A Proper Family Christmas (25 page)

Jack too wanted to impress Izzy in particular and as soon as the Buchanans walked through the door, Jack was right there, grabbing Izzy by the hand, eager to show her the cardboard pyramid he had been making for a school project. Sophie rolled her eyes at her little brother’s enthusiasm, but Izzy said she would be delighted to see Jack’s masterpiece. And she did seem interested. She even watched a couple of Minecraft videos with him. It seemed like ages before Sophie could spirit Izzy off to her room, without Jack in tow.

‘He’s such a pain sometimes,’ said Sophie.

‘I’d love to have a little brother,’ said Izzy. She waited a beat. ‘I could use him for his kidneys.’

‘You’re nasty,’ said Sophie, with a laugh.

‘I’m only joking. He’s sweet, your brother. He cracks me up.’

‘You should try living with him
all
the time.’

‘I like what you’ve done with your room,’ said Izzy. ‘I got some silk scarves like that when we went to the Maldives, but Mum won’t let me put them up. I’m not allowed to mark the wallpaper.’

‘This wallpaper can only be improved by a few marks,’ said Sophie.

‘
True dat
,’ said Izzy.

They laughed. And Sophie was relieved to realise that it was a real laugh and not a cruel one. Izzy was laughing with her and not at her.

‘Isn’t it funny, me ending up in your room like this, after I was so vile to you back in May,’ said Izzy.

‘That was understandable. I think I’d have been the same if I’d found a stranger in my room. Especially if I had so much nice stuff.’

‘No. I was rude. And it is just stuff,’ said Izzy. ‘I’m starting to understand that now. All those times my mum said that you haven’t got anything if you haven’t got your health …’

‘Do all mums say that?’ Sophie asked. ‘Because mine says it too.’

‘Maybe it’s because they’re related. It’s true though isn’t it?’

Sophie nodded.

‘I’d give everything I own to have my kidneys working again. Everything.’

Both girls were silent for a moment.

Izzy fingered a little china dish that Sophie had brought back from Lanzarote. ‘This is pretty,’ she said.

‘You can have it,’ said Sophie quickly.

‘That wasn’t why I said it.’

‘I know. But you can have it. Think of it as me making up for all those years I missed your birthday. Cuz.’

‘Cuz!’ Izzy laughed. ‘Isn’t that just weird? There’s me kicking you out of my bedroom and less than six months later I’m in yours. Because we’re related.’

‘Yep. And because we’re friends,’ Sophie dared.

‘Definitely,’ Izzy agreed. ‘Mum didn’t want to meet you lot, you know. She was really strange about it. She said it was disloyal to Grandma Sarah and Granddad Humfrey, though Grandma’s totally fine with it and Granddad died a few years ago.’

‘I can understand that. They did bring her up.’

‘Yeah.’

‘I used to wish I was adopted,’ said Sophie. ‘So I could know for sure I wouldn’t turn out like my mum or dad.’

Izzy laughed. ‘I feel
exactly
the same.’

‘But your parents are really cool. And they’re rich.’

‘Yeah, well that brings its own issues. At least your parents let you be yourself. You don’t have to be constantly thinking about what the neighbours will say.’

‘Are you kidding? If you’d seen the way my mum has been this week. She cleaned the house on Monday and we haven’t been allowed to touch anything since then. It’s all because she wants to make an impression on your mum. You would think the Queen was coming to stay.’

‘Funnily enough,’ said Izzy, ‘that is what we call her. The Queen. Or HRH.’

As the girls were laughing about their mothers, they heard the tap of something hitting the window. They both peered out to see what was going on. Harrison Collerick was on the pavement below, straddling his BMX. He had tossed a little piece of gravel at the glass to see if he could get Sophie’s attention.

‘Who’s that?’ Izzy asked.

‘Oh God,’ said Sophie. ‘That’s my ex-boyfriend.’

Sophie and Harrison had called time on their ‘relationship’ just that week. In truth it was over the moment Sophie heard he got off with Skyler on the school trip to Berlin, but when school started again, Harrison had somehow wheedled his way back into Sophie’s affections. Until she heard that he’d been telling the other guys at school that he’d taken her virginity. He hadn’t. Sophie’s virginity was still very much there to be taken. By the right man.

Sophie dumped Harrison for being so unchivalrous but she had been wondering since whether she’d done the right thing. Even a hopeless boyfriend was surely better than none at all.

