**The Family Recipe**
*12th March, 2023*
Youre really marrying someone you met online? Margaret Sullivan eyed her future daughter-in-law with the same suspicion shed give a counterfeit tenner. Her heavy gaze swept over Emilys simple ponytail and plain dress. You barely know each other!
Emily felt goosebumps rise on her arms. They sat in the tiny but spotless kitchen of the council flat where James had grown up. The air smelled of vanilla and old floorboards.
Mum, come on, James cut in, squeezing Emilys shoulder. We met in a book clubjust chatted online first. Six months! And Emilys brilliant.
Their story was simple: Emily ran a little blog about forgotten classics, and James, a software engineer with a quiet love for literature, stumbled on her post about *Wuthering Heights*. Their debate spilled into messages, then calls. They laughed at the same jokes, valued the same thingsquiet evenings, honesty, the smell of old paper. Their first meeting by the Bronte statue in Haworth wasnt a date, just a conversation continued. James felt at ease with her instantly; Emily saw past his shyness to the thoughtful man beneath.
Brilliant, Margaret scoffed, clinking her spoon loudly against her teacup. But shes not even from London, no job herewho knows what shes after? I raised my boy, and now some stranger
Emily clenched her teeth but stayed silent.
Shed figured it out by then: to Margaret, she wasnt a person but a threatan outsider stealing her son. After losing her husband five years back, Margaret had tightened her grip on James, her life ruled by routine and iron discipline.
Every attempt to bond had failed.
When Emily baked an apple pie with cinnamon and nutmeg (my grans recipe), Margaret nibbled a corner and muttered, Too sweet. We dont make it like that.
When she offered to help clean, the reply was sharp: No need. I know where everything goes.
Alone in Jamess roomcluttered with model planes and physics textbookshed sighed. Dont take it to heart. Mums prickly as a hedgehog.
Im trying, Emily whispered, staring at the rows of identical balconies outside. Living in a cold wars exhausting, and we cant move out yet.
But Emily didnt give up. She believed every fortress had a hidden door.
One Saturday, while dusting, Margaret pulled out an old photo album. Emily asked to look, then noticed her lingering on a faded picturea younger Margaret, smiling, beside a tall, dark-haired man.
Whos that? Emily ventured.
Margaret stiffened, as if caught. My brother, Robert, she said, voice uncharacteristically soft. We fell out. Twenty years ago, over some land. Stubborn, both of us.
Emily stayed quiet but hatched a plan.
Later, she accidentally chatted with their talkative neighbour, Mrs. Higgins. Oh, Margaret and Robert! the woman exclaimed. Thick as thieves, they were! He lives over in Bromley nowhad heart surgery last year. All alone, poor man.
That evening, while James read and Margaret knitted, Emily said carefully, Margaret, did you know Robert had heart surgery?
The needles stopped. What? How
Mrs. Higgins mentioned it. Said hed been ill, no one to help
Margaret left without another word.
Next morning, she was up early. Visiting a friend, she muttered, wearing her best coat.
She returned at dusk, eyes red but softer. In the kitchen doorway, she paused. Thank you, she managed before hurrying away.
Later, they learned shed taken the bus to Roberts, stood outside half an hour, then rang. Theyd embraced, crying over wasted years, laughing at their own stubbornness.
Days later, over tea, Margaret said quietly, You were right. A scrap of land wasnt worth twenty years.
After that, she thawed. Once, while sorting groceries, she asked, Emilythat pie of yours. Could you teach me?
They stood side by side in the cramped kitchen, rolling dough. For once, Margaret didnt correct her.
James came home to find them both at the table. Made something together?
Emily leaned into him, smiling. Shed learned: sometimes, to mend a family, you just remind them of the love that was there long before you. All it takes is the right thread to pull.
*Lesson today: Prides a heavy thing to carry. Easier to set it down.*
