Hope at Christmas

by Nancy Naigle

  “I’m sorry, babe,” Jon said. “I’m sure this caught you off guard. Merry Christmas.” He dug into his coat pocket and took out a small box. “Here. I made some mistakes.”

  She didn’t take the box. Jon had always thought he could gift away problems. “Some mistakes?”

  “RayAnne made me realize that. When I was talking to her in the hospital, it just became really clear.”

  “Clear that you couldn’t have your cake and eat it too? Or that I wouldn’t know you were eating cake elsewhere if I came back to you?”

  “Sydney. I wouldn’t do that. Come on. We can be a family again. I’m sorry.”

  “Really? Seems you’re getting to be a pro at abandoning families.” She cocked her head, but what she’d like to have done was cold-cock him right on the jaw. “Don’t do this. I’m not interested. The divorce is final. And finally, I’m actually over you. Go back to Ashley and don’t make the same mistakes with your new child.”

  “Don’t throw that in my face.” Jon’s mouth twisted. “Wait. What? Are you sleeping with the tall, sporty guy?”

  “As if it was any of your business, but no. We are not sleeping together.”

  “He’s probably just being nice to you to keep us from suing him over the four-wheeler incident,” Jon said.

  “I can’t believe you just said that. Belittling me is not a way to get points. Do you think so little of me that no one could possibly be interested in me?”

  “I didn’t say that. Don’t twist my words. We were good once.”

  “You’re right. We were. You broke that trust. It can’t be fixed. No matter how much you spend or how much jewelry you throw at me.”

  “Open it,” he said. “You’ll like it.”

  She raised her hand. “Stop. We were great once, and you broke that. There’s no going back. I’m staying here in Hopewell. Forever. If you’d like to have RayAnne spend time with you once we get over these hurdles, fine. But I won’t take her out of school to do it. We have a custody agreement, and we are divorced.”

  “That is just paper. You know you still love me.”

  “No. What I know is that I am completely capable of taking care of myself. And I plan to. I am not in love with you. You made this situation. Deal with it. And do not make me part of your future plans. Because that will never happen.”

  He looked at his shoes. Then back at her. No toothy grin this time. “You’re just going to live in that old farm house? You could come back to what we had.”

  “I’m fine in that old farmhouse.”

  “Or live here like some Davey Crockett wife?”

  “That is none of your concern.”

  “It’s my concern if my daughter is living here.”

  “Well, we’ll just cross that bridge if we ever come to it. As of now, Mac is my friend, and he’s been here when I needed him. Do you want to say goodbye to RayAnne before you leave?”

  He paused. Then turned and walked to the car.

  She should’ve known he’d take the easy way. And yes, again, she’d be explaining his bad behavior to their daughter.

  Sydney stood there in the cold. Puffs of vapor rising in front of her as the cold stung her cheeks. She watched Jon drive away. Mac opened the door.

  “What just happened?”

  She walked up to him. “He’s predictable. He doesn’t get his way and he runs. I know RayAnne is going to be upset. I can’t believe he said all of that in front of her.”

  “He was trying to push your hand.”

  “His style.”

  “RayAnne is okay,” Mac said. “She said as much to Seth when y’all walked out.”

  “She did?”

  “Yes, she did.” He nodded. “So you really don’t have feelings for him anymore?”

  “No. I definitely do not. She slipped her hands underneath his coat. His warmth comforted her. “I think I’m falling in love with a competitive sporty guy with a flair for surprises.”

  “Moi?”

  “Definitely you.”

  “Does this mean the airplane race is back on?”

  “You better believe it.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Despite the freezing temperatures, Sydney and RayAnne were determined to outlast Mac and Seth in the Christmas morning balsawood airplane fly-off. During the first two flights, the four of them laughed so hard that they had as good a workout as if RayAnne had been in bicycle shape.

  The four of them stood side by side at the line Mac had scraped across the driveway with a tree limb.

  “One. Two. Three,” RayAnne counted off, and all four of them let their planes sail.

