Make My Wish Come True
The perfect Christmas swap? All Juliet, frazzled single mum and domestic goddess, wants for her winter holidays is a joyful family celebration. All her single sister Gemma, an assistant director, wants is a getaway to the sizzling Caribbean sun, far from diva actors and Hollywood tantrums. Until a sisterly squabble prompts new plans: a holiday swap. Gemma will spend a cosy, snowy week with her nieces and nephews - not to mention Juliet's gorgeous neighbour Will - whilst Juliet takes Gemma's tropical holiday and unplanned adventures. Juliet and Gemma may not get the holiday they expected, but it could be about to make all their wishes come true… Praise for Fiona Harper‘The author never strikes a false note, tempering poignancy perfectly with humour.’ — RT Book Reviews‘Fiona Harper has the ability to combine humour, pathos, and realism.’ —Dear Author
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As a child, FIONA HARPER was constantly teased for two things: having her nose in a book and living in a dream world. Things haven’t changed much since then, but at least she’s found a career that puts her runaway imagination to use!
Fiona loves dancing, so clear the floor if you’re ever at a party with her, and her current creative craze (one of a long list!) is jewellery making. She loves good books, good films and good food, especially anything cinnamon-flavoured, and she can always find room in her diet for chocolate or champagne!
Fiona loves to hear from readers and you can contact her through [email protected] or find her on her Facebook page (Fiona Harper Romance Author) or tweet her! (@FiHarperAuthor)
For my go-to girls—
Donna and Barbara, and Heidi and Daisy
Thank you to both Anna Boatman and Anna Baggaley, who are both brilliant editors and lovely to work with. To all the team at Harlequin UK, for giving me the chance to write the kind of books I’ve always dreamed of writing. Also, to my very first editor at Harlequin, Kim Young. I know I wouldn’t be taking the next step in my career if it hadn’t been for her support and belief in me. I’d also like to say a big thank you to my amazing agent, Lizzy Kremer.
I’d especially like to thank Daisy Cummins for allowing me to pick her brains on the work of an assistant director and for the invaluable insider information on the film industry. I’d also like to say a cheeky thank-you to my sister, Kirsteen, my step-sisters, Justine and Alexandra, and to both my daughters, for helping to give me plenty of insight into the complicated, wonderful, exasperating, but ultimately inspiring, world of sisterhood. I love you all, and I couldn’t have written this book without you.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Epilogue
Christmas 1981
Juliet sat on the brown velour sofa, her arms folded across her chest, and watched her sister play amidst the wreckage of wrapping paper and discarded curling ribbon. Gemma’s fair curls bounced as she chatted away to her new dolly and brushed its hair. Juliet glanced at her digital calculator, still in its packaging, sitting beside her on the sofa and felt a little bit sick.
That doll had been on her Christmas wish list, not Gemma’s. Mummy must have got mixed up somehow. But Daddy said Mummy was a bit sad at the moment, and it made her do strange things.
Gemma stopped brushing the doll’s hair and looked up. ‘When’s dinner?’ she asked. ‘I’m hungry.’
Juliet looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It said ten past four. She was hungry too. Christmas lunch should have been hours ago. She wanted to go and ask Daddy, but last time she’d ventured into the kitchen he’d been hunched over the table, crying softly.
‘Soon,’ she told Gemma, trying to smile.
Her sister nodded and returned to fussing with her doll. Juliet just sat there, feeling even sicker.
After a few moments, Gemma stood up and picked up the doll. ‘I’m going to go and show Mummy what I’ve done with Georgina’s hair,’ she said.
Juliet jumped off the sofa and stood in the doorway. This is what she’d been dreading. ‘Not right now,’ she told Gemma softly. ‘Mummy had to go out for a bit.’
Gemma’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, but she didn’t question her older sister’s words. That was because she was five. Juliet was nine and she was a big enough girl to know the truth. Daddy had said so. He’d also said Gemma was too little, that she wouldn’t understand, and that it was Juliet’s job to make sure she didn’t find out.
A sudden image of her mother running from the house, raw stuffing still clinging to her fingers, then jumping into the car and driving away left Juliet feeling breathless and shaky, but Gemma glanced back up at her, eyes so large and trusting, and she covered it all over with a smile.
‘Is she coming back soon?’ her sister asked, only half-interested in Juliet’s answer as she started twisting the doll’s hair, attempting her own five-year-old version of a plait.
Juliet kept smiling, even though it felt like her insides were being sucked into a big dark hole.