‘You went out with him?’ asked Izzy. ‘He looks about twelve.’

‘I’m afraid so,’ said Sophie.

‘Swipe left!’ said Izzy, referencing Tinder. ‘Seriously, Sophie. You can do so much better.’

Izzy’s disapproval was all it took for Harrison Collerick to fall from his pedestal once and for all. The poor boy could only gaze up at the window in vain as the two girls collapsed on to Sophie’s bed with the giggles.

‘Swipe left!’ Sophie echoed with glee. ‘You are so right!’

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ came the sound of Jack’s high-pitched voice from downstairs. ‘Dinner is served!’

‘I think he means lunch,’ said Sophie, blushing at her brother’s gauche mistake. Sophie had been reading up about etiquette online.

‘All the same to me,’ Izzy assured her.

After lunch – it did not escape Ronnie’s notice that Annabel hardly touched a thing – Annabel suggested that perhaps Sophie might like to show Izzy the neighbourhood. And perhaps they could take Jack and Leander with them? Leander had been waiting patiently in the Buchanans’ Porsche. He’d been brought along precisely with the purpose of currying favour with the Benson children. The girls groaned but Jack was over the moon at the prospect of walking the dog. Leander too was delighted and wagged his tail so hard as he was let out of the car that he almost managed to knock Jack over.

Sophie protested but only half-heartedly. She had the sense that Izzy’s mother wanted them out of the way for some important reason. So she told Ronnie that she would take Izzy, Jack and the dog over to the rec. But that she would not be doing any pooper-scooping.

‘I will!’ said Jack, full of enthusiasm.

Izzy and Sophie pulled disgusted faces at one another. Jack clearly had no real idea what pooper-scooping involved. But if he was happy to do it … There were few other perks to having a little brother in tow.

The dog-walking team departed, watched from Sophie’s bedroom window by Fishy the furious cat, leaving only the adults round the table and Granddad Bill dozing in his chair in front of the television. Everyone was relieved that he’d made it through lunch without resorting to burping out a popular song.

While Jacqui and Mark cleared the table, Ronnie made coffee using the most expensive ground coffee Sainsbury’s had to offer in the machine she had received as a wedding present. Mark had complained bitterly when she refused to let him try even the smallest cup until the Buchanans had been. Soon he would complain bitterly that it hadn’t been worth the wait. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as the instant they used to drink. But Richard and Annabel seemed to like it. And they both dipped into the box of After Eights that had been in the cupboard since Christmas. Thank goodness Richard only came out with one empty paper sachet before he found one that still had a chocolate inside.

‘Everybody does it,’ he assured Ronnie when she started to apologise.

‘I know it was you, Mark,’ Ronnie glared. ‘How many times have I told you not to put the empties back—’

‘Ronnie and Mark,’ Richard interrupted. ‘We just want to thank you for having us here to lunch today. We’ve been overwhelmed by how keen you’ve all been to welcome us into your family.’

‘Well, you
are
family,’ said Jacqui at once.

‘Thank you, Jacqui,’ said Richard. Annabel lifted the corners of her mouth in a smile that seemed to agree. ‘It means more to us than you can possibly imagine.’

Jacqui beamed.

‘We’ve told you about Izzy and what happened at the festival,’ Richard continued. ‘I know she probably seems relatively well to you at the moment but it’s hard to describe just how different she is from the daughter we knew this time last year. The dialysis has been really tough on her. She’s got next to no energy and the whole thing has really taken its toll on her moods. She can’t go to school and she misses her friends. It’s been lovely to see how quickly she’s clicked with Sophie.’

‘Sophie’s a good girl,’ Jacqui said.

‘She certainly is. She’s so bright and full of life. She’s got a great future ahead of her. I’ve got no doubt about that. She could get into any university she wanted to and take the world by storm.’

Ronnie nodded. ‘I’m sure she will.’

‘The world is Sophie’s oyster. And that’s what we wanted for Izzy. That was what we all expected for her until the festival happened. Now everything’s changed and we have had to start living from day to day, week to week. Izzy’s condition is not going to improve. The consultant has been quite clear on that. In fact, it is likely to deteriorate. With the sort of energy levels Izzy has right now, there’s no way she can finish her A levels, let alone think about going to university. And dialysis brings its own issues. The side effects are not insignificant. Her life is on hold.’

