Read Online Wish Upon a Christmas Cake by Darcie Boleyn - Free Book Online Page A

cast me a sideways glance as she poured freshly boiled water onto coffee.
    ‘Morning. Sleep well?’
    ‘If you can call tossing and turning until I finally passed out from sheer exhaustion well…then…I mean, yes, thank you.’ She wrinkled her perfectly straight nose.
    Did she just auto-correct herself? ‘My bed was really comfy. Wasn’t yours?’
    ‘Not really, Katie. For some reason our room has a waterbed.’ She shivered as if the final word was dirt encrusted.
    ‘A waterbed?’ I gasped in mock horror, swallowing my laughter.
    ‘Keep your voice down,’ she muttered. ‘All night long, every time your father moved, all I could hear was sloshing and slooshing beneath me. I felt quite seasick.’
    My mother was admitting to a weakness – even if it was an aversion to waterbeds. I pressed my lips together hard. ‘Did Dad sleep?’
    ‘Like a well-rocked baby.’ She sighed as she poured milk into large mugs with colourful Christmas scenes painted on them. I stared at the heart lifting images of families sledging, carol singers crowded together around a glowing brazier and Santa Claus flying through the air in his sleigh pulled by a red nosed reindeer.
    ‘Have you looked outside, Mum?’
    She nodded.
    ‘It actually snowed last night!’ I gave a little bounce.
    ‘Snow? Looks like a heavy fros— Yes, it’s beautiful. Could you give me a hand please, Katie?’ Mum smiled then and I nearly lost my balance. What on earth was going on?
    ‘Yeah…sure. What do you want me to do?’
    She directed me to the bacon and the frying pan and I spent the next ten minutes happily breathing in the delicious aroma of smoked bacon and humming along to the carols on the radio. Mum even joined in when Elvis crooned ‘It’ll be lonely this Christmas’. It wasn’t so bad being with Esther like this. It wasn’t like we’d ever be best friends but we had cooked together quite a lot when I was growing up and it seemed to be the one time when we could tolerate being in close proximity.
    When everything was ready – buttered toast, fried bacon, mushrooms, huge juicy grilled tomatoes and poached eggs – we carried it all into the dining room. Dad was there reading the newspaper and looking like the lord of the manor.
    ‘Morning!’ I sang. ‘How’d you get the papers so early?’
    ‘Your father popped out before we all woke up,’ Mum replied and her cheeks flushed bright pink. Was she hiding something? ‘I’ll just fetch the toast.’
    I watched her leave, frowning with confusion as the toast was already on the table. Why had she fled to the kitchen? What were they up to?
    ‘Hey, Katie. How’d you sleep?’ Dad seemed to suddenly notice me.
    ‘Great thanks, Dad.’ I kissed him on his proffered cheek.
    ‘Good morning, Warhams.’ Karl entered the room followed by Angelo. They really were the most gorgeous couple. Karl was the perfect athletic blonde with his golden skin and expensively highlighted hair and Angelo was dark, brooding and tight-bodied. Their joy in each other just oozed out of them in a smug, sated, sensual way.
    A tap at the front door drew my attention. ‘I’ll just see who that is,’ I announced, trying to appear calm as I left the room.
As if I didn’t know.
Sam, Jack and Holly bustled through the front door, then stamped their feet on the welcome mat. The three of them were giggling excitedly and I overheard the words sledging and snowman. I’d have to check the forecast because more snow was definitely needed at Hawthorne Manor. It just had to dump more of the fluffy white stuff to make their Christmas perfect. But once we’d been out to get a tree. Not before. We
needed
a tree.
    Trying to control the weather now, Katie?
    ‘Hi, Katie!’ Sam approached me with a child clinging to each hand.
    ‘Hi, Sam.’ I tried to sound nonchalant but my heart was in my throat. He looked positively edible. His black hair and eyebrows emphasised the chocolate pools of his eyes. He wore faded jeans with a