CHAPTER ELEVEN

      ‘OH, MY GOODNESS, what are you doing here?’ Juliet squealed as she opened the door. She couldn’t have been more surprised...or happier. ‘Quickly come in from the cold!’

      ‘It was your father’s idea. He thought that we could help with Bea while you concentrate on the quads’ surgery.’ Her mother embraced Juliet, then stepped aside for her husband to do the same.

      ‘It’s a challenging surgery and we don’t want you worrying about picking up Bea from the crèche,’ her father chipped in as he carried one of the suitcases inside and then hugged his daughter warmly. He turned back for the other one still on the porch, then closed the door on the bitterly cold night air.

      ‘Or worrying if she gets a sniffle with the sudden change in climate,’ her mother added as she looked around the cosy sitting room of the cottage.

      ‘Oh, my God, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’

      ‘Because you would have said we were fussing—’

      ‘Which you are...but I’m very glad you like to fuss.’

      ‘And we missed you both terribly.’

      ‘It’s been less than a week.’

      ‘See what an only child has to suffer. Two parents who miss you after less than a week and follow you to the other side of the world,’ her father continued as he placed the second suitcase down. ‘So learn from us and give Bea some brothers or sisters in the future or she’ll be doomed to having a helicopter parent hovering around like us!’

      Juliet smiled. ‘If I’m half as good a parent as you two, then Bea will be a lucky girl.’

      ‘We are the lucky ones, Juliet. You make us both very proud.’ Her father hugged Juliet again and then stepped away a little as his eyes filled with tears of happiness.

      Juliet could see the emotion choking him and knew all three of them would be a mess if she didn’t change the subject. ‘So when did you decide to fly out? And how did you arrange it so quickly?’

      ‘We had passports so we just rang the travel agent. We’ve booked into a hotel nearby for tomorrow but they didn’t have a spare room tonight.’

      ‘You’ll do no such thing. There’s plenty of room here.’

      ‘We don’t want to put you out. We’ll just stay tonight if that’s okay. We can sleep on the sofa.’

      ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll stay here...now how long are you able to stay?’

      ‘Till you get sick of us,’ her mother replied.

      ‘Then you’ll be here for a long time,’ Juliet said. ‘What about a nice cup of tea?’

      ‘That would be lovely,’ her father said.

      ‘Well, actually, we’ve booked one of those river cruises through France and Spain,’ her mother added. ‘That’s the week after Christmas.’

      ‘I thought you had planned that for next July? You were going to enjoy summer in Europe. Leave the Australian winter behind and thaw out over here.’

      ‘That was our plan but we brought it forward. No point flying out twice. It’s a long way for two old people.’

      Juliet laughed. ‘Hardly old but you’ll be missing the sunshine on your cruise.’

      The three of them looked up as Bea came running down the hallway. ‘Grandma! Grandpa!’

      ‘Here comes all the sunshine we need,’ her father said.

      Juliet’s parents both dropped to the ground, her father a little more slowly due to the arthritis that plagued his knees. A group hug ensued with lots of kisses.

      ‘I knew Father Chrithmath was real,’ the little girl said with a toothy grin.

      ‘Of course Father Christmas is real, but why do you say that?’ Juliet asked as she looked at the three of them nestled together on the rug on the floor.

      ‘’Coth I asked him to bring Grandma and Grandpa here to play in the snow with me and have Christmath food and everything.’

      * * *

      ‘How did the surgery go for Kelly Lester?’ Juliet asked as they sat by the fire after settling into Bea’s room. Bea was happy to move in to Juliet’s room and sleep in the big bed and give her room to her grandparents. ‘I got your email that the procedure was successful but how is Kelly progressing post-operatively?’

      ‘Good, very good,’ her father answered as he reached for a homemade cookie. ‘She’s a strong woman, lots of family support and, although there will still be hurdles as to be expected with spina bifida, the chances have been greatly improved of the child walking by about the thirty-month mark, which I know was your prognosis. And we both know without surgical intervention the little boy would never have walked or really enjoyed a quality of life.’

      ‘Look at you two. Like peas in a pod,’ her mother said as she finished her second cup of tea.

      ‘You liked the tea, Grandma?’

      ‘Yes, I did, Bea.’

      ‘Would you like some more?’

      ‘No, thank you, sweetie. But what I would like is to hear about how you got that cast. Mummy rang and told us how it happened but it did sound very scary.’

      Momentarily distracted from her cup of hot chocolate, Bea looked at the cast intently. ‘I fell from the slide and broke my arm.’

      ‘Are you feeling better now?’ her grandfather asked as he lovingly watched his granddaughter.

      ‘Yeth, Charlie made my pink cast.’

      ‘It’s very pretty and has lots of beautiful drawings,’ her grandmother replied.

      ‘Yeth, my friendth drew them,’ Bea told them, then, pointing at the image of a sunflower, she continued. ‘Thith one is by Emma, my betht friend.’

      ‘Well, she’s very clever and I’m sure very nice.’

      ‘Charlie ith very nice too, and very tall. Like a building,’ Bea said as she jumped to her feet and stretched her hand up as high as possible. ‘He’th Mummy’th friend and he’th going to get us a Chrithmath tree. A really, really big one.’

      ‘Did Charlie offer to get a Christmas tree for the house?’ Juliet asked with a curious frown. He had not mentioned it to her.

      ‘Yeth, Mummy, he told me he would get a beautiful tree for uth.’

      Juliet’s parents looked at each other with a knowing smile.

      ‘Don’t