Would they stay in his apartment?

Of course, that was the real question in her mind. He’d mentioned it as an aside, but unless he brought it up again, how was she supposed to jump back and say, Oh, hey, Malcolm, remember when you said that thing about not wanting to presume I’d stay with you . . . ? Can you just presume?

She laughed at herself. Why had she been so comfortable being direct with him about so many other things—his feelings about the monarchy, whether he was married or not, Christmas Eve dinner—but she was strangely shy about this? She guessed it was just hard to push past how she was raised—it had been drilled into her head that nice girls didn’t talk about sex, didn’t want sex, didn’t even like sex. As much as she’d rejected those ideas once she’d gotten older, and had tried very hard not to pass those messages along to her daughter, it was hard to fight something she’d internalized so many years ago.

She needed breakfast. She put on her leggings that felt like sweatpants, and the sweater dress that was the coziest thing she owned, and went down to the kitchen. Maddie was already there, a cup of coffee in front of her, her shoulders hunched, and her phone in her hand.

“Merry Christmas,” Vivian said as she walked in.

“Happy Christmas!” Julia was standing at the stove, stirring something that smelled delicious. “Scones are on the table.”

Maddie stood up and gave Vivian a hug.

“Merry Christmas, Mom.” She refilled her coffee cup, went right back to her phone, and let out a sigh.

“What’s so important on your phone?” Vivian asked her. “It’s the middle of the night at home, isn’t it?”

Maddie nodded, but didn’t look away from her phone.

“I’m waiting for the pictures to come in of the royal family’s walk to church. It should be any second now. The Duchess looked great when she left the house, of course, but I want to make sure the coat and the dress all worked in the wind, and the hat stayed on, and the shoes didn’t make her trip, and . . . everything. I just want her to look perfect.”

Maddie tightened the hand not holding her phone into a fist. Vivian sat down next to her and rubbed the back of her daughter’s neck. She hadn’t seen Maddie look this anxious about a client in a long time. She understood why—this was the most photographed client Maddie had ever had, and maybe would ever have. She crossed her fingers that the Duchess would look flawless.

Julia brought her a cup of tea, and Vivian thanked her. As much as she enjoyed the tea-making ritual, she was really going to miss having someone else make tea for her after she left Sycamore Cottage.

“Julia, I hope at some point you’re going to get some time off,” Vivian said. “Not that I don’t love your scones, but I feel so bad sitting here with you making my breakfast on Christmas Day!”

Julia laughed.

“Don’t you worry. The Duke and Duchess are going on vacation next week, and so am I. I’ll be on a beach with my sister, and I promise, I won’t raise a finger to do any of the cooking.”

Vivian cut open a scone, and spread a layer of jam, then cream on it.

“Oh, thank God, now I don’t have to feel guilty. Where—?”

“They’re in!” Maddie stood up, her phone still in her hand. “They’re walking. The pictures are coming in.”

Julia and Vivian crowded around her to look at her phone as she scrolled through tweets from reporters and photographers.

“Oh, Maddie, she looks perfect,” Vivian said. The Duchess was wearing a boat-necked navy blue dress that flared at the waist, a navy blue hat to match, with a small feather off the top, a maroon coat, loosely belted over the dress, and knee-high boots in the color Maddie had informed her more than once was called “oxblood.”

“Of course she looks perfect,” Maddie said. Oh good, Maddie was grinning at her phone. “I was the most worried about that hat—the feather seemed flimsy to me, and I didn’t know how windy it would be today—but she insisted on it, and it seems okay. Thank God.”

Maddie collapsed back into her seat, and Vivian rubbed her back.

“Good job, girl.”

Maddie looked up from her phone and smiled at her.

“Thanks, Momma. And thanks for coming to spend Christmas with me here, so far away from home.”

Vivian clinked her teacup against Maddie’s coffee cup.

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

Julia took a bottle of champagne out of the fridge.

“I think it’s time for mimosas, don’t you two?”

Maddie drained her coffee cup and got up for more.

“Absolutely. And Julia, never tell my boyfriend I said this, but you make the best coffee I’ve ever had.”

Julia took a big package of that ham-like English bacon out of the fridge.

“I never will, I promise. But honestly, anyone who makes coffee anywhere near as good as mine seems like a pretty good catch.”

Maddie grinned.

“That he is.” She looked down at her phone and laughed. “Speak of the devil, he just texted me about the Duchess’s outfit.”

Vivian smiled. She was so happy Maddie had found Theo.

Maddie kept scrolling through photos and—Vivian was pretty sure—texting with Theo as Julia made an enormous breakfast for the three of them. After they ate a mountain of bacon, a pile of the most perfect scrambled eggs Vivian had ever had, delicious sautéed mushrooms (which Vivian had never thought of as a breakfast food, but ate every scrap of), crispy fried potatoes, and a stack of toast to go along with all of it, Maddie stood up and yawned.

“You won’t be mad if I take a nap, will you, Mom? I was up at the crack of dawn, and I’m exhausted.” She pointed at Julia. “It’s all your fault—I wasn’t tired until just now, but after that breakfast I almost fell asleep at the table.”

Vivian leaned over and gave her girl a big hug. Maddie rested her head on Vivian’s shoulder, and Vivian stroked her hair the way she had when Maddie was little.

“Go take your nap. This is our relaxing Christmas, remember? And your work here in England is finally done; that means you get to rest.”

Maddie sighed and smiled.

“That sounds fantastic, actually.”

When Maddie stood up, Vivian sat up with a jerk.

“I just realized something! What are we going to say to the rest of the family about me staying in London? You know them, Maddie—I don’t want to hear their mouths about this. I can’t even tell Jo—you know she won’t be able to keep it from everyone else.”

Maddie grinned.

“Oh, don’t worry, I already thought of that—we’ll just lie to them and say we’re both staying until the first. Blame it on me; tell them I told you the wrong dates. I’ll just hide out at Theo’s house until you get home so I don’t run into anyone.”

Vivian shook her head slowly.

“That’s . . . brilliant, actually.”

Maddie curtsied.

“I have a lot of experience in trying to keep secrets, you know.”

Vivian laughed and swatted her out of the room.

Vivian tried to help Julia with the dishes, and when Julia laughed at her and shooed her out of the kitchen, she took her tea and book to her favorite chair in the sitting room.