Alfie The Holiday Cat

Epilogue

I was champing at the bit to get out of the cat carrier, as was George who kept standing on my paws.

‘Stay still,’ I hissed.

‘But I want to get in the house,’ George replied and I couldn’t argue with that. We felt the carrier being put down on the lawn, and the door opened, George almost trampling me to get out, and I followed him.

‘Wow, snow!’ he said to me. There was a very thin blanket of snow covering the lawn. It looked so pretty and not deep enough to make us sink into it. We both stood and looked at the house. Seabreeze Cottage was sprinkled with white and on the front door was a huge holly wreath which covered almost the entire space. The others ran on ahead and we followed them.

Jonathan unlocked the door and Claire, holding Toby and Summer’s hands, headed in. She flicked on a light and as Jonathan walked in behind her, we followed. I stood aside to let George go first. I was eager to explore but I was also the parent after all. Tinsel decorated the hallway, and in the doorway was a huge bunch of mistletoe. Jonathan grabbed Claire and kissed her under it. It was a bit sloppy.

We both ran into the kitchen, which had been extended and totally re-done; with wooden surfaces, and floors, it was a proper family kitchen. After quickly admiring it, we ran through to the sand room where Gilbert was in his new cat bed, as if he’d known when we would arrive.

‘Alfie, George, hello,’ he said. ‘I heard Shelley saying you were coming today so I’ve been waiting for ages.’

‘Gilbert!’ George nuzzled him and I followed suit.

There were snowy footprints and little piles of snow all over the sand room, which Jonathan had already re-christened the snow room.

‘How are you?’ I asked. ‘It feels like ages since we last saw you.’

‘I’m alright, it’s been quite cold here, but then that’s winter for you. Not sure you’ll be so keen to go to the beach during the day either, it’s not only cold but full of dogs, not to mention snow! I’ve had to find other places to hang out.’

‘And is Lily still around?’ I asked.

‘Yes.’ I was sure that if cats could blush, Gilbert would have done. ‘We’re going to see her tomorrow, she’s looking forward to seeing you again.’ He was mumbling a bit. Well this was a turn-up!

‘So, she’s still OK for a girl cat?’ George said, raising his whiskers. Honestly, nothing got past my lad, he had a good memory at least.

‘She’s not too bad,’ Gilbert said, casually.

‘And it’s nice having friends, isn’t it?’ I pushed.

‘Well, Alfie, I blame you for that. I was happy with my own company before I met you guys and now it seems I like being around people, and cats.’

I nuzzled him, I had taught him well.

We had come to the cottage for Christmas. We’d been back once since the summer, and that was for a holiday the humans called half-term. Claire, Polly and Franceska had come down with all the children and us, and the men had joined us at the weekend. It had been a great week away, and it had been then, with the cottage looking so beautiful, that they had come up with a plan for us all to spend Christmas here. Our first Christmas together.

‘Claire,’ I heard Jonathan say from the kitchen. We walked in.

‘Yes, darling.’

‘There’s an enormous Christmas tree in the living room. Do you know anything about that?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I asked Colin to arrange it and Andrea decorated it. Quick, kids, let’s go and see.’ We all went through. The tree was bigger than any I’d ever seen and it was decorated beautifully. Claire reached down and turned some lights on, it sparkled and was truly magical. The living room was fully decorated with sprigs of holly, and garlands, and fairy lights hung everywhere. Andrea had clearly wanted to make it lovely for us and I felt warm towards her. The fire had been lit too. It was such a beautiful scene, I couldn’t have been happier to be here.

When we’d seen Andrea at half-term she had been very sweet and fun too, as had her children. It was as if they had all had personality transplants. She’d said she realised she was better off without her husband and her and the girls were doing really well. She’d also said she might start dating again, I just hoped not with Liam. But it was true what everyone said: before the divorce she had been nice, as had the girls, they had just been horrible when they were unhappy. I understood, I’d seen it before.

‘Wow,’ Toby said. ‘It’s the best tree I’ve ever seen.’

‘Can I climb it, Dad?’ George asked, out of earshot.

‘Absolutely not,’ I replied.

‘But will Santa know to find us here?’ Summer asked, sounding anxious.

‘Yes, we’ve given him full instructions and when everyone else arrives I expect there will be lots of presents going under this tree,’ Jonathan said, picking his daughter up.

‘But Henry and me asked for the same robot this year, what if Santa only has one?’ Toby chewed his lip. He had come such a long way, he was far more secure and confident, but there would always be something that made me, and George, want to protect this little boy. The vulnerable edge that could never be fully eradicated, no matter how much we loved him, but we would never stop trying.

