A Family Christmas Ch. 03

WARNING TO READERS - This is a long, rambling story and VERY British which has been divided into several parts for ease of editing and reading. The individual parts will make more sense if read in sequence as they follow straight on chronologically.

Most, but not all chapters contain some sexually explicit sections and the story has a strong incest theme which some readers may find disturbing and might wish to cease reading now.....

Whilst this is a stand-alone story some readers may recognise some of the characters from my submissions from a couple of years back entitled 'The Touch' which can still be found in the Novellas section of Literotica. I do intend to continue with the original series now that I am back home but these new tales were put together without reference to the earlier stories whilst I was recuperating after an operation and follow the fortunes of some of the characters a few years on from the original tales.

GF

Part Three: Travels With My Aunt

Traditionally, Christmas day was just for the family apart for our morning walk we always stayed at home and then Mother held 'open house' on Boxing Day when friends would sometimes drop in for drinks and occasionally lunch which was usually done buffet style.

We were all up and dressed by eight o'clock, in what Mum called our Christmas Morning 'dog walking' gear, just old jeans and sweaters, and thick boot socks anything comfortable ready to drive over to Windsor Great Park after breakfast. Cora made a large pot of tea for Mother and herself, they were both early morning tea people whilst I made a pot of strong coffee for myself and Aunt Julia. I had been a little surprised to discover that like myself she was a serious coffee drinker, seldom touched tea and liked her java strong and black and without sugar, another misconception about my aunt...I had her pegged as a milky tea drinker.

Aunt Julia joined us in the kitchen as I was preparing breakfast. We always had the full English breakfast... the Christmas Cardiac Special.... bacon, sausages, devilled kidneys, eggs, fried bread and mushrooms. It had become a minor tradition that Cora and I cooked breakfast for Mother at Christmas and on the morning of her birthday. None of us were usually great breakfast eaters, my mother started her day on fresh orange juice and a slice of toast; Cora wavered between cereal or toast and honey, but I had given up eating in the morning when I was about thirteen and just settled for a large mug of coffee and a tumbler of grapefruit juice. As a teenager I was usually in training for the cross country running team and like my mother took a run in the morning which was more comfortable if I had not eaten. I was a mid-morning snacker and usually grabbed a bacon sandwich or sausage roll from the Cornish Pasty Shop in Peascod Street on my way to school or during break.

After a hearty and cheerful breakfast, Cora volunteered to wash-up whilst I helped Mother to prepare the vegetables for lunch. Once the chores for the day were completed we all went through to the sitting room to open our presents. Usually Mother, Cora and I sat on cushions on the floor in front of the Christmas tree and took turns at handing out the presents.

I thought that Aunt Julia must have felt a bit excluded from our set family routine as she excused herself and went back to the guest flat... I remembered previous years that she had stayed over the Christmas holiday and she had either not joined us until later in the morning or had just sat quietly in a chair at the back of the room. I felt a bit guilty because in the past it was probably me that had driven her out of the family circle and was on the point of going to fetch her back when she returned.

She returned armed with a frosty bottle of champagne, four flutes and a pitcher of fresh orange juice which she must have prepared in the guest annex kitchenette before coming for breakfast. "I thought we could start the day with some Bucks Fizz.." she announced.

"Oh how super!" Mum exclaimed. "That takes me back.... I haven't had champagne on Christmas morning since we were girls. When I was a teenager," She explained to us, "Julia always came home from university on Christmas morning furnished with champagne and we would drink Bucks Fizz with Mother and Daddy whilst we opened our presents.... Those were lovely times....weren't they Jules...?" She got up hugged my aunt whilst Cora and I filled the glasses and handed them round.

"Happy Christmas, everyone..." Mother said, "Happy Christmas!" We all chorused chinking glasses. All the women were a little teary eyed I think and even I felt a bit of a lump in my throat. I was beginning to come around to the idea that having Aunt Julia with us on holiday might not be as bad as I had anticipated.... Up until now she had been amiable and if we both carried on trying I thought we would probably be able to get along. She was turning out to be a lot more fun than I remembered, especially when she dashed off and returned with a second bottle of bubbly as soon as the first was finished.

