Christmas Joy

by Nancy Naigle

  She sat up with a start. She’d almost forgotten to set her alarm. She grabbed for the phone on the nightstand and set her alarm for 5:15, just in case. Even if she slept that long, she should get there before Molly headed off for school. She could surprise her, and Ben too. She wasn’t sure which one of them she was more excited to see.

  Chapter Thirty

  Joy rolled over and stretched. She usually had trouble sleeping away from home, but she’d fallen right to sleep and slept hard. She felt well rested, and that was good. It had to be early, because her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet.

  She sat up and turned on the light. There was a coffeepot in the room. If she made a cup of coffee here, she could take it with her and get right on the road. She padded across the room and filled the carafe with water. As she waited, she noticed the reflection of the clock across the room.

  No. She turned and got her phone. She’d overslept. How did that happen? She’d set the alarm on her phone.

  She quickly poked at the buttons on her phone. The alarm was set. Only she’d set it for 5:15 P.M. instead of in the morning, and right now it was already 5:57. If she hit any traffic on the way back to Crystal Falls, she might not even make it back in time for Molly’s pageant.

  She left the carafe in the sink. She didn’t even bother to wash her face or try to fix her hair. It didn’t matter at this point.

  Joy cursed herself all the way to the parking lot and back onto the interstate.

  To be so close and blow this surprise was just unfair. How had she let this happen? She wanted to surprise Molly.

  Traffic through the Raleigh area was heavy, but at least she was still moving. She must’ve recalculated her arrival time ten times during just the first hour of the drive, but once she got through Raleigh, the roads opened up. She tried to relax, and she set her cruise control to thwart the chance of a ticket. She didn’t have time for that.

  Molly’s pageant was at nine, and when Joy pulled into Ruby’s driveway, it was just two minutes after eight. Joy had forgotten to give Molly the pearls to wear today like Ruby had asked. She had time to get the pearls so she could make good on the promise, then quickly change into something appropriate for a school pageant. Like I have any idea what that is. She felt like the last runner on a relay as she dropped her bags, hung the dress on a hanger in her old room, then hopped into a pair of slacks.

  A quick brush to her hair didn’t render good results, so she tugged her hair into a quick side braid. Molly’s delighted expression played in her memory with each twist of her hair. She’d been so excited to have her hair braided like Joy’s that morning.

  She ran out to her car, shoving Ruby’s pearls into her coat pocket, and backed out of the driveway. At the only stoplight between here and the school, Joy swept lipstick over her lips.

  The parking lot was completely full, so she parked on the street in front of the elementary school. Joy touched the delicate strand of Ruby’s pearls in her coat pocket. They’d belonged to Ruby’s mother. There were three strands in the set. Ruby wore them together most often, but Joy had carefully detached the long strands and brought just the short one for Molly.

  “Excuse me,” Joy said. “I’m wondering if you can help me. I have something for my … niece.” Okay, so one little white lie wasn’t that bad, was it? “Can I see her before they perform?”

  The dark-haired woman looked like the last thing she wanted to do was be nice or helpful. “The children are nervous. You’ll only disrupt things. Can you please just take a seat so we can get started?”

  “I won’t take but a moment. Please?” Joy hated to beg. “This is really important.”

  The woman shook her head, and Joy knew exactly where this was going.

  The marching sound of little footsteps filled the hall.

  Joy turned to see a stair-stepped row of children all wearing red and white coming right toward her. A blond woman with a brilliant smile led the way. She stopped and had the fleet of shiny faces line up down the hall against the lockers. There, third from the end, was Molly.

  Joy didn’t wait for a response from the grumpy woman. Instead, she bypassed her and went straight over to Molly. Do the right thing, and ask for forgiveness later rang through her memory. Someone had once told her that at her first job. And that teensy piece of advice had served her well over the years.

  Molly caught sight of Joy, and the smile that danced all the way to that little girl’s eyes made tears well in her own.

  “Joy!”

  “Hey, Molly. I hurried back so I could be here for you.”

  “I thought you couldn’t come.”

  “I couldn’t miss it. Plus, Ruby said she promised you could wear her pearls.” Joy pulled the pearls from her pocket and held them between her fingers.

  The blond teacher walked toward her. Joy hurried, hoping she wasn’t about to get run off.

  “Turn around, precious.” Joy swallowed and held her focus on Molly, unwilling to let anyone stop her. She carefully slipped the hooked metal piece into the intricately filigreed box clasp, and then connected the safety chain. It was way easier to do on someone else than herself. “All set. Let me see.”

  Molly spun around, her hands at the neckline of her red velvety dress.

  Joy took Molly’s hands into her own. “You are going to sing as beautiful as that necklace today.”

  The teacher stooped down next to Joy. “You look so pretty, Molly.”

  “She does, doesn’t she?” Joy stood and as she did, Molly wrapped her arms around Joy’s waist.

  “Thank you. I’m so glad you are here. I asked Santa to let you come. You’re the best part of this Christmas.”

  A tear spilled down Joy’s cheek, and then another as she stood, trying to collect herself. The teacher dug into her pocket and handed Joy a tissue. “Don’t worry. None of us can get through one of these Christmas shows without tears. I think you just made someone’s day extra special.”

