The Worst Noel

by Amy M. Reade

  “Come inside,” he said, taking her arm gently and drawing her back into the house. “I am the one who should be apologizing. I wanted to surprise you, but I fear I pushed you away instead. I can understand why you felt you didn’t want to see me anymore, and I can even see why you thought I had taken your sketchbooks.”

  Lilly sniffled. “Thank you. I … I don’t know what to say anymore. It seems I’ve misjudged almost everyone I know in the last few weeks.”

  “Are you still unsure about me?”

  “No, of course not. I’m just sad for what could have been.”

  “Who says it can’t still be that way?”

  Lilly looked up at him in confusion. “Do you mean you’re still thinking about buying this house? After all I’ve put you through?”

  Hassan chuckled. “I guess that’s exactly what I mean. I am a glutton for punishment, aren’t I?”

  The tears were coursing down Lilly’s cheeks. She could only nod and hang her head. He lifted her chin with his finger.

  “Don’t cry, Lilly. I want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy.” She was sobbing now.

  “I’ve seen happier people at a funeral.” She was sobbing and laughing now.

  “Can I take you to breakfast?” she asked. “I know a good place. But I have to stop at the store first.”

  Chapter 61

  From their booth at the Main Street Diner they could see the people walking by Juniper Junction Jewels and reading the sign on the door: Closed Until January 2nd. The note gave Lilly’s cell phone number for anyone needing to pick up a special order.

  “I need a break,” Lilly told him between bites of rye toast. She had related the events of the previous evening and Hassan was speechless. “It’s Christmas time. I’ve never taken a vacation before Christmas because I’ve always been working, but it’s time. My kids, my mom, my brother and Noley, they’ve barely seen me lately except for when we were cooped up during the blizzard, and that was so stressful it didn’t count. And you, of course. Maybe you and I could spend some time together before you go back to Minnesota?”

  “You know I would love that,” Hassan said with a broad smile. He put his hand over hers. “I have a special Christmas gift for you.”

  “I didn’t think you celebrated Christmas.”

  “I don’t. But you do, and I want to give you something. But you have to wait until Christmas Day.”

  There was so much to look forward to.

  Bill stopped by her house that afternoon. “Taffy spilled her guts,” he said.

  “What was there to spill? She killed Eden Barclay, stole my sketchbooks, and wanted to kill me.”

  “She may not have killed you, but after she killed Eden Barclay, she killed Herb Knight.”

  His words hit her like a popping chestnut. “You’re kidding. Why?”

  “Apparently Eden found more evidence that Taffy was stealing from her. She went to your store to talk to you the day before Thanksgiving. You had already left for the day, but since you forgot to lock the back door she opened it thinking you were inside.”

  “I still can’t believe I did that.”

  “I can’t either. Anyway, according to Taffy, Eden had just fired her and wanted to talk to you about it.”

  “Why did she have to talk to me about it?” Lilly was confused.

  “She figured Taffy would be looking for another job and she knew you were the best person to get the word out to other merchants that they shouldn’t hire her.”

  “So Taffy followed her into my store?”

  “Yeah. I don’t think she planned to kill Eden, but the opportunity presented itself when she saw the vault was open. She grabbed the closest thing, which happened to be a pearl necklace. She was crazy with anger over being fired.”

  “I never could understand why she would risk leaving the necklace behind.”

  “I think it simply landed under Eden and she didn’t want to stick around to try to grab it.” Bill rolled his eyes. “She admitted to throwing the brick through your front window during the blizzard and taking Barney off his rope, too.”

  “I knew it had to be a crazy person out in that blizzard. Either that, or someone who didn’t know what it was like to be in a blizzard. And I knew the person was a monster, too, for doing that to an animal.”

  “She said she just wanted to scare you.”

  “It worked. But what did I do to deserve that? She had no reason to want to scare me.”

  “She said she was mad at you over some incident at the store. Did she overcharge someone? Something like that.”

  Lilly knew exactly what Bill was talking about. She thought back to the day of the blizzard, when Taffy had undercharged someone for a necklace. She had spoken to Taffy in a harried tone because the store had been so hectic.

  “She was mad over that? And she thought freezing my family to death and almost killing my dog would be a good way to deal with it?” She shook her head and changed the subject. “So what about Herb?”

  “We knew that someone had seen Eden talking to Herb just before her death. But Taffy had actually overheard them. Eden had told him she had concrete proof that Taffy was stealing from her. Once Eden was dead, she assumed Herb would figure out she did it because he knew Eden had just fired her, so she killed him, too.”

  “And here I thought both Eden and Herb died because of some reason to do with the big chain stores. Taffy certainly had everyone fooled.”

  “Including Beau. He was blindsided by all of this,” Bill said solemnly.

  “I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.”

  “He really thought it would be fun to surprise you with the news that he and Taffy were a couple.”

  “I can’t believe anyone would think that’s a fun surprise. That’s part of the reason I can’t quite bring myself to feel sorry for him. That, and the fact that he kept showing up at Mom’s house.”

