Page 70 of All We Want for Christmas
‘I’ve been thinking about what you said – about me telling Nan and Mum that I’ve found Flynn. You’re right. If I want him to be part of my life, and Esme’s, I’ll have to.’
‘There’s no other way, is there?’ Lara said.
‘No, and the thing is, I really would like Mum to meet Flynn again, because she’s on her own and he is too, and, you know, they must have connected with each other once. The chemistry must have been there even if it was twenty years ago. It could happen again, couldn’t it? It’s not impossible.’
Lara didn’t know what to say. She’d denied any connection with Flynn beyond friendship, so she simply said, ‘It’s not impossible, no.’
Molly sighed. ‘Thanks for driving Flynn to mine and letting us stay here. I had no idea what I was going to do. I feel so much better now.’
‘You’re welcome,’ said Lara, as cheerily as she could manage.
Flynn bustled back in, sounding harassed. ‘Right. I’ve parked the van as close as I could. Shall I carry the bags and buggy while you bring Esme?’
‘Yeah.’ Molly brought Esme closer to Lara and helped her wave her chubby arm. ‘Bye then, Lara. Thanks so much for everything.’
‘No problem.’
Lara let them out and closed the door, unwilling to draw attention. It was just starting to get light and staff were already up and about, starting work in the kitchens and café and castle.
Molly couldn’t help her hopes for her parents to reunite. They were understandable and reasonable, in the circumstances. Yet, Lara thought, understanding a situation was one thing, while accepting and liking it was far far harder.
Her role was passive: to leave Flynn to work thingsout and, in this case, temporarily support Molly through a minor crisis.
Fixing the burst pipe and tidying up the cottage was the easy part. Standing by cheerfully while Molly tried to rebuild a relationship between her mother and father would be almost impossible.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
After Flynn had dropped Esme at nursery and Molly at the Waterwheel Café, he’d hardly been able to function at work, but he had managed to get the evening off from the illuminations to go round to their house that evening.
He’d borrowed some dehumidifiers to help dry the affected rooms out. Molly had cleaned out the cot and moved it to her own room. The plumber had been earlier to fix the leak and Flynn had booked someone to repair the damaged ceiling the following day.
Flynn had just finished replacing the circuit boards and was sweeping up dust and bits of wire when Molly rushed into the utility room, waving her phone.
‘Oh. My. God.’
‘What now?’ Flynn’s stomach lurched. She looked pale as a ghost. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Yes. I mean. No.’ She let out a squeak. ‘I hope so. It’s here. The email’s here.’
Flynn broke out in a sweat. ‘You mean the DNA test results.’
‘Yes.’
He longed for and dreaded the result. If it was negative, Molly would be devastated and Flynn had no idea how he’dcope. He’d been on such a rollercoaster over the past week that, if Molly wasn’t his, he would feel he’d lost her, even if having found her had lobbed a bombshell into his life and caused a rift with Lara.
He leaned the brush on the worktop, trying to sound calm. ‘You haven’t opened it, then?’
‘No. I thought we should do it together. I want it to be a yes. I really do.’
‘So do I,’ said Flynn, feeling a bit sick.
‘Let’s do it, then.’ Molly showed him her email inbox with the DNA test company’s message.
‘OK,’ Flynn said, clenching his trembling fingers by his side.
Molly opened it and, within seconds, she’d burst into tears.
Flynn put his arms around her and held her as she sobbed. It was probably a good thing she couldn’t see the tears in his own eyes as he realised, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was holding his daughter. He was filled with warmth and wonder and joy, and, at the same time, sadness at realising that he’d missed out on that for so many years.