"Come and sit down with us, Jules..." Mother said, throwing another cushion onto the floor beside the tree.

"Jules....?" I couldn't stop myself blurting out my surprise that my scary aunt had a family nickname. Everybody went quiet....Mother and Cora glared at me and I mentally kicked myself for fucking up again..."Er... " I stuttered not knowing whether to apologise or not...

"That's Auntie Jules to you... James..." My aunt beamed one of her fantastic, radiant smiles. The tension was broken and we all started to laugh. I continued to call her Auntie Julia, I didn't have the balls to risk the Jules thing....not then anyway.

As a family we were never big on Christmas presents, Emma and I had always had lots of toys and presents, sweets and goodies as kids but once we reached fourteen present giving became a much more adult affair, clothing and special gifts, things we would not buy ourselves through the year. Inevitably it was music related things for Mum and Cora and almost always books for me, we were not precious about having dozens of presents to open Christmas morning, doing things together was more important than the gifts. We sat in a circle and handed out the parcels which had been stacked beneath the tree, mostly small gifts for Cora from her friends at school.

Cora went first; she had bought Mum a selection of cosmetics and we had bought her a cashmere roll neck jumper between us that she had admired on a shopping trip to London with Cora. It cost a small fortune but we wanted to get her something special; Cora had driven up to town to make a special secret trip to Harrods to get it for her. Mum was thrilled. I had added a newly re-mastered CD of Acker Bilk hits which I had found on Amazon and had squabbled with Cora over who was going to buy it for her.

As usual Mother and Cora both gave me book tokens.... I had reached that age when the only thing that I was really interested in was books, I was almost totally disinterested in fashionable clothing although Mother usually managed to magically find me something at Christmas and my birthday to wear during the winter and summer holidays, Cora still teased me about being the 'Scarecrow Skier'. This year Mum had found me a really good quality set of base layer tee-shirt and trunks. My surprise present was from Mum...she had bought me a Kindle electronic book reader....absolutely superb... I could not have wished for anything better.

A small knot of concern had started to form in my gut as I began to realise that whilst Mother had made Cora and I write Christmas cards for Aunt Julia we had not actually bought her a present and I realised that in past years I had selfishly just allowed Mother to send her some sort of a gift from the whole family without even knowing what it was.

Aunt Julia had always been very generous to Cora and I at Christmas and birthdays even if her style of gifting was a reflection of her stern and well organised personality. When we were born she had opened a Building Society account for us, not individually but a joint account. OK so we are twins but it had always seemed a strange thing for her to do in my mind no other siblings that I knew had a joint account; that was something for older engaged or married couples not brothers and sisters. Every birthday and at Christmas she paid a generous sum of money into the account which by now had built up to a tidy little nest egg. The other quirk attached to the account was that we were not allowed to have access to it until we were 21, until then it was jointly administered by Mother and my aunt. I always suspected that my aunt was confused by the twin thing....perhaps like other people I knew she had difficulty recognising us as individuals.

I was mildly surprised when Mother produced a wrapped gift box from beneath the tree and handed it to Aunt Julia, "This is just a little something from all of us, Jules.....Happy Christmas..." she announced. I guessed that she and Cora had bought something on their trip up to London on Christmas Eve.

Cora nudged me and put her lips close to my ear to whisper, "You owe me £10 for your share.."

They had bought her a Chinese silk bath robe, floor length and cream with an embroidered gold edging and a deep floral pattern in greens and turquoises around the bottom hem and the cuffs of the sleeves. "As always you are almost impossible to buy for...."Mother told her, "But you always loved Chinese silk and as we are going on holiday a robe seemed appropriate...."

"It is beautiful..." Aunt Julia held it up against her body and the soft shiny silk clung to her figure even over her pullover and jeans it looked sexy and elegant. "Thank you...thank you all of you..." She came to each of us in turn and gave us a soft thank you kiss on the cheek.

