Page 93 of A Spot of Tea and Sorcery: Vol. 6

“Lunaloo!” Bryony Braithwait’s voice burst upon the scene, and a vision of magenta curls bustled her way through the crowd, dragging a stoutish man by the suspender strap behind her.

“Hullo, Bryony! Hullo, JoeJoe!” Luna saluted her former roommate with a sideways hug, keeping the baby angled so she couldn’t grab at dangling earrings or brightly-colored locks. “Merry Green Yule!”

“Merry is right!” Bryony declared and flashed her ring finger, where something large and gaudy glittered. “Or should I say,marry?Would you believe it? JoeJoe popped the question at last!”

“Oh, Bryony!” Luna hugged her again, squeezing tightly. “I’m so happy for you!”

“I know, I shall be quite an old married woman like yourself by this time next year. But tonight, I mean to dance!” So saying, Bryony grabbed her fellow and dragged him to the dance floor, declaring, “Let’s show these fools how it’s done!” She then proceeded to do just that, with or without JoeJoe’s help. He mostly stood by and admired while his fiancée did her thing. Which she did. With tremendous enthusiasm. Nigel rather wished she might save some of that enthusiasm forafterthe children had gone to bed, but, well, that was Bryony for you.

He reached his wife at last through the throng. She’d taken up residence behind the counter for a little breathing space, andhe joined her there. First claiming the baby from her arms, he then slipped a hand around her waist and drew her to him. Luna rested her head on his shoulder and sighed happily. “No Uncle Fabian tonight?” she queried.

Nigel shook his head. “He’s off to the Phrigidos Isles again, like he does every Green Yule. Seems he just can’t get enough of that whale blubber after all.”

She giggled. And his heart turned over and burst into a cloud of bubbles. Like it always did when she giggled like that.

“And no Ward the Wardsman?” Nigel observed after a little while, noting another absence in the throng.

“Edwina is taking him home to meet her folks for the holiday,” Luna replied promptly.

“Poor Edwina’s folks.”

“Oh, stop!” Luna smacked him in the shoulder. “Ward is a perfectly respectable man. Do you know he made captain recently? He’s much better than the chaps Edwina usually strings along. I think they’ll be very happy.”

Nigel suspected they probably would be. For about two more months. He wouldn’t bet on it lasting much longer than that. Ward never did seem to find anyone who could make him settle down. As far as Nigel knew, he’d not been serious about a girl since proposing to Luna seven years go. But then, how could Ward be expected to recover from such a loss?

Nigel’s arm tightened a little more firmly around his wife. She looked up at him, one eyebrow lifting. “What are you smirking about?”

“I’m not smirking.”

“You most definitely are.”

“I’ve never smirked in my life.”

“Then what is that smug expression I see wreathing your handsome face?”

“The glow of seasonal goodwill?”

She nestled her head back against his shoulder. “You’re smirking.”

He was. But he didn’t really care. And he certainly didn’t plan to stop.

They watched the party for a little while, smiling and nodding and calling out occasional greetings. “Where are the children?” Luna asked after a bit.

Nigel pointed out Loni, who sat with the aunties at their table, Debbie still perched on her head. She appeared to be sipping milk from a sherry glass.

“And Alfie is ‘cooking with gas,’ along with the young countess-to-be, I think,” Nigel said, pointing out his son, who was flailing around on the dance floor with the Countess Claudine’s oldest girl.

“That boy’s got moves,” Luna said and grinned up at him. “Just like his daddy.”

“Green Mother help him,” Nigel murmured.

The song finished, and the portable radio sputtered momentarily, thaumatic wavelengths disrupted. Suella gave it a sound hit with her fist, and it came back on with a blast of the all-too familiar strains:

“Oh, love! Like a rose in the rain!

Each petal a sigh, each thorn a sweet pain!”

Great cries of protest went up among the party-goers. “Notthatold song!” Alfie groaned.