Free A Merry Little Christmas by Julia Williams

pulled in too many directions at once.

Chapter Six
    ‘So, are you all prepared, Steven?’ said Marianne with a smile, as she prepared his breakfast while attempting to feed the twins their porridge. With one hand she was stirring scrambled eggs, and the other was shoving porridge into whichever baby had their mouth open at the time. She’d never known the meaning of the phrase multi-tasking until she became a mother.
    ‘How are you feeling?’ said Gabriel, giving his son an encouraging smile, as he put some bread in the toaster. Marianne had spent the last few weeks coaching Steven for his exam, and today was the big day.
    ‘Okay,’ said Steven. ‘My tummy feels a bit funny.’
    ‘That’s perfectly normal,’ said Marianne. ‘Everyone feels like that before tests.’
    ‘And all you can do is your best,’ said Gabriel.
    ‘What do you care, you don’t even want me to go!’ burst out Steven, before hunkering down at the table to eat his breakfast.
    Gabriel opened his mouth as if to say something, but Marianne shushed him. ‘Ignore it, he’s just nervous,’ she whispered.
    Marianne and Gabriel had both decided to go along with Steven, leaving the twins with Jean. Gabriel was worried that Eve and Darren would be there too.
    ‘They’re bound to wind him up, if they come,’ he had said to Marianne as they’d gone to bed last night.
    ‘Try not to think about it,’ said Marianne, but she knew Gabe was probably right. Eve had ‘wind-up’ hardwired into her system.
    While Jean was looking after the twins, Gabriel’s dad, David, was out on the fields of the day. Despite being officially retired, he frequently helped Gabriel and Dan out on the farm when he could.
    ‘Good luck, Steven, I’m sure you won’t need it,’ said Jean, managing to elicit the first smile from Steven of the day.
    They drove pretty much in silence the fifty miles or so to the small cathedral town of Middleminster, each alone with their thoughts. Gabe, Marianne knew, was feeling nervous for his son, but anxious about the future, and guilty for half wishing Steven wouldn’t get in.
    ‘I know I should want this for him,’ Gabriel had told her the previous night, ‘but I hate the thought of him being away from us. I hate the fact that I can’t seem to want what’s best for him.’
    ‘Whatever will be, will be,’ said Marianne. ‘Let’s just get him through the test first, and hope everything works out for the best.’
    She was still hoping that as they eventually arrived at Middleminster. Steven was a clever boy, and had done well in the practice tests she’d done with him. But she didn’t know how stiff the competition was, and he was very young. Nerves could let him down on the day.
    They entered the school via an impressively long drive, with sweeping views of frosty fields overlooking the pretty medieval town of Middleminster, and pulled up in front of an imposing redbrick Victorian building, where queues of small boys were lining up to go in for the exam.
    ‘Bloody hell,’ said Gabriel, looking in dismay at the numbers. ‘I’d no idea there would be so many of them taking the exam.’
    Eve, who’d clearly been waiting for them, leapt out of her car with Darren following behind, and ran up to Steven, and gave him a hug.
    ‘Go and knock ’em dead, kid,’ she said. ‘I know you can do it.’
    ‘See,
someone
will be pleased I get in,’ said Steven.
    Gabriel said, ‘Of course I’ll be pleased.’
    ‘So will we be,’ said Eve. ‘Darren will give you a BlackBerry when you pass.’
    Gabriel was about to protest, but Marianne nudged him as they saw the look on Steven’s face, so they both said nothing.
    ‘Thanks, Mum,’ Steven said, his face lighting up at the sight of her. Marianne felt sad, despite herself. No matter how many years she’d looked after Steven when his mum was unable to – she could never replace Eve. Not that she wanted to, but seeing how happy Steven was to be with his mum, she wondered if it