Page 16 of Mistletoe Kisses at Cwtch Cove

He smiled at her and took her hands. ‘Mum… I understand this, I really do, but I’m fine and I’ll be fine whatever happens. I have my job and my friends, and anyway, you and Dad are not going anywhere for a very long time.’

‘I hope not.’ She gave a nervous giggle. ‘I’ve so many things I still want to achieve.’

‘And you will.’ He watched her face, so familiar and dear to him, and knew that losing her and his dad would be dreadful. He loved them both and wished he could believe that they’d always be around. He knew that couldn’t happen though, as much as he knew that he could go first. There were no guarantees in life, none at all, but he was determined to make the most of each and every day with his parents.

He could make his mum happy by telling her he’d be open to finding love again and he could do it right now. But he had to mean it, because she’d know if he was being insincere. Taking a deep breath, he filled his lungs, then exhaled slowly.

‘Mum, I promise you that I will be open to whatever comes my way this Christmas. I’ll kiss as many women as I can find under the mistletoe and if one of them gives me the feels…’ He frowned. ‘I’m not sure there’s a way of saying this without it sounding a bit rude. Anyway, you know what I mean. If one of these women makes my heart flutter, then I’ll open myself to falling for her. Does that make you feel better?’

She reached up a hand and cupped his cheek. ‘It does, my darling boy. I know how hard it is for you but if you don’t let go of the past then you’ll never move forwards. We both know what happened to you and how hard it was, but I don’t want it to hold you back from happiness.’

‘From this moment on, I’ll do my best not to allow that to happen.’

‘I love you, Jack.’

‘Love you too, Mum. Now let’s go and get coffee and cake because all this talk of love has given me an appetite.’

As they walked towards the town, Jack felt like something inside him was shifting. He’d meant what he said, he really was prepared to let go of the past. It wouldn’t be easy but he would try to open himself up to the possibility of falling in love again. But first, it seemed, he had to stand under some mistletoe.

CHAPTER8

‘Ican’t pull my jeans up.’ Ellen waddled along the landing towards Lucy. ‘It’s all that baking we did yesterday. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten so many gingerbread stars.’

Lucy shook her head. ‘Why are you trying to put jeans on? You have a baby in that belly and I don’t find a lot of jeans comfortable at the best of times.’

‘These are maternity jeans, and they did fit me last week. I’m growing at an alarming rate.’ Ellen’s eyes were wide as she tugged the jeans down. ‘What if I just keep getting fatter and the baby is like… ten pounds or something. My poor fufaloo.’

Ellen had never liked to use proper terms for her anatomy and fufaloo had always made Lucy chuckle. ‘The baby will not be ten pounds and your fufaloo will be just fine. But you have to expect your body to change as the baby gets bigger. It’s not just baby in there, remember, it’s fluid and the amniotic sack and all that.’

‘Yes. Of course.’ Ellen kicked the jeans off her feet and turned around. ‘I need to find something more comfortable to put on. Do you think anyone will notice if I wear my pyjamas?’

Lucy followed Ellen into her bedroom and eyed the piles of discarded clothes on the bed. ‘What happened in here? Looks like a hurricane came through and emptied your wardrobe.’

‘I was trying things on, but nothing looks right.’ Ellen sank onto the edge of the bed. ‘I’m like a beached whale.’ She buried her face in her hands and Lucy crouched down in front of her.

‘You are not a beached whale. You are thirty-six weeks pregnant and beautiful with it. So… let’s have a look and find you something warm and comfortable because I think that going to see the Christmas lights turned on will do you good.’

Ellen lowered her hands. ‘OK.’

‘Right then…’ Lucy opened Ellen’s wardrobe door and peered inside. Her sister had to have something in here that would fit, surely?

* * *

‘Well we look fine don’t we?’ Lucy said to her sister an hour later as they walked towards the village green.

‘I think we look pretty good and at least I’m comfy now.’ Ellen patted her rounded belly that was encased in a bright red Santa onesie. ‘In fact, I think I might wear this all the time as it’s far more comfortable than my maternity jeans. Far more comfortable than most things I own. All I need to do now is walk around sayingho ho hoand I’ll get away with it.’

Lucy wrapped an arm around Ellen’s shoulders, pleased to be here with her, pleased to be able to do something to help. She’d gone through everything in Ellen’s wardrobe in an attempt to try to find her something to wear. When she’d pulled out the Santa onesie and held it in the air, she’d been joking as she’d asked Ellen what she thought about wearing it. However, her sister had clapped her hands and said, ‘I’ll wear that, Lucy, as long as you wear the Rudolph onesie.’ She directed Lucy to the other side of the wardrobe where the Rudolph onesie had been hanging in a suit bag.

Lucy had lifted the Rudolph onesie from the suit bag and laid it on the bed. Aware that she was going to a public event, she was slightly anxious about the idea of attending dressed as a giant reindeer, but, to make her sister feel more comfortable, she was prepared to do whatever it took.

Before dressing in the onesies, they’d put on thermal underwear and thick fluffy socks followed by warm jumpers, gloves and hats. Ellen had pulled up the hood of her onesie so now looked like she was wearing a Santa hat. Lucy had pulled up the hood of hers, and now had two gold antlers sticking out from her head that wobbled as she walked.

The village green was busy. Thankfully, dusk had fallen over Cwtch Cove, so Lucy had the comfort of not being dressed as a reindeer in broad daylight. However, as they approached the green and she saw villagers wearing hats, coats, gloves and boots — not fancy dress, of course — she felt incredibly conspicuous. She had not imagined attending the turning on of the lights with a pregnant Santa Claus at her side, but there were worse ways to spend an evening, and at least this way she was spending what she hoped would be an enjoyable time with the sister she adored.

Lucy looked around at the villagers, seeing couples, families and groups of friends. Cwtch Cove had a warm community and she could understand why her sister had chosen to live here. However, Lucy felt slightly wobbly seeing so many couples in love and close family groups with mothers and fathers because they had what she didn’t have. And if she was feeling wobbly, she knew Ellen might be experiencing something similar with her being heavily pregnant and without her partner at her side. She could only hope that her presence was reassuring.

‘Shall we get something to drink?’ Ellen asked hopefully. ‘I don’t know about you but I really fancy a hot chocolate and perhaps a mince pie… or a donut… or a crepe.’

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