Coming Home to Mistletoe Cottage by Celia Anderson

Author:Celia Anderson [Anderson, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-08-23T17:00:00+00:00

‘Did you used to do this with our daddy? Baking, I mean,’ Will asks, as they munch fruit cake and wait for the new one to be ready.

Magda frowns. She’d tried, she really had, but Jared had always seemed to sense her reluctance to reduce their tiny kitchen to chaos. It was partly her lack of skills, although Magda knows Hope had worked hard to get her interested as a child, making fairy cakes, gingerbread men and all sorts of other treats with her. The other problem with her son had been that there never seemed quite enough time for messy activities, so they’d tended to stick to Lego modelling and making things out of junk, that required a bit less clearing up afterwards.

‘Not so much,’ she admits, and the children frown at her.

‘Why not?’ Will asks.

‘We did other things instead. Your dad liked to go to the park. He was mad on the slide. He used to scare me with the way he came down so fast and then shot off the end. We didn’t have a garden like you two have here, so I had to find ways for him to burn off his energy. Anyway, let’s tidy ourselves up a bit while the cake cooks. It’s nearly time for you to speak to your mum and dad.’

Jared and Annika FaceTime the children tonight bang on cue, and to Magda’s relief, this time both of the children are full of smiles. Desi still won’t speak but Will is bursting with questions about Jared’s daredevil days. Afterwards, Magda manages a quick call to Fliss, who seems in good spirits, although still looking shattered, even through the phone’s low-resolution camera.

‘Might be in here another day,’ she says. ‘They’re giving me steroids. Are you coping?’

‘We made more cake!’ Will shouts. ‘It smells great.’

The look on Fliss’s face when Magda turns the phone screen so Fliss can see the successful golden-brown cake sitting proudly on the kitchen table makes all the effort worthwhile. If even Fliss is impressed, she must have done a good job. The twins are also triumphant.

Later, when Will and Desi are safely bathed and in bed and the kitchen has been restored to its usual state of almost-tidy, Magda lights the fire in the living room and stretches out on the squishy sofa with a glass of chilled white wine. She thinks she’s deserved it today.

Taking a hefty sip, she reaches for her laptop. It’s been a couple of days since she checked her emails and there are quite a few waiting to be read, but one catches her eye immediately. It’s from Jared, sent only a few minutes ago. Why does he need to message her when they’ve only just got off the phone? The subject is Unexpected Development. She clicks to open it, suddenly alarmed.

Hello Mum.

It was great to see the offspring looking so cheerful tonight. You’re obviously doing a fantastic job.

Hmmm, thinks Magda. Buttering me up. Why?

This is a difficult email to write and I’ve been struggling with how to put it.

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