It was ten minutes to ten when Eleanor arrived at the village hall, not because she in any way wanted to be punctual but because she wanted to have a smoke before being confined indoors for any length of time. She nipped round the side of the drab looking building and found a sheltered spot in a doorway where she lit up. Just like the cabby had predicted, the rain and wind had eased, but it was still grey and gloomy and it felt like the temperature had dropped even further.

After she'd left the surgery, she'd gone back to the Crab, firstly so she could change into dry clothing and secondly to treat herself to a slap up breakfast. She'd badly needed a bucket load of strong coffee and a heap of cholesterol inducing, artery clogging food after that encounter. What a pair those two made! Fancy the two of them actually planning a second child at their age. He must be almost fifty, if he'd not already passed that milestone. She had to admit he still cut quite an imposing figure for his age, but his aloof and contemptuous manner had not changed one iota. Lord Muck! She had never understood Louisa's fascination with the man.

She took a long drag on her cigarette and slowly blew the smoke into the icy air. From her vantage point she could see people coming and going along Fore Street, some coming to the village hall and others out to do last minute Christmas shopping by the looks of it.

"There's a fixed penalty fine for doing what you're doing."

Eleanor swung round and stared at the policeman who'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Gawd, one cigarette in peace - that's all she wanted.

"Oooh you didn't half give me a fright." She laughed and held the cigarette up almost behind her head in the hope the smoke wouldn't get in his eyes. "Officer...umm?"

"Police Constable Joseph Penhale."

Eleanor squinted at him. The name was familiar, but the face not so much. He looked to be about Louisa's age.

"You're new here." She said cheerfully, trying to deflect attention from the offending cigarette.

He frowned. "Not that new. This has been my patch for a few years now." He hitched his duty belt a little higher on his hips then hooked his thumbs over the top of it. "And who might you be?"

"Eleanor Glasson."

His eyes widened - nice honey coloured eyes framed by dark lashes and thick brows. His short dark hair now greying at the sides, made him look rather distinguished she thought and, unlike a lot of policemen she'd known over the years, this one had kept himself nice and slim. His features seemed familiar, but not because she'd met him before, or if she had she couldn't remember, but rather because in Andalusia where she lived, there were a lot of men who had the same olive complexion and melting brown eyes. Eleanor would wager a month's profit from her expected lobster sales that he had Spanish ancestry, but before she could ask he pointed at the cigarette.

"You'll have to put that out Mizzz Glasson. You are smoking in a semi-enclosed space and that's not permitted under the Health Act of 2006."

Eleanor looked around. She was standing in a deep doorway on the side of a building and by no stretch of the imagination could it be classed as a semi- enclosed space but she thought better of arguing and instead dropped the remains of the cigarette onto the step and ground it out with the sole of her shoe.

"No rest for the wicked, eh Officer?" she laughed.

Penhale looked pointedly down at the stub.

"You don't want to be addin' litterin' to your rap sheet. Mrs Glasson."

She quickly bent down and picked up the now sodden cigarette stub and with a stern nod, PC Penhale sauntered past her toward the entrance of the hall. She waited for him to turn the corner then tossed the stub into a flower bed and followed.

Inside, after negotiating the pile of sodden sacks in the doorway, the hall was a hive of activity. There were ladders everywhere and people perched on chairs hanging up lights and festive decorations. A group of men were rehearsing an a capella version of Good King Wenceslas and the clink of crockery and glasses mingled with the general chatter from twenty or more helpers. A sudden loud howl-back from the PA system startled her half to death and everyone shouted at someone called Roger who stood next to a rack of equipment triumphantly brandishing a screwdriver in the air.

"Ohhh stop complaining you lot. At least it's working now!"

He swept the hair out of his face and Eleanor couldn't help thinking that as a younger man he must have looked remarkably like Robin Gibb and, as if to confirm this musical connection, Roger ran his fingers over an electronic keyboard, producing some complicated jazzy chords which, predictably caused the a cappella group to go even more off key than they'd already been. A lot of complaining ensued.

