Page 22 of So This is Christmas

SOPHIE

When Sophie woke it was to grey skies. In the kitchen area of her apartment she poured some cereal into a bowl followed by the milk and took her breakfast over to the sofa to eat there.

She hadn’t stayed too long with Walter yesterday, not after Jennie and Nick showed up, anyway. It had been obvious that Jennie wasn’t going to budge until Sophie did. She was suspicious as hell and if there was one thing Sophie hated it was not being given the benefit of the doubt.

She’d slept well last night and she knew that was probably down to having told Walter about Bea. She didn’t have the dread of breaking the news any more. The fact that Greta had gone too was incredibly sad, but Walter had Jennie and Nick, his family, and he was going to be okay.

She finished her breakfast and took a shower.

Her thoughts fell to Bea as they so often did.

Bea had been confused, increasingly so towards the end, and the hotel ownership mix-up was totally understandable.

The Wynters had invested in rooms at the Wynter Hotel so the word owned would’ve come up, and come on, the same surname as the hotel? Anyone could’ve made the same mistake.

While she was drying her hair she thought about the other person at Walter’s apartment yesterday, aside from Walter and Jennie.

Nick Wynter. The man dressed in a smart, well-pressed suit had an air of seriousness until he smiled and it brought him right back down to earth.

While Jennie was cold and distrustful, Nick was warm and friendly, so at least she’d felt partially welcome.

When Nick had reiterated how much Greta and Bea had wanted to get her here to Vienna, it had reinforced her sense that both women had cared very much.

And it made her feel a part of something very special.

As she dressed, she wondered how many more times she’d get to see Walter, given Jennie’s attitude towards her.

Walter had told her to visit again soon, and as she pulled out her jeans from the bottom of her suitcase, debating whether she could really do that, she found the comfort teddy she’d knitted hidden beneath. She’d forgotten all about him.

The decision was made. She wanted to see Walter again and this would be the perfect excuse. If nothing else, she’d pass the teddy on to him to add to the collection for the hospital that he and Greta had worked on every year.

* * *

Walter’s smile when he opened the door to his apartment matched the sun that had finally decided to grace the skies of Vienna. ‘Sophie, I’m glad you came back.’

‘Is it all right that I’m here?’

‘Of course it is. I hoped you would come. Despite our Jennie.’

She paused midway, removing her scarf as she stepped inside. ‘I got the impression she’s rather wary of me.’

‘She’s protective, that’s all.’ He took her hat from her while she removed her coat. ‘I’m sorry she didn’t come across as very welcoming.’

Sophie hung her coat on the hook beside the front door. ‘I don’t want to step on any toes by being here.’

‘Nonsense. You’re not. Now, Nick polished off the fruitcake yesterday but I can offer you biscuits with your tea.’

She followed him along the hallway, briefly looking to the right and into the lounge, the beautiful Christmas tree in place, the stockings hung above the fire. The feeling of home wasn’t lost on her even though it wasn’t hers and this wasn’t her family.

She pushed away the pang of longing as they went into the kitchen. ‘I would say I’ve only just had my breakfast and I’m not hungry, but I think all this walking is giving me an appetite.’

He picked up a paper bag and brought it over. ‘These were Greta’s favourite.’

Sophie reached in and lifted out a star-shaped biscuit. ‘These look delicious.’

‘They’re chocolate drizzle butter cookies and they’re every bit as good as they look.’ He proffered the bag again. ‘Take another.’

‘I’ll have this one first.’ She began to relax. She didn’t want to toot her own horn, but she was positive he was happy to see her and this was about Walter, it wasn’t about Jennie and the way she felt.

Walter insisted on making the tea and Sophie felt guilty she was just sitting here. She didn’t want to be waited on hand and foot but he clearly enjoyed company and wanted to host.

‘Gretchen, the lady who lives in the apartment above, works at a local bakery,’ he explained as the kettle began to boil.

‘She brings me a bag of those biscuits once a week. They’re only ten euros – cheaper than if you buy them at the shop – but I felt terrible as I didn’t have any cash to pay her.

She says she’ll collect it next week, that it’s fine, but I hate being a burden. ’

‘It sounds like she knows you well so she wouldn’t mind.’

‘She’s known Greta and me since we bought this place. With similar names she accidentally took letters meant for Greta more than once.’ He finished making the tea and brought the mugs over to the table.

‘Easy mistake, I’m sure.’

He looked around as if reminding himself of the apartment’s beauty with its big window bringing in the light, the high ceilings giving the feeling of space.

