'It's not just that,' said Violet, as a huge tear plopped down onto her jeans. 'He's been disappearing for hours at a time. He comes in late. And I caught him on the phone last week talking to someone. He put the phone down when I walked in and said it was a wrong number. And when I pressed redial and rang 1471 they both connected to the answerphone of a woman called Serena.'

She looked up to see two very blank faces that didn't know what to say. Then Bel leaped up from her seat, 'I'll frigging kill him for you if he's messing you about.'

'Whoa,' said Max. 'Think logically. This is Pav we're talking about. He's adored you from day one. You need to do some more detective work before you set your judgement in stone.'

It was then Max's turn to have two gobsmacked faces staring at her. Max was usually the impulsive, headstrong one.

'Blimey, you've changed. What's he done to you? Been putting bromide in your tea?'

Max laughed at Bel. 'The love of a good man makes me see things through much clearer eyes. And your Pav is a good man.' She smiled beatifically. 'Obviously, if he turns out not to be a good man, then I'll hold him down whilst you rip his bollocks off. Have you asked him what he's up to, V?'

'No,' said Violet, drying her eyes on the paper tissue which Bel pulled out of the box on the big, chunky coffee table. 'I daren't. Oh, I'm sorry, Bel. I'm totally ruining your lovely news.'

'Oy, don't be daft. We will have less of that talk or you can forget being joint godmother,' said Bel, who along with her husband had just passed the first stage of the adoption process. She couldn't have children of her own and she and her lovely man knew they had a gruelling time of interviews and waiting ahead of them, but also that it would all be worth it in the end. 'I can't see that Pav-'

'Please don't tell me it's my imagination,' cut in Violet. 'I know he's up to something.'

'Violet, you need to talk to Pav,' said Max, putting her large hand on Violet's and giving it a squeeze.

'I daren't.' She dropped her head into her hands and Max and Bel grimaced awkwardly at each other.

'Can't you ask your cousin to do a bit of interfering?' said Bel softly.

'I tried to talk to her yesterday, but she's got enough on her plate,' replied Violet.

And though she would never have said it aloud, because she knew how it would have sounded, she felt that Eve was the lucky one out of the two of them being loved to the end, rather than feeling her relationship slip away and her heart begin to crack a little more each day.

'Ask him,' ordered Bel. 'You can't sit back and suffer like this. It might be nothing.' She was sounding less convinced by the second that this was nothing, and hoped her voice didn't show that.

'I'll think about it,' replied Violet, knowing that she wouldn't. Knowing that she was afraid of the answer he might give. Knowing that by forcing him to admit what was going on, she would push the remaining time she had with him towards the finish line.

Chapter 38.

When Phoebe May Tinker walked through the front entrance of Winterworld, Eve could quite easily have believed that her eyes were going to pop out of her little head. Her mouth was still stuck in a perfect O of wonder as she felt snow dropping on her head. Those German snow machines were something else; what they produced was the stuff of Christmas cards thick, soft flakes that fell onto the trees and made everything look as if it had been sprinkled with sugar.

'So Phoebe, what would you like to see first?' asked Eve, not used to Phoebe being so very quiet. 'Shall we take the train to see the reindeer?'

Phoebe nodded slowly. Eve hoped the train had been adjusted. The previous day it was faster than ever and Thomas was just a blur as he passed her waving. She didn't know what it was running on, but she wished she could have some of it in the morning. Her side and back still niggled and she was still more fatigued than she cared to admit. The shingles virus really had slowed her down these past weeks and she hated not running at full power. The doctor had said it might take years for the nerves to recover.

Thomas and another engineer were deep in Welsh conversation when Eve and Phoebe approached the track.

'Any chance of a ride to the reindeer?' asked Eve.

'Yes, of course,' said Thomas, seeing the little girl and putting on his official cap, which lay on a bench next to a clipboard. 'Climb aboard then, young miss. And missus.'

Eve tried not to bare her teeth. Flaming 'missus'. What a ridiculous title to have. It wasn't in the same league as 'Captain', she thought with an inner snarl. Talking of which, she hoped he wasn't around today. For the last couple of days he had been up at Winterpark helping Effin's men in the children's activity centre, leaving Eve in the office doing what she enjoyed best sorting out nitty-gritty. Evelyn had set a small army of contractors on to take care of wages and staffing, stuff which would be dealt with in-house in the future, but it certainly made things easier at the beginning because running a theme park didn't come with a manual. That said, Eve was enjoying learning on the job. And though she would hate to admit it, between herself and Jacques, all the 'I's were dotted and the 'T's crossed.

The train kangarooed forward and Phoebe squealed with delight, whilst Eve grabbed onto the safety bar in front of her.

'Is this really safe?' she asked.

'Oh yes,' said Thomas. 'We've managed to adjust the speed now.' Then he set off at G force. The train went so fast that they arrived before they had set off.

