‘I’m a bit surprised by how I feel, to be honest.’ She chewed at her bottom lip, gazed at the handsome man in front of her who could — it seemed — still kiss her until she went weak at the knees.
‘Well, it just goes to show that we’re not over the hill yet!’ He winked then took her hand and pressed a kiss to the palm. ‘We’re still young enough to feel all the feelings.’
‘So it would seem.’ Thora pressed the palm of her free hand to her cheeks to cool them down, very aware that Lucas was still holding the other hand between both of his.
‘Anyway…’ He looked around. ‘I think we need to finish finding the items on the list or we’ll be in trouble with Finn.’
‘Yes! We should get everything together.’ She shivered. ‘Oh god, what if Rosie tells Finn and Reggie about us kissing? It will be mortifying.’
‘From what I’ve seen of your daughter so far, I don’t think she will, but even if she does … Is it really that awful? We are human beings too, Thora, and we have a history. It may not be a simple history, but it’s there nonetheless and we have every right to want to explore our feelings for each other. But perhaps we need to do so somewhere more private next time…’ He gestured at their surroundings and Thora laughed.
‘I think that’s a very sensible plan.’
‘Come on then, lovely lady, let’s find what we need and go meet Finn.’
He took hold of the trolley with one hand but kept hold of her with the other. They walked along the aisle, side by side, and Thora felt reassured by his touch. By his presence. And by his words. He was right; they were human, and they were still young-ish. But whatever age a person was, they were entitled to want love and affection, just like people in their teens, twenties, and thirties. Just because you got older, it didn’t mean that you stopped wanting to love and be loved. And now that Lucas was back, Thora could see that more clearly than ever.
Lucas had the key not just to her heart, but to the rest of her being as well. The question was whether or not she could allow him to use it…
19
THORA
‘Are they here yet?’ Reggie asked. ‘I’m freezing my jingle balls off.’
‘Reggie!’ Thora shook her head. ‘Don’t be so rude.’
They were waiting outside The Garden Café for Finn and Titus to arrive. Curtains covered the windows of the café so they couldn’t see inside, but the solar lights and outdoor lamps that were dotted around illuminated the garden. It was a cold evening with snow on the ground. The sky was clear, so above them the stars twinkled and the moon glowed like a frozen globe in the dark canvas of the sky.
‘What? I said jingle bells.’
‘You did not.’ Thora struggled to keep a straight face as she stared at her son. It was hard to be strict with him when he was so funny and cheeky. Over the years, it had always been the same. When he’d been a toddler and she’d been run ragged by him and Rosie, Reggie had tried her patience on many an occasion but always ended up making her smile. He had such a cheeky way about him. Like the time she’d caught him standingin the lounge with a pen in his hand and a new masterpiece all over the wall. She’d gasped when she’d entered the room and his eyes had widened as he’d realised what he’d done. He’d run over to her and grabbed her hand, then said, ‘Rodie dunt.’
‘Rosie what?’ she’d asked.
He’d pointed at the wall and repeated, ‘Rodie. Not Reddie.’
Thora had known it wasn’t Rosie because Rosie had been in the kitchen taking tins out of the cupboard and peeling the labels off them. Thora had been moving between the lounge and the kitchen monitoring both of them but Reggie had found a pen somewhere and managed to etch a rather large mural on the wall within seconds. She’d sighed and led him to the kitchen where she’d found that Rosie had removed about ten labels. They had spent the next few weeks painting the lounge and opening unlabelled tins then having pot-luck dinners because they didn’t want to waste food. One night it was baked beans followed by tinned peaches and another it was mushroom soup followed by rice pudding. She’d laughed about it with Finn but also realised it was a valuable lesson about always keeping the toddlers in the same room unless she had another adult in the house.
‘It is cold, Mum.’ Rosie was jigging up and down on the spot. She was wearing her warmest coat, hat and gloves, but Thora knew it was the late December weather and the thin costumes they were wearing that weren’t helping.
‘I’m sure Dad will be here soon.’
Sure enough, at that moment, they heard voices and Finn and Titus walked through the gate to The Garden Café and up to join them.
‘So we’re having a private family dinner, are we?’ Titus asked, a broad smile revealing his bright white teeth. ‘That’s a great idea.’
‘Yes, darling, we are.’ Finn winked at Thora and the twins then slid an arm around Titus, although it barely reached all the way around the bigger man’s shoulders.
‘Hello!’ The door to the café opened and Pearl stood there smiling at them from underneath a green and gold striped hat. She was wearing a white shirt, green waistcoat, and gold tights under green shorts. She gave her hat a shake, and a bell sewn to the end tinkled. ‘Welcome humans, to The Elf Escape Room. Feel free to enter but be aware that if you don’t work out the clues within the time limit, you might never leave…’
Titus frowned. ‘What is this? I thought we were here to eat?’
‘We will eat later, but first we have to escape from the elves!’ Finn chuckled as he ushered everyone inside.
Thora and the twins removed their coats, and Titus frowned again, realising they were also dressed as elves. They went behind the counter as planned and stood there waiting. The café looked like Santa’s grotto with small Christmas trees in every corner, streamers made from crepe paper hanging from the ceiling and colourful gift boxes on every available surface. Fairy lights twinkled from tables, the counter, and the trees and Christmas carols drifted through the air, along with the scent of mulled wine and mince pies.
‘Escape the elves?’ Titus asked, cocking a thick, black brow.
