Page 29 of A Cornish Winter's Kiss

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When Jude had first suggested meeting Emily’s parents, she’d completely dismissed the idea. Despite knowing that they were capable of convincing anyone about the concept of true love, she hadn’t wanted them to be used as some kind of social experiment, or just to entertain Jude. When her mother had first been diagnosed, one of the things she’d struggled with the most was the assumptions people made about her symptoms. She’d been accused of being drunk on multiple occasions, mostly when the tremors that had been the first symptom of the disease had been uncontrolled and obvious. It had made Emily’s mother reluctant to be around people she didn’t know. Thankfully, for a long time the medication Patsy had been given was successful in reducing most of her symptoms, but it was no longer working as well as it had been, and the reluctance to be around new people was back too. She could cope with big events like the Christmas market, when she had her family around her and she could get lost amongst the crowd, but not anywhere she felt she might be under scrutiny. It was why Emily hadn’t been prepared to allow Jude to meet her parents, not even to prove to him that he waswrong about love, but then her mother had taken her by surprise and asked her to invite him over.

‘I read one of Jude’s books.’ Patsy’s tone had been light and there was no way of knowing from the expression on her face what she’d thought of the novel she’d read.

‘Did you like it?’ When Patsy had wrinkled her nose in response, Emily had found herself getting defensive. She’d read Jude’s books; he was extremely talented and for some reason she hated the thought that her mother might think otherwise.

‘I can see why he needed your help. The murder storylines are great; he makes them feel so believable, and the lives of the victims are complex and multi-layered. So it’s odd that his lead character appears so one-dimensional. It’s like you can’t scratch the surface of who DCI McGuigan really is.’ Patsy had paused for a moment, her eyes locking with Emily’s. ‘Is that what it’s like with Jude?’

‘It was at first.’ She hadn’t intended to be so honest, but her mother had always been able to make Emily open up to her. Maybe it was because she’d been a counsellor for so long. ‘I felt like he was shut down and standoffish, but the more time I’ve spent with him, the more I suspect that’s how he protects himself. I think you’re right about the adoption having affected him even more than he realised, but he’s decided to try and find his birth mother.’

‘Wow, that’ll be quite something after all these years. I wonder if she’s been hoping and praying all this time.’ There’d been a spark in Patsy’s eyes that Emily remembered from before her mother had been forced to retire. She’d loved working with complex cases, and this kind of situation would have been right up her street.

‘I just hope he can find his biological mother and get some answers. He’s added his name to the adoption contact register, but he was born at the old cottage hospital near Port Tremellienand I wondered if Gwen might have been there at the time. It’s a long shot and I don’t know if she’d be able to tell him anything even if she was there, but I’m sure an adoption would have stuck in her mind if she knew about it.’

‘Maybe, but sometimes the proper channels are the best way of doing things. That way Jude can access some support if he needs it.’

‘You’re right, and he said he doesn’t want to approach his biological mother unless he’s sure she wants to hear from him, so he didn’t seem all that keen to speak to Gwen when I mentioned it.’

‘I can sound her out, so he’s got options if he does decide to go down that route, but why don’t you invite Jude here for dinner in the meantime?’

‘What for?’ Emily had known the reason, but she’d wanted to see if her mum would be honest about it.

‘He hasn’t got a lot of support by the sounds of it, and I’d like him to feel like he can turn to us if he needs to.’ Bingo. Her mother’s response hadn’t surprised her at all.

‘You don’t even know him, and I’m just someone he hired to help him revise one of his books.’

‘You keep telling yourself that, Em, but it’s pretty obvious it’s gone a long way beyond that, and I think I could help him too if he was willing to let me.’

‘He won’t want a counsellor, Mum, and you don’t even practise any more.’ Even as she’d protested, she’d known it was futile. Her mother would have kept suggesting inviting Jude over until Emily eventually backed down. It was stupid not to make the offer, especially when he’d already said he wanted to see for himself what made her parents’ relationship so special.

That was why she was standing in their lounge now, trying not to make it obvious that she was staring out of the window so she could see when Jude arrived. She wanted to be able toanswer the door before her father got to it, but she didn’t want Jude to think she was standing there waiting with bated breath for him to arrive. She had no idea why she was overthinking this as much as she was.

‘Ooh, there he is.’ The words came out despite Emily’s intention to play it cool, and her mother shot her a knowing look. Thankfully her father was in the kitchen, so there was no chance of him getting to Jude first and saying something embarrassing that might give away just how often his name had come up in conversation lately.Emily’s always talking about you. No, she didn’t want Jude hearing that.

‘Hi, come on in.’ Emily suddenly felt strangely shy now that Jude was standing on the doorstep of her family home. His dark hair was artfully messy, as if someone had styled him to look as though he’d been running his hands through his hair while working through the draft of his book. The intensity in his blue eyes made it feel as if he could read her mind, and that was definitely something she didn’t want.

‘Mum’s in the lounge, and Dad’s insisting on making pizza. It’s against his religion not to have pizza on the first night of Christmas movie month, and tonight’s the night.’ She stepped to the side and ushered him in to the hallway.

‘That sounds like the kind of religion I could get on board with.’ Jude’s generous mouth curved into a smile. ‘Although I’m intrigued to know what else Christmas movie month involves.’

‘We’ve done it ever since Charlotte and I outgrew all the traditions little kids enjoy. We always start in the first week of December to fit everything in, but it would probably sound awful to anyone else, watching the same films every year.’ Emily shrugged, not really caring what other people – even Jude – thought of Christmas movie month, because she loved it. ‘We have a list of all the Christmas films we love the most and absolutely have to watch in the run-up to the big day. Weschedule them in and share it on our family WhatsApp group. If we aren’t all together, we still make sure we watch the same films on the same day. So Charlotte and her family will be watchingHome Aloneat their place, and after you’ve gone we’ll watch it too. No doubt Dad will recreate a scene from the movie – probably the aftershave scene – and post a picture of it in the group. It’s a way of getting into the spirit of things together even when we’re apart. It’s silly, but I love it. We all do.’

‘It doesn’t sound silly.’ Every time that wistful tone came into Jude’s voice, she wanted to reach out to him physically and emotionally, but she was pretty sure that was the fastest way to make him shut down. Instead, she just smiled as he handed her a large hessian bag. ‘I’ve brought some chocolate and some flowers. I was going to bring wine, but I wasn’t sure if your parents drink.’

‘You didn’t need to bring anything, but that was really thoughtful. Thank you. They don’t really drink any more; it affects Mum’s medication, and Dad doesn’t like drinking in front of her, or when he’s taking care of her.’

‘The more I hear about your dad, the more I wish he was mine.’

‘Even if that made us siblings?’ It was a throwaway comment, but she still wished she hadn’t said it. She’d thought stopping her father answering the door would save her from embarrassment, but now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe there’d be safety in numbers. ‘Shall we go through so you can meet them both?’

‘I’d like that.’

By the time they got through to the lounge, her parents were sitting side by side on the sofa.

‘Mum, Dad, this is Jude.’ Something about being around him always made her feel clumsy, and Emily knew she was stating the obvious, but there was no other way to do the introductions. ‘And these are my parents, Patsy and Richard.’

‘It’s good to meet you both, thanks so much for inviting me over.’ Jude extended a hand to Emily’s father, who shook it, but when he attempted the same with Patsy, her tremor was painfully apparent and she was struggling to keep her hand steady enough to take his. Now that the medication was no longer working, the tremors seemed to have come back with a vengeance. If it fazed Jude in the slightest, he didn’t give it away, gently reaching forward to take her hand.

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