We finished our drinks then dispersed to get our outdoor coats and re-assembled outside by Mother's Landrover Discovery ready to drive over to Windsor Great Park for our Christmas Morning stroll. Mother, Cora and I were wearing our Berghaus mountain jackets, even though the weather was quite mild for December and I was surprised to see that Aunt Julia had outfitted herself appropriately with an expensive waxed jacket and Hunter field boots. I'm not sure why it amazed me as she lived in Yorkshire and probably walked in the countryside regularly, probably more than we did, but she had always declined to join us on our Christmas walk in the past and I think that more than anything I was a bit startled that she had chosen to do so this time. Something felt out of place, like something was happening that I was not aware of; there had been a shift in the nature of our family relationships and I wasn't sure why or even what it was.

Being a nice day, the Windsor Park was quite busy with strollers, dog-walkers and younger couples or grandparents pushing sprogs in buggies and within five minutes Mother and Cora had been hailed by various acquaintances. I hate just standing watching women talking and Aunt Julia obviously knew none of their friends so we walked on ahead just exchanging the odd word about things that were going on around us.

Suddenly she seemed to stagger and lurched towards me a frightened look flashing across her face. I caught her by the elbow and put my arm around her waist to support her. "What happened....are you OK?" I asked.

"Yes, yes...... I'm fine....I just tripped....." she muttered quietly, but continued to lean on me heavily. She glanced back at Mother and Cora still standing chatting to a couple that I recognised as living in the next road to us. "Is there somewhere we can sit down for a minute?

I pointed towards a bench about 50 metres away, "Come on, over there...take my arm...are you OK to walk?"

She smiled a little bit weakly, "Yes, I think I just twisted my ankle a bit...." She put her arm through mine and hugged it tight to her so that she was almost leaning against me as we walked. To the casual observer we would have just appeared to be walking arm in arm. She had told me that she tripped, but it hadn't looked like a trip to me and for a minute or so afterwards she was really pale and looked quite alarmed but she wasn't really limping. "It is starting to wear off already, " she added unconvincingly, "I don't think we need to tell the others, do you..."

We reached the seat, a rustic split log bench, and sat down. "May I have one of your cigarettes, please, James?" She quietly asked.

I pulled the pack from my pocket and shook out two cigarettes and passed one to her and put the other between my own lips and then lit both.

"Thank you, James." She murmured, as she inhaled and then expelled the smoke delicately from her nostrils and mouth. We sat in a companionable smoker's silence whilst we finished our cigarettes, her arm still looped through mine. I looked up and suddenly realised that Mother and Cora had caught up with us and were standing a few feet away just watching.

"I hope that my son is not encouraging you to smoke, Jules...." Mum chuckled.

"I think it is the other way around," Aunt Julia replied. We stood up and joined the others and headed towards the Savill Garden, always a pretty walk in the winter. Aunt Julia kept her arm tucked through mine until we finally got back to the car park. If Mother or Cora noticed neither mentioned it, they were probably just grateful that we had made our peace and were getting on together.

The remainder of Christmas Day passed pleasantly enough we had an early dinner about 4pm and then spend the evening watching Morecambe and Wise and The Two Ronnies re-runs on the television before all agreeing to get an early night. We were all pretty stuffed with food and drink. Mother had cooked a brace of duck as she knew that it was a particular favourite with all of us including Aunt Julia and served it with a huge bowl of boiled baby new potatoes in their skins, red cabbage cooked with apple slices, ginger and orange juice, and honey glazed parsnips, and a homemade port and redcurrant sauce. We had rounded the meal off with a dessert which Cora had been slaving over intermittently for a couple of days, a panettone bombe with a tutti-frutti ice cream centre and coated with white chocolate. She had ordered the cake from Marconi's Italian deli weeks before and had made the ice cream filling herself and then secreted it in the freezer until Christmas afternoon. It was delicious and a great hit, Cora was not renowned for her domestic skills but this time she has excelled herself. As Mum and Cora had cooked for us all, I got to do the washing-up, put everything away and make the supper hot chocolates whilst the ladies sat and talked or watched television.

We all hugged and wished each other a last 'Merry Christmas' before Mum and Cora headed upstairs to bed leaving me downstairs to lock-up. Aunt Julia paused before opening the door to the guest annex and turned back to me. "James....." She paused, "Thank you...." She went into the flat and closed the door leaving me to puzzle over exactly what she was thanking me for.

