She certainly didn’t want Amanda upsetting Bluebell. If she did, Snow would be out of there in an instant and she wouldn’t be returning. No one hurt her daughter. No one.
She was nervous as she knocked on Amanda’s door.
It opened almost immediately.
Amanda looked spectacular in a long pale blue dress with a puffy dark blue jacket over it. Her makeup was done impeccably and her lovely chocolate brown hair was styled to look like it was caught in the middle of a gust of wind.
“Well, hello, there.” Amanda’s eyes were drawn to Bluebell. “What’s your name?”
“Bluebell.” Bluebell’s eyes remained shyly on the ground.
“That’s a wonderful name,” Amanda said warmly. “Why don’t you come inside, Bluebell.” She held out a hand, which Bluebell took eagerly. Amanda smiled at Snow as she led Bluebell into the house.
“I didn’t know you were bringing company.” She didn’t sound unhappy, just curious.
“My mom had to go out and there was no one to watch Bluebell. I hope it’s okay that I brought her.”
“Of course. I love children. It’ll be my pleasure to host Bluebell for our meeting. Why don’t we go through to the lounge?”
Snow beamed as Amanda took Bluebell to one of the couches and gave her a doll to play with.
“It’s one of my props for my Christmas photos,” Amanda explained. “I want to do some with Christmas trees surrounded by presents, some of which have been opened.”
“That sounds great! Is that the idea you wanted to discuss?”
“No, I actually wanted to discuss branching out a little. What do you think of cards with family photos on them?”
Snow thought about this for a moment. “I think that could work really well. Christmas is a family time, after all, and it’ll give your cards a homier feel. We’ll need to set up the lighting carefully—make it nice and cozy.”
“Great! I was thinking we could do them outside, but if you want cozier lightning, we could bring one of the trees into the lounge and pose there.”
“That’ll be perfect. Do you have a family to model for you yet?”
“Not yet. I hadn’t thought that far in advance. I just wanted to discuss it with you first to see what you thought.”
Snow glowed internally to hear how Amanda valued her opinion. This Amanda was certainly different to the angry, difficult woman Snow had met the first time.
“Well, we can take some test shots in the meantime, just to show you a concept idea while you’re looking for a family to model for you. I’ve got a distance shutter for the camera. You and I can pose with Bluebell as a test family.”
“Oh, I don’t know… maybe it’ll be better to wait until I have a family I’ve paid to model.”
“We don’t mind at all, do we, Bluebell? You want to be in some photos, honey?”
Bluebell leaped up from her chair. “Yes, please!” She struck a pose, just as Snow had taught her.
“You have a young model in the making,” Amanda said seriously, her eyes twinkling as she watched Bluebell. Snow blushed and smiled. There was no quicker way to her heart than through her daughter.
“Come on, I’ll help you get one of the Christmas trees in here. Bluebell, you just wait here for a few minutes. We’ll be ready to take the photos soon.”
Amanda and Snow managed to get one of the smaller Christmas trees into the lounge with a bare minimum of mess. Snow brushed some pine needles off her dress and was grateful that it hadn’t been anything worse.
Snow set up her camera and held the distance shutter hidden in the back of her hand. “Okay, Bluebell, come and stand between us. Yes, just like that. Amanda, can I put my arm around you?”
“Of course.”
Amanda stood slightly closer, and Snow hesitantly snaked an arm around her waist. Amanda did the same thing with her. It felt surprisingly intimate to be standing together like this, with Bluebell innocently between them.
Snow smiled into the camera and took a few shots.