Page 134 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“Perhaps we should get a shot of Baileys in your hot chocolate.”
I wouldn’t turn that offer down. “Emily… What’s your relationship like with your sister now?”
“Oh, much better. To be honest, I can’t say we ever had a truly bad one. We had a series of frustrations that, we came to learn, were caused entirely by our parents. Once she’d moved out and gotten a reality check in university, things changed for the better. It helped that I married Michael shortly after that, and that distance made a big difference, just like it has for you.” She tilted her head to the side. “Of course, our relationship was only able to change because Maggie recognised all of that.”
“And my sister has already done all of those things, and nothing has changed.”
“Ah, but she didn’t go far, did she? My sister moved halfway across the country, and she barely saw our parents unless it was a break. Hazel, if I remember correctly, stayed within driving distance each weekend.”
That was true. “Mm, I suppose. And our parents didn’t move abroad until she’d graduated.”
Emily nodded slowly. “Exactly. And after that, I bet she called you for every little thing, didn’t she?”
I paused, pressing my lips into a grim line. “Something like that.”
Exactly like that.
I’d always been the one to get her out of jail. Every time something went wrong, Hazel called me, and I was always there to pick up the pieces of her life.
“Let me guess,” Emily continued softly, gazing around. “You’ve reached your limit. You give and give and give to her, but she can’t—or chooses not to—do the same thing for you. And now you’re tired of being the one who fixes everything.”
I swallowed hard. Her words hit me right in the gut, coiling into a guilty knot of emotion that sat heavily. “I’m her big sister,” I said quietly. “It’s always—”
“Never been your job.” Emily sighed, pressing her arm against mine as she leant in. “Let me tell you something: there’s only one person you have any obligation to take care of, and that’s yourself. Especially when you neglect your own wellbeing for the sake of other people.”
“Even when you have kids?”
“Even when you have kids. What, you think you can be a good parent if you don’t take care of you? Children are products of their environment. If a daughter sees her mother taking care of herself, what does she learn? That she should take care of herself—that she should love herself before all else.”
“What about a son?”
“I’d like to think a son sees his mother caring for herself and thinks he should leave her alone, but eh.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Boys are a whole other breed of needy little bastards.”
The thought of a young Thomas trailing after a facemask-clad Emily made me laugh.
“Seriously, though, I would like to believe I’ve raised a fairly solid young man,” she said after a moment, her voice low, her tone careful. “One who sees it for what it is: a few moments of self-love in a world that is increasingly telling us that we aren’t good enough.”
I looked down at my feet as we walked, a small smile creeping onto my face. “Yeah. I think that’s exactly what he sees. Then he’d probably kiss your cheek and tell you that you’re pretty.”
“Ah, I think that’s something he reserves for you.”
“Pretty annoying, pretty mouthy, pretty snarky…”
She reached over and wrapped her arm around me, pulling me in close, and let out a small laugh. “At least he tells you that you’re pretty. You can simply choose not to hear the rest of it, you know.”
“Good thinking. I’ll do that next time.”
She kissed the side of my head as her phone pinged. “That’ll be the drinks order. Come on. I’ll make sure your sister has disappeared by the time we get back, then we’ll make the best of a bad situation.”
I sighed. “I’m not going back in there if she’s there, or I’m going to spend Christmas in jail.”
“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll make sure you have a nice Christmas dinner, wherever you are.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT – THOMAS
Sylvie was nowhere to be found.
She wasn’t at the old town hall—in fact, nobody was, and she wasn’t answering her fucking phone.