Eleanor searched but there was no sign of Louisa and James yet, but then it had only just gone ten and having a toddler in tow must make being on time difficult she supposed. Her gaze encountered a pucker-lipped Sally Tishell though. The woman had aged even more since the last time she'd seen her and she still wore that ridiculous collar. As usual Sally seemed annoyed but that wasn't surprising. Ever since Eleanor had first met her as a young woman, she'd noted that Sally could always find something to disapprove of. Nothing had changed. Eleanor wondered where that husband of hers was. It had been the talk of the village how quickly he had taken a job on the oil rigs after the wedding. With a wife who always had a face like a north sea cold front, she didn't blame him. Imagine waking up next to that!

The hall hadn't changed much. She'd been to many a Portwenn Players' Dance here - the annual social where people let their hair down and partied till they all fell over. Eleanor chuckled to herself - there was some truth to the joke that the village population increased substantially after those dances. They really had been a lot of fun but it was the only event in the Portwenn social calendar that could bear that label. The rest of the time people were so staid and stick-in-the-mud, plodding through their lives from Monday to Sunday with no other purpose than to keep everything the same. No surprises, no upsets. No passion.

Eleanor greeted Al as he walked by carrying a punch bowl, which she thought looked much more promising than the rows of mugs and tea pots lined up on a trestle table against the wall.

"Mum?"

Eleanor turned to find Louisa and James beside her, both clutching bags of what she presumed contained decorations. James was gorgeous but his unwavering stare still reminded her of Martin and she wished he would just smile then it would not make them seem so alike. He was a good looking little boy, a bit too shy for a lad his age but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of exposure to the best antidote to shyness she knew of - Fun. And lots of it.

"Hallo young James. Come give your Grandma a hug."

James shrank closer to his mother.

"He's a little shy around...strangers, Mum."

"Well I'm not really a stranger am I James? I'm your Grandma." She said it as if it was the most exciting announcement in the world and should have had a ta-daaa fanfare accompanying it. She held out her hand.

"Come on then - let's give your Mum a break and go have a look at the Christmas tree."

Louisa nodded encouragingly at him. "Go with ummm...Grandma...to see the tree darling. I'll be right here when you come back."

Hesitantly James stepped forward and Eleanor reached for his hand. "Come on then little Jimmy, let's go have some fun."

"It's James Mother, not Jimmy!"

Eleanor rolled her eyes.

The tree was massive and the men who were helping had already decorated the top of it using ladders. The lower branches were being left to the younger helpers and there were already a number of children clustered around it, chattering nineteen to the dozen as they hung their handcrafted decorations. It was therefore a surprise to Eleanor when James hung back and was just content to observe and not participate. She was having none of that though and ushered him forward.

"Go on then Jim. Go hang your stuff up."

James didn't budge but stared solemnly at all the activity. Eleanor sighed. Louisa was going to have her hands full with this one if she ever wanted to break him out of this introverted behaviour. She took the bag from him and opened it.

"Let's have a look at what we've got here, eh."

He'd made a golden star out of cardboard, and it shimmered brightly with silver glitter. A piece of green twine had been threaded through a hole punched at the top. Eleanor took James by the hand and led him forward, encouraging him to hang it on one of the lower branches. When no-one was looking, she surreptitiously moved other decorations out of the way so that her grandson's would be more visible.

"Ellie?"

Eleanor stood up on hearing her name and instantly recognised the man in the parka.

"Stu MacKenzie, you old charmer you."

She'd known Stu since school days but he'd changed a lot since then, with most of his hair now missing and deep lines scoring his face. She chatted to him for a few minutes, listening to him banging on about his role on the school governing body, as if it carried a knighthood with it or something. She couldn't think of anything she would rather do less, other than an office job maybe or being a school teacher like Lou-Lou. Imagine putting up with all those little brats all day long. No thanks.

Stu would be a bit shocked at how her life had turned out. No governing bodies for her. She hadn't been involved in any school activities, not even when Louisa had been at school. Terry hadn't either because, well, he'd not been around long enough to, and of course, once his fingers had been caught in the Lifeboat Fund cookie jar, no-one wanted him anywhere near them. Stupid git.

She sighed. Now there was a man who knew how to have a good time. Before Louisa had come along, they'd been all over the place, living it up. Pity Terry had a thing for gambling. It destroyed their relationship. Truth is, Eleanor loved nice things. She liked to travel and with Terry always squandering every last penny on the races, they were always sailing in stormy financial waters. Leaving him and going to Spain had felt liberating. She'd been able to live the life and earn money doing it with her little restaurant and bar. That was her idea of paradise. She could do exactly what she wanted, when she wanted, and that suited her down to the ground.