  Seth’s plane was a clear winner, landing almost in the street.

  Three more times ended with the same results.

  “The Christmas Day champion!” Seth ran to retrieve his plane, then ran in a circle with his airplane held over his head. “I can’t be beat.”

  “And just as humble as his dad, I see,” Sydney teased. “Come on, RayAnne. We’re the losers. It’s our duty to make the hot chocolate.”

  “With marshmallows,” Mac reminded her.

  “We’ve got this. No gloating necessary.” She and RayAnne went inside. Sydney’s cheeks stung when they walked inside the warm house. She found a box of instant hot chocolate, but just behind it was a can of cocoa powder. She pulled it out of the cabinet. “Look what I found!”

  RayAnne’s face lit up. “Oh goody! I bet they’ve never had really good hot cocoa. They’re going to die when they taste yours.”

  “Let’s keep them alive. They are kind of fun to hang around with.”

  “They are.” RayAnne crutched over to the refrigerator and got out the milk.

  Sydney grabbed the canister of sugar and vanilla, then put a pan on the stove and started mixing ingredients. “RayAnne, do you want to talk about what your dad had to say earlier?”

  “No. Not really.”

  “You know I would never stand in the way of you spending time with him.”

  “I know, Mom.”

  Her heart tightened at just the thought of it. “If you wanted to live with him in Atlanta, I’d leave that decision up to you.”

  “I want to be here with you. I think he was just saying that because I told him he messed everything up when I was in the hospital. He looked really sad when I said that.”

  “I’m sure he was sad. He loves you.”

  “I like our life here. It’s different. And cool. We’re happy here, right?”

  “We are. Except for the part where you crashed and ended up in the hospital.” Sydney gave RayAnne a squeeze and stirred the cocoa. “I love you.”

  “Hey, Mom,” RayAnne said, her voice softer. “Seth told me Miss Bea died.”

  Sydney stopped stirring. “I’m sorry. I was trying to find the right time to tell you. It happened while you were in the hospital.”

  “That’s really sad. She was nice. I’m going to really miss her.”

  “I know. Kind of breaks my heart.” Sydney swept a hand under her nose to stop that tickle that meant she was getting ready to cry.

  “Are you going to run The Book Bea for her?”

  “Oh, RayAnne, it doesn’t work like that. I’m sure she’s made arrangements for her estate. She’d been talking about selling.”

  “We should’ve bought The Book Bea. Then when I grew up I could work there.”

  Sydney had been wishing for that herself. “That would have been my dream job when I was your age, too. But for now it’s Christmas, and we’re here. And this is pretty good. Let’s focus on today.”

  RayAnne nodded. “I’m glad we’re spending Christmas here.”

  “Me too.” Sydney hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. They were all so relaxed around each other, like they’d been lifelong friends.

  The doorbell rang.

  “I think we might have to make a double batch of cocoa, Mom.”

  “You might be right. Go see who it is.”

  RayAnne clomped off on her crutches
to the front door.

  Sydney finished up the first batch and began pouring it into the mugs, floating six small marshmallows on the top of each one.

  “Hi, Sydney,” the mayor said from the kitchen door.

  “Hi there. Would you like some hot cocoa?”

  “Don’t mind if I do. It’s a bitter cold day out there.”

  “Sure is.” She handed him one of the mugs, then poured another mug for herself with what was left in the pan. Just enough to go around.

  “This is without a doubt the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had,” Mac said.

  “That’s because it’s not hot chocolate. It’s homemade hot cocoa,” RayAnne said. “My mom makes the best.

  Sydney was pleased with the resounding approval.

  “I had all the stuff in my kitchen to make this?” Mac took another sip.

  “Sure did.”

  “Dang, Dad. We’ve been missing out on this stuff for no reason?”

  “There is a reason. I don’t know how to make it.”

  “I’m not giving up my recipe,” Sydney teased.

  “No problem. We’ll just beat them at every game we know,” Mac said with an exaggerated wink to Seth.

