“Daddy, I thought you were getting hot chocolate with me,” Leah chimed suddenly, her wide eyes fixing her father with a vacuous stare. 

Moving to lift his daughter into his arms, Robbie stated, “Mummy will get some hot chocolate with you, and when you get back I’ll make you some more, okay?” Helena raised her eyebrows slightly at the thought of her little girl having too much sugar, but she remained quiet and allowed Robbie to hug Leah to his chest before placing her down again.

“Are we ready, then?” Helena asked as Leah slipped her mitten-covered hand into hers. 

“I think so,” Elaine said, and turned to face Casey, “be good, okay?” The teenager rolled her eyes but allowed her mum to pull her into a hug before they vacated the kitchen to find Jonah with Miranda, Nicky and Paulie outside. 

“Mum, can I go in the car with Paulie and Miranda?” Nicky asked as he and Paulie smiled ridiculously angelically up at her in the hopes of winning her around to the idea.

“You’ll have to ask aunty Lainey,” Helena told him, “and what about Leah?” 

“I want to stay with you,” Leah told her, liking the idea of having the front seat and being in control of the radio.

“He can come in with us if he wants,” Elaine smiled, “come and strap in then.” 

The journey to the shopping centre was just over half an hour. Despite taking the same route, one car after the other, both journeys were very different. In one car, a frustrated couple tried to focus on the leading car ahead to navigate their way through the remote lanes and icy roads, all the while insisting that the excitable children in the back of the car calm down and stop kicking the backs of their chairs. In the other, a mother and her daughter sang as loudly and ridiculously as they could along to the songs that came on the radio, finally settling on a favourite of both of theirs and performing solo air guitar and drums. 

The shopping trip wasn’t the most pleasant experience, what with the shops swarming with people from the early sales, but the little family managed to grab what they came for without too much hassle, the children breaking into their own Christmas money for toys. The drive home couldn’t come soon enough, and after carrying bags through the crowded masses and still managing to not lose a child, the three adults were more than ready to leave the shopping centre. The drive was seemingly shorter than the first journey, and the two cars arrived back at the large manor house in good time. The children, instantly forgetting about the toys they had just purchased, ran for the snow-blanketed garden. “I’ll watch over them,” Jonah stated, running after the little group, though Elaine wouldn’t be surprised if he had offered to watch them if only to get out of carrying in the mountain of bags they had collected throughout the day.