  “Thank you,” Joy said. “She just made mine. And thanks for not running me off. My aunt had promised Molly she could wear those pearls.”

  “It’s a lovely gesture. We’re going to be getting started here in a minute. You might want to grab a seat so you can get a good spot and take a few pictures. They are going to announce no flash photography, but between you and me, you can take a video with your phone and no one will ever know. I know Molly’s mom would love that. Oh, and Molly will be at the right end of the stage.”

  “That’s perfect. Thanks.” Joy walked down the hall, sweeping her fingers under her eyes. For so many years now, she’d thought only of how hurt she’d been when Mom died. But now she imagined how Molly’s mother must feel, missing these moments in her daughter’s life and having to trust people in the community to help her through a difficult time. Ruby had been there for her. For Mom too. Now for Ginny and Molly.

  Joy walked into the large auditorium and found an empty seat toward the right end of the third row. Funny how people always sat in little groups, leaving empty seats between them. Suited her just fine. She put her phone in airplane mode so she wouldn’t be embarrassed by an incoming call, then held it up to test her angle to record Molly’s performance.

  Excitement sizzled in the air. She sat alone, but her newly awakened sense of life—of community—comforted her. She smiled politely at other parents as they filed into the auditorium. She recognized some of them from the Extreme Gingerbread Bake-off, and the girl from the bakery was seated just one row in front of her toward the middle.

  Plink. Plink. Plink-plink. Plink. Plink. Plink-plink. Like horses’ hooves, and the pianist got the crowd’s attention.

  Then, piano music filled the room and quieted the crowd. A tall woman stepped onstage wearing a red dress. “Good morning, friends, faculty, and family members. We are so delighted you’ve joined us for this year’s Crystal Falls Elementary School pageant. We will have a short ten-minute intermission between each performance. This should make it easy for those of you coming to see
your children to leave after their performance, and allow others to settle in. We hope you’ll help us by always filling in the seats from the center of each row so those later arrivals can slip into the end seats with as little interruption as possible. That being said … are we ready to bring a little Christmas joy to our day?”

  The parents clapped, and rousing whoops and yips came from the excited kids backstage.

  “Our first performance is Miss Allen’s first grade.”

  The curtain opened and about twenty children hobbled out onstage, each dressed in a box that had been decorated like a gift and wearing giant bows on their heads. They grabbed hands and swayed as they sang “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” Joy tried to keep her laugh quiet as she lifted her phone and recorded the happy song. It wasn’t but a few hours ago that she was about to scream if she’d heard that song again, but somehow those tiny bodies hopping around and bouncing off each other as they reached for each other’s hands across the cardboard boxes was too cute. The chorus was strong and loud, most of the rest of the words were a mumbled mess, but the smiles on those kids’ faces were undeniably adorable.

  Everyone clapped and the children beamed. Joy had to blink to chase the tears that seemed to be teasing her out of nowhere. Since when had she become so sentimental? She didn’t even know any of these people.

  Parents filed out, and as requested, people moved in toward the center of the aisles, like they’d done it a hundred times. It was a good system. No “excuse me, excuse me” butts in your face as people got up and down.

  The piano lady did her thing again and everyone hurried to their seats. Joy had reluctantly followed along in the scoot-in procedure, but thankfully she still had a good spot for when Molly hit the stage.

  Just as the curtain began to draw, Ben walked down the aisle and took the seat next to the young woman from the bakery in the row in front of her. Her heart did a giddyup.

  The curtain opened and there was a row of tables lined up across the stage.

  And then the row of children in all red took the stage behind the tables. Each placed the hand bell they carried in front of them.

  Their teacher sat on the floor in front of them and raised her hands in the air. All eyes were on her. And then the tallest boy in the middle picked up his hand bell and started them off. It took a little while for Joy to finally ascertain that the tune they were playing was “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

  Before she recognized the song, it was still lovely to listen to, even with the occasional pause as one kid missed his cue and another waited or grunted at them to take action, which of course had sparked rousing giggles from the crowd. But Molly had hit every cue. And she looked adorable.

  As the audience applauded, the kids marched around the tables and stood in front of them. Just as Molly had indicated in her little practice session at Ruby’s, she was at the right end of the stage. She looked precious in her bright red dress.

  Joy hitched a breath as she watched Molly raise her hand to her neck, toying with the pearls. What a special moment. Joy took out her phone to record.

  She’d been so enthralled that she’d forgotten to take even one picture during the bell performance.

  The choreography kept the kids on tempo and cue as they belted out the words to “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

  At the end of the song, someone in a reindeer suit with a red flashing nose ran across the stage. It must have been a surprise to the kids onstage because they were all jumping like they’d really seen Santa’s favorite helper.

  It was right then that she had the best idea yet for Ruby’s house during the Crystal Christmas Cookie Crawl.

  Joy got up and started edging her way to the end of the row to see if she could catch Molly on her walk back down the hall to tell her how wonderful she was. She kept her eye on Ben. She didn’t think he’d seen her. It was going to be fun to surprise him. This morning, there were no shadows across her heart. She was excited to see him. To see where things might actually lead, even if just for a short while.

