driveway, Ben’s Mercedes sighing to a halt, as if it had run out of breath. They didn’t get out of the car immediately, but seemed to be having a terse conversation, both their faces set rigid as they stared straight ahead.
Jo felt a prickle of unease, as she watched them from the doorway. She had had a strange feeling of foreboding since she woke up this morning and couldn’t put her finger on why.
She hoped she was imagining it, but Ben’s body language seemed different, as he finally got out of the car and opened Bella’s door, before helping her out.
Jo plastered a smile on her face as she swung open the door and waved. ‘Hello, you two! Happy Christmas!’
Ben grinned as they reached her and he bent down to kiss her on the cheek. ‘Hi, Mum, happy Christmas.’
‘And look at you!’ Jo beamed, motioning to Bella’s rounded stomach. ‘You’re cooking nicely.’
Bella’s face hardened as she offered her cold cheek to accept a kiss from Jo. ‘You make me sound like a bloody turkey!’
Jo looked at her in surprise. ‘Oh! Well you’re certainly the most glamorous turkey I’ve ever seen.’
There was an awkward pause as both Jo and Ben watched Bella to see if she would accept the compliment. ‘Right,’ she said eventually. ‘Are we standing out here all day or are we allowed to come in?’
Jo’s unease deepened. Why was Bella being so bloody prickly? She decided to blame the pregnancy hormones and gave what she knew was a fake laugh. ‘Of course! Come on through. Peter’s in the kitchen.’
Ben took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack in the hallway, before turning towards Bella and reaching out to take her coat. ‘Leave it!’ she snapped, slapping his hand away. ‘I’m cold.’ Jo caught Ben’s eye for a split second. There was a look of resignation there that she didn’t like one bit.
‘Look who’s here!’ she said brightly, as they reached the kitchen, where Peter was busy stirring his mulled wine on the Aga. He made it every year at Christmas and every year they all pretended to like it. The time had long since passed when they could tell him they all thought it was disgusting. At least the home-made mince pies went some way towards taking the taste away.
Peter wiped his hands on a tea towel and turned towards Ben and Bella. ‘Hello, you two. Happy Christmas!’
Jo watched with interest to see if Bella gave Peter the same prickly response but to her surprise, and annoyance, she moved into Peter’s arms and gazed up at him with a radiant smile. ‘Happy Christmas, Peter! That mulled wine smells divine … almost makes me wish I could drink it.’
Peter flushed and flicked Jo a panicked look, before clearing his throat. ‘Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that you can … I made it non-alcoholic this year, knowing that you didn’t drink.’
‘Did you? You didn’t say.’ Jo felt a sudden spike of anger towards Peter that took her by surprise.
But either Peter didn’t hear her or chose to ignore her, as he reached for one of the pewter goblets he had lined up on the pale granite work surface and poured Bella a generous serving. Bella took it with her eyes shining, as if he had handed her a goblet of solid gold. ‘How wonderful,’ she murmured, sipping it, gazing at Peter over the top of her glass. Jo watched her carefully, noting the slight blanch as she swallowed each mouthful, clearly detesting it but valiantly hiding her dislike from Peter.
‘Well,’ Jo clapped her hands a little too over-enthusiastically, ‘let’s go through and make ourselves comfortable, shall we? Bella, are you sure you won’t take off your coat?’
‘No.’ Bella didn’t look at Jo as she spoke. ‘I’d rather keep it on as I’m feeling a bit chilled.’ She glanced up at Peter with an apologetic smile.
‘Oh dear, I do hope you’re not sickening for something?’ Peter said, causing another ripple of annoyance to quiver through Jo’s chest. Peter was notoriously unsympathetic to anyone who was ill. Then she wondered if he was being sarcastic. She couldn’t tell.
‘Pregnancy’s not an illness, is it, Bella?’ Jo was aiming for a jokey tone, but her voice sounded sharp.
Bella raised her large eyes towards Jo with a hurt expression. ‘Um, no, I guess not.’
Ben looked at Jo with an accusing stare and she could feel a flush spreading up her neck. Why did she feel as if she was in the wrong when it was Bella who was being so offhand?
After an awkward silence, the four of them made their way through into the sitting room. Jo had spent days decorating the freshly cut Norwegian Spruce Christmas tree and trailing pretty lights and baubles around the large marble fireplace and along the picture rail, but no one seemed to notice or made any comment. With the fire lit and roaring, the room was cosy to the point of being too warm and Jo wondered if Bella might actually take her coat off at last, but instead, she pulled it around her tightly, wincing with an exaggerated grimace as she sat down gingerly on the plump grey sofa.
Ben’s forehead creased with concern. ‘Are you OK, darling?’
Bella threw him a brave smile. ‘Yes, I’m sure I’ll be fine.’
Jo took a couple of deep breaths, trying to dampen down the irritation that was still quivering through her chest. She wondered why she was the only one who could see that Bella’s behaviour was simply attention-seeking, rather than due to any kind of genuine discomfort.
‘What time is Emma getting here?’ Ben addressed the question to Peter.
Peter looked at his watch. ‘Any time now, I should imagine. I told her she should have hitched a lift with you two. Seems a bit crazy to bring two cars to do the same journey, especially as the roads are so icy.’
A look passed between Bella and Ben and Jo knew, without them saying so, that Emma would not have been offered a lift. She thought back to last Christmas, which suddenly seemed like a lifetime ago, and how much things had changed since then.
Emma and Ben had always been so close. Even when Ben was with Charlotte, his relationship with his older sister had remained strong. But since meeting Bella, there seemed to be a distance between them. Emma was as perplexed as Jo and the two of them had spent many hours discussing whether she might have done something to upset him.
Jo had never voiced it, but she knew instinctively that it was Bella who had a problem with Emma and that Ben was just going along with it for an easy life. She looked at Bella now, so beautiful and so charming when she chose to be. So cold and brittle when she didn’t. She wished she could shake off the heavy feeling of anxiety that had dogged her ever since they announced that she was pregnant and they were getting married.
Looking back, it was then that Ben had started to change towards them. Well, that wasn’t quite right. He had started to change towards Jo and Emma. He had become more distant and a little more formal. He seemed fine with Peter, which was ironic, considering it was Peter who had voiced his reservations about Bella and the speed of their relationship in the first place. But he had also changed in himself. He was becoming quieter and less confident, as if he was slowly but surely having the stuffing pulled out of him.
As if she sensed her watching, Bella suddenly turned her gaze towards Jo. Jo quickly rearranged her features into a smile but Bella’s large brown eyes narrowed and there was a glint
