A Christmas to Cherish (A Festive Christmas #4)

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

E mma stirred and pried one eye open. When she saw her mother standing in the doorway to the living room, she jolted awake and rubbed her face. “What is it? What’s happened?”

Marie pressed a finger to her lips and used a free hand to gesture to a sleeping Marley, who was sprawled on the other couch, one hand dangling over the edge and the other thrown across her face. Slowly, Emma threw her blanket off and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. In the kitchen, the scent of freshly brewed coffee and blueberry muffins lingered.

“Your dad is fine. He was sleeping when I left. I came home to shower, change, and check on you.” Marie made a vague hand gesture before letting her hands fall to her sides. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said.”

Emma scrubbed a hand over her face and walked over to the nearest cupboard. She pulled out a mug, poured herself a generous amount of coffee, and then took the carton of milk out of her mother’s hands. Wordlessly, she reached for another cup, added a dollop of cream, and handed it to her mother, who flashed her a surprised smile.

Emma waited until she took a long sip of her coffee before responding. “You want to talk about this now?”

“It’s never a good time to have conversations like this.” Marie curled her fingers around the mug and blew on the steam rising. “But I don’t want to keep putting it off any longer. You don’t deserve that.”

She eyed her mother over the rim of the cup. “Okay.”

What had happened in the hospital after she left?

Was her father’s scare really responsible for the turnaround, or was it something else?

Something darker?

“I don’t want to hide secrets from you, sweetheart. Neither does your dad. The last time you came to visit, things got out of hand,” Marie began in a soft voice. “I know we weren’t welcoming of Andrew, and it wasn’t fair to him. He was a good man.”

Emma’s mouth was dry. “He was, and he didn’t deserve the way you treated him.”

“He didn’t. Your father and I were just having a hard time believing that you chose him. We always thought you and Jack would find a way back to each other.”

Emma blew on her coffee and took another sip, wincing when it burned her tongue. “I know that, but you never gave Andrew a chance.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t,” Marie replied, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “We should’ve. We’ve tried to make up for it with Jules, but we know it can’t change what we did.”

Emma lowered her mug and swallowed. “What about not telling me things?”

“When we pushed you away, and you stayed away…it was hard. At first, I thought about coming to the city so many times. I almost did a few times.”

Emma’s heart sputtered and started back up again. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I was afraid you would turn me away. I couldn’t face the fact that it might be the last straw, so I stayed away. I let my fear get the better of me.”

Emma’s stomach dipped as she took a step in Marie’s direction. “Mom—”

Marie held a hand up. “Let me get this out, please. I know we should’ve provided you with a more stable childhood. You weren’t wrong to make that comment.”

Emma shook her head. “It was completely out of line. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Despite their flaws, they had tried.

More than she cared to admit sometimes.

Marie set down her drink and let her hands fall to her sides. “No, you were right. Accusing you of turning your back on your roots and becoming a sellout… That was harsh.”

“I don’t know if you were wrong about that…”

She’d often questioned it over the years, and she was no closer to having an answer.

Her job, the one she’d worked hard for, no longer held the appeal it usually did. After years of being weighed down by red tape and legal loopholes, she had lost some of the zest and passion that had made her turn to it in the first place.

But she wasn’t sure if she was ready to turn her back on it, not when it had exacted such a heavy toll on her life.

All those long hours, all the blood, sweat, and tears.

All the missed recitals and school plays…

She didn’t want it to be for nothing.

Marie sighed. “Regardless, after the years passed, it just became harder to make amends. When I got sick, your dad had to step up and take care of me, and I thought about reaching out to you, but I didn’t want you to see me like that. You’ve always seen the elegant and glamorous Marie Sullivan… I didn’t want you to see the shell I’d become.”

What was she talking about?

Her mother was human—she was allowed to have her off days—and it broke Emma’s heart to realize she’d been carrying that feeling around.

No one should have to keep appearances, especially around family.

Emma’s chest tightened. “Mom, you are not a shell. You could never be…and you were never Marie Sullivan to me. You were just my mom. I would’ve been there for you, no matter what happened.”

And it wouldn’t have made a difference that they’d always had a strained relationship.

All she wanted—all she’d ever wanted—was to be able to spend time with her mother, the real version of her, not whatever part she wore for the press.

“I know that now,” Marie whispered, pausing to bridge the distance between them. She stopped an inch away and lifted her gaze. Her mouth moved soundlessly for a few minutes; then, she met Emma’s eyes and didn’t look away. “I know we’ve got a lot to make up for, but I want us to start over. After what happened to your dad, I…I don’t want to waste any more time on regrets.”

Emma made a low, choked sound and threw her arms around her mom, allowing the familiar scent of vanilla and Chanel No. 5 to wash over her. “Neither do I.”

For a while, they stood in the middle of the kitchen, crying and holding on to each other. Emma wanted the moment to last forever, afraid of what might come between them if she drew apart. Eventually, it was her phone that prompted Marie to be the first to pull away and dab at her eyes. After sending the call to voicemail, Emma pulled out two of the high chairs and waited for her mom to sit down.

