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This is an extract taken from Strand of Faith, in Leonie's point of view. Leonie and Prospero are sitting by a fire, warming up after a snowball fight, and toasting marshmallows.
He seemed relaxed, willing to talk, so I asked him what Christmas had been like for him then. His faced tensed up a little and his eyes went dull for a moment. Clearly there was some reason he didn't like to talk about his family. Maybe it was whatever that was, rather than Andrew, that was why he didn’t visit them at Christmas.
"I suppose it was pretty similar to this," he said slowly. "There'd be worship, small gifts, plenty to eat, extended family all around. And in the afternoon we'd go for a long walk across the farm, have a snowball fight if there was snow – I've lots of brothers so it'd be a pretty good fight. Lots of fun."
"So did you start the snowball fight today, then?" I asked him though I knew the answer. He'd been ahead of me and the first snowball had come from behind.
He grinned. "No, that wasn't me, not this time, and it wasn't Andrew either. I think it was Edward."
I looked at him in disbelief.
"Edward's a terrible troublemaker, you know," he told me. He seemed to be struggling to keep a straight face.
Anyone less like a troublemaker than Edward would be hard to imagine, and I looked around to see where he was. He was close by and he spotted me looking.
"Prospero telling you stories, is he?" he asked.
"Just what a troublemaker you are, and how you must have started the snowball fight," Prospero told him with a grin.
Edward smiled back. "Don't believe everything he tells you," he said to me and then carried on, "It wasn't me. I thought it was Benjamin."
That was equally unbelievable, and the banter travelled around the room, through a group of people comfortable and at ease with each other. It was entertaining to see who denied it outright and who parried the question. I was beginning to think it must have been Lord Gabriel himself who started it so I looked across at him. He winked at me and touched his finger to his lips.
As the conversation died out, Prospero turned back to me. "What about you?" he asked. "What's Christmas been like for you before?"
I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about me. "With the Traders it was pretty much like any other rest day."
"What about before you joined the Traders?" he persisted.
”I don’t really remember that time,” I said. "But I do remember Christmas being happy and warm and not hungry for once."
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