The car came about twenty minutes later and I got in the back with Samantha. Abby stayed with the babies. She had given me a lovely hug and told me not to worry.

Samantha had told me that Katie would be at the station when we got there and there was no question of my being in trouble. It was only information that the police were after.

It didn’t make me feel much better as I sat there and watched us leave the lovely cove on the way to Tavistock Police Station.

I was still wearing a skirt and blouse, together with a warm fleecy jacket. The police woman who came for me, leaving the driver in the car, didn’t show any signs of surprise that I was in girl mode so I assumed that she had been told beforehand of my change of status.

We went along several undulating lanes with high hedges on each side. The roads were a bit slippery and the policeman, who was driving, didn’t say much. I wondered if he approved of me. Not like the police woman sat next to him, who was quite chatty and had said how pretty I was and this was all a bit of a pain but it was best that this sort of thing is done at the station and it shouldn’t take long...

I was already missing Penmarris and strangely, that place felt more like home than anywhere else that I had lived–it must have been something in the water, or more likely, the lovely, kind, wonderful people that lived there.

Sarah I had left with Abby and the others–she wanted to come along but wasn’t allowed to. She threw a minor strop, but in the end just gave me a big hug and told me to text here soon as I could. I think that she overlooked the fact that I didn’t have a mobile phone, but I let it go.

We were up on the edge of the moors now and it was breathtakingly beautiful. If I hadn’t been so worried about where I was going, it would have been even better. The hills were covered in snow and any harshness on the moor was blanketed in white. One hill we passed had lots of kids on it tobogganing down on whatever they had to hand, in one case a dustbin lid. One or two had skis, but I think that was just showing off. I would have loved to have been with them as I had never been able or have the opportunity to do things like that.
Soon we were in Tavistock and we parked at the back of the police station and the woman policeman led the way.

We were taken to an interview room and Katie was already there, drinking a cup of tea. The policewoman went off to get us some drinks as we all waited for things to happen. Now we had got there, I wondered why we were kept waiting around.

Katie gave us an update.

‘I don’t know much more than you; Laura evidently was in a coma and the last I heard though, was that she was showing signs of coming out of it. You aren’t in any trouble though and Jocasta has spoken to the S.S...’

‘S.S?’ I asked.

‘Social Services dear, and they are happy for you to stay in a safe environment until things are sorted out. Normally there would be all sorts of vetting procedures and red tape, but Sam and Abby are known to them and Lady F, made sure that she had spoken to someone at the top and somehow what objections there were, were overruled. I don’t know how she does it but I’m glad that she’s on our side!’

So was I. I knew that she was a sweet lady, as everything she had said to me and her actions toward me was great and full of kindness. I wished that I had a grandma like her. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be an enemy or someone she didn’t like. That tongue of hers was a lethal weapon.

The door opened and a man came in. Behind him was the police woman who had come to collect us.

We all sat down. He was middle aged with a full head of dark hair, slightly overweight, but seemed pleasant enough.

‘Right, sorry to keep you all waiting. Erm, Joseph?’

‘Hannah,’ I said.

He shook his head.

‘Sorry, it’s been one of those days. I am Chief Inspector Grant. I’ve just had an update on Laura Parminter; she’s coming around and starting to respond; which is great because if it had been a deep coma, she might not have come out at all, let alone so quickly. OK Hannah, tell me all about the reasons why you decided to run away.’

I took a deep breath and recounted my experiences. At first it was hard to talk about it and I started to choke up, but once I got over the initial nastiness, I more or less told him the same as I had told the others.

Of course that started me off, waterworks wise and I was so glad that I had Samantha with me to hold my hand and help me through it.

Whilst Samantha was helping me get my act together, Katie was talking quietly to the chief inspector and the policewoman was writing up some notes.

When I felt better the policeman continued.

‘So you came back to the home and he was waiting for you?’

‘Yes,’

‘Then he made you dress up?’

‘Yes, I told you.’

‘I don’t disbelieve you. I just want to get the fact correct and not miss anything that might give us a clue to this man’s actions. He didn’t make any inappropriate advances?’

‘Sorry?’

He looked a bit embarrassed.

He looked at the policewoman.

