Saving Christmas in the Little Irish Village (The Little Irish Village #5)

Chapter 41

41

The snow was falling like fairy dust as Hannah and Tom exited the Shamrock on Christmas Eve, smiling a greeting over to where older members of the Emerald Bay community perched on the chairs brought outside from the pub earlier. They’d blankets draped across their laps and had mugs of mulled wine clasped between their hands in anticipation of the carolling. It would start at 5 p.m. sharp, in ten minutes’ time.

Her boots sank into the powdery snow coating Main Street as she joined the villagers beginning to congregate in the square, enjoying the solid feel of Tom’s hand wrapped around her mitten-clad one.

The citrus-and-spice scent of mulled wine still filled her nostrils. At two euros a cup, it was a nice little earner for the Keep Emerald Bay Beautiful fund, which Isla Mullins had enlisted Nan, Mam and Judy to help with. Nora had told Judy that Isla delegating her with a fundraising task was a sign that the community had accepted her.

Seeing her nan giving Enda Dunne short shrift as he tried to con her into a free refill, Hannah smiled. She might have meddled where Tom was concerned, but it had all worked out.

Hannah had cleared the air with Judy, who, as Tom had said, confessed she’d been terrified of how she’d be received by Nora and the family. Given her and her husband’s line of business, purchasing land and embarking on the Greenhouse project gave her a legitimate reason to be in the bay. She’d never intended for it to cause the upset it had, and they’d agreed there was no point in bringing any of it up with Nora, Liam and Kitty. Once Hannah had told her sisters the rest of the story, they’d wholeheartedly agreed, too. Now she’d relaxed her guard and allowed herself to get to know her, Hannah had warmed to Judy as much as the rest of the family had.

Their American relation had been thrilled to meet Ava and Grace along with Shane and Chris when they’d arrived home for the holidays yesterday, as they had been her. The twins and their beaus had been equally eager to meet Tom, and he’d received a thumbs-up from all four. Her sisters had gone the extra mile with waggling eyebrows and kissy-kiss faces. They might all be grown up, but the years fell away as soon as the Kelly girls got together. James had nudged Tom and told him not to sweat it; he’d get used to his girlfriend behaving like a ten-year-old when she was around her sisters. Overhearing the word ‘girlfriend’ had given Hannah a gorgeous shiver of delight.

The Shamrock would be fit to burst with love and laughter until 2 January when Ava and Shane would return to New York, and Grace and Chris to their canal boat in London.

‘How’re you, Hannah, Tom? Would you care for a mince pie?’ Eileen Carroll bustled her way into Hannah’s thoughts by offering them a container filled with the sugar-dusted treats. The local shopkeepers were treating Tom like royalty because, so far as they were concerned, he’d saved their businesses. ‘You can take two, Tom,’ Eileen added.

‘Thanks, Eileen. I don’t mind if I do.’ Tom helped himself while Hannah, whose hand hovered over a second pie, received a ‘don’t even think about it’ look from her knitting instructor.

‘Maire’s just after telling me she’s going to look into a baker’s apprenticeship.’

‘That’s fantastic!’ Hannah grinned, hoping she didn’t have pastry crumbs all over her mouth. With the help of Carmel Brady and the use of her industrial kitchen at the Silver Spoon cafe, Eileen had given the teens from the knitting class a crash course in Christmas baking. By the taste of the pies, it had been a resounding success.

‘And how are your plans coming along?’ Eileen asked.

Hannah had decided to apply for a youth support course in the new year. The added bonus was that the course was in Dublin, the same city as Tom.

‘Well, I’ve sent the applications off.’

‘Good for you. Kitty was after telling me how proud she is of you.’

She moved off with her wares, and Hannah, feeling pleased, let the festive vibe filling the late afternoon air wash over her. Snow was landing lightly on the woolly hats and shoulders of the people she’d grown up around, and she was filled with a sense of belonging that made coming home to Emerald Bay so special. Glancing up at Tom, she could see he felt right at home here, too. He might not be from these parts, but the villagers had welcomed him and made him think he was right where he should be this Christmas.

Hannah and Tom accepted the candles being passed around then jostled their way over to where the twins and Imogen were snuggled into their other halves.

‘What’s going on over there?’ Tom gestured to a kerfuffle that had broken out on the square’s edge.

Ewan Kennedy, standing behind them, tapped him on the shoulder and leaned in to say, ‘Mrs Rae’s fox fur was after getting singed with the candle she was holding, but mercifully, Father Seamus came to the rescue by stamping on the poor fox’s head. So all’s well that ends well.’

‘Not for the fox, it doesn’t!’ Hannah laughed and then, seeing Tom’s bewildered face, explained Mrs Rae’s attachment to her faux-fox-fur stole.

Tom joined in her laughter, shaking his head. ‘It’s really something, this place, you know, Hannah.’

‘I know.’ The smile she shot back was full of pride and interrupted by Tom kissing her. The featherlight brushing of their lips deepened, and they were both careful to keep their candles at arm’s length. A disapproving tut saw them break apart.

‘I don’t know what this place is coming to with people carrying on in public, and you’re fire hazards, so you are, waving your candles about like so.’ Mrs Tattersall, clad in her Emerald Bay Elves tunic – which did her bony knees, visible beneath her green tights, no favours – glared at them. The elf ears stitched to the striped bobble hat she wore twitched indignantly.

‘Isla’s beckoning you over, Mrs Tattersall.’ Hannah’s fib was rewarded by the older woman hurrying over to join the rest of the gathered Emerald Bay Elves.

‘What were you just saying about this place?’ Hannah grinned up at Tom.

‘I stand by it.’

Suddenly, there was a hush in the crowd, and then the Elves, a motley crew of Emerald Bay residents – some of whom could hold a tune, some of whom could not and most of whom should not have been seen in public in short tunics – led by Isla Mullins, launched into ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’. The Christmas Eve carolling always got underway with this uplifting number.

Hannah, humming along, stood on her tiptoes for a peek at Shannon, with her burgeoning bump, in full song. James, a surprising baritone, was next to her. Their lives would change forever in five months, and she couldn’t wait! Tom squeezed her hand then, and she thought how much her life had changed in just a few short weeks.

The Emerald Bay Elves were three-quarters of the way through their repertoire, singing crowd favourite ‘Curoo Curoo’, when Hannah decided she couldn’t wait until tomorrow. She was desperate to give Tom the Christmas present she’d squirrelled away under the tree in the Shamrock.

‘I want to give you your present early,’ she shouted into his ear.

‘Oh yes?’

‘Don’t you be starting with the waggling eyebrows!’

Not giving him a chance to argue, she tugged him away from the hub and inside the pub, which was empty now with everyone outside watching the carolling. The tree they’d decorated glowed invitingly in the corner, and Hannah weaved past the tables, pulling Tom behind her.

‘Isn’t opening a present before Christmas morning bad luck?’ he was asking.

‘Where’d you hear that? Sure, it’s traditional to open one gift on Christmas Eve.’ Hannah was so earnest she convinced herself it was true. She bent down and picked up the soft package wrapped in last year’s recycled Christmas paper, thrusting it at him shyly. ‘G’won – open it.’

Tom’s face was alight, but he didn’t tear into the gift. Instead, he carefully unwrapped it, smoothing the paper so it could be used again, further etching himself onto Hannah’s heart. Then he unfolded the woollen garment, holding it up for inspection, his face splitting into a wide grin of delight.

It was a gilet with a reindeer on the front.