I SHALL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT BOXING DAY AS ONE OF THE SHITTIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!

The morning started off fine..... we were all cheerful and happy at breakfast time and despite my earlier apprehensions I was now looking forward to leaving for Austria and our skiing holiday the next day.

I had finally tackled Aunt Julia over the breakfast table, "So will you be skiing Aunt Julia?" She had not brought any ski kit with her but then not everybody had their own boots, helmets and skis.... She could have intended to hire equipment at the resort but I still suspected that she was not a skier at all.

"No! I don't ski..." She stated emphatically. I accepted that answer and would have left it there.

"Oh Jules, that is an outright fib...." Mother put in, then turned to Cora and me, "Your aunt is a brilliant skier, she was the one who taught me to ski thirty years ago....I got the winter sports bug from her."

"I didn't say that I can't ski, I said that I DON'T ski....there is a difference..." my aunt stated. The atmosphere had cooled considerably but for once it wasn't me that spoke out of turn...

"But why ever not.... You were so good...?" my mother persisted.

"I just don't ski any more... There are a lot of things I don't do anymore.... OK! Can we drop it now...." She snapped.

I didn't know what was at the root of the flare-up but I definitely did not want to get embroiled in any battle that might ensue. I hooked a bunch of keys from the key rack, "I will go down and make sure that the sheds and the summer house are all locked up and secure...." I had already done it once but it was an excuse to get out into the garden and out of the war zone. I felt really bad that a comment of mine had unintentionally kicked off a revival of the hostility between my mother and her sister.

Ten minutes later I strolled back up to the house. Cora and Aunt Julia were standing talking outside the back door. "Have you got a cigarette, Jim?" Cora asked, "Auntie Julia has run out...." I fished into my shirt pocket and came up with a crumpled packet of Marlboro which only contained two smokes. I handed one to Aunt Julia and took the other myself then lit both. We both took a deep lung full of smoke, exhaled but said nothing.

"Oh, shit....that was my last packet of fags...." I announced as the realisation dawn upon me, "I shall need to cycle to the newsagents and get some more before they close at lunchtime...." The local shops still only opened Sunday trading hours on Boxing Day back then. I like a cigarette occasionally but would have waited a day until we got to the airport... I came to wish that I had never mentioned it.

"Would you get me a carton of Benson & Hedges please...." Aunt Julia asked, she pulled her wallet out of her jacket pocket and passed me five twenty pound notes. "Get yourself a carton as well...I have been smoking your cigarettes all week-end....."

That was when disaster struck!

Before I could stop her or say anything to change her mind Cora snatched the money from my hand, "I'll go!" she cried, "I want to get some sweets for the flight tomorrow.... I won't be long..." and she ran around the house to the garage. A moment later I heard her car start up and roar out onto the road and away scattering shingle from the drive in her wake.

Aunt Julia and I just looked at each other in surprise and then burst out laughing. "Is she always as impulsive as that?" She asked.

"Yeah...that's my sister....sometimes I think she hasn't got a brain in her head, even though she is the cleverest person I know. We are Ariens you know....we are supposed to be headstrong, impulsive and reckless....that is certainly Cora and I guess that I can be a bit that way also.."

"You are very close, aren't you..."

"Yes, I guess we are...even for twins..." If people only knew how close, I thought. Those born under the sign of Aries are supposed to be sexually adventurous and demanding and I guess that combining that with the closeness natural to twins is a recipe for an interesting relationship such as Cora and I secretly enjoyed.

"You need to have somebody special in your life... otherwise it can be very lonely..." She said. I thought there was a trace of sadness or possibly regret in her voice.

I took a deep puff from my cigarette and flicked it away into a flower bed. "You and Mum have each other, you are sisters..... " I knew even as I said it that it was probably an inflammatory remark but she did not flare up or scold me.

"Yes, I think we should be closer than we are..... we have drifted apart....."

"Perhaps this holiday will help...?" I suggested. I really hoped that we could all get on together just for a few days....Aunt Julia and I seemed to have built some bridges perhaps she and Mum could find a way to repair their relationship if they spent some time together in a relaxed environment.