Authors: Julia Williams

A Hope Christmas Love Story (7 page)

BOOK: A Hope Christmas Love Story

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I start crying again. I’m lonely and frightened and cold. What if Mum can’t find me? What then?

My phone rings. It’s Mum.

“Mel, have you any idea which where you might be? Which direction did you drive in?”

Oh god, I wish I knew. I can barely speak for sobbing, “I drove up to the top of the hill to look at the view and then it started snowing and I must have taken a wrong turn …”

I hear Mum instructing someone in the car to go the way I came.

“Any idea where you took the wrong turn?” she asks, but before I can reply I’ve lost the signal.

Now I really start panicking. Mum won’t know which way to go. What if I can’t get hold of her again? I feel sick and scared. What if I get stuck here all night?

I keep frantically ringing her number, but I still can’t get a signal. I’m getting really cold now, and think I have to turn on the heater, battery or not. I don’t want to freeze to death. After what seems like foreverthe signal returns.

“Mel, thank god,” she says when she answers the phone, “I lost the signal. Are there any landmarks you recognised?”

“I don’t know,” I’m feeling hysterical by now, “I skidded and the car’s in a ditch.”

“But you’re not hurt,” Mum says.

“No- oo just cold and frightened.”

“Take a deep breath, and stay calm,” Mum says. “can you remember anything that might help us?”

She is so cool and collected it helps me gather my thoughts a bit. In between sobs, I try and think about the way I came.

“Wait, I think there was a crossroads,” I say.

“I think I know where you mean,” says Mum. “We’ll head up there and try and see if we can find you. Sit tight and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

***

Melanie’s mum is amazing. She’s being so calm and cool about this. I wish I felt that calm, but my heart is hammering inside. From what Cat’s told me, Melanie’s got herself lost in a potentially hazardous situation. The hills round here can suddenly turn treacherous in these conditions. I feel really bad. This is all my fault. At least when she gets off the phone from Melanie, she seems to know where she is.

“Be very very careful,” Cat says to me, “you need to go this way.”

The going is very treacherous so it is nearly half an hour before we reach the road that runs across these hills. I’ve driven over here once in the daytime, but I haven’t got a clue where I am now.

“So you and Mel?” Cat says to me, as I negotiate my way round an ominous looking pot hole.

“She’s not mentioned me?” I say, feeling more hurt than I should. I suspected as much.

“Well to be fair, it doesn’t sound like she really mentioned us,” Cat says, “let’s just say I think she was trying to keep her two lives separate.”

“We’ve been seeing each other for a couple of months,” I say.

“And?” said Cat.

“And I saw your TV programme. I recognised you from one time when you came to pick Melanie up from college. I had no idea you were famous or that Melanie had written a book.”

“Or had a daughter,” Cat says.

“Or that,” I sigh. “I didn’t handle it well.”

“I’m not entirely surprised,” Cat says. “She is silly, she should have told you.”

Cat pauses for a minute then says, “but Mel has had a hard time of it. Her previous boyfriend treated her very badly. Don’t be too tough on her.”

“That’s why I’m here,” I say, “To say sorry, and see if we can’t give it another go.”

Just then we come up to a crossroad, and Cat starts looking a bit anxious.

“This way, I think” she says.

But she’s wrong and I very nearly end up in a ditch. I have to reverse back out of the road, till we take the second fork which proves to be right.

To my relief halfway down the road, half covered in snow, is Melanie’s car. I get out and park the car. Cat hangs back, while Melanie gets out of her car and stands staring at me in disbelief.

“Will?” she says

“Oh Melanie,” I say, “I am so sorry,” and I throw my arms around her and hug her as if I’ll never let her go.

Cat kindly holds back so I can talk to Melanie alone.

“I’m so sorry Will,” she says. “I never meant to lie to you.”

“Why did you?” I ask though I’ve a good idea.

“Because I was lying to everyone,” she says. “I just wanted to be a normal teenager at college. Can you understand that?”

I think about the last year and how tough it’s been at home. Yes, I can really understand it.

“I did want to tell you,” she says, “But then you seemed so anti single mums.”

“What? When?” I said.

“We were in the cafe and you started ranting on about how stupid single mums were. I’d been about to tell you, and then I lost my nerve.”

Oh god. Me and my big mouth.

“I was just mouthing off,” I say. “It’s not single mums, it’s mums like my mine who had kids too young and have never grown up. I know you’re not like that. Your mum has been singing your praises in the car. I’m really sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” says Melanie. “Are we ok?”

“So long as I get to meet your daughter,” I say kissing the end of her nose, “I’ll say we’re more than ok.”

We walk back to Cat who is standing looking relieved that everything has worked out. She gives Melanie a hug, and says, “Don’t you ever do that to me again, do you hear?”

Then she turns to me and smiles and says, “Fancy coming to ours for Christmas?”

Christmas Day

I wake up in a house full of laughter and love. Melanie kindly doesn’t wake me up at six, which is apparently the time Lou Lou gets up, but they both come in excitedly at nine o clock to tell me it’s snowing.

I’m not sure yet how I feel about taking on a two year old. But she’s so sweet, it’s hard not to love her. And now that Mum’s had her baby, I suppose I’d better get used to having little ones around.

My mum asked us for Christmas, and while Izzy wanted to go – she’s a sucker for babies, I’m not quite ready to go there yet. Maybe in time. Besides, I want to get to know Melanie’s family better. Having been kept in the dark for so long I want to know everything about her.

I follow her and Lou Lou downstairs. Cat and Noel, Melanie’s dad, are already in the kitchen, and I can smell turkey already. There are carols on the radio and Noel hands me a glass of mulled wine.

“Happy Christmas, Will,” says Cat and gives me a big hug.My own family has never felt this homely.

We have a lovely leisurely breakfast, opening presents, under the huge Christmas tree, which twinkles away in the conservatory. Cat and Noel have kindly bought me a couple of DVDs I want, and Melanie whispers that she’ll give me her present later. I feel so comfortable and welcomed. This is the best Christmas I can ever remember spending.

“Come on,” says Melanie, “we can’t sit indoors all day, when there are snowmen to make.”

“Yes, come on Will,” says Lou Lou in delight, pointing at the snow.

Pulling on hats, scarves, coats, gloves and boots, we rush out into the snowy garden.

As we make three sets of prints in the grass, I realise that if I want it to, this is the way it’s going to be now. Me, Mel and Lou Lou between us. It’s a daunting thought, but Lou Lou is so sweet, and I know Mel’s worth it.I take Mel’s hand and say, “New start?”

“New start,” she says. “And Happy Christmas.”

“For as long as you need me I’m going to be there,” I say, and I kiss her.

“Happy Christmas, Mel,” I say. “It’s going to be perfect.”

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About the Author

Julia Williams has always made up stories in her head, and until recently she thought everyone else did too. She grew up in London, one of eight children, including a twin sister. She was a children’s editor at Scholastic for several years before going freelance after the birth of her second child. It was then she decided to try her hand at writing. The result, her debut novel,
Pastures New
, was a bestseller and has sold across Europe.

To find out more about Julia go to her website at
www.juliawilliamsauthor.com
or follow Julia on Twitter
@JCCWilliams
.

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Pastures New

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A Merry Little Christmas

Midsummer Magic

Coming Home For Christmas

About the Publisher

Australia