  “I asked him about that. He knew you’d want nothing to do with him, so he thought he could get to the kids through Mom.” He shook his head.

  “But she couldn’t stand him for years.”

  “I know, but he thought his chances were better with her than with you. He really does seem to want a relationship with the kids.” Bill gave Lilly a questioning look, then continued. “There’s something else you need to know, though.”

  “What is it?”

  “It has to do with the broken doorknob. Beau admitted knocking on the back door the day the doorknob broke. He wanted to talk to you. But only Barney was there, and Beau swears Barney went so nuts that he broke the doorknob by scratching at it ferociously with his paws. So there never was an intruder, though Beau was there that day.”

  Lilly gave her brother a skeptical look. “And you believe him?”

  “Actually, I think I do. He seemed terrified of Barney.” Bill laughed. “Imagine being terrified of that ball of fur.” Lilly felt a cautious sense of relief creep over her.

  “Intruder or no intruder, Beau is not someone I’m ready to deal with right now,” she replied. “Too much has happened. Maybe at some point, but not now. Have you talked to Mom?”

  “I swung by her house last night. I haven’t told her about any of this. All she could talk about was her dog.”

  Lilly shook her head. “What are we going to do with her?”

  “Right now her delusions are pretty harmless, but I’m afraid they’re only going to get worse.”

  Lilly was thoughtful for a moment, then she smiled. “I think I have an idea that might help.”

  “What?”

  “You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

  Chapter 62

  That night Lilly hosted an impromptu dinner. Noley came and brought Bill, Hassan came and brought his sister and parents, and Lilly let Laurel invite Nick, who came bearing a gift of fudge his mother had made. Beverly came and Tighe invited one of his friends, too. Lilly even invited Mrs. Laforge, who brought dozens of Christmas cookies. The only uninvited person who might have appreci
ated an invitation was Beau—Lilly wasn’t ready to be around him yet and she needed to talk to the kids in private about their wishes regarding their father.

  Dinner was simple—buffet-style make-your-own sandwiches, chips, eggnog, hot cider, and lefse, a traditional food unique to Minnesota, that Hassan’s mother and the other women in the family had made. Barney loved it.

  The noisy house was warm and the scent of the Christmas tree, the snow falling outside the new window, the twinkly lights, and the carols playing in the background filled Lilly with a sense of peace and cheer. This is the way the holidays were meant to be.

  Lilly spent the following days sleeping in, baking, finishing up a few custom designs for clients, and continuing to recreate the sketches Taffy had stolen. On Christmas Eve morning, Bill called with good news.

  “Taffy gave up the name of the guy who bought the sketches,” he said.

  “Did he know he was buying stolen property?”

  “I don’t know. He lives out of state, but we’ll have his local police talk to him. You know Beau found the money—we have it here at the station, so the guy can get his money back if he’s willing to return the drawings.”

  He was willing, especially after being reminded that Lilly’s customers could vouch for her ownership of the sketches. Though Lilly had known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that he had no choice but to return the stolen drawings, tears sprang to her eyes when she heard she would be getting her sketches back.

  That evening Hassan dropped by with a small package. “Put this under the tree and unwrap it in the morning,” he said. “It’s just a little something I thought you’d like.”

  “Wait, I got you something, too,” she said. He sat down in front of the fire while she sorted through the gifts already under the tree. She drew out one with his name on it. “Take this back to your house and don’t open it until tomorrow morning,” she said. He set it aside on the couch and she joined him, nestling her head against his shoulder.

  “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” he asked. The song lyrics popped into Lilly’s head.

  “I don’t like to go out,” she said. “I thought I’d stay in and have a little party for everyone here. Can you come?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  Christmas morning dawned snowy and gray. Beverly had spent the night at Lilly’s house, so they waited for Bill and Noley to arrive before having breakfast and opening their gifts. They arrived bearing sticky buns Noley had made. Between those and the hash brown casserole Lilly had prepared the night before and popped into the oven first thing Christmas morning, everyone was stuffed and happy by the time they all adjourned to the living room to open gifts.

  The kids loved the gifts Lilly had picked out for them. Laurel was thrilled with her dress and Tighe loved the camping gear. Noley was delighted when she saw Lilly had bought the hand-thrown tray from the cooking shop. Lilly had chosen a gorgeous cashmere sweater for Bill.

  Barney wouldn’t stop barking. Bill had just opened his sweater when he set it aside and snorted. “Lilly, can’t you make him be quiet?”

  “I don’t know about that,” she answered, glancing toward her mother. “But I can get him focused on something else.”

  She went to the kitchen; Barney followed her, his tail wagging. Everyone in the living room could hear the door to the garage opening, then a scuffling, scraping sound. Seconds later a Cocker Spaniel puppy ran into the living room, a red bow tied around his neck.

  “Mom, I thought you might like a puppy for Christmas,” Lilly said. Laurel gasped. The puppy ran straight for Tighe and began licking his face. He laughed until the tears ran down his face. Lilly picked up the puppy and placed him at her mother’s feet.