‘Smith, it might be better coming from you.’

The policewoman came over to me and knelt down beside me so her eyes were level with mine.

She smiled.

‘Men eh?’

Her eyes went heavenward and I giggled.

The chief inspector coughed.

‘Sorry sir,’ she said with a grin and then continued.

‘I’m Mandy, by the way. Now what we need to know is, did he do anything to you physically that made you feel uncomfortable.’

‘Not then, but he often brushed up against me or gave me hugs and things or held me around the shoulders–things that would seem OK to anyone looking, but it made me feel as if h...he liked doing it. Do you know what I mean?’

‘Yes dear, I know exactly what you mean.’
‘When he had me dress up, the look on his face was strange, almost hungry. It made me shiver and not feel safe.’

‘So you felt that he might do something nasty to you, if you stayed?’

I nodded.

It went on for a while longer and under Mandy’s gentle prompting, I was able to tell them exactly how I felt at the time.

Eventually another policeman came in and whispered something in the chief inspectors ear. He nodded and stood up.

‘Well thank you all and in particular you Hannah for coming in on Christmas Day to help us sort this out. We have a statement for you to sign and then you can go and enjoy the rest of the day. We will find this erm, gentleman and make sure that no other child is put in danger. Just to let you know that we have now had a statement from Mrs Parminter and although she’s still a bit foggy and confused, she evidently caught him out from things she found on his laptop. It appears that he contacted the police and social services late last night when he found out that you were missing and you had left a note. That was a big mistake’

‘What’s the connection between Hannah leaving and the laptop?’ asked Katie.

‘When he went off to answer the phone he left his laptop on. Laura was passing, noticed something strange on the screen and saw that it was child pornography. Normally, Mike’s laptop was password protected and she hadn’t seen any of this, but she had a quick look around and did a search of pictures and came up with all sorts of nasties. She thinks that he was trying to delete the pictures as she thought that Hannah could spill the beans on him–she had suspicions about him but had never caught him in the act. She had been on the point of confronting him with those suspicions when you disappeared Hannah, making her feel that he might have been the cause of your going. That was when Mike walked back in the room, saw what she was doing and attacked her.’

‘Is she badly hurt?’ I asked.

‘Hairline fracture of the skull, broken nose, two ribs and an arm broken and quite a few bruises too.’

‘Oh.’ I said.

Laura had been nice to me.

We left Katie at the police station, as she had brought her own car. We would be seeing her later at Lady Fairbairn’s. We arrived back at the cottage an hour later and after saying goodbye to Mandy and her silent partner we went inside.

Abby came out of the kitchen as we came in, she had a baby’s bottle in her hand.

‘How did it go?’ she asked.

‘Fine,’ said Samantha, I’ll tell you about it later. How long have we got to get ready?

‘About an hour and a half. Mummy Dotty is sending over Jenkins with the Roller, so we can both have a drink if we want,’

‘I won’t be having much,’ said Samantha rather emphatically.

Then she turned to me.

‘Well, we had better get cracking. Where are the girls?’ she asked Abby.

‘Gabi is asleep and Heather playing in her pen. Sophie is looking after them.’

‘Where’s Sarah?’ I asked as I struggled out of my coat which was nice but a bit tight on me.

‘She’s gone home to get ready. She said that she would see you later. That girl could talk for England!’

We all laughed.

‘Shall we go up to your bedroom and see what we can find for you to wear?’ asked Samantha.

‘My bedroom?’

‘Yes, you know; a place to sleep. Having a bed in it is a dead giveaway.’

‘So that means I am staying?’

‘Of course, silly, what do you think all this is about?’

‘I thought...’

What I was thinking was that I would be taken away somewhere. I know what they said was that they would look after me while things were being sorted out, but I had had promises before and none of them had ever actually happened. The Children’s Department of the Social Services had never done much for me and I expected a knock on the door at any moment to be told that I was to be moved, again.

Let’s face it; I had been here for about five minutes. These kind people didn’t really know me and I couldn’t believe that they would want me around or make a serious decision about keeping me without knowing whether I had “issues”, as the social worker once called my problems.