‘When Greta died Gretchen brought me food for a week until I had to ask her to stop. Great big meals, she was making. She raised three strapping sons, tall as lamp posts. I’ve bumped into them when they’ve visited.

I think she assumes my appetite matches theirs. ’

Sophie accepted the offer of a second biscuit. ‘These are moreish.’

‘They are. Moreish .’ He said the word like it tickled him. Maybe it wasn’t one he ever used. ‘Nick likes them too.’

‘I’m sure he does.’ Oh no, was Walter trying to pick up the matchmaking where Bea and Greta had left off?

‘He was fine with you being here,’ said Walter.

‘I’m glad.’ She caught a crumb in her hand as it broke off her biscuit. ‘Oh, I almost forgot, the reason why I came apart from to say hello.’ She popped the rest of the biscuit into her mouth, leant down and pulled out the comfort teddy from her bag. ‘For you.’

‘Did you make this?’

‘I did. What do you think?’

‘It’s wonderful. Come on, let me show you the other teddies me and Greta made.’

In a smaller room, Sophie was greeted with a whole collection of bears.

‘This is a fraction of the number we usually have,’ he explained, picking one or two up as if to say hello.

‘Well, now you have one more.’ She reached over and put her bear next to another and fashioned their arms so they were hugging. ‘He looks happy here.’

‘Sophie, you are an angel.’

‘Is that the box to put them all in?’ She looked at the made-up cardboard box waiting beside the wall next to the bears.

‘Nick brought it over this morning. It’s not as big as usual, but there won’t be anywhere near as many teddies as there have been in previous years.’

‘I’m sure every teddy will help. You take them to the hospital, don’t you?’

‘Every year, right before Christmas. I feel terrible that I won’t be delivering our usual quota.’

‘Don’t feel guilty. I’m sure the hospital will be grateful for whatever donations they receive.’

‘Greta and I worked on them right up until she died. Look, the one on the far right hasn’t even been stuffed. I’m afraid I lost my momentum. And I ran out of stuffing and wool.’

‘That would definitely halt progress.’

‘I have stuffing coming with a wool delivery today.’ His face fell. ‘Dear me, first the biscuits, now the wool. Oh, I’m all over the place.’ Before he left the room he said to Sophie, ‘I must get to the bank, I need to get some cash out. But the delivery might come. Oh, I don’t know what to do.’

Sophie took his arm and they went back into the kitchen where she waited for him to sit down and then she made them both another cup of tea.

‘How much do you need?’ she asked as she took two steaming mugs of tea over to the table. ‘I have some cash.’

‘I won’t take money from you, Sophie.’

‘So it’ll be a loan then.’

‘I need 200 euros.’

Sophie drew in her breath. ‘I don’t have that much, I’m afraid. And do you really want to pay this person in cash? I’m surprised they take it.’

‘They’d rather not. But I’ve been into their shop enough times. Before Greta died we used to go in together. They trust me. They don’t even make me leave a deposit, they just collect the cash on delivery.’

‘Well, it might be easier all round if you managed to do it a different way.’

‘I’m not much good at doing my banking online, if that’s what you mean. Jennie keeps trying to show me. I have online access, I’m just not much good at using it. Greta and I were great believers in using the bank’s facilities so that it wouldn’t close down like so many are doing these days.’

‘I understand that.’

‘But doing it at home would be better now I’m not allowed outside.’

‘What do you mean, you’re not allowed outside?’

‘I’m exaggerating, but Jennie and Nick – particularly Jennie – fuss over me. I think she’s worried about losing me too.’

‘I’m sure she is.’

‘They want me to have a home help. They think I need someone to come in each day, help with my cleaning, cooking, make sure I don’t overdo it.

They want someone who can go out with me when I want to venture anywhere like the bank.

I got told off, you know, for posting the Christmas letter.

Jennie told me I should’ve waited for her.

But she is busy working, I can’t rely on her and Nick all the time.

And I’m not so wobbly I need a walking frame.

I made sure I stayed close to the walls and the shops, not the road. ’

‘They worry about you.’

‘Well, I haven’t met anyone good enough for the job. I thought you were yet another one they’d sent when you buzzed my doorbell yesterday.’

She smiled. ‘That explains the less than warm greeting over the intercom.’

‘Yes, I suppose it does rather.’ He paused in thought but then his face brightened. ‘Maybe you could be my home help. You’re much friendlier than any of the others, and younger, with a bit of spirit about you.’