'Sorry,' says Harry, assuming that they are preventing the vicar from locking up, because the warmth and the atmosphere has somehow kept them in the seats long after the service has ended. When the truth is, that he had only come to the service because Ruth had wanted to and despite being a sceptic when it comes to anything remotely religious, he is now wondering if the expression divine intervention, certainly tonight, is causing him to think that there so much more to look forward to than he had previously imagined. Either way this the first time in a long while that he has thought about his mother god rest her soul, who had she met Ruth would have told him that she can finally stop worrying about him.

'Don't feel you have to rush on my account, and call me Chris everyone else does,' says the man who looks younger than he had from a distance. Before shaking their hands enthusiastically, sitting down in the pew in front of them and turning round to face them. Effectively preventing them from leaving.

Why he then goes on to tell them that 'the rectory is huge, that his kids put endless demands on his wife's time and because his parish cover so many miles, he never seems to be at home,' Harry neither knows or cares, until he adds, 'Sally's a godsend isn't she and I don't know how we would have managed without her for the last four years.'

That four years rings a bell as does the fact that he obviously values Sally as much as they do, makes Harry feel as though he ought to respond in some way. Especially as he has the feeling that Ruth is doing her best to zone out.

Which is why he says, 'I can well imagine how difficult your job must be at times,' whilst struggling to picture himself calling a vicar Chris. This from a man who has a knighthood and has always insisted that everyone calls him Harry.

Only to be diverted yet again when the vicar says 'I'm not sure why I told you all that, other than I tend to go off at a tangent when I'm tired.'

'So am I,' says Ruth,' edging closer to Harry. Making up his mind that any thought he might have had when it came to telling her about his feelings on divine intervention can wait until another day. Opting instead for what he hopes looks like a reasonable rather than desperate attempt to leave, by taking her hand and saying, 'we really must be going.'

.

Now less than five hours later because the church is at the far end of the village so the walk home had taken them the best part of half an hour, there is no need for them to ask who has arrived when they hear Jacob squeal, 'he's been' meaning Santa. Or because Sally and Graham will still be asleep that he will bring the contents of his stocking into their room.

That Ruth says, 'I'll make the tea you stay here,' having just made love on Christmas morning and not-withstanding that it had been spontaneous and in Ruth's words wonderful, means he's grateful that she appreciates he needs time to recover.

Which means that when Jacob launches himself onto their bed and at a speed that belies his height, not only is he ill prepared, but Ruth neither hears or sees what has happened. Unlike him who rather than spend the morning in the Casualty Department of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, having God knows who examining his genitals to determine whether the most recent encounter was his last, he turns on his side. The downside being that he feels Jacob connect with his thigh, in such a way that he is sure he has hurt himself.

'Ruth's downstairs making tea, she'll be back in a moment,' he tells the child who has obviously seen his reaction to what was a more than impressive entrance, which is the reason that they are now sitting in the middle of the bed, with Harry convinced that an unusually quiet Jacob is going to cry. Only to discover when Ruth arrives with the tea and because she heard the commotion has a beaker of hot chocolate for Jacob, that the reason for his expression is that he has dropped what Graham had described as Jacob not wanting them to see until Christmas morning.

'I made them with Mummy but I made them really,' he explains to a more than relieved Harry and a confused Ruth who has no idea how Harry had ended up in the middle of the bed and more to the point looks shaken. Even when she retrieves the contents of what had once been a neatly wrapped parcel containing a variation on gingerbread men, which match the decorations on the tree. That the colours are far from authentic as are various body parts in as much as Santa has a green hat and the reindeer blue horns and giant size feet, is something that she only discovers once she has pieced them together on the tea tray. None of which diminishes the love that has gone into making them. Or the homemade card with Jacob's version of a London Bus on the front and with Harry as the driver, which is still in one piece.

'Their lovely sweetheart aren't they Harry,' she says to get his attention, before adding, 'drink your chocolate before it gets cold to Jacob.' Which once Harry has agreed that they are gives him just enough time to tell Ruth what happened before Sally arrives.

.

'We can always make some more,' Sally tells Jacob, who she has persuaded to have a bath while the rest of the family are preparing breakfast, having finally convinced Harry that if Jacob had hurt himself in any way beyond the small bruise that had appeared on his knee, he would have been milking it for all it was worth. Before turning her thoughts to the rest of the day and how it will pan out. That she and Graham are going to cook the lunch together to give Harry and Ruth a break. How Jacob will react to his presents. That a week from now when Graham starts working with Maurice she will no longer have to worry about a growing Jacob and how she is going to be able to pay for new clothes or how her food bill will increase, because there will be two wages coming in.

First things first she tells herself as she lifts her son out of the bath and wraps him in one of Ruth and Harry's fluffy white towels. Cuddling him for her sake as much as it is his. In the certain knowledge that here in a house with people who love them, this Christmas will be one she will remember for the right reasons.

.

'Breakfast first then presents,' Harry tells Jacob when he makes a beeline for the tree. Memories of Graham at the same age tearing off wrapping paper and how quickly the time seems to have gone since then. The upside being that unlike those days he will be able to say what he likes and do what he likes. Without being told that indulging the children, with what Jane had described as childish antics. Only to find out just before lunch is served, that not only has Graham remembered but has got one of them down to a fine art, firstly by saying that the turkey has escaped from the oven and then after a long search which involves Sally looking behind every item of furniture, walks towards the table whistling the theme tune from to the great escape whilst using the drumsticks to keep time. The effect on Jacob being just as it had with Graham and Catherine which is to shriek with laughter.

'That was impressive,' Ruth tells Graham who have presented the turkey to Harry, has followed her into the kitchen to get the dishes of veg and the gravy.

'Dad's joke not mine, I just improvised by marching round the table more times. Jacob will love it a whole lot more next year, just as Catherine and I did.'

'Harry did it twice?'

'Haven't you watched something on TV that made you laugh? And then when they repeat it as they do these days even though you know what's going to happen, it's just as funny?'

'Yes, but I never pictured Harry in a roll that was non-verbal. His forte being to bring our colleagues to their knees with one - liners.'

'And he hasn't made you laugh since you left work?'

'Endless times.'

'Which is what I want for Sally and Jacob but without pinching Dad's tricks and I'm not just talking about today but in general.'

'This is you telling me what you told your dad that you don't think you'll be able to make them happy without our help isn't it?'

'Pretty much.'

'From what I've seen I'd say you're doing a fine job although all that good work will be undone if we don't take these veggies through.'

.

'What a day, we need to go on up,' Ruth told Harry, having watched Graham carrying Jacob upstairs with a silent thankyou from Sally in their direction. Only holding back because Harry had said he fancied a nightcap. The reason as she is about to find out is something he has never told her.

'Sitting here now just the two of us, reminds me how I felt the first Christmas after you went away. I told Adam I had a couple of files I needed to read and he said, 'don't stay there all night.' I poured one of these, opened my desk draw and reached for your file. It should have been destroyed but it felt as though it was all I had left of you. I gravitated to the bloody awful sofa telling you that I loved you, how I missed you each and every moment of every day. And yet here we are,' he said, which was just how he'd felt in church the previous evening.

'And yet here we are,' echoed Ruth, who had also spent that first Christmas alone. Her thoughts although neither of them knew it, very much on a parallel with Harrys.