There was no point in worrying about it though and I decided to keep quiet and see what happens. If I raise my hopes too high, I would be disappointed.

So I went upstairs to “my” bedroom and I almost forgot my concerns as Samantha enthusiastically helped me to decide what I should wear for Sunday lunch at the Manor.

In the end, it was a no brainer, as Sarah would have said. The dress on the back of the door that she had mentioned was the one. It fitted me like a glove and I loved it–not as much as that lovely red dress that I had seen in that shop yesterday, but a very creditable second.

Before I tried on the dress, Samantha stopped me.

‘Nail polish and makeup first, I think.’

Nail polish and makeup! I had never worn either before and my heart sort of did a fli- flop as I thought about it.

She did my hands first and my nails were soon a lovely shiny pink colour. I had to blow on them for a while to get them to dry. The smell was funny and I almost sneezed, but it was something that I could definitely get used to!

Then she had me sit by the dresser, facing her.

‘Right, close your eyes and let me make you even prettier. Not much makeup, as Mummy Dotty frowns on young gels with makeup plastered all over their faces!

Mummy Dotty I took to be Lady Fairbairn. I wondered if she knew that she was called that?

She worked on my face for ages and I could feel the lotions and potions being applied. Then she spent some time doing things with my eyes and then finished off by putting something slightly strawberry flavoured on my lips.

‘Don’t lick, you’ll wash it off.’

I giggled at that and wriggled about as I was dying to see myself in the mirror.

‘All finished but don’t turn around. I want you to be properly dressed before you take a peek.’

I stepped into the dress and Samantha zipped me up. The dress was so nice. It was a cream silk, strappy one that went down to just below my knees. It had a delicate glittery netting overlay that made the dress sparkle slightly as I moved. It also had a sewn in net petticoat and would make it stand out slightly. It was lovely and I wondered what I looked like in the mirror, but Samantha was doing something with my hair and I wasn’t allowed to see myself. She then looked at me and frowned.

‘What,’ I asked, worried that I looked too boyish.

‘Your hair looks nice, but you need–hang on.’

She went out of the room and I spent the time putting on the shiny, low heeled black shoes that went so well with the dress and trying desperately not to look in the mirror. I had been given some very fine nude tights to wear and I had to be very careful not to snag them as I put the shoes on.

Samantha came back; she had a few things in her hand.

‘Turn around,’ she said.

She put a fine chain around my neck with a tiny gold cross, it was lovely, and then she put some clip-on earrings on me; small with a single pearl on each. She had a gold charm bracelet that had a tiny lock and number of charms and she helped me put that on too. Then the final item was a creamy silk headband with a small matching silk flower on the side. She seemed to hesitate.

‘You don’t have to wear this. I know that you are thirteen and it might be a bit young for you, but I think that it would look nice.’

I looked at it and smiled. I looked about eleven; I knew that, so it wouldn’t look really out of place.

I looked at her.

‘I...I didn’t have a chance to wear pretty things as I grew up and I would love to wear it please!’

She carefully put it on my head, rearranged my hair a bit, stepped back and nodded.

‘You’ll do; would you like to look at yourself?’

‘Yes please.’

‘Go on then.’

I turned around and for a second I didn’t recognise myself. It was me and yet it wasn’t. Staring at me was this pretty girl in a wonderful dress, light, flawless makeup, lovely hair that seemed longer and fuller than before, and with the silk headband and jewellery to complete the picture.

‘Oh.’ I said, drawing in my breath.

‘Do you like it?’

‘Oh, I...I...I love it Mummy–oh sorry, I shouldn’t have said that!’

My hands with the lovely nails came up to my face as I realised what I had said. My eyes smarted with tears.

‘Now don’t you start crying, you’ll ruin your makeup. It was just a slip of the tongue. Anyway, I am your temporary Mummy and so is Abby while we look after you as foster mums so don’t think anymore about it.’

She took my hand and then gave me little hug.

‘I think that you look very pretty. I can’t see much Joseph in there; is he gone?’

‘Yes, he was never there really.’

My heart rate slowly came back to normal as I realised that I hadn’t blown it. The last thing I wanted was to make her angry or upset with me.