After a few minutes of mind numbing conversation with Stu, he left and she turned her attention back to her grandson. He was still standing in exactly the same place, still observing with intense, unsmiling concentration, as if the animated festive behaviour going on around him hadn't quite registered. Frowning, she took his hand and wandered over to the nativity display. Maybe James would enjoy it more seeing as there didn't seem to be that many people hovering around it. It was beautifully laid out with special lighting and everything. James seemed riveted. Eleanor could see him taking in every single detail and a glimmer of a smile appeared on his face as he looked up at her then took a step closer. He seemed particularly fascinated with the baby in the manger as he stood rigidly with his arms at his sides, once again reminding Eleanor of Martin.

A choir of young children were now rehearsing under the direction of the man called Roger and she could tell from the expression of abject pain on his face that he was not happy with the result. Nearby, Sally Tishell was holding sway, bossing a group of women around who were attempting to arrange flowers on the catering tables. By the looks of things they could cheerfully have upended a vase over her head or skewered her with a cake fork. A little further down the hall, Al Large stood with his arm around a tall dark-haired young woman, with PC Penhale hovering nearby, his focus riveted on an equally tall blonde girl who pouted and pointedly ignored him. Oooh a bit of a vibe going on there if she had to guess.

A stout woman walked by carrying a pile of side plates and Eleanor only just recognised her as Dawn Lamb but she'd dyed her hair a funny colour and she'd picked up so much weight that Eleanor had to look twice to make sure it was her. Dawn's face looked as if she'd just had a dose of cod liver oil laced with bitters for breakfast.

At the drinks table, Bert looked like he was being browbeaten by a little bantam hen of a woman whose mouth was going nineteen to the dozen, rather like a goldfish on steroids and Bert was trying to make himself disappear which was quite funny really.

Honestly, not one adult she'd seen so far, had a smile on their face. They were supposed to be preparing for a festive occasion, not a wake for goodness sake! Eleanor decided she needed a smoke. She looked around for Louisa but couldn't spot her so she took James by the hand and headed for the door.

"Come on Jimmy. Let's go get some fresh air."

Around the side of the hall, in the 'semi-enclosed' space, Eleanor lit up and took a deep drag on her cigarette. She had to hurry and keep a keen eye out in case the policeman put in an appearance again. James looked at her curiously as she blew smoke into the air. He'd obviously never seen anyone smoke before. Well, people did smoke. Lots of them. Just because his father didn't approve didn't mean that it wasn't part of the real world and children should learn about the real world.

She took a few more puffs then ground out the stub with her shoe.

"Come on Jim."

When they got back inside a wild eyed Louisa came rushing towards them, closely followed by a short blonde woman.

"Mum! Where have you been?!" She took James by the hand and pulled him close against her.

"Relax Lou-Lou. We went outside for some fresh air, didn't we Ji.. uh James?"

Louisa sniffed a few times. "Have you been smoking?"

Eleanor dropped her chin. "I might have - why?"

"I hope you didn't smoke in front of James Henry!"

"Well you weren't to be found and I couldn't very well leave him here on his own, now could I?" She looked indignant. "And we were only gone five minutes. No harm done."

Louisa turned to the woman. "Thanks for helping Pippa."

Eleanor watched as the woman walked away then looked at Louisa. She was angry. And for what?

"You know, you really need to lighten up a bit Lou. James wasn't in any danger you know."

"That's not the point Mother. You should not have smoked anywhere near him. Couldn't you just control yourself for an hour?"

Eleanor gave a deep sigh and her eyes flashed. "That's the trouble with you Lou. You always want everything to be in control. Everything must always be perfect. And life is never perfect - you have to let go from time to time. Break the rules. Have some fun."

She looked around the hall.

"I have spent the last hour watching all these people preparing for what should be a joyous occasion and not one of them is enjoying themselves. Look at them. Not one of them has a smile on their face. My god - what a life!"

Louisa opened her mouth then closed it again, clearly unable to find a suitable rebuttal.

"Don't you wish you could just wave a magic wand and everyone could experience some spontaneous joy for a change? That they could be genuinely happy? My god, when you look around this glum place, it would be the best Christmas present this village could ever hope for."