Page 82 of Merrily Ever After
Because there in front of her, despite being the last person she’d expected to see, was the big sister she’d always fantasised about having. It had to be fate.
And now the words were out of her mouth; there was no going back. The conversation she’d been playing over and over in her head since finding out about Merry had begun.
Merry’s eyes lit up in recognition and she smiled. ‘Yes, I remember you! We met outside school when I came to collect Harley. You were the teacher who came to our rescue.’
‘School secretary,’ she corrected. ‘But yes, that was me.’
So far, so good.
‘I’m Merry Shaw, Harley’s stepmum.’ Merry held up her hands. ‘Well, almost his stepmum.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Emily replied without thinking.
‘You do?’ Merry looked surprised.
‘I mean, I guessed who you were,’ she said, fanning her glowing face with her hand. ‘It’s getting very warm in here.’
There was someone else behind the Merry and Bright stall, Emily noticed now. An older lady wearing a magnificent patchwork kimono and an armful of jingly bangles. She stood up and touched Merry’s shoulder.
‘I’m going now,Schatz.’
‘And this is my friend Astrid,’ Merry said, standing aside to bring her into the conversation. ‘Astrid, this is one of the staff from Harley’s school.’
Emily and Astrid smiled their hellos.
‘I will now say goodbye to Maude if she’s awake, and then go home to Otto. Tell Harley how proud I am of him.Bis später.’
‘I will.’ Merry kissed the woman on both cheeks and thanked her for her help.
As soon as Astrid mentioned Maude, Emily realised that she’d seen her here before with a little dog when she’d been visiting her dad. Emily’s head span: so Maude was friends with Astrid and Astrid was friends with Merry. Talk about it being a small world! How many other tiny connections had there been over the years between the two of them? she wondered.
‘Harley has taken us by surprise today,’ Merry confided once Astrid had gone. ‘We didn’t even know he was in the choir, let alone that he had such a beautiful voice. I took a photo to show his parents, but I wish I’d videoed his solo.’
‘Kids hide all sorts of things from their parents at that age,’ said Emily. ‘Mostly because they don’t think it’simportant. And he probably wouldn’t have thanked you for preserving the moment on video.’
‘True.’ Merry sighed, gazing over at the choir, which was nearing the end of the song.
They still had an attentive audience, but some people had started moving about and there was a queue building at the mulled wine stall. Emily turned back to the row of armchairs to check on her dad; he was still next to Lavinia in a world of his own. He’d insisted on calling her Tina today and hadn’t wanted to chat; it broke her heart when he was like this. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but she felt shut out.
Will was here too somewhere; she hadn’t seen him yet, but Kylie had told her that his old friend Bernard was bedbound with flu, so Will had offered to play Scrabble with him in his room. Hopefully, she’d catch up with him before she left.
Emily cleared her throat. ‘You and I also met before that day at school. In Wetherley market, at Nell’s Nuts.’
Merry shook herself out of her reverie and gasped. ‘Yes! That’s it! I knew I’d seen you somewhere before, but I couldn’t place you. You were with your mum, right?’
Emily nodded. ‘And your friend, Nell, was trying to persuade you to have a hen party.’
‘She managed it.’ Merry rolled her eyes amiably. ‘As usual. Although you said something about celebrating every moment big or small and it really stuck with me.’
‘Really?’ Emily smiled. ‘And was it a success?’
‘We had a great time, and you were right: I would have regretted not doing it. So thanks for the nudge. Mind you, I think we all regretted it next morning.’ She winced comically, pressing a hand to her temple. ‘Don’t tell Harley though, I like him to think I’m a paragon of virtue.’
‘I won’t breathe a word,’ Emily promised with a grin. A wave of happiness washed over her, and she was glad she’d plucked up the courage to come over. Merry was so easy to talk to; she felt as if she knew her already. Her imagination had already leapt ahead, envisaging shopping trips and family holidays and long text conversations full of in-jokes and the gentle teasing she’d seen go on between Izzy and her sisters.Please let this happen, she thought.
The choir’s next song was ‘Jingle Bells’. This was clearly one of their favourites; the kids’ voices grew louder, overpowering the music, causing them to speed up. Emily could see that Ivan’s conducting was getting a little bit frantic.
‘Oh dear, and it was all going so well.’ She caught Merry’s eye, and they both laughed