After a few moments while my makeup was repaired, we were ready to go. The dress came with a matching mesh bolero which I carefully put on with Samantha’s help. It looked so pretty and went really well with the dress. I also had a shoulder bag that was white and Samantha put some makeup I it and tissues–just I case.

As I went downstairs, I felt like a princess with my dress swishing against my legs and my hair just brushing on my shoulders. I was so glad that I resisted having it cut.

Abby, Sophie and the girls were waiting for us and Abby gave a real smile of pleasure when she saw me.

‘Wow, you look wonderful,’ she said.

‘Cool,’ said Sophie.’

‘Ook,’ said Heather.

Gabi just blew bubbles and giggled.

There was a knock on the door and Abby answered.

There was a man there in what looked like a chauffeur’s uniform.’

‘Hi Jenkins,’ said Abby, ‘Not butlering today?’

‘Yes Miss Abby, later, but Chauffeur is visiting his parents in Perth and I said that I would be happy to stand in for today.’

I put my coat carefully on and then I was ready for the winter weather outside.

We all went down the path. With my shoes I had to be very careful and I clung on to Samantha for dear life to stop myself from falling. The others had boots on and were carrying their shoes, but there were no boots to fit me so I had to make do. Abby had to shoo some cats away on the path, who evidently wanted to come with us but didn’t have invites.

Soon I was in the posh car with the others. It was whisper quiet as it negotiated the lanes, seemingly impervious to slips and slides in the snow and as we went along, I was able to see the village to its best advantage. Through gaps, I could see the cove, the beaches and quay, the cliffs on either side and other landmarks. A few hardy souls were out on the beach walking dogs and children in the crisp, clean, winter air.

The huge yacht was still parked on the other side of the harbour wall.

‘That yacht is still parked over there,’ I said to Abby.

She looked where I pointed.

‘You mean moored dear,’

‘Oh right. I wonder why it’s there.’

‘Because the captain put it there.’

‘Do you know him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Have you ever been on there?’

‘Of course.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Well, we own the yacht, dear.’

‘Blimey–oops.’

They all laughed but wouldn’t elaborate. They were real jokers, weren’t they? There was more going on here than I thought!

The house was huge; well I suppose it was a mansion really. It seemed to take ages for us to go from the wrought iron gates to the mansion. The gardens were lovely and had evidently been designed by some old chap strangely called Capability Brown—weird name that.

The lawns though had strange mounds of earth dotted about and I wondered why.

‘What are those?’ I asked Samantha.

Sophie giggled, the girls giggled because Sophie did. Jenkins coughed discreetly and Samantha and Abby grinned.

‘Moles,’ said Samantha.

‘Oh,’ I said, not knowing again what the joke was and I wondered what was so funny about moles.

We arrived at the mansion, tyres crunching on the gravel and stopped.

For some reason we weren’t allowed to open the car doors and Jenkins did it for us. Now that is what I call arriving in style.

Sarah came bounding down the steps and came over. She had her hair up and looked lovely. Her party dress–a lemon coloured mid calf, shoulder strappy whisper of fabric that seemed to float around her–was gorgeous. I still liked my dress, but wouldn’t have minded trying on hers!

As soon as she saw me, she squealed and started talking nineteen to the dozen.

‘Hi Sam, Abby, Soph, Sprogettes. Gosh Hannah you look ace. Love the dress, hair, wow, makeup looks really cool. I wanted to slap more on but Mummy said if I wanted to look like a clown she’d send me to the circus. Come on Hannah, I’ll show you my room while the olds have some yucky sherry. I have some wicked ginger beer in my room and I want to show you my super new iPad.’

‘Not so much of the “old”’, said Samantha.

‘Sorry Sam, you are quite young I suppose. Come on Hannah, we don’t have much time before the turkey and trimmings.’

She pulled me by the hand and with a departing wave to the others; I was sucked in through the massive double doors and rushed upstairs, down a few corridors and into a large airy bedroom that overlooked the park with mole holes.

‘Wowie,’ I said, ‘great bedroom!’

‘Yea, not bad is it. Mummy lets me have it the way I want it which, of course, very girlie.’

