Emma (The Mrs Middleton #4)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“Why are you staring at me?” Vanessa lifted her wine glass from the table, her eyes narrowed with a hint of curiosity as she gazed at Emma over the rim.

The red liquid caught the soft glow of the restaurant’s candlelight, but it was those delicious blue eyes that Emma couldn’t tear herself away from.

“You’ve been staring for the last few minutes. ”

“Because I love you. Because you look gorgeous. Because…you’re all mine.” Emma’s smile curled slowly as she reached a hand across the table, her fingertips grazing Vanessa’s knuckles. “Because I want to.”

“Well.” Vanessa tilted her head, studying her wife with a bemused smile as she lowered her glass. “Unless you’ve done something you shouldn’t have, I don’t know what’s changed.”

“Nothing has changed. I just want to look at you.” Emma leaned back slightly, her hand still extended, now resting palm-up as Vanessa carefully stroked her fingertips over it.

Around them, the low hum of conversation and clinking cutlery filled the air, but in that moment, it all faded into a distant murmur.

“It’s been a year, and I’m still incredibly proud of you. ”

Vanessa glanced down, her brows drawn together. She turned her wrist and checked her watch, squinting at the date. “A year since what?”

“Okay, really? Y-you don’t know what I’m talking about?”

“I…”

“Your mastectomy, babe. It was a year ago today.”

Vanessa’s eyes widened. “Oh! Really? It feels like ten years ago.”

God. Emma’s chest ached with how casually she said that. How easily it seemed to have drifted from Vanessa’s mind. Something so huge surely couldn’t be so effortlessly forgotten. “It feels like yesterday to me.”

Vanessa looked down at the table, her fingers absently tracing the base of her wine glass. “Well, now I know why you were so insistent on coming out for dinner this evening. I had no idea this date meant anything to you. And yes, I’d forgotten what it represented.”

Emma wanted to say more, to unpack whatever had settled deep in her chest, but she held it back.

Vanessa wasn’t brushing this off. She was just…

compartmentalising. Like she always did.

It was how she coped, and Emma knew that.

Still, the realisation stung. How could she forget something so defining?

The past year had been a blur, from Daisy’s chaotic entrance into nursery life and the endless lesson plans both Emma and Vanessa faced daily, to Emma being promoted to department head.

That was no small feat. Emma had played it down—she’d never liked the spotlight—but it had been a huge shift.

All of it was. But even with the whirlwind year they’d had, this date had burned itself into her memory, etched there with stark clarity.

She remembered the hospital room, the silence afterwards, and the way Vanessa’s voice had trembled just once or twice before she’d joked about how she’d never look good in a bikini again.

“I wanted to celebrate you,” Emma said quietly. “I wanted to celebrate how far you’ve come in the last twelve months. It’s important that we remember this date and what you’ve battled through.”

“Oh, I didn’t battle.” Vanessa’s tone was light and almost dismissive. “People have it far worse than I did.”

Emma’s jaw tightened slightly, but her smile stayed soft.

She reached across the table again, this time taking Vanessa’s hand fully in hers and holding on tight.

“Just because someone else is going through hell, it doesn’t mean your pain doesn’t count.

Don’t make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal.

It was. You made a huge decision. You gave up a part of yourself for a chance at something more. A future. That’s not small.”

Vanessa’s gaze lowered to their joined hands, her thumb moving slowly over Emma’s knuckles. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am.” Emma sat back with a smug smile. “It’s why you married me.” Vanessa laughed at that, and Emma noted how her shoulders seemed to loosen. “And this is the first night we’ve had the chance to come out for dinner since the new school year started.”

“I thought this half-term break would never arrive.” Vanessa’s head fell back slightly as she exhaled.

Even with a noticeable tiredness written all over her face, she was still exceptionally beautiful.

“We should make some plans for this week. Get out of the house and do things that we enjoy together.”

“Whatever you feel like doing,” Emma shrugged. “You know I’m game.”

“Maybe we could drive out somewhere. Hiking, that kind of thing.”

Yes. Yes, that sounded perfect. Emma spent most days outside, but there was something different about being in the quiet with Vanessa. No students shouting over netball, no bells marking time, no admin to drown in. Just open sky, fresh air, and them.

“Do we get to take a picnic, too?” Emma asked, her eyes narrowed.