'Sorry,' said Thomas. 'It seems to have reverted back to 'ow it was before.' He took his cap off and scratched his head in a totally cliched way, then plucked the walkie-talkie out of his top pocket and started gabbling in Welsh into it. And back out of it came Effin's Celtic screech.

'Llai Tomos y Tanc, a mwy Tomos y Wanc!'

'Oh dear,' said Thomas. 'He says I'm less Thomas the Tank and more Thomas the w-'

'Yes, I think I got that,' Eve quickly spoke over him.

'That was fun,' said Phoebe, her red curls blown behind her. 'Can we go back on the train as well?'

'We'll see,' replied Eve as diplomatically as possible. It wasn't exactly the leisurely trip looking at the trees and all the coloured twinkling lights she had imagined as Phoebe's introduction to the park. 'Anyway, do you want to see the snow ponies first or the reindeer?'

'Oh, the reindeer, the reindeer!' shrieked Phoebe.

'You'll have to be very quiet, Phoebe, as they don't know you yet and might be a little frightened.' Eve took a large carrot and an apple out of her handbag. 'Hold this. Holly loves these. Right now, steady, no sudden movements.'

Eve unlocked the gate and took Phoebe's hand, making the familiar clicking noises which Holly responded to as they walked into the paddock.

'Is she in her stable, Auntie Eve?' asked Phoebe.

Eve nodded and halted halfway across the pen. 'Holly.'

Eve saw the point of an antler poke out of the stable. That was strange did Holly have antlers?

'We have a carrot and an apple for you,' she trilled.

'Oh good. That's two of my five a day taken care of then,' said a man's voice from inside the stable. Then Jacques' head, complete with an antler headdress, popped out.

Eve jumped a foot. 'What in Pete's name are you doing?'

'I'm cleaning the stable,' said Jacques. 'Daft things prefer to be in here with me as I'm doing it. I've chased them out three times.' He took off the headgear. 'One of the lads left this in here for a joke. Sorry, couldn't resist.' His eyes dropped to Phoebe. 'Hello, young lady, I'm Jacques. You must be Princess Anne.'

Phoebe giggled and Eve thought, Not someone else charmed by him. She watched as Jacques strolled over, took off a giant glove and presented his equally giant hand to the little girl, which she shook heartily.

'Jacques,' she said, rolling the word around in her mouth like a toffee. Had Eve not been so focussed on what Jacques was wearing the world's biggest coat she would have heard the cogs turning in little Phoebe May Tinker's brain.

'I'm Phoebe May Tinker.'

'My goddaughter,' added Eve, wondering why Phoebe was staring at Jacques' legs so intently.

'So you want to see Holly and her babies. And I do believe Father Christmas is here today in his grotto. Are you going to see him as well?'

'Oh, yes please,' Phoebe yelped, jumping up and down.

'He's here, is he?' said Eve. She couldn't wait to see him for herself.

'Yes, he's here and looking forward to meeting you.'

'Again?' added Eve with a sarcastic grin.

'Of course.' Jacques' returning grin was wide and made his eyes crinkle up. 'Maybe you'd like to ask him for a ring for Christmas.'

Oh, here we go, Eve sighed wearily.

'He's checking his new grotto out for comfort,' Jacques whispered to Phoebe. Then he turned back to the stable and addressed the animals within.

'Come on, you lot,' he called. 'You've got visitors.'

He made his own clicking noises which seemed to work much faster than Eve's, much to her chagrin. Holly emerged to a gasp of delight from Phoebe, especially as she was tailed by her two almost white babies. Phoebe held her carrot out with a little shaky hand. Jacques closed his hand around her arm and pulled her forward a few steps.

'She knows my smell,' explained Jacques. 'So she's more likely to come over if I'm here.' Infuriatingly, he turned to look at Eve over his shoulder and winked at her.

Holly edged close and Phoebe clamped her hand over her mouth to stop the squeak that almost burst out of her as the gentle reindeer dropped her head and took the carrot from Phoebe's hand. The little girl stared with pure fascination as the reindeer chewed and her two babies sought protection from the stranger by staying very close to mum's side.

'Which one is Blizzard?' she asked Jacques. Why didn't she ask me? thought Eve to herself with a humph.

'This one,' said Jacques. 'He's slightly bigger than his brother. We haven't got a name for him yet. Don't suppose you have any ideas?'

'I've already asked Phoebe that one,' grunted Eve. 'Thank you.'

'Hey, do you know there are only twenty-five letters in the alphabet at Christmas?' said Jacques.

Eve waited for the world's oldest punchline.

'That's my favourite Christmas joke,' said Phoebe, grinning. 'No L.' And she pulled a piece of paper out of her Hello Kitty handbag which she proffered to Jacques. 'And it's my number-one favourite name for the baby reindeer.'

'Noel,' Jacques read down the list. 'These are all such lovely names Snowflake, David, Jingle. But I think you're right, Noel is the one.' He gave a thumbs-up. 'Don't you think so, Auntie Eve?'

