Second Chance Under the Mistletoe, page 16
‘Including side trips to Florence and France for your painting classes.’
‘That too. Maybe painting portraits of some Australian dogs.’
‘Whatever you want it to be.’
‘I don’t want to live in the Guildford house. But I want to keep it for Clem, if she wants it.’
‘That sounds like a plan. I’ll buy us a house with a garden for Freddie and our grandchild. Somewhere not far from where Clem and Leo end up living and not too far from Heathrow.’
‘We’ll have fun looking for that. Will you keep the Waterloo apartment?’
‘Of course. We’ll need a city house. You’ll like the Perth house too. It’s right on the Swan River with a pool and lots of room. It’s a beautiful house, but it needs a heart. You’ll bring that to it.’
She tucked her arm through his. ‘C’mon, let’s go home to Waterloo.’ She looked up to him. ‘You do realise that, from now on, wherever you are will be home to me.’
‘I like that. Same for me with you.’
They took the elevator to the hospital lobby. As the doors opened, they were greeted by the sounds of a choir singing Christmas carols. Turned out it was the hospital choir. Natalie looked to him in delight. ‘How perfect. And listen, they’re singing “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” just for you.’
‘How thoughtful of them,’ he said, holding her close as they listened.
He had never felt happier, even happier than when they’d been together and in love as teenagers. Now they had a daughter and a grandchild and a soon-to-be son-in-law and the prospect of a fulfilling life together stretching ahead of them. They deserved this second chance at love. They listened to the choir sing ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ before turning to each other and deciding to go home. It had been a very long and traumatic day.
It was dark outside as they exited the hospital doors. And very cold. Natalie lifted her face up to the sky. ‘Snow,’ she said in awe. ‘It’s snowing.’ Flurries of fat snowflakes drifted and danced down through the darkness and hospital lights towards them. There was a light white cover on the ground and the tops of nearby parked cars. Christmas music drifted from the lobby. ‘How magical,’ she breathed. ‘Snow for Christmas. Snow for the birth of our grandbaby.’
‘Snow for the woman I love,’ he said and kissed her. ‘Natalie, there is one more thing I want to say before we head for the car.’
‘Go ahead,’ she said.
‘Will you marry me? Marry me again, I mean.’
‘Yes,’ she said straight away. ‘Nothing could make me happier than to marry you. Marry you again, that is. Will that make me your third wife?’ she teased.
He pulled her close and kissed her. ‘Under law, there’s no second-chance marriage ceremony, like a renewal of vows,’ he said. ‘I looked it up. Divorce extinguished our first marriage. We have to start again. So legally, I guess you would be. As well as my first.’
She looked up at him, snowflakes caught on her hair and on her eyelashes. ‘That’s a good thing, isn’t it? To start again? Older and a whole lot wiser and with a family we love? Having made our mistakes and held tight to our second chance to love each other?’
‘Yes, a very good thing,’ he said, taking hold of her hand and walking with her through the dancing snowflakes and into their new life together.
EPILOGUE
Late afternoon on 23 December, Natalie and Jon were at the Kensington town house, finalising the preparations for Christmas Day lunch. All Clem would have to do on Christmas morning was to supervise her parents while they assembled the meal the way she wanted it. It was to be a veritable feast.
They hadn’t had to do anything in the way of cleaning and tidying. The place had been immaculate when they’d arrived there this morning. They hadn’t had to do any Christmas decorating either. Clem had seen to that.
The decorations were particularly elegant and coordinated, in keeping with Clem’s godmother Audrey’s exquisite décor. Not like the hodgepodge of mismatched baubles and lights with a bulb missing that made up the family decorations at Guildford. Natalie had brought a lovely sugarplum fairy from the house that Clem had particularly loved as a little girl and added it to the big tree in the corner of Audrey’s living room. She’d also bought a hand-embroidered tapestry Baby’s First Christmas stocking to hang on the mantelpiece.
‘That’s only useful for one year,’ Jon said. ‘Bit of a waste, isn’t it?’
‘I suspect Clem and Leo won’t stop at one child so it might come in handy another year. Besides, it’s the spirit of the thing.’
Then there was the beautiful wreath Jon had bought for Clem at the Covent Garden Christmas market. It sat perfectly on the panelled front door of the town house. ‘That will be a lovely surprise for Clem and Leo when they bring the baby home tomorrow,’ Natalie said.
Importantly, she and Jon had followed Clem’s instructions to get the room allocated as a nursery ready for baby’s arrival tomorrow. Everything was there, they just had to put some of it together as Clem hadn’t anticipated finalising that until January.
‘Shall we go home now?’ said Jon.
How quickly Natalie had begun to think of the Waterloo apartment as home. She’d moved into the master bedroom with Jon and had brought up some of the clothes and possessions from the Guildford house. That included enough painting equipment to start the first portrait of her grandbaby. And Freddie, of course.
‘One more thing, did you stash your guitar in Audrey’s closet?’
‘Yes. Our carol singing will remain a secret until we actually get the guitar out on Christmas Day.’ He paused. ‘I’m still not certain about that. Leo seems a sophisticated kind of guy. We might embarrass Clem.’
‘I very much doubt that. Clem is over the moon that we’re getting married again. And we sound pretty darn good singing together, even if I do say so myself.’
‘Of course we do,’ he said, pulling her to him in a hug. ‘Everything is set for our family reunion in London.’
She pulled away. ‘One final thing. The sequinned Santa hats.’
‘Placed in the top drawer of the sideboard, as requested.’
‘Good. Wasn’t I clever to have got them in time for the baby to appreciate them?’
‘You were very clever, although the baby won’t notice them,’ he said with an indulgent smile followed by a quick kiss.
Natalie laughed. ‘Jon, isn’t this going to be the best Christmas ever?’
‘It’s going to be the best life ever, my darling wife-to-be,’ he said, pulling her back into his arms where she belonged and kissing her again.
* * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Christmas With The Secret Tycoon by Rhoda Baxter.
Mills & Boon®
Coming next month
CHRISTMAS WITH THE SECRET TYCOON
Rhoda Baxter
‘I’m so sorry!’ Maddie scrambled down the ladder.
Unfortunately, one of the baubles had ended up on the bottom step. She slipped and fell, arms flailing, onto the poor man she’d just covered in tinsel.
She closed her eyes, expecting a crash. Instead she landed against something soft. There was a grunt and a soft ‘ow.’ She opened her eyes to find that she had been caught by the man who had been standing there.
For a moment all she could do was stare. He had silver streamers hanging over one eyebrow and his glasses were askew, but there was no mistaking those blue eyes. This was the guy who had been looking out the window. At the time she hadn’t been able to make out his features that well, but up close, he was spectacular. Sharp cheekbones, strong jaw. It was the sort of face that wouldn’t look out of place on an advertising billboard. She opened her mouth to apologize, but nothing came out.
‘Are you okay?’ His voice was soft and deep. It seemed to connect to something under her lungs.
Continue reading
CHRISTMAS WITH THE SECRET TYCOON
Rhoda Baxter
Available next month
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Copyright © 2025 Rhoda Baxter
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Kandy Shepherd, Second Chance Under the Mistletoe
