Page 30 of Mistletoe Kisses at Cwtch Cove

‘Definitely,’ she said as she moved into his embrace. ‘And then I’m going to make you breakfast.’

Jack kissed Lucy gently at first but then a powerful yearning filled him and he needed to be closer to her. He scooped her into his arms and carried her through to the lounge then he set her down on the sofa and lay next to her. He stroked her cheeks, her arms and her waist, in awe of her beauty and his burgeoning feelings for her, but when he went to kiss her again, she frowned.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I dropped the mistletoe,’ she said.

‘I think it’s OK now.’

‘It is?’

‘It’s done its job and the rest is up to us.’

He gazed at the glow in her cheeks, the shine of her hair and the desire in her eyes, then he cupped her chin. ‘Ready?’

‘Ready.’

And as he kissed her again, he felt his heart open fully to a feeling he recognised as love.

CHAPTER13

‘You OK?’ Lucy asked as she walked into the nursery. She’d just finished a chapter of the book she was working on and got up to make a coffee then realised that she hadn’t seen or heard Ellen for a while. Not that she was keeping tabs on her but she did like to make sure that Ellen had everything she needed. Since the scare a week ago, with Ellen’s practice contractions, she’d been on high alert.

Ellen looked up from the pile of tiny clothes she was folding. ‘Yeah… I’m tired but I barely slept last night. I think I’m going into nesting mode to be honest. I’ve washed and ironed all these clothes already, but I felt an overwhelming urge to check them again. I’ve also repacked my hospital bag… just in case I do have to go in.’ She pointed at the bag in the corner of the room. Ellen already shown its contents to Lucy and she’d found it quite emotional looking at the baby grows, tiny hats and scratch mitts, maternity nightdresses and the new slippers Billy had bought for Ellen — just in case she did need to spend time in hospital. ‘Everything’s ready but I can’t help feeling like I’ve forgotten something. I guess it’s maternity brain or something similar.’

While she placed the folded clothes into the chest of drawers, Lucy gazed around the nursery. It was the smallest of the four bedrooms but still a good size compared to some she’d seen. Ellen and Billy had painted the walls cream then added a colourful border featuring farmyard animals. There were some photographs on the walls of Ellen’s scans, some of her growing belly throughout the pregnancy and others with Billy standing behind her with his hands on her belly. They were black and white and quite arty, Lucy thought. If she ever got pregnant, then she’d want photographs like that.

The cot was a beautiful mahogany affair that Ellen had bought from an antiques store and had restored, and the chest of drawers and wardrobe were painted a cheerful bright yellow. There were boxes of nappies in various sizes on shelves above the chest of drawers, a bottle steriliser and some tins of milk formula. Ellen had told her that she was planning to breastfeed but wanted to be prepared for every eventuality.

Next to the dresser was a Moses basket on a stand and to the side of that was a car seat. In front of the window was a rocking chair with its own rocking footrest. The window overlooked the back garden with its well-established trees, currently bare, but that would hold green leaves and blossom in the warmer months.

‘It’s perfect in here,’ Lucy said.

‘I think so. It’s everything I imagined it would be.’ Ellen smiled. ‘All it needs now is a baby.’

Lucy reached for a shoebox that was on top of the chest of drawers. ‘Come and sit with me for a moment?’ She lowered herself gingerly to the cream rug in the centre of the wooden floor and placed the box in front of her.

‘What’s that?’ Lucy asked as she sat opposite Ellen.

‘It’s something I think you should see. I found it a while ago when we were sorting the attic out and I put it to one side, then with everything going on, I forgot all about it. I just spotted it at the bottom of the wardrobe and remembered that I wanted to show you.’

She’d placed the lid of the shoebox to one side and lifted out a small box.

‘What’s that?’

‘Take a look.’ Ellen handed the box to Lucy and she opened it then sighed. ‘Mum’s rings.’

‘I kept them because Dad asked me to but they’re yours as much as mine.’

Lucy touched the gold band that her mum had worn for forty-seven years. There was also an engagement ring with a small diamond, an eternity ring and another gold ring with a ruby set between two pearls.

‘Why don’t you take one or two of them?’ Ellen asked.

‘Oh…’ Lucy pressed her lips together. ‘I don’t know if I could.’

‘You can have whichever ones you want.’

Lucy shook her head. ‘It feels strange.’

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