Marie cleared her throat and gave Emma a hopeful expression, her eyes glistening in a way she hadn’t seen in a long time. “I overheard you on the phone the other day, talking about the eclipse and the supposed Sullivan family treasure. I have a few ideas…if you’d like me to help.”
Emma smiled. “I’d love your help, Mom. If you’re not too busy.”
Marie straightened her back and cleared her throat. “It’s time we solved that mystery once and for all. It’ll be good for all of us to know, one way or another.”
Emma maintained her smile and ignored the warm and bubbly feeling unfurling in her chest. “You’re absolutely right.”
Marie nodded, and her expression turned serious again. “Let me check on your father, and you can show me what you have so far.”
With that, she pushed the door open and disappeared inside.
Emma was in the living room, setting out a few letters and maps, when Marie joined her. She placed a large plate of cake and two cups of apple cider beside the lamp and leaned forward. Over the next few hours, the two of them poured over the evidence together, and Emma could’ve sworn she felt a pull between them—drawing them closer and closer—so all of the hurt and pain melted into the background, fading away.
Emma wanted to hold on to that feeling forever.
Chapter Twelve
“They really have outdone themselves this year.” Marley sidled up to her, a glass of eggnog in hand and a bright smile on her face. “Doesn’t it look beautiful?”
The Rockport Inn and Suites had been transformed into their own mini winter wonderland. With small Christmas trees scattered throughout and streamers and garlands decorating every wall and nook, Emma didn’t think she had ever seen it look so festive.
A duo in matching green-and-red clothing sat at the piano on the makeshift stage, singing people’s requests. Older-looking couples glided across the dance floor, gazing into each other’s eyes. Uniformed waiters and waitresses passed out gingerbread cookies, peppermint candy canes, and fruit cake sprinkled with bits of chocolate chip cookies. The smell of fresh pine, snow, and hot cocoa lingered in the air, making Emma’s stomach dip every so often. When she glanced at her parents over the rim of her glass, they were standing in a corner of the room, a group of people spilling out into the hallway outside, all of them laughing and talking.
Laughter rose and fell around Emma as she tried to lose herself in the Christmas cheer.
Each day at Rockport made it harder for her to come to terms with the fact she’d willingly walked away from all of it.
Whenever her parents peered over at her, Emma was struck with indecision all over again.
Since their conversation in the living room a few days ago, Emma and her mother had come to an understanding. As far as Emma was concerned, it was a strong start on the path to reconciliation, but she knew they still had a long way to go. One good conversation wouldn’t erase years of anger, resentment, and hurt. Unfortunately, neither would the fact that her mother was finally coming to terms with her past and the hurtful choices she’d made.
It’s still something, isn’t it? Last year, you couldn’t even have imagined all of this.
Even a few months ago, she couldn’t have pictured herself back in Rockport, giggling with Marley in a corner while laughter and music settled around them.
It all felt like a distant dream, someone else’s memory seeping in through the cracks.
Emma was terrified she would wake up in her empty king-sized bed, with nothing but cold sheets and a hollow apartment to greet her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement, and when she turned to it, she saw Jules holding the phone above her head, Kyle’s face lighting up the screen.
Her boyfriend had dark circles under his eyes and a tightness she didn’t remember being there, but there was no mistaking the jubilant smile on his face.
Seeing them together filled Emma with equal parts yearning and hope.
When Jules turned the camera to them, Emma plastered a smile to her face, and Marley tilted a glass in his direction. Jules wandered around the rest of the party, introducing Kyle to people at random and stopping at her grandparents, who drew her into their embrace and smiled. From across the room, Emma watched them, a picture-perfect sight in their matching hand-knit sweaters, and it made her stomach give an odd little churn.
All these years, she’d convinced herself that staying away was the best option—theonlyoption to protect herself and Jules from getting hurt.
Emma hadn’t minded the phone calls, the letters, or the emails they had exchanged, so long as it kept her daughter out of harm’s way. But each time Jules had brought up her grandparents or lingered during one of their phone calls, Emma was left with terror seizing her heart.
Her parents had never accepted Jules’s father, and she’d often worried they’d reject Jules too, when the time came.
Emma had never allowed herself to wonder what would happen if they didn’t.
Would her parents finally get the daughter they’d always wanted?
Would Emma be forgiven for choosing an outsider?
