Page 76 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“Do you know about Hazel’s veil?”
“Of course—it’s supposed to arrive this week, isn’t it?”
“Ah, you don’t.” I blew out a breath and quickly explained what had happened.
“Oh, no! That’s a terrible shame. She must be devastated. No wonder she didn’t come to dinner tonight.”
Oh, shit.
Was I interrupting a family dinner?
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” I asked tentatively.
“Anything is better than listening to my husband and son drone on about the football,” she replied. “Except perhaps the cricket. Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Actually, yes, there might be.” I turned my back on the road, dipping my head. “Emily told Thomas about the family veil this morning, and he just passed that information on to me,” I said softly. “Emily seems to think that you may have been willing to offer it to Hazel.”
There was a slight pause before Cassandra said, “Yes, I was. Since Steve’s parents have passed, he feels it’s time for the veil to be used again, and I was hoping she might be willing. When she came to us with her ideas for her custom one, she was so excited that I didn’t feel like it was right to bring it up.”
“I understand that. Is it usable? The veil?”
“Yes. It’s been stored and taken care of extremely well. It might just need a gentle wash that I’m happy to do. Sylvie…” The line crackled with what seemed like a sigh. “Do you think she’d be willing?”
“I don’t mean this badly, but she doesn’t have many options,” I said honestly. “It’s that or she buys another. Given how much went into her original one, I’m sure she’d rather have an heirloom over one that doesn’t mean anything. Are you busy tomorrow morning?”
“I’m not, dear, no.”
“Could you get it ready for, say, ten? I’ll bring her over and we’ll see what she says.”
“Of course. I’ll make some brunch. It’ll be great to see you.”
I almost sank into the snow with relief, and we said goodbye with a reassurance of seeing each other tomorrow. As soon as the line went dead, I balled my hands into fists and pressed them against my eyes, taking the deepest breath known to man.
Oh, my gosh.
Maybe… Maybe we’d fixed it.
MaybeThomashad fixed it. Why was it always him?
I all but ran back inside to the warmth of the pub. I fired off a text to my sister telling her to be ready for me to pick her up at nine-thirty tomorrow as I returned to the table.
Thomas looked up when I approached. “Did you get it sorted?”
I nodded. “We’re going over to see it in the morning. Hazel doesn’t know about it yet.”
“Good.” He eyed me speculatively. “You look cold. You didn’t put your coat on, did you?”
“I might have been a little excited,” I replied slowly, putting my phone away. I rubbed my frozen hands together and even pressed them between my thighs to warm them.
“Good thing I ordered these, then.”
“What?” I jerked my head around just in time to see two mugs being brought over on a tray, one of which was topped with squirty cream and marshmallows.
The tray was set on the table, and the guy winked at Thomas before he turned and walked away.
“There.” Thomas pushed the hot chocolate with the extras towards me. “That’ll warm you up.”
“This knight in shining armour thing is getting old,” I muttered, taking it. “Thank you.”