  “Easy as pie.” Seth slurped the marshmallows from the top of his mug.

  “You wait until I’m out of this cast,” RayAnne said. “It’s game on, then.”

  The mayor seemed to be enjoying the banter from the depth of his laugh.

  “So what brings you by on Christmas Day, Mayor?” Sydney hadn’t thought the mayor and Mac were all that close, but it was certainly possible.

  “I wanted to talk to you about Bea.”

  “To me?” Sydney set her cocoa down. She hoped he wasn’t going to ask her to say a few words at her funeral. She’d never get through it without turning into a blubbering mess. She felt as close to Bea as she had to her own grandmother. Maybe some of that was due to the things that she’d been dealing with when she hit town. Bea had given her comfort and advice, and a part-time job to keep her busy while RayAnne was supposed to be gone for the holidays. It had given her purpose and helped her find her way.

  She braced herself for the inevitable.

  The mayor pulled an envelope from his coat pocket. “First things first. I’ve spoken to Cooper over at the funeral home. He’ll be handling the cremation and all of the specifics that Bea had requested. That will all happen on Sunday afternoon. At noon.”

  Sydney nodded, and put an arm around RayAnne.

  RayAnne snuggled closer. “You okay, Mom?”

  “I’m okay,” she said just above a whisper.

  “I have a couple of questions for you, Sydney,” the mayor said.

  “Okay.”

  “Are you planning to stay in Hopewell?”

  She felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. She looked at Mac first. He simply nodded. She wasn’t even sure if it was intentional or not, but she took that as a sign. Then she looked at RayAnne, who piped in, “Yes. We’re staying in Hopewell. Right, Mom?”

  Sydney nodded with a smile, and Mac broke out into a wide grin.

  “Excellent. That makes all of this so much easier.”

  “All of what?”

  “Bea’s estate.”

  “What’s that got to do with me?”

  The mayor handed the envelope over to Sydney. “I’ll go through all of this in detail when you’re ready, but here’s the short version. Bea had no family. She firmly believed that someone would be sent to her who would love The Book Bea as much as she did, and who would carry on her works. Sydney, she thinks … thought … that person was you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. I think she made a wise decision,” he said.

  “Mom?” RayAnne nudged her. “Does this mean…?”

  “Bea’s entire estate has been left to you. With the exception of her house, which will be turned into temporary housing for families in need and run by the town.”

  Mac stepped forward. “The Book Bea is Sydney’s now?”

  “Yes,” the mayor said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “What will it cost me?” Sydney asked.

  “Nothing. You’ll take it over as is. The building is paid for. The taxes are up to date. It’s even insured through December next year. You’ll simply step in and take it over.”

  Sydney felt as if she were in a dream. “This can’t be happening.”

  “She’d like you to reopen within ten days of her funeral. That was the only stipulation.”

  “I was supposed to start a job after the first of the year at Peabody’s,” Sydney said. “We’d talked about me buying the bookshop, but I was going to ease into it, working both for a while to get my money right.”

  Mac said, “Peabody’s will have a couple weeks to figure out what they’re going to do about the position you won’t be filling, then.”

  Sydney walked over and sat at the table. It was a lot to absorb. “This is really happening? Mayor, I will make her proud. This town proud. I promise.”

  “Mom, it’s like a dream come true. I can take it over when you’re old like Bea.”

  The mayor shook her hand. “We hope you’ll also step into her position in the city business sessions. Bea always brought a cool head and innovative ideas to the table.”

  “Yes sir.” A swell of pride filled her. To think Bea trusted her to carry on her legacy was overwhelming. “This is the best Christmas ever. The only thing we’re missing today is snow.”

  “That’s always a possibility in Hopewell,” the mayor said as he stood. “If you could come by and see me tomorrow around eleven I can walk through all of the details of the funeral and of your inheritance.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  Sydney shook the mayor’s hand, and then Mac took her hand and they walked the mayor to the door.

