Chapter 85

“Mum!” he called—and promptly forgot all about the nameless, faceless copper. He walked right into her hug, folding himself into the smell of fabric conditioner and whatever she’d been making for dinner, and fought back the urge to cry.

“Oh Eli,”she breathed, clutching him back. Mum hadn’t hugged him properly for years, ever since he’d come out to them and that odd distance had evolved between him and his own family. And now, quite suddenly, the gap had snapped shut, and she was clinging to him as though he had never drifted away. “Oh, Eli, love.”

“How’s—how’s Jenny?”

“Jenny’s fine, dear,” Mum said, stroking his hair like he was a child again. “She’s just fine, the baby’s a little upset by all the chaos but they’re both doing fine. They just don’t want to upset them again by moving them to a full maternity unit, so here we are!”

Her voice nearly snapped on the would-be cheery note.

Eli let go, stepped back, and scrubbed both hands over his eyes.