  The smile on Beverly’s face brought tears to Lilly’s eyes. Even Bill was blinking furiously and wiping his nose. Noley sat on the floor, mouth agape. Beverly nuzzled the puppy’s face and he licked her in return.

  “This is my puppy?” she asked.

  “Yes, Mom. I thought we could keep him here but bring him to your house every day to spend time with you. What do you think?”

  “I love him,” she said in a quiet voice. “Thank you.”

  Lilly supposed the idea for a pet for her mother had been planted by Tighe the day he suggested getting a kitten for Gran. Though Lilly had initially thought a pet would be too much of a responsibility, she had been rethinking that. She had done quite a bit of reading about the benefits animals could have on the well-being of elderly people with dementia and had eventually decided that a puppy might be just the thing for her mother. She knew she would be the one responsible for cleaning up the puppy’s accidents, walking him, taking him over to her mother’s house every day, and getting up with him in the middle of the night until he was a little older, but one look at her mother’s face and she knew all that work would be worth it.

  While everyone was fawning over the puppy, Lilly slipped her hand under the tree and brought out the gift Hassan had left for her. She unwrapped it and opened the box.

  Nestled inside a piece of white velvet lay a pendant of lapis lazuli. It had been polished to a high sheen, but looked uncut. Tiny rivulets of white ran through the brilliant blue stone. Lilly held it in her hand, wishing Hassan had seen her open it.

  When the phone rang, Lilly ran to answer it—it could only be Hassan, and she wanted to thank him for such a breathtaking gift.

  But it wasn’t Hassan. It was Beau; he was calling to wish the family a merry Christmas. Lilly put each of the kids on and they talked to their father for a few minutes, telling him what they got for Christmas and asking about Taffy.

  Tighe talked to him first, then it was Laurel’s turn. When Laurel was done, she handed the phone back to Lilly.

  “Beau, why don’t you come over for a little while? We’re finished opening gifts and we’re just going to hang out here, maybe play some games or go sledding. You’re welcome to join us.”

  There was silence on the other end, and finally Beau spoke. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Thanks, Lil.”

  He hung up; Lilly had replaced the receiver on the hook when it rang again.

  “Hello?”

  “Thank you for the book,” Hassan said. “I love it.” She could hear the smile in his voice. She had chosen the coffee table book, filled with photos of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains, after he told her he was buying the house in Juniper Junction.

  “It pales in comparison to the one you gave me,” she said. “The pendant is just beautiful. Thank you.”

  “You like it?” he asked.

  “It’s perfect.”

  What had started on Black Friday as the worst holiday season ever had turned out to be one of the best for the Carlsen family, which now included a Cocker Spaniel puppy that Beverly had decided to name Fred. Fred and Barney. Somehow Beverly had remembered that Lilly’s favorite cartoon as a child had been The Flintstones.

  It had, indeed, been a very merry Christmas.

  Recipes

  Christmas Jam

  2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

  2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed

  1 large pear, ripe, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped

  4 cups sugar

  1.75-ounce box Sure-Jell fruit pectin

  ½ cup orange juice

  ½ cup water

  1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

  * * *

  Crush raspberries in a small bowl until pulpy. Place approximately half of pulp in a sieve and press to remove as many seeds as possible. Discard seeds and return remaining pulp to bowl. Mix contents.

  Combine sugar and pectin in a medium saucepan; add orange juice and water. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once mixture boils, add cranberries and cook, stirring often, until cranberries burst and mixture begins to thicken.

  Remove cranberry mixture from heat.
Add raspberry pulp, pear, and last three ingredients. Stir until combined well.

  Pour mixture into clean glass jars. Cover immediately with lids. Allow to sit at room temperature for 24 hours before chilling or freezing.

  Jam should last in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks; jam should last in freezer for up to 1 year.

  Yield: approximately 7 cups jam

  Orange-Kissed Biscuits

  3 cups flour

  1 teaspoon salt

  1 tablespoon baking powder

  2 tablespoons sugar

  6 tablespoons butter, softened

  Grated zest from one orange

  1 cup whole milk (may need a tiny bit more)

  Position oven rack in top third of oven; preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Using your fingers, add butter to mixture and mix well until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add orange zest when you’re almost done mixing.

  Drizzle 1 cup milk over the mixture and combine for about 15 seconds. The dough should start to come together. If it doesn’t, add a small amount of milk until you can form a rough ball with the dough.

  Place dough on a lightly-floured work surface; pat dough into a rectangle about ¾ of an inch thick. Fold dough into thirds and roll gently with a floured rolling pin until dough is about ¾ of an inch thick again.

  Using a biscuit cutter, cut dough into biscuits. Gently reroll scraps and repeat.

  Place biscuits on baking sheet and brush tops lightly with milk. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

  Fruit Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing

  1 cantaloupe, cut into bite-sized pieces