Jen's Christmas Nightmare

"And has he done that since on other dates?"

"No, not since that night, and it wasn't really a date, just a group of students getting together to make friends. I warned him that I would slap him hard if he did that once more and he wouldn't see me again. When I'm ready to be touched there, I told him, I'll say so and only when I indicate very clearly that I want him to touch me wherever. I will give him permission to, you know, touch me there when I'm comfortable with it but it will never be on a club dance floor in public and front of my new friends who I've only just met at Uni."

"If he's stopped grabbing your arse, well, maybe he was just nervous on his first chance to dance with a very beautiful girl and unsure of what your boundaries were, Steph. If he now knows and has accepted what your boundaries are and he continues to respect them, well, maybe he's really a good kid who was just a bit nervous and lost the plot for a moment."

"Yeah, maybe. He just so confident rather than nervous ... well, he makes me nervous."

"Fearful nervous, apprehensive nervous, keeping you on edge nervous?"

"Yes, on edge nervous. I mean, not really fearful, Jen. I'm not afraid of him, you know, like thinking that he might attack me or hurt me or something like that, but I do feel that he has a plan, you know, that he is working to an agenda of his own making."

I laughed, "Well, I guess his plan is the same as any red-bloodied teenage male in his first weeks away from home at college, to get down and dirty with the hottest girl in the class of 2020."

"Yeah, that's his plan, I suppose. So far we have only gone out in groups and l've avoided going on single dates with him. This sort of counts our first real date. Going away though, is another issue."

"But you are dating a a couple together, even if you're in groups?"

"Yes, and he tells me he regards us as exclusive, says he's not interested in dating anyone else and I agreed that I would not be seeing anyone else. All, and I mean literally all, the girls in my dorm and class group agree he's a total hunk and he's told any girls expressing an interest in him that he's exclusively mine. Now that we're in second lockdown, all the college lectures, not just most of them, will now be online, although the college library remains open, the public library, pubs, cinemas, restaurants and clubs are all closed, so we can't go anywhere, especially not taking him home to Mum and Dad's and I'm not really ready to be alone with him at Shane's apartment."

"Only you can judge when you're ready to be alone with him Sis. Just play it by ear, explain your reasons for your precautions to him if he gets impatient, that you are not yet ready to move your relationship on another notch until you know you're ready. If he respects you, he will respect your wishes and be patient. Anyway, we have six cabins at the NP, you will have your own lockable bedroom in a three-bed with your Dad and Mum and Shane will have the third bedroom on his own."

I served up the plates for our meal, putting the pots and pans on the side for clean up later and carefully checked that the oven and all the burners were off before Stephanie and I carried the food through to the dining room, calling out for Junior to join us.

Junior had anticipated the dinner being ready when I said it might be and was already there, pouring a glass of wine for Steph and I. Shane had a bottle of light lager with the top off and Junior poured himself a glass of sparkling water, because he never drinks and drives, and he needed to be able to take the youngsters home at the end of the long evening.

Once we'd started eating and exchanged pleasantries about how good the food tasted, I asked Shane where he was from and about his interests and ambitions.

"My father was in the military during most of my early childhood, so we never settled and travelled a lot. Then, once he retired, he worked as an executive with an international consortium and again we weren't permanently based anywhere, settling only a year or two at the most in any one place. Eventually he settled down with a senior job at the HQ in London and we lived in Richmond, Middlesex, oh for the last five years or so now."

"So what brought you to our university town?" I asked.

"Football is the short answer. My main interest outside of my studies of Sports and Exercise Science, which is my degree course, is my love of playing football. Because I moved around so much I never really got opportunities to settle with a school team or had chances to be scouted and train as a goalkeeper with any of the professional clubs, but our university first football team play in the second highest student league in the country, they run five teams, to a high amateur standard and the third team coach happens to be one of my goalkeeping heroes and, although I have been playing with the first team in the first four games this season, my specialist goalkeeping training, along with all the other teams' keepers, is with my hero."