  When she got to the end of her aisle, she politely let the next three people by, then reached her hand out to touch Ben’s arm. “Hey, there.” Her smile was so wide that she probably looked as excited as the kids onstage had.

  “Joy?”

  “I made it back. I left early.” She sidled up next to him and let the slow crowd push them out toward the hall. “Wasn’t Molly amazing? That was so cute. I didn’t know you were coming today.”

  “Yeah, well, when she told me about it, I thought it would be nice.”

  “Thank you so much for seeing her off to school. Isn’t she sweet?” Joy caught the movement of the red-outfitted group coming down the hall. “There she is.” She rushed over to the side and waved to Molly. Several parents were hugging and talking to their kids. Joy moved in. “I’m so proud of you. You were perfect.”

  “Thank you! I’m so glad you came.”

  “I’m so glad I could be here. Ben’s here too.”

  Ben waved from across the way.

  Molly waved, and then the teacher was herding her little kittens into a line to get them back to their class. “No more school until after the holidays.”

  She’d miss her little morning time with Molly. She’d even begun to look forward to those PBJ crusts for breakfast.

  Joy walked back over to where Ben stood watching. “What an amazing day,” she said. “I think I’m going to stick around and record a couple of the other classes’ performances. Ruby might enjoy seeing these.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I’m so sad we missed coffee Sunday night.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. Of course, really.” She laughed, but there was something in his look that didn’t seem right. “Is something the matter?”

  He rubbed his hand over the scruff on his chin. “I don’t know if this is the place for this conversation.”

  The piano sounded from inside the hall. “I’m going to record the next one. You gonna stay?”

  “I need to get back to work.”

  “Oh, well, okay. I’ll see you at Ruby’s tonight, then?”

  “Yeah. We still have a few things to get done.” Ben hitched his thumb toward the door. “I’m going to get going.”

  Joy waved and went back inside the auditorium to grab an open seat as close to the front as she could. She not only recorded the next one, but also ended up staying until the last performance of the day. It had been so much fun that she’d completely lost track of time, and she couldn’t wait to share the videos.

  She stopped and picked up a large pizza from Max’s so she and Ben would have something to munch on while they worked tonight. It was hard to believe that the Crystal Christmas Cookie Crawl was just three days away.

  When she got back to Ruby’s, Ben’s truck was in the driveway. She pulled in behind him and carried the pizza over to where she’d planned to serve the hot chocolate on Saturday. “You’ve almost gotten everything done without me. I thought you might save it for us to work on together when I got back.”

  He climbed down the ladder. The huge wreath on the barn looked prettier than she’d hoped. You could see the details so nicely even from down here. “Didn’t know what kind of time you’d have.”

  “Is something wrong? You don’t seem like yourself.”

  “Maybe we don’t know each other as well as we thought.”

  What does that even mean? “I don’t understand.”

  “I met your fiancé.”

  She hesitated, blinking, baffled at the accusation. “My who?” What was he talking about? She searched her mind for what in the world he could possibly mean, and then Todd’s face popped into her mind. “I am not engaged. Have never been engaged.”

  “Well, that’s not what the pretty boy in the souped-up car seems to think. And y’all looked right cozy after the awards.”

  “There is nothing between us,” she said.

  “I saw the kiss. That wasn’t nothing.
”

  “It’s not what you think.”

  “No?”

  “He just showed up. I didn’t know he was coming. I didn’t kiss him. And I can promise you that we’re not engaged.”

  “Engaged or not, I know what I saw. It was pretty clear you two are involved.” He turned and walked away, carrying the ladder.

  But explaining the shallow relationship wasn’t going to earn her any points either. She felt ashamed and disappointed, and at a loss for how to fix it. She watched Ben as he went back into the barn and hung the ladder on the wall.

  He wouldn’t look at her as he walked back toward her. “By the way, Ruby called me today. They’re letting her out of rehab tomorrow.”

  “I wonder why she didn’t call me?” She pulled her phone out of her purse. “My phone is still in airplane mode. I totally forgot.” She had six missed calls, but none of them were from her aunt.

  “She knew you had gone back home,” he said. The word “home” catching as he said it. “I don’t think she knew when you were coming back.”

  “Well, I was coming back.” Did he really think she wasn’t ever coming back?

  “Todd said he was in town to whisk you away to the company gala, and I believe he called it a ‘ridiculously expensive romantic getaway from the catastrophe people call Christmas.’”

  “Sounds like something he’d say.”

  “Not my place to judge,” he said, but clearly he was judging. “I’ll pick up Ruby tomorrow.”

  Joy didn’t like where any of this was going. “I can pick up my aunt.”

  He looked at her, and she could see that he was hurt. “I like to be true to my word.”

  “Ben. I have been true to my word with you. I am not seeing Todd. We have had casual dates over the past couple of years; I’m not even sure I’d call them dates. He was a coworker. Two people with nothing more in common than work. We hadn’t even spoken in weeks. He just wanted to go to the gala, and since he left our company, he thought he could worm his way in on my coattails.”

  “I saw the way he was looking at you while you were up there on the stage.”