Amy smiled as she watched Jack and Claire fighting over who got to be the Scotty dog in Monopoly. They’d all already played a round of Cluedo while eating the pastries sent from the Palace (Claire won), and had a quick quiz from the Trivial Pursuit set while she’d finished prepping dinner for the oven. While it cooked, they’d all taken time to shower and dress – while Henry snoozed in his basket with his toy turkey.
And Amy … well, she might have taken a few minutes to have a little cry from sheer relief and happiness that everything seemed to be falling back into place. Henry was home, and the spectacular hamper from the Palace had more than made up for any lack of presents under the tree. And best of all, the kids seemed to be genuinely, truly happy for the first time in months.
Maybe, just maybe, this Christmas wouldn’t be the disaster she’d been dreading, after all.
Her phone beeped, and she picked it up to see a message from Luke. She’d texted him that morning to wish him a Merry Christmas – and to tell him the fantastic news about Henry.
Wow! What a brilliant Christmas present. I look forward to hearing all about Henry’s adventures with royalty … I’m away for the holidays, but maybe we could take Henry and Daisy for a New Year’s Day walk together? If you don’t have other plans?
Amy considered. The kids would be with Jim and Bonnie that day. And she had said that she wanted to start the new year fresh, looking to her future …
She typed a response, then looked at it a little longer before pressing send. Could she do it? She took a breath and pressed the button.
It’s a date.
Luke’s response was almost immediate.
That’s what I was hoping x
Amy grinned at the screen. Yes, this Christmas didn’t seem like a disaster at all, any more.
Lunch was the usual mixture of bad cracker jokes (even crackers from Buckingham Palace had terrible jokes in them) and paper hat wearing, and Amy slipped Henry extra chicken scraps under the table, even though she knew Jack and Claire were doing the same thing. He deserved them.
Claire sat a paper hat on Henry’s head, and took a new photo of him, home with his family, to share with the Hunt for Henry page – so that everyone who’d kept an eye out for Henry, or tried to help over the last couple of weeks, knew the story had a happy ending at last. Claire even tweeted it to the Palace as a thank you for bringing their Henry home.
‘Do you want us to clear up, Mum?’ Jack asked, as they polished off the last of the Christmas pudding.
Amy stared at him in amazement. ‘Um, that would be great. Thank you. But why don’t we all do it together later? I thought we might take Henry out for a Christmas Day walk first. And then I think this year, of all years, we should really sit down together to watch the Queen’s speech. Don’t you?’
Jack grinned. ‘Definitely.’
‘Have I got time to Skype Lucy first?’ Claire asked. ‘I want to show her the decorations from the Palace.’
Amy checked her watch. ‘Ten minutes,’ she called, as Claire dashed up the stairs.
Pouring herself a glass of red wine, Amy carried it through to the lounge, knowing Claire would be more like twenty. She’d made sure the Queen’s speech was set to record, just in case they were late back from their walk. Henry definitely deserved the chance to get out and jump around in the snow. Although whether their local park would live up to the gardens at the Palace was another matter …
It was hard to imagine that Henry – their Henry – had been living at Buckingham Palace for nearly two weeks, and no one had even noticed. To think of him wandering around the state rooms, barking at royalty … it was downright bizarre. But he seemed happy to be home – and Amy was even happier to have him there.
Amy flicked the television on, and was just sitting down when the phone rang. With a sigh, she pulled herself up again – only to find that Jack had beaten her to it.
‘Hello?’
Amy loitered in the doorway, waiting to hear who it was on the other end. Probably her mother, she decided, calling from the ship phone on the Christmas cruise she was taking with Aunty Mary.
Then she caught Jack’s eye, and saw a hundred emotions go through them all at once. Not Granny, then.
‘Hey, Dad,’ Jack said, and Amy understood.
Her breath felt tight in her chest as she waited to see what would happen next. Would Jack blow up at Jim again? Hang up like he had every other time Jim had called since he left? Or would her Christmas miracles keep coming?
‘Yeah. Merry Christmas,’ Jack said. ‘Hey, did you hear the news about Henry?’
And just like that, Amy knew they were going to be all right.
Resting her head against the door frame, Amy took a sip of her wine and listened as Jack regaled his father with the story of Henry’s adventure.
‘No, I swear! The Palace sent this whole giant hamper of presents when they brought him back last night, along with a note saying sorry for “borrowing” our dog!’
There was another pause, but even that was a good sign – it meant that Jack was actually listening to Jim. Another first.
‘New Year?’ Jack said, looking up at Amy.
‘Your choice,’ she whispered. Because Jack was right; he was almost an adult now, he got to decide for himself the people he let into his life.
She just hoped he chose the right ones. She hoped she would, too.
There were a lot more changes and challenges coming in their future, Amy knew, but at last she honestly felt she could meet them. She could handle Jim, and Bonnie, and Jack becoming an adult, and Claire growing up every day, and work, and Henry and Sookie, and the house, and everything else that came her way. And she’d do it by keeping her family together, happy and loving, and remembering how lucky she was to have them all.
The future was wide open, and the only thing Amy felt when she thought about it now was excitement.
‘Yeah. I think I can make it.’ He smiled. ‘Great. I guess I’ll see you then. Bye, Dad. You want to talk to Claire? Okay.’
He dashed up the stairs, phone in hand, calling for his sister, and Amy took the chance to finally settle onto the sofa and check the TV guide for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe there’d be another good film on again later that they could all watch together.
As she sat down, Henry hopped up beside her, snuggling in against her hip. Amy petted him behind the ears, enjoying the feeling of having him home where he belonged. He was part of her family too, after all.
‘We missed you, Henry,’ she whispered. ‘It wouldn’t have been a family Christmas without you.’