"I've seen Shane play in goal twice, he's very agile and he kept a clean sheet both times."

"Actually, I've played four games for the Uni so far and we do have one of the best sides in our league, having scored seven and conceded one, but I let in four goals when we played Leicester University's first team in a cup game. They were a seriously good team, made our defence look silly, to be honest."

"So your ambition is to work for an elite sports club?" Junior asked.

"Yes, I want to work in sports injury therapy as a professional, preferably but not necessarily with any particular club, hopefully develop my own practice in time. However, I do want to take coaching badges to coach children's football in my spare time, while still working on my own game and attempt to play at the best amateur or semi-professional level I can, at least until my mid-30s."

"And you can still play sports under the new lockdown restrictions?"

"We don't know, to be honest. Under the present rules since the first lockdown, schools and places of education are still supposed to be operating as normal, which allowed groups of up to 30 to play together as part of an educational establishment, because infection rates among our age group is low. However, the latest press release from The FA implies that because we are over 17 and considered adults we can't train or play, yet we have more knowledge of the virus and are better equipped to make playing safer than most of the elite clubs that are being allowed to play, albeit behind closed doors. It is very confusing. So we are appealing to the authorities for clarity."

"So, you're saying that the restrictions are unclear?"

"Yeah, that's why we are more than a little confused. We are still doing the lessons and learning our modules, and being regularly tested for virus and taking classes for the degrees to which we are learning to complete our assignments, but the training really needs the practical application too, for us to get the full benefit of sports participation."

We had left the clearing up for afterwards, I could do that while Junior took the kids home, so we retired to the home theatre in the basement.

The house was built by Junior into the side of a hill, overlooking a plantation of Christmas trees in a valley running all the way to the distant horizon. At the heart of the house is an old two-up, two-down pre-Victorian farmhouse built using the local limestone. The two bedrooms were turned by Junior into a master bedroom and en-suite, and extended with new building to include four more bedrooms and bathrooms. On the ground floor the original ground floor of the cottage became the new fully-fitted kitchen. Next to that, down one side of the new construct came the dining room and sun room across the back of the new extension. There's a large sitting room, a small parlour, an office, downstairs toilet, shower and wet room, a hallway with stairs leading upstairs and a boot room next to the kitchen on the other side of the house. Off the hallway is another set of stairs going down to what was once the cellar, cut into the limestone of the hill below and extending behind the old house into the hill, much of the excavated stone was used to form the original stone walls of the house.

Down in that old cellar is the home theatre, no windows, so ideal for the purpose. Behind it, further into the hillside is what looks like it must have been an illegal gin distillery. This has now been incorporated into the theatre, with room enough for a small gym and games room which were still waiting to be finished.

It was Ladies' Choice of movies, and we had time to see two films; Stephanie chose the third "Jumanjii" film, which Shane and Junior hadn't seen before, which was adventurous, exciting and quite funny, while I chose the Richard Curtis film "About Time", which only I had seen before out of the four of us, in a cinema when it was released a few years ago. We all thought it was a beautiful, funny, romantic and charming film to end the evening with.

It was a very successful evening. I was satisfied that Shane was a sincerely nice young man and he accepted Junior and my invitation to our early Christmas celebration without hesitation. I cleared up the kitchen while Junior ran them home. Apparently Shane lives in a smart and exclusive apartment, so it was clear that his family had money.

When Junior came home and we cuddled in bed, we both reflected on our thoughts about Stephanie's boyfriend.

"I like him," I asserted, "he looks good, sounds good and has ambitions and prospects. And he seems quite mature for 19."

"I agree, he's all that, but not sure about how he feels about Stephanie in the long term. I have a feeling his interest in her might be quite shallow. But they are both still young though and it's far too early to tell about long term relationships. His family must have some money though, that apartment block he lives in is brand new and quite upmarket, with a nice view over Belleview Park."

"So no reason why he shouldn't come to our Pre-Christmas?"

