Karen MacDonald, her blonde ponytail bobbing from side to side as she finished dressing the two mannequins in her shop window in red silk negligees, stepped back to admire her handiwork. She was unaware that she was being watched from across the road by a very tall Santa with an extra long white beard, who had been standing there shaking his charity tin for most of the day. Although to Karen, everybody was tall. Barely reaching five foot, she had to look up to just about everyone.
Karen had moved to Houghton le Spring from Galashiels six months ago, following her truck driver boyfriend (much to his surprise) to his hometown, and opened the shop five weeks later. He had not been too happy about the move, and strongly insisted that she take a flat in Durham, definitely not Houghton le Spring. She was never ever to mention his name to anyone who came into the shop, in case his boys found out. He thought it would be much better coming from him that he had a girlfriend, and he wanted to find the right time to tell them himself.
Always eager to please, Karen had gone along with his plans, happy that he visited her at least twice a week. Well, sometimes. Sometimes it would be a week or two before she saw him. She paused for a moment, staring into space, and her heart dropped. A couple of times, but that had been the first week, now it was more like once every two weeks, she sighed, and fussed around the mannequins.
She knew he was very busy with his lorry driving job, which kept him on the road and away from home for most of the week, and the two handicapped children he had took up a lot of his time. He had told her that he and the boys lived with his widowed mother, since his wife died in a tragic accident over five years ago. His mother took care of the boys while he was on the road.
But tomorrow, finally, after much begging on her part, she was at last going to meet his family. She could feel the excitement building up inside of her. She couldn’t understand why it had taken so long, but she hadn’t liked to pressure him too much as sometimes he got quite angry. The last thing she wanted to do was lose him. She’d lost so much already.
Remembering her family in Scotland, and feeling sad again, she looked out the window, noticing that Santa had finally gone and the street was mostly empty. At least a third of the shops were shuttered. Large white snowflakes spiralled slowly from the dark sky. As yet there was no covering, but Karen suspected that there soon would be.
‘Well, Sheba.’ She smiled at her white Persian cat, who had travelled from Galashiels with her, and now sat happily cleaning her paws on a pink satin cushion near the window. ‘It’s the season for red, all right.’
She thought of the new red dress hanging in her wardrobe and sighed. He’d freaked out when she’d shown it to him, and forbidden her to ever wear it. For a moment she’d been quite frightened, as she’d watched his hands clench into fists. Her backward steps into the kitchen table, resulting in the dinner being spilt off the plates, had made him even more angry. He’d stormed out that night, and she’d been terrified he was never coming back.
But she had just been silly, stupid silly. Of course she had, he would never hit her. He's the kindest man I've ever met, and he’s always right, with only my best interests at heart, nodding, she convinced herself yet again, remembering him saying over and over how much he loved her, and that he only wanted to protect her. That’s why she could only shop in the corner shop next to her flat, and why she was to come straight to work on a morning and straight home on a night.
There are many evil people out there, he kept telling her.
She nodded again to herself. He’s right, of course. After all, he really does love me.
Slowly she ran a piece of red tinsel through her fingers, admiring the way it glittered in the spotlights.
‘Wonder what he buys me for Christmas, Sheba?’ She wrapped the tinsel around her engagement finger in hope, and held it up to the light, picturing a beautiful ruby engagement ring, her heartbeat rising at the thought.
The cat ignored her, as cats do. Sheba was too busy watching something out the corner of her eye.
Karen started to sing, halfway through the chorus of her favourite karaoke song, Lady in Red. It had been a long time since she’d been to a karaoke, and she was forbidden to sing in front of him. He didn’t like women singing.
She stopped singing and chewed her lip. She’d puzzled for a while now about why he’d not been at all happy when he’d found out about her move here. But what else was she supposed to do? She’d fallen out with her family, who did not like him one bit. As far as her sister Rose was concerned, it had been hate at first sight, for both parties. Her brother James had called him a wanker, and refused to speak to her while she was with him. Rose had actually thrown a cup of water in her face, and told her to wake up and realise she was in love with a control freak.
They just didn’t understand, any of them. Then her parents had demanded that she see sense and choose.
It had been hard, but they refused to realise just how she felt. Yes, he was worth giving up her singing career for. To be honest, it wasn’t going anywhere. And he was right - she was a bit bored with her horse, and there just wasn’t enough time to look after Flame properly since she’d met him. Although selling Flame had not been easy.
She sighed. Flame had been the most loving of horses, and she prayed that the home he’d gone to was kind to him. For a moment, the thought of her pet brought a tear to her eye.
What hurt the most, though, was that her boyfriend had not even visited her shop once. Everything that had to be done she’d done herself, painting all the walls a deep cream and paying for shelves and extra electric points, because he’d been too busy with extra work loads - even a trip to Europe for three weeks, delivering furniture to half a dozen little countries.
She shook her head, as her instinct to defend the man she adored took over and her doubts started to melt.
Really, he is so busy. His poor boys take up so much of his time when he’s home, he’s such a brilliant father. If I’m going to be a mother to his kids, I must learn to share him.
Then all doubt was gone, again.
Happily she looked at the tinsel round her finger and muttered. ‘The reason he hasn’t been to see the shop is because he’s so busy, that’s why. Course he is. He will come.’ She nodded, her blue eyes shining and a satisfied smile on her face.
She never saw the hackles start to rise on the back of the cat’s neck, nor her lips pull back from her sharp teeth in a silent hiss, as Karen removed the glittery engagement ring.
A second later, Karen’s smile changed to a grimace. Her eyes widened in fear as a hand grabbed her face from behind, and the heels of her feet beat out a drum roll as she was dragged away from the shop window.