‘Oh, Santa can always get more than one, Tobe,’ Claire said. ‘Don’t you worry.’

I saw Jonathan look at her and she nodded, he smiled. I had learnt that Santa was really Claire and Jonathan but I wasn’t telling. George and the kids still believed in him and that was all that mattered.

While we were getting reacquainted with the festive cottage, Polly, Matt and the children arrived, Franceska and Tomasz, Aleksy and Tommy following soon after.

We were all together, just as it should be.

‘So, our first fish and chips of the holiday,’ Matt said as he and Jonathan returned from the chip shop with bags full of dinner. For all of us. George, Gilbert and I licked our lips and waited by our food bowls. We weren’t disappointed.

The children dug in, as did the adults. The women had wine and the men beer. It felt as if there was a celebration going on, and I guess there was: our first night back at our holiday home.

‘I have some news,’ Tomasz said, suddenly.

‘Oh no, nothing bad,’ Claire shot, looking worried.

‘No, no, all good.’ He looked around the table. Then he took Franceska’s hand. ‘We went off to the town when we came here for the weekend, and we saw a restaurant.’

‘A restaurant? Here?’ Polly asked.

‘Well, you know our three in London are doing well now, and I thought why not try one down here? We all love it, we spend time here and it will give me an excuse to spend more time here! So we are opening in the new year. What do you think?’

‘Yay, Dad, that’s amazing,’ Aleksy said.

‘Can we live here all the time?’ Tommy asked.

‘No, not quite, boys, but we can spend time here, and Polly, we were wondering if you’d design it?’

‘I would love to.’

‘You know, when I thought we might lose this place, when the restaurant flooded and then there was all that business with Andrea, it hit us how much it means to us. I get it, Claire, how much you love it here and now we do too,’ Franceska said, and they all drank a toast.

‘Shall we go to the beach?’ Gilbert said when the adults were putting the children to bed. George was with us, because although he still slept with Toby he had started going to bed a little later. He was growing up, my boy. And although we were both sad not to be seeing Tiger on Christmas Day this year, we’d had a little family get-together before we left. It had been lovely; although it had been a cold day we had gone to the park, played with very cold leaves, and spent quality time together — that was what Jonathan often said, and I think it meant good times with those you loved. But Tiger understood that we needed to be with our families the way she had to be with hers so it was alright. George and I still loved her very much, she knew that, and that was all that mattered.

‘It’s freezing,’ I replied. I thought of the fire Jonathan was lighting in the snug and how I would very much like to be in front of it.

‘Please, Dad, just for a bit, it’s a tradition.’ George had still got a crush on Chanel but in half-term week he had become a little more in love with the beach than her, and I encouraged that. When the dogs weren’t around, of course.

‘OK,’ I said. ‘But not too long. I don’t want us to get too cold.’

We went out the back and round to the front of the house. I imagined our families all snuggled up by the fire in the living room. This was a second home for us all.

We jumped on the wall. I struggled slightly, my leg was always a bit stiffer in the cold, but Gilbert helped me and thankfully George didn’t notice. The sand was cold, icy and with a thin layer of snow under paw as we made our way to the top of the sand dune. The spiky grass glistened white in the moonlight, and as I sat down my bottom immediately felt cold.

‘It’s my favourite moon!’ George squealed excitedly at the crescent-shaped moon that faced us. I liked it too, it reminded me of one of Summer’s story books which pictured a man sitting on a crescent moon. Replace him with a cat and it would be perfect.

‘Well I am so glad to see you and I can’t wait for this Christmas,’ Gilbert said. ‘I mean,’ he looked a bit embarrassed, his enthusiasm still confused him sometimes, ‘what you’ve told me about the food and stuff.’ Poor Gilbert had never had Christmas dinner before, so we were all excited for him. He would be overjoyed when he tried turkey, I just knew he would.

‘This is going to be the best Christmas ever!’ George exclaimed. I tickled him with my whiskers.

‘You said that last year,’ I pointed out, smiling indulgently.

‘Yes, Dad and it was. This is what I have learnt about life.’ He sounded so serious that Gilbert and I turned to face him. ‘And I have mainly learnt it from you, and that is that every year will be the best Christmas ever if we are lucky, because that’s how life works when you have people, and cats, in it that you love. It just gets better and better and better.’

I thought my heart would burst with joy, but it didn’t, because it seemed, like life, it had the capacity to get better and better too.