It was hard carrying Parker, who was heavier than I thought he’d be, so I was relieved when I saw figures in the distance through the snow.
‘Esme,’ I heard. ‘Esme?’
‘Jamie,’ I said. I tried to run, Parker’s legs banging against my knees. He’d gone very floppy and I thought – hoped – he’d gone to sleep. Worn out with all the emotion and the cold.
The snow was getting so heavy now that I was almost upon Jamie before I could see him. Suddenly he was there, taking Parker from my arms and kissing me, and crying.
‘You found him,’ he said. ‘You found my boy.’
‘We need to hurry,’ I said. ‘He’s really cold.’
We turned and raced back to the cafe. There were two paramedics – a man and a woman – and a young handsome police officer waiting, and Tansy was standing at the door, her eyes wild and her make-up smudged.
‘Oh thank god,’ she said, gathering Parker into her arms. ‘Thank god.’
Parker stirred and I felt a wave of relief that he was okay.
‘Mommy,’ he said.
Carefully Tansy lay him down on one of the cafe’s sofas and stroked his face.
‘He’s freezing,’ she said. ‘We need to get him warm.’
The paramedics bent over Parker, taking his pulse and checking his breathing. One of them shook out a silver space blanket and wrapped it round him, then wrapped Suky’s blanket on top.
‘He’ll be fine,’ the female paramedic said. ‘Warm drinks will help, and he’ll probably be very tired for a while. Have you got a heater you can bring closer to him?’
‘I’ll get it,’ Jamie said, heading to the kitchen to find the electric heater we used sometimes.
‘I’ll make him some hot chocolate,’ I said.
The paramedics and police officer left as I went over to the counter and started preparing a mug. My hands were shaking and I didn’t think it was just the cold. If we’d not found Parker in time, what would have happened to him? Could he have died? I had no doubt he would have been in serious trouble – the papers were always full of stories in the winter of men who’d gone out drinking, then dropped their door key in the snow on the way home and been found frozen in the morning, after trying to sleep it off outside. Parker was tiny compared to them.
I put my hand up to my cheek and discovered I was crying. Jamie came up behind me and put his arms round me.
‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘He’s okay. You did so well to find him as quickly as you did.’
I put my head on Jamie’s shoulder and sobbed.
‘I didn’t know what to do,’ I said. ‘He was so sad and I wanted him to know how much we all love him.’
Jamie stroked my hair gently.
‘He knows,’ he said. ‘He knows. You’ve proved it.’
I took a deep breath and wiped my face.
‘Where is everyone?’ I asked. ‘All our wedding guests?’
‘They’re all at Millicent’s,’ Jamie said. ‘She stepped into the breach.’
I smiled. Thank goodness for Millicent.
‘I’ll text Harry and let her know we’ve found Parker,’ I said. ‘She can tell everyone else.’
Harry texted back while I was stirring the hot chocolate.
“Great news!” she wrote. I took the mug over to Parker who was beginning to wake up.
‘Here you go, buddy,’ I said. ‘Drink this.’
Parker gave me a dazzling smile and my heart lifted a bit. He looked from me, to Jamie then Tansy and finally to Michael who was standing silently with Tansy, holding her hand.
‘Esme says my heart is big enough to love all of you,’ he said.
Tansy kissed the top of his head.
‘It certainly is,’ she said. ‘Esme is right.’
‘She says I’m extra lucky to have two dads.’
‘That’s right,’ Jamie said. I squeezed his hand.
‘And I have Mommy, and I have Esme too,’ Parker said – a slight questioning lift to his voice.
‘You do,’ I said, stepping forward and stroking his cheek. ‘You have me, too.’
We sat there for a while, all of us gazing at Parker and marvelling at how amazing he was. And eventually he stopped shivering and started to look more like himself again.
Her face full of relief, Tansy took my arm and steered me away from Parker.
‘I wanted to say thank you,’ she said. ‘For finding him.’