It shouldn’t have taken her dad’s illness to get them there, but it had.

Emma was oddly thankful for the scare that had brought her mother back to her, and she could only hope that solving the mystery of the eclipse would have the same impact on her father.

It was time for them to heal.

Marie blew her nose and reached for her mug. “I saw the map you had on the coffee table in the living room. Was that your grandfather’s?”

Emma nodded. “I found it. He has a whole room full of his belongings at the library.”

A flicker of surprise moved across Marie’s face. “I’d heard rumors of that, but I wasn’t sure…”

Emma reached across the table for her mother’s hand. “I think we should figure out what the eclipse is going to reveal. If not for ourselves, then for Dad.”

Marie gave her a small smile. “I’m sure he’d love that.”

Emma knew she was right, especially after the conversation she’d had with her father at the hospital.

For his sake, she needed to see this through.

Jules came racing down the stairs a heartbeat later, hair a tangled mess around her face and a thick fleece robe thrown over her pajamas. “There you are. I was wondering where you went when I couldn’t find you in the room.”

Emma rose to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

“Kyle is here.” Jules gathered her hair into a bun on top of her head. “He took a flight out to surprise me. He’s actually a few minutes away.”

“Sweetheart, that’s great.” Emma gave Jules a quick hug and then peered at her. “You don’t look too happy about it though.”

Jules shook her head. “No, I am. I just wasn’t expecting him. I don’t know where he can stay…”

Marie draped an arm over Jules’s shoulders and squeezed. “He’ll stay here, of course. The couch in the living room is a pullout, and we’ll be happy to have him.”

Jules breathed a sigh of relief. “Grandma, are you sure? I know it’s incredibly short notice…”

Marie waved her comment away. “Why don’t you go wash your face, and we’ll be here to welcome Kyle when he comes, okay?”

Jules threw her arms around Marie for a hug and squeezed.

Moments later, she raced up the stairs, and the door to Emma’s old room slammed shut. Smiling, Emma ducked into the bathroom downstairs to splash water on her face and fix her hair. A short while later, when Emma was smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothing, Kyle arrived at the door. He was flushed, the tip of his nose bright red, and his parka was covered in flecks of snow. Marie wasted no time pulling him inside and into the kitchen.

Marley staggered into the kitchen at the same time Emma did, and the two of them exchanged a brief look.

“Ms. Sullivan, it’s so good to see you again.” Kyle towered over her, green eyes bright and focused as he offered a quick hug. “I hope it’s okay that I’m just dropping by like this.”

“Of course, it’s okay. We’re happy to have you, and I know Jules is thrilled. She’s just upstairs, changing out of her pajamas. I’m sure she’ll be down in no time.”

“In the meantime”—Marie linked her arm with his and led him into the living room—“tell me about the archaeological digs in Egypt. You were in Greece before that, right?”

Kyle smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s right, Mrs. Sullivan. I’ve been traveling a lot, and we’re trying to catalog as much as we can. We’re learning a lot about how people used to live, and it’s just amazing…”

The rest of his sentence trailed off as the door slipped shut behind him.

As soon as it did, Marley wheeled on her, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “Jules has good taste. Where did she dig him up?”

Emma chuckled and took a sip of her coffee. “He was a guest lecturer at her college for a semester. He’s a good kid.”

And he made Jules happy, which was all that mattered.

Marley took a long sip of her coffee and checked her watch. “Okay, I’ve got to go. I volunteered to help set up for the play at the high school tonight. You’re coming, right?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Tell Jules to bring her boyfriend. The town is going to eat him up.”

Marley gave her cheek a quick peck on the way past.

Once she disappeared, Jules appeared at the top of the stairs, wet hair matted to her forehead and some color on her cheeks. Emma squeezed her hand on the way past and lingered in the doorway to the living room to watch as Kyle swept her into his arms and crushed her to him.

Kyle gave Jules a quick spin before setting her back down.

Hours later, Emma found herself wedged between her mother and Jules in the back of the high school theater, reliving her glory days with Jack. He was sitting on the other side of the room, with his son next to him, and she kept sneaking glances at him. When the final curtain rose and the students came out to take a bow, Jack came to find her, brushing his hand against hers in greeting.

Outside, it was no longer snowing, and there were kids running around and shrieking. A few people stood in a half-circle around the town Christmas tree. When carolers came up and started singing, more and more of the townspeople joined them. Jules and Kyle drifted away, and she spotted them by a snow globe vendor, heads bent together in conversation.

Jack released a deep breath and smiled. “Are you ready for the eclipse?”

In silence, they came to a stop in the middle of High Street, at the exact location on the map where her grandfather had once stood. Emma’s heart was in her throat as she turned to Jack and saw Marley over his shoulder. She hurried over to them, with Marie in tow, and they all exchanged quick, furtive glances.

Was she finally on the edge of a precipice—of unlocking something greater than herself?

Emma didn’t know for sure, but she welcomed it either way.

With the eclipse only an hour away, it was time to learn the truth about the Sullivan family treasure once and for all.