He kissed her cheek, then went upstairs, passing Amy and Chantelle on the way.
“Come on, mommy!” Chantelle cried. “You have to help too!”
Emily had started to feel very tired at this late stage of her pregnancy. But she didn’t want to let Chantelle down. She looked over at Patricia, who was flicking through a design magazine whilst sipping her chocolate drink.
“Mom? Want to help too?”
Patricia looked surprised. “Oh. Well. I suppose I could.”
Emily smirked, quietly very pleased that her mom would join in. She turned back to Chantelle.
“We’re coming!”
Then she and Patricia went out into the hallway and searched through Amy’s bag of tricks. Emily took out some glittering tinsel and began winding it around the bannister of the staircase, whilst Patricia selected some sparkly material draped it artistically around the picture frames. It was such a wonderful moment for Emily, so full of peace and happiness.
“When are you getting married, Amy?” Chantelle asked as she affixed snowflakes to the walls with sticky tack.
“I haven’t set the date yet,” Amy told her, smiling to herself. “I can’t work out what season I want my wedding to be in. Or even what country.”
Chantelle’s eyes widened as though the thought of an overseas wedding had never even crossed her mind. “You could get married in Lapland! Reindeers and white snow!”
Amy laughed. “I was thinking more the Bahamas. Turtles… and white beach.”
“That sounds nice too,” Chantelle conceded.
“If you need any help planning it,” Emily said. “I’d be very happy to help. You were so great with my wedding, I’d love to return the favor.”
Amy looked touched. “Really, Em? That would be the best. But honestly, you’re the one who's got a ton of stuff to organize before I’m even ready to get married. You’ve got to give birth, for starters! And what about a babymoon? You’re running out of time.”
Emily laughed and shook her head. “Not you too! A babymoon? My doctor asked us if we were going on one. Is this a new thing?”
“What’s a babymoon?” Chantelle chimed in.
Amy looked shocked. “I can’t believe neither of you have heard of it. A babymoon is the last chance for the mom and dad to be to have a holiday before the demands of a newborn take up all their time.”
“I’ve never heard of anything so indulgent,” Patricia said with a snort.
Ignoring her mom, Emily noticed that Chantelle looked a little concerned about the prospect of her and Daniel leaving for a weekend away. She always had a wobble when they left her because her terrible beginning in life had taught her when people left, they didn’t necessarily come back home. It was such hard work trying to undo the destruction Sheila’s parenting had caused.
“Don’t worry, hun,” Emily told her. “I can’t fly anymore, so there wouldn’t really be much point.”
“Emily!” Amy cried, sounding incredulous. “The point is that you and Daniel get one last chance for a romantic trip together. Your lives are about to change forever. Don’t you want a last hurrah? It’s not like you’d have to go far. You could drive up to Quebec City. It’s beautiful there at this time of year.”
For the first time, Emily really began to consider whether a babymoon would be fun. Just her and Daniel, all the stresses of running their business and all the anxiety over giving birth left behind.
“You don’t think it’s cutting it a bit fine?” Emily said. “My due date is in three weeks.”
“And only, like, twenty percent of babies are born on their due dates,” Amy replied.
“You were late, by the way, Emily,” Patricia told her. “So was Charlotte. And so was I. If you’re anything like I was, she’ll be late. I was 42 weeks plus seven days with both of you.”
“No way!” Emily cried. She’d never been informed of this. “That sounds extremely uncomfortable.”
“Not at all,” Patricia replied. “Your body knows what it wants. You have to trust it.”
“I didn’t even know you could go that late,” Amy said.
Patricia nodded. “In my day, you’d avoid being induced if you could, and trust that nature would do its thing. It’s more common than people realize. Some babies just take longer to bake.”
Amy and Chantelle laughed then, but Emily felt queasy at the thought. Pregnancy was hard! She didn’t want it to last any longer than need be! But maybe her mom had a good point. The older generations were much less pampered and fussy. They didn’t have babymoons or anything like that. Sometimes the practical, fuss-free way of doing things was better.
They finished up decorating the hallways and went into the dining room next, where they placed sparkly snowflakes on all the tables and replaced the fall themed centerpieces with winter ones. It looked beautiful, and Emily felt even more excited for Christmas.
But excitement wasn’t enough to stop her from yawning. The decorating work was rather strenuous and she just didn’t have anywhere near as much energy these days.
“I’m going to have to stop for a bit,” she confessed. “If I even attempt the ballroom I might fall asleep!”
She noticed then that Amy and Chantelle were exchanging mischievous looks with one another.
“What’s going on?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.
“Nothing,” Amy said in a tone that suggested the opposite.
“Can we show her?” Chantelle asked Amy.
“It’s up to you. You’re the one who wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Show me what?” Emily exclaimed.
But Chantelle and Amy were just talking to each other. She grew impatient.
“Guys, I want to know what the surprise is!” she cried.
“Okay,” Chantelle said. “Come with me.”
She took her hand and led her into the low-ceilinged corridor that opened out into the ballroom. But instead of walking straight along, she turned right, along the even smaller passageway that weaved all the way to the outhouses and garage. They stopped at one of the doors.
Emily frowned, curious.
“We weren’t sure where we could do this,” Chantelle told her. “Because we didn’t want to take one of the inn rooms. Then Amy suggested one on of the outhouses. So…” She paused for dramatic effects, then threw open the door.
Emily blinked, then gasped. The small room had been completely transformed. Instead of exposed brick walls, it had been plastered and painted yellow. Instead of the cement floor, vinyl had been laid down, and on top of that was a fluffy rug. The room was filled with lights – night lights and fairy lights and spinning musical lights that projected stars onto the walls.
“What is this?” Emily asked, stunned.
“It’s the playroom!” Chantelle exclaimed.
Amy spoke then. “We thought it would be nice for the girls to have a place to play away from the rest of the inn. Somewhere they’re allowed to make as much noise as they want without disturbing any of the guests. And somewhere to keep their toys so they don’t end up all over the place.”
Emily was so touched. The room was lovely. It just needed to be filled with toys now!
“I love it, thank you so much guys,” she said, hugging Amy and Chantelle in turn.
They went back into the living room so Emily could have a rest before the rest of the decorating commenced. Then, once she felt rejuvenated, they took on the mammoth task of decorating the