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“What work did you do?” Matt strolled into the room, his head tilted back as he admired the details.

“I was a writer,” Mabel said, watching as Elsie dropped to her knees in front of one of the bookshelves.

“I want to be a writer one day. I make up stories with Mummy.” Elsie gasped. “You have all the Careless Witch books! Every single one. Even the one we can’t get because it’s out of print.” Elsie lowered Crumpet gently to the floor and pulled a book from the shelf. She looked up at Mabel in wonder. “How did you get it?”

There was a pause.

“They give you copies when you’re the author,” Mabel said. “And I’m the author.”

Elsie hugged the book to her chest and looked at her with something close to awe.

“I knew it,” she whispered. “I said you looked like Tripalot. Didn’t I, Mummy?”

“You did.” Brooke sounded dazed. “Mabel, this is incredible. If I’d written those books, I’d be telling everyone I met. It would be the first thing I said when I opened the door to someone new. Why didn’t you mention it? Particularly when you know how much we all love that series?”

Mabel was standing very still. “These days it’s something I usually keep to myself. It feels like a lifetime ago.”

Izzy thought about how much those books had meant to her. She remembered the day her mother had come home with a copy of The Careless Witch and the Thanksgiving Turkey. Her very own copy, to keep. She’d slept with it under her pillow. Her mother had read it to her every night, and after she’d died, sleeping with the book had made Izzy feel less alone. It was a connection to her mother. When she read it, she could hear her mother’s voice. Occasionally, she’d press her nose into the book because a trace of her mother’s perfume lingered.

And then she’d come home from school one day and discovered that her father had decided to clear out the “junk” in her room. As well as her night-light, he’d taken her treasured book and donated it to the church fundraiser. Izzy had rushed there to try to buy it back but she was too late. Someone had already bought her precious book.

She’d cried for days and her father had become increasingly irritated.

It was a children’s book, Isabel. It’s time you grew up.

She’d wanted to explain that the book was special because her mother had bought it for her and they’d read it together, but her father hated any reminders of the past. She’d wanted to explain that although it was technically a children’s book, it made her feel better. It provided a refuge from the complexities of adult life. It promised her that life would get better. Her mother’s scent had long gone but she still imagined it was there.

The memory flattened her and she sat for a moment, struggling to subdue all those unwanted emotions. Her hand sneaked out and she took the book from the shelf.

The Careless Witch and the Thanksgiving Turkey.

She stroked the cover and saw Mabel watching her.

She blushed. “This particular book was precious to me.”

“You mentioned that. Borrow it, of course.”

“Really?” She was touched that Mabel understood. That she didn’t think Izzy was too old to read it again. It was an emotional connection she hadn’t expected. “Thank you.”

“I can’t believe you’re M.M. Kingston.” Brooke sounded faint. “I’m starstruck, and I’m never starstruck.”

Izzy felt the same way. “I’m starstruck, too. My inner seven-year-old wants to fangirl all over you. Those books were my best friends when I was growing up. You have no idea what they meant to me.” Her father had no idea, either. But even if he had, would it have made a difference? He’d never been that interested in her happiness. Only his own. Even before her mother died, he’d had little interest in Izzy.

Elsie was holding the book so tightly there was a chance it would have to be surgically removed from her body.

“Mum—Mommy?”

“Yes, honey.”

“Is it too late to change what I want for Christmas?”

Izzy saw a look of alarm spread briefly across Brooke’s face.

“Well, that—”

“I want Mabel to read her books to me. That’s what I want. More than anything.”

“I’d like that, too.” Poppy gave a twirl, lost her balance and would have fallen if Matt hadn’t caught her up.