"None at all. If he stays with the family as Stephanie's boyfriend he'll retain the memories of my parents' home but be unable to communicate his memories to anyone on this side and, if he breaks up with Steph and removes himself from the family, then those memories will fade very quickly. At first he'll think of them as a single vivid dream but even that will evaporate from his mind completely in a matter of days."

"When I was seeing you, waking up in the middle of the night over all those years, they seemed like dreams, but I clearly, no, vividly remembered them all as dreams, and I wasn't even in your family then, I hardly knew you existed except in those dreams."

"Of course you remembered them like dreams. Although we didn't have a relationship in the normal sense, sweetheart, you were allowed to remember them in a form that if we never actually met outside of that dream-like state and you fell in love with someone else, it wouldn't have been traumatic to you if those memories were regarded as childhood fantasies that naturally fade away in time."

"Well, I'm glad that I can replace those snatches of dreams with my full-time dream guy. Now kiss me, because I want some serious inspiration for some exciting new dreams to come."

"You're incorrigible."

"Absolutely."

"Then long may you remain so."

Well, dear reading elf, or my family reading this, I will reveal no more what should remain between a newly-married couple who are deeply in love.

CHAPTER 4 PREPARATIONS

"Gronwynk, are you here?" I called out as I opened the kitchen door of our log cabin at the North Pole and kicked the white snow off my boots outside. The North Pole snow is always pristine white.

The cherry red and cheery face of the chief Christmas house elf came into the kitchen from the hallway with a big smile.

"Miss Jennifer, you're here already, where's Mr Junior?"

"Oh, he popped into the Big House to pay his respects to his parents, and I wanted to come home and get the hot chocolate going on the stove. Probably a little rude of me but I don't want to spoil a single moment of this weekend. I suppose I'll see the Grumblies sometime over the next couple of days and lots and lots of times in December. The elves at the stables told me that you'd brought a sleigh down here earlier and weren't expected back until late."

"Well, I wanted to welcome you to your new home and get the bed linen aired in here and in the guest house chosen for your friends and have a last minute dust round both places. Did you manage to bring your guests?"

"We did. They are a little awe-struck, being their first time here and I left them with Junior, because they all wanted to meet the man Santa himself. I only hope he behaves himself and doesn't frighten them off."

"Oh, don't worry about Young Nick, he may be a grump most of the time to all of us who's used to his manners or lack of them, but he is very different around visitors, he'll put on a show full of bonhomie and plenty of 'ho-ho-hoes' and they'll love him to bits, you mark my words."

"Well, so long as they are impressed, I can put up with his rudeness towards me, I've come to expect it."

"It won't last forever, Miss Jennifer. He'll be a different person as a grandfather. Now, did you want to check out the guest cabin? I've already gone through it with a feather duster."

"No, if you are happy with the guest house, then so am I."

"What was the trip like? Oooh, did you fly the plane all the way here yourself?"

"I did, and I was senior pilot with Junior as co-pilot, because I got my wings this time last week."

"Congratulations, Miss Jennifer, and I see you must have driven a sleigh down here on your own too. You know, you'll soon be regarded by us elves as a North Pole native."

"Now that I'm here, Gronwynk, I do really feel at home. I love this little group of disused cabins you pointed out to us, they are intimate, warm and welcoming and a great place to bring family and friends to."

"And your friend Sati, she is your best friend, isn't she?"

"Yes, we worked together for most of the years I spent in London and she made life for me in the big city at least bearable. I was young and bold when I went to London all on my own but I soon found it frightening and lonely. We both worked part-time at this telesales centre, while I was a student and Sati transitioning between full-time mum and the children starting school. Sati as a friend meant safe advice and stability in my uncertain existence."

"You are so brave, Miss Jennifer, I would be shaking like a candle flame in a snow storm if I ever left here, away from my hubby, my sisters and my children, I would certainly not leave them willingly."

"You have children?" I asked. She looked a mature elf but being a housekeeper of a huge house, I never really considered she'd have her own household to manage as well.