There was pink and pastels on the walls, some nice bright modern furniture and a row of dolls and teddy’s on a shelf not forgetting two dolls on the pink covers of the bed. The carpet was an oatmeal colour and was deep piled. She had a plasma screen on the wall, a computer in the corner and what looked like an expensive stereo system in another corner.

To the left there was a door which was partially open and that led into the en suite. To the right was a walk in wardrobe and I could just see some hangers with lots of dresses.

‘Come and see this!’ she said, walking over to the computer table. On it was her iPad.

‘Crimbo pres from Mummy; cool or what?’

‘Great,’ I said smiling.

‘Of course, I was told that all I deserved was a nut, an apple and an orange for Christmas as I was never a very good girl, but I flashed my eyelashes at Mummy, looked a bit pathetic and she then was putty in my hands.’

Just then I heard a gunshot outside and I jumped.

Sarah ignored it and kept playing with her new toy.

‘What was that?’ I asked.

‘What, oh the gun thing; oh just Mummy taking a pot-shot at a mole. She always misses. Says she’s a hotshot, but to be honest she couldn’t hit a barn door at ten feet.’

Just then, there was a bonging noise.

‘Ooh, grub up!’ said Sarah enthusiastically. ‘Need to use the loo?’

‘Yes please,’

I went to do my stuff and then we went downstairs.

The place was so large; I think that I would need a satnav to find my way around it. Sarah, being one of the inmates didn’t seem to have a problem though and in a very few minutes we arrived at a door–make that double doors. A person in a uniform was standing outside and opened it for us.

I wondered how many people it took to run a place like this. The windows alone would keep someone occupied for ever, a bit like the Forth Bridge being painted. Start one end and by the time you’ve finished you have to start again.

The doors were opened and we walked in.

“Wow” wouldn’t do it justice; “cor” wouldn’t come close; “ee by gum” as they say oop north, would fall well short of the needed expression.

I of course not being eloquent and lacking the verbal whatsit just said ‘eek!’ and left it at that.

The room was huge–evidently it was the one used when royalty popped around for a quick ball. The walls were full of paintings that didn’t fall off the back of a lorry or bought from IKEA. The ceiling was covered in art–I had seen the Sistine Chapel once, in a photo or on TV and this was similar, with God, angels with wings, the odd cherub and assorted supporting cast plastered all over it. It must have been hard using long brushes to paint that ceiling and I bet a pound to a penny, no one went up there to dust.

Coming back down to earth, the floor was covered in packet flooring or whatever it’s called. I went a school once that had that type of floor and the kids put their jumpers on the floor took a run and then when their feet landed on the jumpers, they would see how far they skidded. For some reason this was frowned upon by the teachers and in particular the caretaker. I, of course, on the one and only occasion that I dared to try it, fell base over apex and bruised my coccyx.

Anyway, the main thing or things that really caught my attention was or is that were, the table and the decorations.

By the fireplace was a huge tree, it was lit up like erm, a Christmas tree and was covered with baubles and bangles, tinsel and things that sparkled. On top was an angel and that was lit up to. It was a magical tree and I loved it. At the base was a whole pile of presents of all shapes and sizes and by that, in front of the fire was a dog, sitting there like some sort of statue. He looked quite haughty and aloof as he or she sat at attention, or that’s what it seemed.

‘That’s Fifi,’ whispered Sarah.

Looking up above the fireplace was a painting and I could instantly see that the picture was of Fifi, but it looked to me like Fifi with her hair down–slightly, the artist had caught her at the right moment and I wondered which Fifi was the real one; Fifi, the aloof or Fifi, the almost party girl?

Then there was the table. It extended down the room with more place settings than I could count. The Christmas themed centre pieces were colourful and based around holly and ivy. There were silver candlesticks dotted at regular intervals and all the candles were lit. The cutlery shone silverly, if that’s a word and glasses gleamed and shone in the glow of the three, yes three candelabra’s .

All in all the whole room looked magical and I had never seen anything quite like it. The room was full of people and it was only the wonder of the room that stopped me feeling painfully shy. Once I realised that I was being looked at, of course I went red in the face and wondered if I could hide my head in the sand or at least in one of the aspidistra pots.