Jacqui blinked away a tear.

‘The only chance she has of living the life that she wished for … The sort of life that she and Sophie both deserve …’ Richard paused. ‘Is if she gets a transplant.’

‘She’s on the list, isn’t she?’ said Ronnie.

‘Of course,’ said Annabel. ‘But the average waiting time on the transplant list is two years. If you’re waiting for a transplant from a stranger, that is.’

Annabel let her last sentence hang in the air for a moment to give the Bensons a chance to fill in the gaps before she had to make her request explicit. No one said anything. Annabel looked down at the table.

‘Look,’ said Richard. ‘There’s no easy way to say this. We’ve come here today to ask you an enormous favour. Izzy has much more chance of getting the transplant she needs if it comes from a live donor. And she has much more chance of that live donor being a good match if they’re a member of her family. And that now includes you.’

Richard waved his hand to indicate everyone present at the table.

‘Of course, Annabel and I tested as potential donors right away. As did Annabel’s mother. But unfortunately, none of us is able to give Izzy a kidney right now.’

‘But if you and Annabel aren’t matches, then how can we be?’ Ronnie asked.

Annabel interrupted. ‘What Richard says doesn’t entirely explain what’s been going on. Richard can’t donate because of his high blood pressure. The operation and its aftermath are too big a risk to his health. And I might well be a good match but I can’t donate for the foreseeable future.’

‘Why not?’ asked Ronnie.

‘Because I’m pregnant.’

‘You’re never …’ said Ronnie. ‘But you’re …’

‘Forty-three, I know.’

‘Oh!’ Jacqui couldn’t hide her delight. She clapped her hands together.

‘The baby is due in January, by which time Izzy will have been on dialysis for seven months. Every month that passes she gets a little less resilient. A little more ill.’

‘A baby!’ Jacqui was still stuck on that point.

‘So we’d like you to think about testing for us. We need you to,’ Annabel added. ‘We know it’s a lot to ask … After all, until a couple of months ago, we were complete strangers. But now, as you said, dear Jacqui, we’re family. And we’re hoping that counts for a lot.’

Just then Sophie and Izzy came back with the dog. Jack, who had clung on to Leander’s lead all the way round the block, was red-faced with exertion. Despite attending several expensive dog-training courses, Leander had yet to learn to walk to heel. The adults fell silent as the children came back into the house with Leander at the fore. Jack filled the void with excited chatter, of course. He wanted everyone to know that Leander actually sat to command.
His
command. He tried to make Leander do it again, to no avail.

‘I don’t think Leander should be in the house, Jack,’ said Richard. ‘What about your cat?’

Leander’s ears pricked up at the word ‘cat’. He rarely seemed to understand ‘sit’, ‘heel’ or ‘stay’ but ‘cat’ was a word he always responded to. And unfortunately, Fishy chose that very moment to venture down from Sophie’s bedroom and poke her delicate nose round the dining-room door.

Jack had no hope of holding on to Leander. Richard and Annabel’s yelled commands were in vain. Leander was off like a rocket after Fishy, who fled upstairs faster than anyone had ever seen her move in her entire pampered life. While the humans were still gathering themselves in the dining room, they heard the chaos whirl around upstairs as Leander chased Fishy from room to room, barking like a hound straight from hell.

By the time Richard got upstairs and was able to grab hold of Leander’s lead, Fishy was clinging to the top of the curtains in Ronnie and Mark’s bedroom. This was a room Ronnie had hoped the Buchanans would never see, with its half-stripped wallpaper (Mark had started decorating two years before but didn’t get any further than taking the paper off one wall). The bed was piled high with the crap that usually lived in the hallway. The clothes Ronnie had discarded the previous night – including her saggy old bra – were still draped across the dressing table. And now Fishy was shitting all over the Laura Ashley curtains, which had been an extravagance even in the sale.

‘I’m so, so sorry,’ said Richard, taking Leander firmly by the collar and yanking him out of the room. ‘Of course, we’ll do whatever needs to be done to sort out the damage.’

Meanwhile, the curtain pole finally gave in beneath Fishy’s weight.

After that excitement, Annabel announced that it was probably time for the Buchanans to be heading home. Nobody, not even Jack, protested.

‘Did you ask them?’ asked Izzy as soon as they were out of sight of Ronnie and Mark’s house.