‘I’m going to be late for my meeting.’ He leaned forward, kissed her cheek, headed for the door.

‘Nathaniel!’ She leapt out of bed and went after him. Then paused, suddenly shy. ‘Your tie…’ She reached up to straighten it, pat it into place, keeping her eyes on the knot, but he hooked his thumb under her chin, made her look at him.

‘It’ll be all right. I just need to straighten a few loose ends before I put it to you.’ Then, apparently forgetting all about his meeting, he caught her close, kissed her, sweet and simple, before releasing her. ‘Go back to bed, Lucy.’

‘I will if you’ll come too.’

‘You make it hard for a man to leave.’

She grinned. ‘I noticed.’

‘You don’t really have to be an elf, you know. You can stay here. Housekeeping will come in at about ten but, apart from that, no one will disturb you.’

Too late, she was already disturbed and the condition, she feared, was terminal.

‘Frank is expecting me. I can’t let him down.’

‘Of course you can’t. He’ll feed you to a troll.’ He kissed her again. ‘I’ll see you later.’ And this time he did make it to the door, where he paused to look back at her. ‘Don’t do anything rash, will you?’

‘The rashest thing I’m going to do this morning is put maple syrup on my porridge,’ she promised.

Maybe.

Diary entry: Woken by Nathaniel, all crisp and gorgeous and ready for a hard day making dreams come true in his palace of delights. Christmas shoppers. Children. And mine? And I’m not talking about Option Five. But I will have to decide what to do today.

Nathaniel can’t be right about my mother? Can he?

The meeting began just after eight.

Nathaniel began by offering his father, his uncles, what they wanted. A Hart fully committed to the company.

Only two men in the room did not leap to accept the gesture with gratitude, relief.

Christopher’s father. And his own.

He wasn’t surprised.

His uncle clung vainly to the hope that one day his own son would be able to resume his place.

His father had been hurt beyond measure that he hadn’t wanted to follow in his footsteps and was sure there would be a proviso.

‘What do you want in return, Nathaniel?’ his father asked.

‘Your agreement to a proposal.’ He passed around a folder as he began to talk.

Lucy retrieved her costume from the upstairs bedroom. It seemed less daunting in the daylight, with clothes heaped untidily on the bed.

She left them where they were, but picked up the rose and took it downstairs, where she tossed it, bud vase and all, into the rubbish bin tucked beneath the sink.

Start the day with a positive action. And a proper breakfast.

She sat on a stool, spooning porridge sweetened with maple syrup into her mouth, sipping her orange juice. Flipping through her messages, reading tweets, messages on Facebook. Catching up.

There was nothing more from Rupert. Not a man to waste words on a lost cause.

There were a dozen or more from the woman who claimed to be her mother. She ignored them, instead flicking through the photographs stored on her camera. The informal snaps taken when she was off guard. Zoomed in on the eyes. Compared them.

Could Nathaniel be right?

She flicked back to her messages.

Do you want to send a message?

Did she? She thumbed in a text:

Tell me the truth. Who are you? Really?

Her thumb hovered over ‘send’.

Two hours later, only Nat and his father were left in the room.

‘You’re in love with this girl?’ His father had listened to his plan, added his opinion but, now they were alone, he’d gone right to the heart of the matter.

‘I only met her yesterday.’

‘You’re in love with her?’

‘It’s a good plan.’

‘Can I meet her?’

‘Of course. She’s down in the grotto, working as an elf.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a long story.’

‘I’ve got all day.’

Lucy was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a semi-circle of children sitting around her, totally absorbed, as she sang them a song. They joined in the actions, roared with the lion, hooted with the owl, quacked with the duck.

Frank, watching with a smile stretching his face, turned as Nat joined him at the window. ‘Will you just look at that?’ he said.

He needed no encouragement. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Santa’s come down with the bug and I had to send him home. The replacement is suiting up, but there’s a bit of a backlog. Lou sent some of the elves to organise coffee for the mothers and then rounded up the kids. I don’t know where Pam found her but I’d like half a dozen more.’