Of course I didn’t have time for that as lots of people came up and said hello. Some I recognised from earlier in the day and others I had never met before, but everyone was so kind and friendly that I was soon put at my ease.

Dinner was served and I was at the end with Sarah and other younger people. Lady Fairbairn was at the head of the table and she looked lovely in an electric blue satin dress. I was pleased to see that she wasn’t wearing a hat and I could see no sign of a dead animal on her. I half expected a moles head or something, so that was a relief.

Before I was dragged off by Sarah, Samantha came over, gave me a hug and whispered,’ have a nice time. If it all gets too much, let me know. They are all nice people and they are all on your side. You have nothing to worry about here.’

As I sat down, I was given no chance to be a wall flower, Motor mouth started straight away.

‘Right listen up you lot; this is Hannah; she’s so pretty in that dress that I almost hate her. Not that I’m the jealous kind. Anyway, Hannah, this is Phillipa, Jennifer, Sophie you know, Tracy, Tammy and Bethany. We should all have badges, but as we now all know each other its pointless...’

‘Sarah?’ asked Bethany, I think.

‘What?’

‘Have you taken your pills today, the ones that make you slow down?’

‘Are you suggesting I’m hypo?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh well, right. I’ll just sit here and zip my lip.’

She did a zipping motion with her lips and I smiled, she was a character.

‘Everyone was wearing pretty dresses and I could see that they were all good friends despite the differences I ages. Pippa and Jen as they liked to be called though, seemed to like arguing a bit and I put that down to the fact that they were sisters.

Sarah couldn’t keep quiet for more than five seconds before she was off again.

‘So as I was saying we are all friends here, despite what some people say about my talking too much. By the way don’t ask Jen or Pippa about their ponies, we’d be here all night. Tracy is mad keen on painting like Samantha, so she can be boring sometimes too...’

‘Samantha paints?’

‘Oh yes, that painting of Fifi over the fireplace is one of hers.’

‘ I thought that she just managed to gallery.’

‘Half the paintings in there are hers and she owns the gallery. Just like Abby owns the pottery and all the stuff in there she pots or whatever it’s called.’

I laughed.

‘What’s so funny?’ asked Tracy.

‘I wonder what else they run. Abby told me that she owns that huge great yacht in the harbour. Funny joke that...’

‘They do own it, well Sam does and what’s Sam’s is Abby’s and vicky-verky,’ said Pippa.

‘Blimey!’ I said and they all laughed.

The food was wonderful and served by erm, servants. There were almost as many people serving the food as those sitting down eating it. It was lovely and I could honestly say that I had never eaten better. The turkey made the ones that I had had in the various homes look positively disgusting. I won’t describe the food as it’s beyond description, you had to be there. The adults all drank wine except–when I looked up at Samantha and she finger waved back– I saw that she was drinking the same as us, ginger beer; mind you that was strong stuff and Sarah said that it was good at stripping paint off wood too.

In a lull, I asked Sophie where the little ones were.

‘The adults are taking turns looking after the babies and tiddlers.’ She said.

I noticed that she had dropped the more broad Cornish for a more intelligible language. I was glad of that as I don’t speak Cornish or Devonish for that matter, though a few of the older people up the other end of the table seemed to have quite broad language and I could hear a smattering of “eee’s ooh’s” and”aarhrs”.

After the dinner, there was desert. I had Christmas pudding and nearly lost a tooth when I bit down on a pound coin covered in tin foil. Others had coins, so I wasn’t the only lucky one.

Eventually the meal finished and we all got up and moved down the end of the room as the table was cleared and then put to the side.

From nowhere came a string quartet and it played away in the corner while everyone mingled. It wasn’t exactly head banging heavy metal, but it was nice and gentle background music. Let’s face it, this wasn’t a disco night sort of event.

I was spoken to by many adults and Sarah stuck to me like limpet mine, telling me information about the people and juicy titbits that she thought I might need to know about them. Her opinion was that she was the only sane one there. I didn’t contradict her as I didn’t want to seem argumentative and anyway, a girl needs to have some delusions.

Either Samantha or Abby regularly came over and asked how I was or just to give me a squeeze on the shoulder or hug. It was so nice that they cared enough to want to make sure that I was all right.