I smiled at her.
‘It wasn’t so hard, once I’d worked out where he was.’
Tansy leaned in closer to me.
‘How did you work it out?’ she asked in a low voice.
I was slightly confused by the question.
‘Well, like I told you, it was because of a conversation we’d had…’
Tansy looked disappointed.
‘That was it?’
I glanced over at Jamie, hoping to catch his eye, but he was stroking Parker’s hair and didn’t look up. What was Tansy asking here?
‘That was it,’ I said. ‘Why?’
Tansy leaned closer still.
‘I thought you might have done something,’ she whispered. ‘A spell.’
I stared at her in horror.
‘A spell,’ I said, forcing a shrill laugh. ‘What do you mean, a spell?’
Tansy gave me a stern look.
‘Oh come on, Ez,’ she said. ‘How stupid do you think I am?’
Shit, I thought. Shit. What should I say?
‘Are you a witch, Esme?’
Obviously I caved immediately.
‘Yes,’ I said, looking down at my soggy boots. ‘Do you mind?’
‘Mind?’ Tansy said. ‘Mind?’
‘Jamie said you don’t have much time for weird stuff.’
Tansy clutched my arm.
‘I don’t,’ she said. ‘But this is different. This is real.’
‘Oh it’s real all right,’ I said. ‘Bit too real sometimes.’
I sat down on the arm of a sofa.
‘How did you work it out?’ I asked.
‘There were always rumours about Harry at Harvard,’ Tansy said. ‘Of course, I didn’t know her then, and it took me a while to work out she was who people talked about. Then there were a few strange things that happened – like how come Jamie didn’t know where the spare room was in your mom’s house.’
I grinned.
‘We don’t have a spare room,’ I said.
Tansy rolled her eyes.
‘And I saw you do something,’ she added. ‘To the cake.’
So she had seen. And I’d thought I was being so careful.
‘I think it’s great,’ Tansy said.
‘Really?’ I was still nervous about what Jamie would say if he knew she knew the truth.
‘Really,’ she said.
I tried not to think about how much easier this whole week would have been if we could have just used magic in the first place and instead concentrated on the here and now.
‘God,’ I said. ‘Jamie said you’d freak out.’
Tansy looked surprised.
‘Really?’ she said. ‘He always did think I was much more straight-laced than I actually am.’
I giggled, feeling almost dizzy with relief that finally everything was out in the open and we could be ourselves. Tansy threw her arms around me and hugged me and I hugged her back. Wonders would never cease. Then we both turned and looked at Parker, who was looking much perkier.
‘I think we should get you home, young man,’ Tansy said to him. ‘Warm bath and PJs on.’
Parker looked horrified.
‘I’ll have a bath if I absolutely have to,’ he said. ‘But what about the wedding.’
‘Oh my god,’ Tansy said. ‘The wedding.’
‘What time is it?’ I asked Jamie, registering for the first time that he was wearing his suit, though he’d taken off his tie. ‘Can we still do it?’
He looked at his watch.
‘It’s just after five,’ he said. ‘Can you be back here by six?’
I made a face.
‘Six-thirty?’ I asked.
‘Deal,’ Jamie said.
‘Do you have your dad’s car?’ I asked Jamie. He nodded.
‘Michael, can you take that and drive Tansy and Parker back up to the house?’ I asked, realising Tansy was in no fit state to drive herself. ‘There’s a key under the doormat at Eva’s.’
‘People really do that, huh?’ he said, with a smile.
Well no, actually, they didn’t, but as soon as they’d gone, I’d make it happen.
‘Jamie, we can run over to Millicent’s and tell everyone what’s happening, then if you and the guests can start coming back here, I’ll get Dad to drive me, Harry and Chloe back home to get changed.’
Jamie kissed me.
‘I love you, Esme,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait to marry you. Even if it is a few hours late.’
I beamed at him.
‘Then let’s go,’ I said.