A knock on the front door has me walking over and opening it, to reveal Nick and Lucia standing there with a basket.
Lucia is beaming and her protruding stomach is hidden by the huge basket in her hands. “We’re delivering the annual Christmas muffins.” She grins. “And to rub it in to Clara that the clinic won the Christmas Decoration contest this year.”
“You cheated!” my wife’s loud voice accuses from behind me.
“Did not!” Lucia exclaims, cheerfully and then turns to her husband. “Tell her I didn’t cheat.”
Nick’s tone is dry as he replies, “Yes, dear.” He turns to Clara. “She didn’t cheat. Just stole some of your decorations.”
“Well, she shouldn’t have left them lying around!” Lucia defends.
I put up my hands up at this argument that they have every year. Then I pull Clara to my side while kissing her cheek. “Play nice. Would you two like to come in for some egg nog?”
The house is decked out from top to bottom in bright Christmas ornaments. Next to the staggering Christmas tree, on the mantel, I reach out and fix the framed pictures there. My hand pauses on the one with Clara standing in the middle of the road, holding two pieces of paper in her hands and beaming.
Investing in her business had been a long and hard battle where she had refused me at every turn and I had tried my best to convince her. Ultimately, I won out. The bar across the street is now the coffee shop she’d wanted and the diner is a full time diner. Stacy had been appointed the manager for the diner. We hired one for the coffee place, freeing up Clara’s time.
Jerrys’s grandson has become a full time employee at the flower shop and Jerry now calls himself semi retired.
I enjoy the fact that I have become a part of this community, but more importantly, I’m grateful for this whole new family that’s been granted to me. A wife I’m madly in love with, children who are as mischievous as the day is bright, in-laws that love me for me and treat me as a son. Finally, there’s my grandmother who’s become as much a part of our family as is possible.
Cries of delight reach my ears and when I turn to look towards my wife… I see the snowflakes.
Around me, everybody is rushing out to see this new miracle. I’d been told that it hasn’t snowed in Wicca Springs for over twenty years.
I glance at hallway with the portraits of all the Winter women and a smile traces across my lips.
I don’t know if magic exists in this world, but the magic of Christmas certainly does.
THE END
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If you missed my first Holiday Story click here to read Wintertime Heat!
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Wintertime Love: A Christmas Billionaire Small Town Romance Page 19