Page 64 of I’ll Be Home for Christmas

In town, she took him to the same chocolate shop she’d visited with Meg, where they sampled almost as much as she had the first time, and then they took the trail away from town that Auntie Meg had been on and got lost in the blizzard. It looked so tranquil and peaceful now that it was hard to imagine it any other way.

When they finally made it back to the chalet, ready for a cheese fondue with pickles, vegetables and bread – Nanna had told them it would be on the menu – Rhys paused outside the chalet. The lack of sunshine made it feel as though the day was about to come to a close, and inside beyond the window, she could see Grumps and Jonathan laughing about something. Chrissie and Meg were sitting at the table at the far end of the room. They weren’t so close that Sarah could see their expressions, but she hoped they were accepting and open to getting through what had broken them apart in the first place.

She looked up into Rhys’s gentle blue eyes. ‘What’s the matter?’

He’d taken off his gloves and was running one hand across his jaw. The sound it made on the light stubble was another little thing she’d missed about him.

‘I’m nervous,’ he said as if they’d swapped roles. She’d been the one worrying until they’d talked.

‘Nervous? Why?’ A clump of snow slid from the roof at the right time to land on Rhys’s head with a thud and she started to giggle.

‘Careful. I make a mean snowball,’ he said taking her into his arms.

‘So do I.’ And then she prompted, ‘Anyway, what do you mean, nervous? You’re never nervous.’

‘I am. I just hide it well. I was nervous asking you out for the first time.’

‘Really?’ He’d never told her. But now she remembered he’d made the same gesture, the hand scraping on the stubble, the same scratchy sound.

‘Very. And I was nervous around your mum when I met her too. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you thinking I was a wimp. This is the first time I’ve met your grandparents and I’m nervous about being questioned by your entire family now over lunch.’

‘What, all four of them? Five, if you include Jonathan who is coming over as well.’ She put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. ‘My mum likes you, and there’s no doubt Grumps and Nanna do too, so stop stressing.’ She took his hand. ‘Ready to go inside?’

He nodded. ‘Lead the way.’

* * *

Sarah had planned to bring Rhys over to the Swiss Alps to meet her grandparents in the months after their wedding. She’d hoped he would slot in, and watching him now, it was obvious he did so with ease.

Meg and Chrissie insisted on getting Twister out of the cupboard, a game the sisters apparently hadn’t played since they were teenagers. Grumps and Nanna bowed out gracefully, but the rest of them had a go, and eyebrows were raised at one of the compromising positions Meg and Jonathan found themselves in.

Sarah wanted to grill her Auntie Meg about their next-door neighbour. She was staying in his spare room, but was it more than that?

‘They loved you,’ said Sarah as she and Rhys left the chalet at the end of the evening to head for the hotel. The fondue meal had been amazing, all of them together, their little family gathering, and she felt closer to her fiancé than ever. But now she was ready for it to be just the two of them.

The hotel was wonderful and even had a spa. They ended up with the sauna to themselves after they’d had a swim, and Sarah lay back on the wooden bench and closed her eyes. She felt Rhys reach down from the bench on the level above and take her hand.

‘Too hot for that,’ she said, but he didn’t let go.

‘Your family are great, Sarah. You’re very lucky.’

She looked up at him, but his eyes were tightly shut. Little beads of sweat gathered on his chest, and she watched a couple of them give up their hold and trickle down over his skin.

‘Yours are pretty cool too,’ she said, closing her eyes again.

‘I’ll marry you tomorrow, next year, the year after, Sarah. Whenever you’re ready. And on our terms, okay?’

‘Okay.’ She knew he meant without such a hefty guest list or any pressure, and for that she fell in love with him just a little bit more.

‘And I won’t force you to have the big family Christmas if you don’t want that,’ he went on.

‘I don’t know, maybe I’ll grow to love it.’ She sat up and Rhys turned onto his side, so their faces were inches apart.

‘I kind of like this sort of Christmas,’ he said. ‘Guaranteed snow. The Alps as a backdrop. Fondue – who knew I’d love fondue? And Twister… there’s a game I’ll never suggest to my family. Can you imagine?’

She sniggered. ‘Nope, not at all.’

‘You’re very bendy.’ He hooked her hair behind her ear.