“Absolutely.”

“Should I see if Lauren and Daisy want to meet us towards the end of it? I’d invite them to join us on the hike, but, well…small children, you know?”

“One muddy tantrum and it’s game over.” Vanessa chuckled, that warmth in her eyes that Emma repeatedly fell in love with on the daily as present as ever. “Let’s just spend time alone together this week. We give plenty of our time to Lauren, Daisy, and Rob.”

Vanessa didn’t have to say that twice. Emma was already nodding as she pictured lazy mornings tangled up in warm sheets and coffee that didn’t go cold on the counter.

Vanessa was right. They adored Daisy, but it was time to recharge.

Time for them. “You’re right. And we can see them whenever we like. ”

She thought back to the last time Daisy had joined them at a restaurant.

The tiny tornado—as Emma had nicknamed her—had insisted on eating ‘like a big girl’, which had mostly involved launching her spaghetti across the table and onto Emma’s new white blouse.

Emma hadn’t been mad. It was hard to be mad when Daisy’s little face beamed up at her, oblivious to what she’d done wrong.

“Knowing Lauren, she’s probably already scheduled an entire week of activities with Daisy. You know what she’s like. She finds it very hard to sit still.”

That was true. Seeing Lauren whirl around after Daisy exhausted Emma just from watching.

And Lauren didn’t get the same break they did.

Rob travelled so often these days that Emma wondered how Lauren didn’t just keel over mid-morning.

“We try to help,” Emma said as she lifted a shoulder. “I just hope it’s enough.”

Vanessa reached out and laid her hand over Emma’s. “Lauren appreciates what we do for her.”

That satisfied Emma. She glanced up and caught the look in Vanessa’s eyes. Soft, certain, and filled with endless amounts of love. God, she adored that look. She felt herself smile in a way she only ever did when it was just the two of them. “So, this week is all about us then, babe?”

“I couldn’t think of anything better.” Vanessa smiled as the server collected their empty plates. When she leaned forward, her face lit up with the pride she had for Emma. “So, how was your first term as head of department?”

Emma puffed out a breath and ran a hand through her hair.

“I’m easing myself into it. Nothing much has changed, not yet, but I’m sure it will.

” She didn’t say how sometimes the weight of it all pressed down on her when she lay in bed at night.

Or how the to-do lists at the office kept multiplying like rabbits.

But she’d asked for this. She wanted it, and she could handle it.

She always did. “I bumped into Dani earlier,” Emma added, hoping to shift the conversation.

“She was glued to her phone. Grinning at it like the Cheshire Cat.”

Vanessa raised a curious eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I mean, it’s probably nothing, but she’s usually walking around with a face like thunder.” Emma sat forward and lowered her voice, wondering if her wife could give her an insight into Dani’s recent behaviour. “Any idea why she was all smiles?”

“She did mention a date she was going on last weekend, but I haven’t really had the chance to catch up with her. Work was hectic this week, as you already know.”

“Parents’ evening,” Emma groaned. “I hate that time of year. I know I love gushing about the kids to their parents, but it’s just one hell of a long day by the time it’s over.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement, her wine glass now nearly empty.

The light played against the red stain on the inside rim, and Emma watched her for a second, noting how good she looked when she was just…

at ease. She quickly brought herself out of wherever her mind was almost spiralling to.

It would only get her into trouble, and they had cocktails to enjoy before they got naked.

“Anyway, let’s grill Dani when we’re back after next week.

Let her have her mysterious romantic glow-up for now. ”

“Mm.” Vanessa tipped the last of her wine back with a satiated sigh. “I’m using the bathroom while you get the bill. Then we are going dancing.”

Emma smiled as Vanessa rose gracefully from her chair. Her royal blue dress hugged her curves just right, dipping and clinging in ways that turned more than a few heads as she walked away. But Vanessa didn’t seem to notice. She’d never been the kind of woman to think highly of herself.

Gone were the days when she’d tug self-consciously at her clothes, checking her reflection with a worried look whenever she could.

That hesitancy had burnt out over the last year, and it had been replaced by a radiant glow.

And Emma? Emma couldn’t take her eyes off her wife.

She watched until Vanessa disappeared around the corner, then let her gaze linger on the space she’d just occupied. “Oh, you’re one lucky fucker.”