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She wanted so, so badly to ask what the other stuff was, but she didn’t.
Kate and Juliet were obviously trying to protect Jake and from a couple of conversations and some observation, Jake was a proud and private man and, if that flash of pain was anything to go by, definitely feeling humiliated about something.
She realised she didn’t have the right to know.
She was the newcomer and needed to earn that right.
Double darn.
It was going to burn her up inside not being able to ask questions about him without coming across as being ‘interested’.
Which she wasn’t.
In the slightest.
Chapter 12 (#ulink_ee00929b-7cdf-5a53-b17e-a061bf11a3cb)
Mince Pies on the Prize (#ulink_ee00929b-7cdf-5a53-b17e-a061bf11a3cb)
Emma
‘Sheila, these are so good, they should be illegal.’ Emma bit into another of the bite-sized mince pies with the little star and little Christmas tree sweet-pastry toppers and told herself this would absolutely be the last thing she ate seconds of during Sheila’s visit.
Kate’s mother’s face lit up at the compliment. ‘Bootleg mince pies. I like the sound of that. Perhaps I should deliver them under the cover of night.’
‘We’ll set up a code and a secret handshake,’ Emma joked alongside her, delighted to discover where Kate got some of her sense of humour from. ‘Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I ate a mince pie this good.’
To be honest, she wasn’t sure she’d had one since she’d left the UK, and as the rich fruit flavours burst on her tongue and the sweet buttery pastry melted in her mouth, the vault containing Christmases past burst wide open.
Suddenly she was six years old again. Valiantly trying to stay awake on Christmas Eve and waking in the early hours with the feel of a pillow case filled with treats, against her feet, signalling that Father Christmas had been. With excitement she’d feel her way past the small wrapped toys, and the dreadfully squishy Satsuma, hunting for her favourite present, a book. Tearing off the wrapping she’d clamber out of bed, read the title by the dull hallway light and rush into her parents’ bedroom to climb in between them and fall asleep, happily clutching it to her chest.
As the carousel of Christmas memories sped up there were more books but it was harder to steep herself in the stories with her parents hurling recriminations at each other until her father would inevitably decide to go for a drive.
Feeling a little sick, Emma quickly tugged on the reindeer reins, jumped off the carousel and fled the vault, slamming the door shut behind her. Picking up her clipboard she concentrated on putting another tick in a column.
‘Well,’ she said, forcing a smile for Sheila. ‘These are definitely going on the menu. As is the triple layer chocolate-fudge cake. Also, the Tiffin brownies and, oh, I don’t suppose you could do mini Yule-logs with white frosting to look like snow?’
‘I think I could do that.’ Sheila jotted the request in the notebook beside her. ‘What if I dust them with a pistachio crumb in the shape of a holly leaf and add a couple of cranberries for the berries?’
‘That sounds yummy. They’d need to be small enough to fit on these cake stands,’ Emma said, pointing to the pretty mismatched ones she’d laid out, so that Sheila could get an idea of what would go into each festive afternoon tea. ‘Is that going to be possible? I don’t want to make your life too fiddly.’
‘Oh, I can handle a little fiddly.’
Emma heard the determination in Kate’s mother’s voice and looked up from where she’d been adding notes to her order sheet. ‘Do you not get busy at the B&B at Christmas?’ she asked.
‘Not during the lead-up. That’s why I’m so happy to be doing this.’ Sheila fussed with the napkin she’d laid across her lap. ‘It’s a strange time of year,’ she confessed.
‘Because of Bea?’ Emma couldn’t believe she’d come right out and said that and reached a hand out in automatic apology. ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Somersby. I shouldn’t have mentioned anything.’
‘Actually it’s fine. Everyone always tiptoes around it, not wanting to make it harder on me, I know.’
‘I remember Kate only ever made flying visits back to you at this time of year. I guess that made it even harder?’
‘I’m ashamed to say at the time I hardly even noticed. After Bea died I could never really get myself into a place to celebrate. This year, I’m feeling so much better and so thankful and well, Oscar and Melody should be allowed to celebrate with Juliet and Kate will want to celebrate with Daniel of course,’ she rushed out. ‘Their relationships are so new and I don’t want to intrude.’
‘Of course,’ Emma said, feeling awkward. She wasn’t sure it was her place to reassure Kate’s mother that Kate and Daniel, and Oscar, Juliet and Melody were bound to include her in their Christmas plans. She hated thinking the first year she was ready to celebrate since her daughter’s death, Sheila was worried about intruding on her other daughter’s or her son-in-law’s plans. Was Sheila subtly asking Emma to get involved? If she could help then perhaps she should mention something to Kate? It wasn’t like she couldn’t speak to the feeling of being on your own at Christmas.
‘I get the odd guest at Christmas but between you and me,’ Sheila said leaning forward in her chair conspiratorially, ‘there’s this phenomenon in Whispers Wood where even the largest of houses tend to magically shrink at this time of year.’
Emma leaned forward too. ‘Between you and me it’s not only in Whispers Wood where there’s suddenly “No Room at the Inn”. Perhaps the greatest gift family can give each other at Christmas is space. Everything seems to work better when no one is under each other’s feet.’
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