‘Sorry, Frank,’ Nat said. ‘She’s a one-off and she’s mine.’ He turned to his father. ‘And the answer to your question is yes.’ Love at first sight was a concept he would have denied with his last breath. Until it happened. ‘I know you’ll think I’m a fool, that it’s crazy, but I’m in love with her.’

‘No. I don’t think you’re a fool. It happens like that sometimes. Magic happens. It was like that with your mother and me. Just one look was all it took.’

Just one look…

Yes.

‘Any chance of you bringing her home for Christmas?’

Before Nat could answer, there was a movement from the inner sanctum and the children, almost reluctantly, began to trickle away.

‘Can we borrow your office, Frank? We need to talk to her.’

‘You’re not going to take her away?’

‘It’s not up to me what she does; she’s her own woman.’ A romantic maybe, but strong, too. A woman who knew what she wanted, who never allowed anyone to control her, use her.

‘Damn women’s lib,’ Frank muttered, stomping off to send her in.

‘Nathaniel?’ Lucy appeared in the doorway, hat slightly askew, curls wild, tunic rucked up behind. She tugged on it. ‘Is anything wrong?’

‘Nothing. My father wanted to meet you.’

‘Oh.’ She extended her hand. ‘Hello, Mr Hart.’

‘Hello, Lucy. I’m delighted to meet you. I’ll leave Nathaniel to explain the situation.’ He put his hand on his son’s arm. ‘Whatever you decide about the holiday. Your decision.’

‘The holiday?’ she asked when the older Hart had gone.

‘We’ve been invited for Christmas.’

‘We?’

‘Us,’ he said. ‘It’s okay. They ask me every year. They don’t expect me to go.’

‘Oh.’

‘You sound disappointed. Sorry, but there’s no way you’re getting out of cooking Christmas dinner.’

‘Shouldn’t you check that I can cook before you commit yourself?’

‘I don’t actually care,’ he said. Then told her about Option Five.

City Diary, London Evening Post

It was announced today that Hastings & Hart, continuing their expansion under the steady hand of Nathaniel Hart, have today acquired the Lucy B chain from the Henshawe Corporation, who are withdrawing from the fashion business in order to concentrate on their core business.

Lucy Bright, the face of Lucy B, will be taking a more hands-on role in the business and is joining Hastings & Hart in January as a director of the Lucy B division with responsibility for fair trade development.

Rupert Henshawe is relinquishing the chairmanship of the Henshawe Corporation with immediate effect. Shares in the company were down in trading.

Slight wobble, tweeps, but the frog has been vanquished and LucyB is back and on target. Thanks for all the support.

LucyB, Fri 3 Dec 10:14

Lucy flicked through her followers, picking out the ones that were missing. Jenpb was gone. A couple of others. But WelshWitch was cheering her on and, on an impulse, she sent her a direct message. Something only she could read.

WelshWitch Want to meet for lunch? DM me.

Fri 3 Dec 10:16

There was just one more thing to do. She scrolled through the numbers in her phonebook and hit ‘dial’.

‘Lucy?’

‘Mum…’

And then they were both crying.

Friday, 24th December

Appointments

09:30 Hair and stuff

11:00 Meeting with Marji from Celebrity

12:30 Lunch (with my mum!)

17:00 Reception for trustees in boardroom

20:00 Dinner in Garden Restaurant to celebrate Hastings & Hart takeover of Lucy B launch

‘Happy?’ Nat said as they returned to the apartment after a Christmas Eve dinner for family and friends in the Garden Restaurant on the seventh floor-a celebration that her mother had been part of, too. Because, while Rupert Henshawe’s ability to deceive had gone as far as pretending that he’d looked for her, she was the one who’d come forward when she’d read the story in the newspaper.

‘Blissful,’ she assured him. ‘But what about you?’ she asked, hooking her arm in his. ‘Are you really prepared to let go of your career in architecture?’

