“I’ll try not to be like any of the stereotypes of mother-in-law.”
“I wouldn’t even know what those are.”
She’d arrived feeling like an outsider, hovering on the edges, and now here she was gradually being folded into the family.
Any further conversation was interrupted by Martin, who walked into the room carrying another stack of papers.
“Right! I think we finally have a plan. A list of topics and chapters. Jamie helped us with the last part. Take a look and tell me what you think.”
“Ah, the book. In this family, everything stops for the book.” Jenny exchanged a glance with Hayley and took the papers from him. “Brian’s Book.” She looked at him. “That’s Dad’s final decision on the title?”
“No. But if we wait to find the right title, we’re never going to write the book. Ignore that. Take a look at the contents.” He sat down at the kitchen table and patted the chair next to him. “Think about the stuff we worried about as new parents.”
Hayley left them to it and carried the sugar over to the cranberries that Jenny had already tipped into the pan.
“Oh Hayley, thank you!” Jenny glanced up at her. “The recipe is right there because I always forget the amount of sugar. Just throw it in the pan with the orange juice and heat it. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Sorry—” Martin looked up. “Just leave it, Hayley. Jenny can do it in a minute. This won’t take long.”
“Hayley doesn’t mind doing it. She’s helping, Martin.”
“She’s a guest.”
“She’s not a guest, she’s family. She can make cranberry sauce. That’s what family does.” She put her glasses on and read through the chapter list. “You have a chapter on menopause. Good. And what to do if your doctor doesn’t take you seriously—I like that—”
Feeling a warmth she’d never felt before, Hayley turned back to the stove, leaving them to it.
She had cranberry sauce to make.
Chapter26
Becky
Becky’s first encounter with Will was in the kitchen with the whole family gathered for breakfast.
He appeared in the doorway just as everyone was loading the table with food, so any possible awkwardness was lost in the general chaos.
His hair was damp from the shower and he wore jeans and a shirt that seemed to accentuate the blue of his eyes. Meeting his gaze across the room, Becky felt her heart flip and wondered how it had taken her so long to realise she was in love with him. How could she have missed something this big, that seemed to fill every part of her?
Will.
She was tempted to sprint across the room and hurl herself at him, the way Percy did when he saw someone he loved, but she managed to restrain herself. People often told Percy to get down and she didn’t want that happening to her, particularly not in public. She was allowed to do it of course because she was supposed to be in love with Will, but now she was actually in love with Will she was confused about how to behave.
She knew her face was red and hoped no one was watching too closely. What was he thinking? Was he regretting last night? Was he wondering if she was reading more into it?
She needed to show him that she was fine with it all. That nothing had changed.
She put down the bowls she’d been holding and crossed the room to greet him, lifting herself onto her toes to kiss his cheek. It turned out to be a mistake because the moment her lips made contact with his freshly shaved jaw it triggered a memory of the night before when she’d done exactly the same, only they’d both been naked at the time. His arm curved round her and he gave her an intense, questioning look but she simply smiled up at him, pretending that she was pretending.
Then they joined the others at the table, their small private exchange eclipsed by multiple simultaneous conversations.
“These buns are fresh from the oven so don’t burn yourselves,” her mother said, placing them on a large plate in the middle of the table.
Delicious Christmas scents of cinnamon and spice wafted through the kitchen.
“It was a modern interpretation,” her grandmother was saying to Rosie, “and I didn’t like the costumes.”
“One of my friends worked on that production.” Rosie helped herself to a bun, blowing on it to cool it. “The choreography was spectacular.”