"Three, a boy and two girls, all grown up now and married. My son is a stableman and my daughters make toys, though they work in different workshops. I am actually a grandmother twice over and my youngest daughter is expecting her first in February." Gronwynk's pointy ears pricked up. "I hear sleigh bells, I think your guests are just arriving."

"Wow!" I responded, "that must've been a very quick audience with The Grumpies. Damn! I haven't even started making the hot chocolate drinks yet."

"I'll do that for you Miss Jennifer. Now, get off with you and go greet your guests, help them with their luggage and show them around their log cabin. I'll bring the drinks and some stollen over to their sitting room when the drinks are ready."

"Thank you, Gronwynk, you are a treasure."

I met our guests at the large barn we used as a sleigh garage and stabling stalls for the reindeer, where Junior had just pulled in.

I super hugged Sati, followed by a quick hug with her rather reserved hubby Sanjay then a double hug with Kirron and Satish, who, at 17 and 13, I had known for more than half their lives, even though I'd only missed them for an hour or so since we arrived in the land of Father Christmas, the fabulous North Pole.

Now Sati has to be one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. Her face is absolutely flawless, her skin a light brown looking as if she was just back from a sunny holiday, slim built and elegant, and she moves gracefully just like a dancer. Her face is wide, open and usually smiling, her teeth both top and bottom are brilliant white and impossibly even, her lower row always in view when she talks but when she smiles her mouth shows off both rows in a quite dazzling spectacle of cheerfulness. Her eyes are so dark brown in contrast to her white schleras that you could lose yourself into the depth of them. Her face is framed with long jet black hair that starts out straight but develops waves as it tumbles halfway down her back, brushed until it seems to not only shine but glow with an inner light. Personality wise, Sati talks all the time; I'm naturally quiet, so when we are together she hogs 80% of the conversation, but involves me all the time even if my responses are usually so short. She smiles constantly and working with such an upbeat person really helped me through all those years in London when I now realise I was probably borderline clinically depressed most of the time.

She is British Indian by definition, and proud both of her Indian sub-continent heritage and her home country. Her grandparents fled the Punjab state during the violence following Partition of India in 1947 at the very end of the Raj, they were introduced and married in New Delhi. Both were from similar well-off farming and food manufacturing families, were well educated and when their marriage was arranged they were attending different universities, one as a doctor, one as a teacher. They had Sati's mother in India in the late 1940s before they moved to England, and settled in Wolverhampton in the early 1950s. Sati was born in the late 1970s to both British Indian parents, so she speaks English very well, with a charming combination of slight Brummie and Indian accents.

Her husband Sanjay is like me personality wise, naturally shy and quiet, and when he does speak it is with emotional conviction and a very deep bass voice. He has a naturally long face with a high forehead and big nose. In repose his face looks quite lugubrious, which is probably a good look when, as a general practitioner, he has to give you bad news about your back pain or confirm your worst fears, which may well compare with what you looked up online for your symptoms before being forced into booking an appointment with your doctor. However, when he does relax in company he is familiar and comfortable with, and finds something funny, Sanjay does have a nice smile and when he laughs it is belly deep and without reservation. Born in India, Sanjay has spent roughly half his lifetime in London, understands and speaks English quite well, although he still retains a noticeably strong Indian accent. As a couple I know that they love each other very deeply. An arranged marriage, that they didn't themselves have any say in except to accept their parents' choices. They met for the very first time just before they married, but gradually fell in love in their first year together and the arrangement has worked out well for them over 20 plus years.

Sikander is their eldest son and he has just started Med School in Edinburgh about two or three weeks earlier, which is why he was not with us on this weekend, his family's first visit to the North Pole.

Kerron is a smaller version of Sati, only with bigger browner eyes in her elfin face and I'm sure she would be a sensation as the romantic lead in Bollywood movies. However, even at the tender age of 17 she says she is not remotely interested in dating boys and is determined to devote all her time to study to become a dedicated veterinarian in the future. Boy, you should have seen her when she saw the reindeers in the North Pole Airport stables, she was absolutely beside herself with joy. It turned out to be a lifetime obsession with those amazing beasts.