Eve narrowed her eyes at him. God, he really was a charmer. Standing there all blue-eyed and Dr Doolittle-like, stroking a reindeer. And weren't animals supposed to be able to suss out what people were really like? Had he managed to pull the wool over their eyes as well? She bet he had a trail of broken hearts behind him. Some daft women would have been mightily flattered by all those marrying references.

However, Eve did have to agree with him that Noel was perfect for the baby reindeer.

'Well done you, Phoebe, we have a name for our baby.' And right on cue, the newly named Noel made a snuffly noise and fell over onto his side as if he'd had a jug of carrot wine. Phoebe shrieked with delight.

'I'm just about finished here,' said Jacques. 'Why don't you go and see the snow ponies next door and I'll catch you up. Then we can all go and see Santa together.'

Eve opened her mouth to give an alternative plan, but she couldn't beat that one because Phoebe was jumping up and down. She gave Jacques a discreet sneer and in return he gave her a smile of triumph. Bloody man.

Phoebe fell equally in love with the snow ponies who were greedy for polos, which they could detect in someone's pocket from five miles away. Eve showed Phoebe how to keep her hand flat when she presented a sweet to the ponies so she wouldn't get her fingers nibbled. Big old Christopher didn't use his size to push to the front of the cheeky ponies, but stood patiently with hope in his big brown eyes. Eve wasn't that keen on having drool all over her hand, but somehow the sensation of giving a treat to the old horse offset any yuk factor. She could sense he was content here, which was just as well because he was a huge horse and if he did decide to go off on one, they would be in trouble. Tim the keeper had brushed him till he almost shone. He had to do it quite a lot, apparently, because Christopher liked nothing better than to roll around on the ground.

'Hi there,' boomed Jacques as Eve was fishing in her handbag for tissues. Phoebe had horse drool all over her coat sleeves as far as the elbow.

'Hello again,' said Phoebe. Eve noticed how intently she studied him as he walked towards them. Her little eyes were travelling up and down over him as if he was a walking Where's Wally? book.

'I've been thinking, Eve,' said Jacques.

'Dangerous,' said Eve under her breath.

'How about, when we open the park on the first day, we give all the families of servicemen free entry? I think your aunt would have approved of that, seeing as we're allied to a military charity.'

Eve's head swivelled slowly round to him. She wanted to laugh but thought better of it because it was a generous idea, if not entirely a shock. Was there no end to the man's obsession with the military? From a PR point of view, it was a beauty, of course.

'I think that's a very good suggestion,' she said, unable to quite keep the twist of a smile from the corner of her lips.

'Good, I'll get onto the press, then, and line it up, shall I?' said Jacques.

'You can leave that with me. I'm used to dealing with the press,' said Eve with calm firmness.

'Okay, if you're happy to do that, then it's fine with me.'

Eve felt a tug on her coat sleeve.

'Can we go and see Santa now, Auntie Eve, please?' Phoebe's voice was heavy with impatience.

'Yeah,' said Jacques, with all the enthusiasm of a young boy who had just been presented with a fishing rod at the side of a lake teeming with fish. 'Let's go, Auntie Eve.'

Eve took Phoebe's chilly little hand and warmed it in her own. Somehow, between getting on the train and now, she had managed to lose her fluorescent-pink gloves.

'You know, when I was a little boy, I used to go and see Santa in a cave,' said Jacques. 'Boy, I just love Christmas. Isn't it the best time of year, Phoebe?'

'Yes,' giggled Phoebe.

'He once brought me a bike and the handlebars were covered in soot. Now, doesn't that just prove that it came down the chimney?'

He actually sounds as if he believed that, thought Eve. But she held back on the sarcasm because her god-daughter was enjoying his twaddle.

Phoebe was desperate to travel on the nutter-speed train but the engineers were tweaking it again.

'It won't be ready in time,' said Eve, having a sudden stab of panic. 'It's just madness expecting this park to be open before Christmas. It's the last week in November now.'

'Chillax, ma cherie,' said Jacques. 'It will be ready because Jacques Glace has said it will be ready.'

'Captain Jacques, don't you mean,' said Eve under her breath again. She could imagine Alan Carr more in the role of an army captain than she could this clown in front of her, wearing a Dr Who stripey scarf long enough to wrap around the equator.

They walked through the enchanted forest and once again Eve was reminded of her Enid Blyton Enchanted Wood. It was barely mid-morning, yet the snow was falling soft as down on them and was bright-white as if the drops were carrying tiny specks of sparkling light. It was eerie but nice-eerie. The machines pumping it out were totally camouflaged and the snow really did look as if it was coming from the skies.

'Jesus Christ!' Eve jerked as a full-size grinning snowman appeared from behind a tree and waved at them.

'I thought your visitor would appreciate a few personalities around,' said Jacques, steadying her with his hand. 'So your god-daughter can get a true feel of what a day to Winterworld will be like when it opens.'