‘Says my biggest critic.’

‘No. This building is amazing. The apartment is amazing. It just needs a little internal glow.’

He paused at the entrance, turned to her.

‘You give it that, Lucy. It means light, doesn’t it. Lucy?’ She nodded.

‘Well, that’s what you are. A light shining into all the dark places. You’ve lit up my life. Warmed my heart-’

‘Nathaniel…’

‘It’s too soon to say this, you’re going to think me a fool and, no, it’s nothing to do with making you a director of Lucy B. You’ve earned that with your heart.’

‘I’m terrified I’ll get it wrong.’

‘Terror is the default setting when you’re at the top. But you’re not on your own.’ He reached out to her hand. ‘Never on your own.’

Her fingers wrapped around his and he felt the tension slide away as it always did when she was close. ‘You are going to be wonderful. My father said so and he’s no pushover for a pretty face.’

‘I like your dad. And your mother. It was so kind of them to invite my mum for Christmas, too.’

‘They knew that, wherever she was, you’d want to be, Lucy. That, wherever you were, I’d want to be, too.’

‘I owe you a Christmas dinner,’ she said, looking up. ‘I guess that takes us to two thousand and fifty-two-’

‘You think I’m letting you go that easily?’ he growled. ‘What I’m trying to say is that this is not a get-your-kit-off line. I love you. I loved you from the moment I first saw you.’ With his other hand he reached out and touched her cheek, very gently, almost afraid that she would disappear under his touch. ‘Just saying. You don’t have to do a thing about it.’

‘But, if I wanted to get my kit off, that would be all right?’ she asked seriously. Looking up at him with those green-gold eyes, soft, filled with warmth, joy, happiness.

He swallowed. ‘Your call.’ Then, before she could move, ‘But maybe you want to think about that. Give yourself some time.’

‘And if I don’t?’

‘Then you can forget about flat-hunting. You won’t be going anywhere.’

‘If I stay here, I’ll make changes,’ she warned.

‘You already have.’ Pop music on the radio first thing in the morning. Pots of early jonquils brightening every surface. Laughter everywhere.

‘Phooey. That’s nothing. If I stay, I warn you, I’ll want to paint the walls primrose-yellow.’

‘I’ll help you.’

‘Hang pictures everywhere.’

‘I’ve got a hammer.’

‘Get a kitten.’

‘Only one?’ he asked.

‘Well, they do get lonely without their brothers and sisters,’ she said, a glint of mischief in her eyes. ‘Two would be better.’

‘Bring the whole damn litter.’

Her smile deepened momentarily and then, suddenly, she was serious. ‘There’s one more thing.’

‘You want your mother to live with us?’

‘You’d do that for me?’ she asked. Then, shaking her head, she let him off the hook. ‘It’s not that. I want you to build the house in Cornwall.’

‘For you-’

‘No, Nathaniel; not for me. For you.’ And, as if she knew that was the most difficult thing she’d asked, she lifted herself onto her toes and, coiling her arms around his neck, she kissed him. Giving him her courage, her strength, all her love.

There was no need. She’d been giving him that since the day she’d stumbled in front of him on the stairs. In that moment the fairy tale had changed from Cinderella to something entirely new. She’d brought the sleeping Beast back to life with a kiss, made him whole again. But he had one condition of his own.

‘It’s a house for a family, Lucy. I’ll build it if you’ll help me fill it.’

‘Fill it?’

‘With kittens, puppies, your mother. Our children.’ There was a still moment when the world seemed to hold its breath. ‘I love you, Lucy Bright. Will you marry me?’

‘I…’

‘It’s a big decision. You’ll need time to think about it.’

‘Yes…’ For a moment the world seemed to hang on its axis. Then she said, ‘I’ve thought about it.’ And, reaching for the single button holding together the green-gold silk Lucy B jacket that she was wearing, ‘How soon can you get that door open?’