Marie blew out a breath. She looked older, and a lot more tired. “If it’ll make you feel better, but in return, you have to put it out of your mind. I’m here. I’m fine. Your father is fine. That’s all that matters.”
Emma paused, her mind racing from one scenario to the next.
It took one look at her mother’s resigned face for Emma’s decision to crystalize.
She liked facing problems head-on and dragging things into the light, but it wasn’t her call to make. Whether she liked it or not, she had to face her mother’s decision and make her peace with it. She hadn’t uprooted her entire life in Boston just to wind up at her parents’ throats.
Marie was right.
It was time to leave the past where it belonged, no matter how painful the unknown was.
“Okay,” Emma said, dragging out the syllable. “I can do that.”
Marie searched her face. “Are you sure?”
“I’m willing to try if you are, but you have to promise that we won’t keep secrets from each other anymore. I don’t care how mad we are at each other, or how dark and ugly the truth is. We have to face things together.”
Marie’s eyes softened as she held a hand out and waited. “Deal.”
Emma released another shaky breath and took her mom’s hand. In silence, they descended the stairs and found Jack waiting for them at the bottom. He glanced between the two of them, eyebrows pinched together, and his shoulders only relaxed when Emma cracked a smile.
Smiling, Marie led them downstairs and into the living room, where an old board game and a tray of Christmas goodies were laid out.
For the rest of the night, Emma grappled with her decision as her eyes kept sweeping around the room, and when she saw her parents curled up on the couch, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes, something in her clicked.
Especially when Jack drew her into his arms and pressed a kiss on top of her head.
She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but this was the life she’d chosen, the one she wanted to fight for.
As the evening wound to a close, Emma promised herself she wouldn’t lose sight of what she wanted ever again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Merry Christmas, Emma.” Derek stepped forward, pausing to tuck in his flannel shirt. He gave her a quick and unexpected hug before pulling a brightly wrapped gift out from behind his back. “I’m not very good at gifts, but the lady at the store said it was one of their best-selling perfumes.”
Emma touched a hand to her chest, the warmth in her belly only intensifying. “That’s so sweet. Thank you, Derek.”
He nodded and shoved both hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I’m really happy for you and my dad. I think you’re going to be good for him.”
Tears pricked the back of Emma’s eyes.
It had been three days since her conversation with Jules.
Before she could reply, her parents appeared on either side of her and ushered Derek into the house. Emma blinked and swallowed past the lump in her throat. The sound of the engine died down, and Jack shoved the driver’s door open. He went around to the trunk, and when he emerged, he was carrying a handful of festively wrapped gifts. Then, he walked over to her, a boyish smile lighting up his entire face.
Jack paused in the doorway to kiss Emma and ducked inside.
She sighed, dropped her hand, and retreated into the house.
In the living room, everyone stood around the fire and the Christmas tree, talking over each other. The radio hissed in and out of focus, and her mother came out from the kitchen, carrying a tray of cookies and hot drinks. Jack and Derek sprung to attention, and she beamed at them, her face flushed with color. Emma found herself on the couch next to her dad, the two of them discussing another aspect of the research paper.
She kept sneaking glances at her watch until Jack came to sit next to her. “What time is it?”
“It’s eleven,” Jack replied in between sips of his drink. “Why? You got somewhere else you have to be?”
Emma chuckled. “Jules and Kyle should’ve been back by now. I’m just a little worried.”
Her daughter hadn’t said much in the past few days, and it only increased the knots in Emma’s stomach.
