, not knowing what to say. But then the image of him dancing with Maya popped into my head.

‘But what about Maya?’ I spluttered. ‘You’re in love with her, aren’t you?’

Ned walked round to the driver’s side door and pulled it open.

‘No,’ he said, looking down at me. ‘I’m not in love with Maya. I never have been and she’s fine. A little bemused perhaps, but totally fine.’

‘I don’t understand.’

How could she be fine? She was head over heels for him, wasn’t she?

‘She knows everything,’ Ned softly said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’d been working my way up to telling her that I’d fallen in love with you for days,’ he chuckled, ‘but in the end, she beat me to the punch.’

‘She did what?’

Ned’s smile widened and my heart kicked in response.

‘She sat me down and told me that she’d worked out how I felt about you, and having talked to you the day you swapped the trees and watched you since, she was pretty sure you felt the same way about me, too.’

I wasn’t quite ready to admit the depth of my feelings for him just yet, but could feel my cheeks were still brightly blazing, which no doubt gave me away anyway.

‘Was she upset?’ I asked. ‘Was she angry?’

I knew how much Maya liked Ned and hoped she didn’t blame me for what had happened. It had never been my intention to steal her man. The kisses Ned and I had shared had never been planned. They were completely spontaneous and although arousing and unforgettable, guilt inducing too.

‘Not at all,’ Ned said, sounding as bewildered by the turn of events as I felt. ‘She told me that the heart wants what the heart wants and you can’t force it to want something different.’

I didn’t think I could have been so magnanimous about it. She really was an incredible woman. She’d gone to a lot of effort with all that mistletoe during the last few weeks and apparently, with no success.

‘She’s amazing,’ I whispered.

Ned grinned. ‘She also said she knew something was amiss, because I was impervious to her charms,’ he further added. ‘Contrary to popular belief, our kisses under the mistletoe have been few and far between and definitely one-sided.’

I felt my face grow even warmer.

‘But you looked like the perfect couple,’ I pointed out. ‘If you really weren’t interested in having a relationship with her, then why did you go along with it?’

Ned ran a hand through his wet hair.

‘Because I couldn’t let myself believe that I’d fallen in love with you, Liza.’ He seriously said and I knew there was no deception behind his words. ‘I did everything I could to convince myself that you weren’t the one for me. You were all set to leave and with no intention of ever coming back. But tonight…’

‘Tonight,’ I interrupted. ‘I told you I’d changed my mind and you were furious.’

‘I was frustrated,’ he amended. ‘Not furious. After the party, I told Maya what you’d said and she told me I had to confess all tomorrow. I’d already made up my mind to do that and I’d got it all straight in my head. I was going to apologise and declare my feelings, but then,’ he added, with a nod to the car, ‘you pulled this stunt and I knew I couldn’t wait until tomorrow because you’d be gone.’

He shivered again. So focused on listening to him, I’d forgotten we were outside and that he was still soaked from the shower.

‘So, the kisses we’ve shared have really meant something to you?’ I asked, wanting to be absolutely sure before I gave my heart free rein to fall completely in love.

‘Of course, they have,’ he said. ‘You’re beautiful, Liza, all the more stunning because you don’t know it. Why do you think I haven’t been able to resist kissing you?’

‘Because you were drunk.’ I teasingly reminded him.

‘That was only the first time,’ he blushed. ‘The beer made me brave. I’d wanted to press my lips to yours from the very moment you turned up here and set the alarm off. You set an alarm off in my head and my heart that night too, and I’ve been trying to keep a lid on it ever since, because I knew letting it ring out wouldn’t end well.’

‘Well,’ I said, still feeling cautious, ‘you were right about that, weren’t you? Things haven’t turned out well. You’ve just told me you love me, but I’m still about to leave and you’re up to your ears in debt.’

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ he huskily said, holding out his hand. ‘And I have every intention of cancelling that loan first thing Monday morning.’

I looked at his outstretched hand, swallowed away the lump in my throat and, a few seconds later, reached out. Our fingers, beautifully entwined, felt like the perfect fit.

‘If it is still what you want,’ he said, gently drawing me out of the car, ‘you can stay here forever and we can run Wynter’s Trees between us, both as partners in business and in life.’

My eyes searched his face.

‘No one else, besides Dad, knows you were planning to leave,’ he reminded me. ‘I know you haven’t told anyone, and I haven’t, so there’s no muddle to unravel or explain.’

I felt relieved about that because it would make properly settling in so much easier. I was going run my business at Wynter’s Trees and I was still going to see the northern lights, but with Ned by my side. We could go together. From then on, we could do everything together. It would be an adventure.

‘What do you say?’ he asked, gently pulling me to him. ‘Is that what you want, Liza?’

‘Yes,’ I nodded, finally voicing my heart’s desire. ‘That’s exactly what I want.’

With that he swept me up into his arms and carried me back to the lodge and I spent the rest of the night coming up with inventive ways to warm him up again.