She also wore a Christmas jumper but hers wasn’t as long as Elsie’s; it just brushed the waistband of her jeans. It was bottle-green with a white Christmas tree decorated with softly flashing, multi-coloured lights.
Something else she and Elsie had in common. I felt drab in comparison with my jeans and plain navy-blue jumper. And my strawberry blonde hair was all one colour.
‘This is your distant cousin, Josie,’ Elsie said, smiling somewhat sheepishly at Josie and then at me. ‘Josephine Parnell. I’m sure I’ve told you about her and Diana, and I know Lydia would’ve mentioned the Parnell twins.’
Josie was more stunned by this meeting than I was.
‘My distant cousin? What cousin? How?’
‘Oh.’ Elsie shrugged. ‘Didn’t Tibby mention Lottie to you? Charlotte Short?’
‘No. Mum never mentioned either a Lottie or a Charlotte Short. How are we cousins, exactly? And why the distant bit? Is Lottie from your husband’s side of the family? And who is Lydia?’
She turned her attention to Elsie but she did give me a friendly smile.
‘Yes. Yes she is. Lydia was my husband Eric’s older sister.’
‘And my mum,’ I added. ‘Hi, Josie. It’s good to finally meet you. Mum did mention you and Diana and I don’t know why we’ve never met. Tibby’s your mum, isn’t she? I wonder why she didn’t tell you and your sister about me?’
‘Well,’ Elsie said, clearing her throat and beaming at both of us. ‘All that matters is that you have met now. Take a seat honey bee and I’ll get you some hot chocolate. I know I don’t need to tell you to help yourself to a mince pie. But where are my manners? You haven’t met Merry. And we all know how much you love dogs.’
Elsie laughed as she patted Josie’s hand and pointed to Merry who clearly wasn’t curious enough to get up from the rug and the warmth of the fire to go and investigate this new person. Come to that, Josie didn’t seem that keen on going to introduce herself to my dog, either.
‘You’re a dog-lover?’ I doubted that from the expression on her face.
Josie laughed and shook her head as Elsie walked away.
‘Not exactly. I don’t dislike them. It’s just that my sister’s dog, Henry and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. Well, we did. Now I think he likes me and I’ve fallen for him in a big way, but I’m not good at looking after living things.’
‘Liam and Orla will disagree with you on that,’ Elsie called out from the kitchen. ‘And Henry loves you now, as much as you love him.’
Josie smiled and her eyes lit up with love. She let out a wistful sigh.
‘Liam’s my boyfriend and Orla’s his daughter.’ She flopped onto the sofa opposite. ‘He’s a widower and he’s wonderful. We’ve been together since the summer. Since August. Since my birthday, in fact. Although we sort of got together a bit before that. In a way.’ Her smile broadened considerably, as if a special memory had popped into her head and then a second or so later she seemed to snap out of her dream-like state. ‘So you and I are distant cousins? Wow! I honestly had no idea you existed until just now. Sorry. Do you live abroad? Are you here for Christmas? Are you staying with Elsie? She didn’t tell us you were coming.’
I smiled at her. I liked her so far.
‘I live in Reading, so not that far away. And although Mum and Dad did tell me you and Diana were my cousins-in-law they didn’t mention you much. I got the impression that my mum and yours weren’t at all close. I know they never even exchanged as much as a Christmas card. I asked once if there had been some sort of family rift but Mum said there hadn’t. It was simply that the two families had never really spent any time together. Which is a bit odd seeing as Elsie was married to my mum’s younger brother, whom Mum adored. Mum had definitely met your mum, but I think that, after my uncle Eric died, Elsie sort of drifted away from us. We’re related by marriage, not by blood and I think that makes a difference.’
‘I suppose it must have.’ Josie looked thoughtful. ‘It’s odd though, isn’t it? I mean, Mum did tell Diana and me about Uncle Eric but she never mentioned he had a sister or that his sister had a daughter. He died when we were about one or so, and Elsie hardly ever talks about him. Perhaps his death hit her harder than we knew and that’s why she drifted away from you. Perhaps your mum was a reminder of what Elsie had lost?’
I got the distinct impression Josie was trying to convince herself of something as a way of understanding the situation. I’d never really questioned it myself until now. Was that why Elsie kept away from us?
I scanned the room but there wasn’t one photo of Uncle Eric. Not one. Not even a wedding photo of his and Elsie’s Big Day. My mum had loads of photos of Eric, including two from Elsie and Eric’s wedding.
‘Maybe,’ I said.
And now I wanted to know. To understand why I’d hardly ever seen Elsie in spite of the fact that Mum and Dad adored her. And I must confess, I was a little surprised that Mum had told me about Diana and Josie but Elsie and Tabitha hadn’t told them about me.
‘Wait until I tell Diana,’ Josie said, getting out her phone and texting, a huge grin on her face. ‘She’ll be down here faster than the speed of light.’
Elsie returned with Josie’s hot chocolate. Josie smiled and took a large swig. Either Elsie hadn’t laced hers with alcohol or Josie hadn’t noticed.
‘Are you getting to know one another?’ Elsie said, resuming her seat on the sofa.
Josie leant towards her and I foolishly envied the close bond they clearly shared.
‘Yep. And Diana should be here any minute because I’ve just texted her and told her there is someone here she has to meet. Oh.’ She suddenly seemed flustered. ‘But I wanted to tell you something.’ She glanced at me and back at Elsie.
‘Would you like some privacy?’ I asked. ‘I can go outside for a while, if you like.’
‘Go outside?’ Elsie repeated. ‘That’s not necessary, surely?’
Josie only needed a second before she smiled and shook her head.
‘No. There’s no need for that. You’re family, even if it is just by marriage, so you’re going to hear all about this soon anyway. But I’d better quickly fill you in before Diana gets here. Did you know Diana was married?’
‘Yes. To Alex Dunn. A surgeon, I believe. But that’s all I know other than they have two kids.’
‘That’s right. I’ll have to tell you the long and detailed story another time but here’s the short version. We’ve known Alex since we were kids. Di and Alex married when they were still in their teens. He’s a bit of a shit though and he’s cheated on her for most of their married life, but she adored him. Until this summer. She finally came to her senses after falling for someone else. At least we all hoped she had. The guy who owns the local pub, as it happens. And a nightclub and restaurant. But that’s not important. Alex idolised his mum, Bernice and she only had to tell him to do something and he did it. She died last week and Alex is devastated.’ She glanced at Elsie.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I arrived yesterday as the funeral was about to start. Lilith told me whose funeral it was and I must admit I was surprised. Especially because Aunt Elsie hadn’t mentioned Bernice’s passing, in her letter, or her note to me.’