Eventually the room hushed and standing in front of the fireplace where embers burned and gave the whole room a nice warm feeling, stood Lady Fairbairn. She was to give her annual brief speech.

‘Thank you all for comin’. It’s been good ter see so many friends. The world outside might be goin’ ter the dogs–sorry Fifi–but at least in Penmarris, we know how ter do things in style. I blame the E.U. or Common Market, Thatcher, Wilson and the present lot of lily livered morons. Enough of that, I hope that you are enjoyin yerself. Now Sarah, where are yer?’

Sarah left my side and walked over to her mother, her heels clicking on the wooden flooring.

‘Right, over to you.’

Sarah, who like the rest of us had a drink in her hand, coughed and spoke up.

‘My mother and I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.’

She raised her glass and we all drank to the toast.

‘Here, here!’

‘Right; you and few of your friends sort out the prezies,’ said Lady F ‘The rest of yer grab a drink and mingle. Fifi, put that cracker down!’

I stood by Samantha and she held my hand as presents were handed out. This was a normal thing at one of Lady F’s parties and tradition was that you didn’t open the present until you arrived home. I was surprised that I received one as Sarah came over grinning from ear to ear.

‘Happy Christmas, Hannah!’

We left shortly after that as I was tired and Samantha and Abby needed to get the little ones to bed. Sophie stayed at the party and would be getting a taxi home later but we were given the five star treatment by Jenkins again who seemed to enjoy driving the car and getting out of the washing up.

After a goodbye hug, I promised to speak to Sarah the next day and looked forward to seeing my slightly mad new friend.

I fell asleep on the way back, but not before I saw all the lights in the trees and outside the cottages and houses that lined the cove. It was all a bit magical and like a fairyland. Eventually though, my eyes closed and I didn’t wake up until we arrived home.

‘Home– that was a nice way of putting it. Well it was my home for a little while and would make the most of it while I could.

Heather and Gabi were fast asleep as they were carried inside the cottage. Cats came up and said hello before sloping off to feed or find a nice warm comfortable spot somewhere. I sat in the sitting room as Samantha and Abby put the girls to bed. I had woken up a bit after my brief sleep and I wondered what my present was. I didn’t want to open it until the others came in, as they had one each too.

I sat watching the fire. The glow of the logs was nice and comforting as were the lights on the tree winking on and off in some sort of pattern that I couldn’t work out.

It seemed unbelievable to me, the things that had happened in a just a few days. I had had an awful time of it up until I arrived at Penmarris. It was a wonderful cove and my urge to come to this lovely place, to me had been fully justified. If you said to me that I would be spending this Christmas here among people who really liked me; people full of love and care, I would have laughed.

But it was all true, I was here. I nearly pinched myself, wondering if I was in a dream and then a little ginger tom came up onto my lap and plonked himself down on me. His purr was loud and he then proceeded to lick my hand with a scratchy tongue. He was happy I was here too, it seemed.

Just then Abby and Samantha came in and sat down.

‘Did you have a nice time?’ asked Abby.

‘It was great, everyone was very nice and I didn’t have a chance to be too shy.’

‘Yes, they are a nice set of people,’ said Samantha, ‘I thought that you might be overwhelmed by all the new faces, but you did seem to enjoy yourself. Right shall we open those presents? Hannah, dump Cedric on the floor, he would be on your lap all night given the chance.’

I did I was told and I don’t think that Cedric would hold it against me.

The others picked up their present and I did the same. It was a long flat package in a shallow box.

The others opened theirs first.

Samantha had a necklace and earring set and Abby had a watch. I could see that they were pleased with their present.

‘Open yours love.’ said Samantha.

I slowly tore wrapping off and lifted the lid. I gasped as inside was a lovely pale pink satin nightdress. It was long and felt like liquid in my hands. It was beautiful!

‘I know what one young girl is wearing to bed tonight,’ said Abby, smiling.

Samantha got up, went over to the tree; took something from the base and walked over to me. It was another present!

‘Here you are dear, Happy Christmas.

I took the long box and after putting the nightdress carefully back in it’s box and placing it on the floor, I placed the one Samantha gave me on my lap.