  They stood on the porch arm in arm, and just as Sydney raised her hand to wave, the first snowflakes fell over Hopewell.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  At noon on the Sunday after Christmas nearly everyone in the whole town of Hopewell gathered to pay their respects to Bea Marion, long-time owner of The Book Bea. There wasn’t anyone in the town of Hopewell who hadn’t been touched by her kindness in some way.

  The gardens in front of the bookstore were filled with people. And neighbors and friends lined the walkway and sidewalks for as far as Sydney could see.

  Two days ago there’d been snow. She and RayAnne spent their first white Christmas together with Mac and Seth, but today the sky was bright, the air fresh, and the temperatures unseasonably warm.

  The church organist had set up his organ on the front porch of The Book Bea and played a continual cascade of hymns.

  The preacher stood next to the mayor in front of The Book Bea sign. It was there that Bea’s ashes would be forever entombed. And Bea had even made provisions for the landscaper who took care of the grounds in front of the store to continue to maintain the area surrounding the sign, her final resting place, for the next five years.

  PARTINGS COME AND HEARTS ARE BROKEN,

  LOVED ONES GO WITH WORDS UNSPOKEN.

  NEVER SELFISH, ALWAYS LOVING AND KIND,

  THESE ARE MEMORIES YOU LEAVE BEHIND.

  OURS IS JUST A SIMPLE PRAYER,

  GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU IN HIS CARE.

  “Amen,” said the preacher. The word seemed to wrap around the block as others chimed in.

  The organist played and the mayor did the honor of setting the urn in place beneath the sign, just as Bea had requested. Nothing fancy.

  The mayor placed a kiss on his fingertips, and then to the urn.

  The preacher’s voice rose, reaching the deep crowd of friends and neighbors. “Our love for Bea Marion should flow from friend to neighbor today and forever. You are invited to partake in the refreshments and at Bea’s request you are invited to share your stories and fond memories with one another.”

  The crowd peeled back.

  Sydney walked up the steps to h
er store. The Book Bea. Diane, RayAnne, and Mac all followed her inside.

  Many of the townsfolk wanted to remember Bea with a purchase from the store, even though the news had spread quickly that Sydney was the new owner and the store would remain open.

  Sydney helped customers while Diane rang up the steady line of friends and neighbors.

  Mac and Seth came up to her as she helped someone choose a book on photography.

  She lifted a finger, hoping they’d give her just a minute and not leave.

  “I think your niece will really enjoy this book. It’s got lots of practical advice, but look, it’s filled with photographs, too. Kind of a picture book and text book all in one.”

  The woman beamed. “It’s perfect. You know, Bea was right. You have her same spirit.”

  Sydney’s breath caught. “That might be the nicest compliment someone could ever give me. Thank you.”

  “I’m Helen. I run the annual Christmas in July parade. Maybe you can help out.”

  “Happy to.” Sydney was eager to be a part of as much as she could work in.

  “Great. I work for the dentist here in town. Let’s chat when you come in for your checkup.”

  Which reminded her that she and RayAnne both needed to get into the dentist. Especially after all the sweet treats this holiday. “We’ll see you after the first of the year, then,” Sydney said.

  She spun around toward Mac and Seth. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. This place is buzzing,” Mac said.

  Seth nudged Mac. “Buzz. Like bees. Good one, Dad.”

  “We’ve been working on something out front with the mayor. Can you come with us?”

  What was he up to now? “Am I going to like this?”

  Seth grinned. “You’re going to love it.”

  “I’ll hold down the fort,” Diane said.

  “Then what are we waiting for?”

  Seth and Mac each took one of her hands and led her outside to the lawn. As they walked up to the sign in front of The Book Bea, RayAnne stood there waving and holding a camera.

  “What’s going on here?” Sydney asked. “Y’all are up to something.”

  “It’s not us,” RayAnne said. “It was in Bea’s specific instructions. We’re just following through with it. The mayor told Mac what to do.”