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Once Tess gratefully went up to bed I finished clearing up the mess and started preparations for tomorrow’s breakfast. After that, I sat down to write my observations on the Christmas dinner. I noted my appreciation of Mr. Thanos’s landlady’s pear crumble—I would have to ask her for the recipe.

I did not use the new notebook Joanna had given me for any of this. That was already safely set aside with my cookbooks in the housekeeper’s parlor.

As the house grew quiet, and Christmas Day slipped away for another year, Daniel arrived.

“There is no more pudding, I’m afraid,” I said as I shut the door while Daniel hung up his coat.

“Ah well.” Daniel approached the table, but he did not sit. “In spite of your suspicion that I come here only for your food, this time, I am delivering a gift.”

I burned with curiosity about it but pretended not to as I filled the teapot and returned the kettle to the stove. “There is no need for that.”

“It is not a matter of obligation.” Daniel’s smile stirred something inside me.

“Nor for me, but I have one for you anyway.” I reached for the bag I’d set safely beside the kitchen dresser and shook out a jacket I’d found at the secondhand shop where I’d purchased James’s hat.

Daniel was ever patching the sleeves of coats. This one was of tweed, whole, and well-tailored. A gent must have tired of it and given it to his valet, who’d taken the jacket to the secondhand shop when he’d finished with it.

Daniel’s amusement fell away. “Kat, this is a fine gift. Too fine for the likes of a deliveryman.”

“It did have a few tears here and there, but I mended them,” I said, flushing for some reason. “You can always wear it when you pretend to be a City gent.”

“No, indeed. I will treasure it too much to waste it on a disguise. You will see me in it only when I am myself.” Daniel’s voice went soft. “This was kind of you.”

I shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “I’d not have found it at all if I hadn’t been looking for something for James.”

“I was an afterthought. I see.” Daniel’s twinkling eyes told me he did not believe that. He set the coat aside and removed a small, paper-wrapped package from his pocket. “For you, my lady. A trifle that I hope you like.”

I unwrapped it quickly, not bothering to hide my eagerness. When I saw what lay on the paper I’d torn apart, I stilled, the breath going out of me.

A pretty porcelain frame about two inches by three encased a sketch, done in colored pencils, of Grace. The artist had caught her liveliness, her beautiful smile with its hint of cheekiness, and the brilliant blue of her eyes.

My mouth hung open, and for once, I was speechless. I stared at the picture until it blurred, and a few tears spilled from my eyes.

Daniel was next to me, his warm breath on my cheek. “Presumptuous of me, I know, but I thought it would please you.”

He sounded worried that I wouldn’t like it. I turned to him, pressing the little sketch to my heart. “Of course, it pleases me. It pleases me to no end.” I sniffled and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “Who drew this?”

“James. He’s quite good at sketching. I asked Grace if she would like to sit for a portrait for you, and she was most happy to. The three of us had the devil of a time keeping it secret.”

“Oh, Daniel.” My arms went around him while I continued to clutch the picture. “You wonderful, wonderful man.”

He knew my heart, did Daniel. Knew it better sometimes than I did myself.

Daniel eased the sketch from me and set it on the table so I would not break the porcelain frame. “And here’s me, wishing I’d remembered a sprig of mistletoe.”

“We don’t need mistletoe, my dear, dear friend.”

Daniel’s smile made every anxiety I’d experienced about Christmas dinner, Mrs. Bywater and my post, and Mr. Whitaker and family melt away like frost in the spring sunshine.

I pulled him to me and raised my lips to his, showing him without words how much he, and his gift, meant to me.

“Happy Christmas, Mrs. Holloway,” Daniel whispered when the kiss eased to an end.

I touched his cheek. “Happy Christmas, Mr. McAdam.”

We studied each other a long moment, and then demonstrated once more that mistletoe was in no way needed at all.