‘Ooh you shouldn’t have. I haven’t bought you...’

‘Never mind that, we want you to have it. Well are you going to open it?’

I looked at them both. They were like me, almost getting as much pleasure from watching others unwrapping as receiving them.

I undid the bow, moved the ribbon out of the way. With a pink covered fingernail, I slid it under the paper and removed the gaily painted wrapping.

It was another box, similar to the other one, but much bigger.

I lifted the lid and inside–was the dress. It was the one that I loved in the shop when Samantha came in!

‘H...how?’

‘How was I able to get it for you? Well, it’s easy when you know everyone!’

I wanted to try it on. I was so excited, but it was late and I wanted something to look forward to the next day and so I reluctantly and carefully put it back in its box and then I went to Samantha and Abby and gave them a big hug and a kiss.

‘Thank you so much for making this Christmas so special.’

‘That’s all right love, said Samantha, ‘you are a special person and special people deserve a Happy Christmas!’

It took a while to get ready for bed. I had to take off my makeup and that took a while. Then I shook out my new special dress and hung it up carefully in the wardrobe. The other things I folded and left on the chair and the dress that I had worn, was on the hook on the back of the drawer.

After washing and everything, I slid on my new nightdress. It felt and looked wonderful.

There was a knock on the door.

‘Come in,’ I called.

The door opened and Samantha was there.

You look pretty,’ she said smiling.

‘I feel pretty,’ I said, giving her a twirl.

‘Sit at the dresser and I’ll brush your hair,’ she said.

As she brushed my hair, I loved the feel of the brush and the gentle strokes. This was what I should have had when I was young but I had never had the chance. Someone to love and care for me was all I was after. Was I asking too much?

I didn’t know the answer to that, but I was happy that at least this Christmas my dream had come true.

Abby came in after a bit and I got into bed. They both came over and kissed me goodnight.

‘Thank you for having me and being so nice.’ I said.

‘It’s been nice for us too. Let’s hope that this is just the beginning,’ said Abby.

‘Oh, I know that they will come and get me soon, but I’ll never forget the wonderful time you have given me.’

Abby looked at Samantha and nodded slightly.

Samantha sat on the bed and took my hand.

‘Do you like it here?’ she asked.

‘Oh yes.’ I said.

‘Would you like to stay here, if we can wangle it?’

‘More than anything.’

‘Well, with Abby, me, Dotty Fairbairn and a large chunk of the cove behind us, do you think that we’d let a small thing like red tape get in the way? If you want to be with us and be part of our family, then we would love to have you.’

‘But you don’t really know me.’

‘For that matter, you don’t really know us, but you have a nice feeling about us and we have a nice feeling about you. Would you like to give it a try?’

‘Yes please!’

‘It might take a while and we may have to go through a number of hoops, but I am sure that we can sort this all out given time. But for now young lady, it’s time for sleep. Tomorrow you can try on your dress, but we have a problem, you need shoes, a bag and other accessories, so we will have to go shopping. Are you up for that?’

‘Oh yes! I replied enthusiastically. ‘but the roads might still be bad.’

‘That’s no problem, the weather is going to be clear, cold but with sunny skies. We’ll get Brian to warm up the copter and he can get us there in style.’

‘Copter?’

‘Yes, helicopter.’

‘You have one of those?’

‘Yes.’

‘Erm, that yacht, the big one. Abby, you said that it’s yours.’

‘That’s right dear,’

‘Blimey!’

They both laughed and then after another kiss they left me to sleep.

The door quietly closed and I shut my eyes. Everything was going around in my head but I was tired. Then I felt a movement and something jumped on my bed and settled down at the side of me. The purring was loud and the lick on the hand was recognisable. Cedric had come to sleep with me. I fell asleep to the gentle purr of the cat and looked forward to the next day and hopefully many more of them in Jellicle Cottage and wonderful Penmarris.

The Penmarris gang will be back in thew new year! Please leave comments and kudo thingies...thanks! ~Sue

If you are enjoying this story, The original Penmarris story - Changes Book 1 is now available on Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006NZFWG8 (US)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Changes-ebook/dp/B006NZFWG8/ref=sr_1... (UK)