Derry stared, while his mother stood in the doorway to the laundry room. Gina and Willie squealed and jumped up and down. He’d known about the washer but he thought that Miss Phillips was just having it fixed. But this glory of gifts and food and the tree! It was an amazement of riches. The children sat down in front of the tree with Derry, just taking in the sight of what Santa had brought. Gina peered in among the gifts, “Willie, there are four presents here for you. Four. You can count them. One, two, three, four.”
Willie clapped his hand over his mouth and then echoed his mother in a tiny voice, “Dear God in Heaven!” He laughed with Gina at the sound of it.
Derry sat motionless, looking at the ornaments, the lights and the newly decorated tree. It was like a television Christmas. It was like going to the mall in Columbia or the tree in the school office that Miss Turner had decorated for the children. And it was in his own living room. He reached out to look at a gift tag featuring an old-fashioned laughing Santa Claus. “To Derry, From Santa. Merry Christmas!!”
Derry Rodwell now believed, with a small glimmer of hope, that there might really be a Santa Claus, somewhere in a trailer park in Franklin Hill.
When Grace came back down the small hill from the cottages and looked into her kitchen window, she saw the little house with fresh eyes. That lovely view out the upstairs library window would be hers now. The kitchen that filled with warmth in the winter and would stay so cool in the summer would be hers. She could rip out rickety cabinets, she could pull the rose-
colored carpeting out of the downstairs bathroom if she wanted too. She would hang new curtains, maybe, in the kitchen window that looked up the hill to Norm and Ed’s cottages. Or she could leave it wide open and uncovered so she could easily see the bird feeder.
Comfort and Joy met her at the door, Comfort giving a quiet meow to accompany Joy’s noiseless cry. Grace managed to snatch up the two squirming bundles up at the same time and pressed them to her cold cheeks.
“Well, Spirits, we have a house. If we want it.” A shadow of doubt crossed her like the winter clouds. “I guess we have to decide.” The bundles were purring, but still squirming. She set them down on the cold linoleum floor and listened. There was a fire in the hearth. Norm had trekked down the hill while she shared the triumph of their narrow escape from the trailer park with Cindy and Connie. They had all speculated for a few minutes on the whereabouts of Babe and Mercer in Mexico and the excitement of the Rodwell children with their gifts and then Grace had hugged the twins, wished them “Merry Christmas” and accepted a plate of rum balls and Christmas cookies to take to Granny Stillwell’s.
She thought of calling Bernadine to tell her about the house and then remembered Bernadine’s busy Christmas Eve schedule. Because of the wedding she hadn’t been able to go out distributing toys in the bright red truck until later in the day. She looked at her watch, nearly 7:30, although it felt later. She should go in and indulge in a hot bath and early bedtime.
Comfort and Joy were demanding her attention. She gave each of them an ear scratch, then Comfort retired to the basket by the fire while Joy explored an ornament which remained enticingly on a lower branch of the tree.
She heard the red pickup in her driveway before she made it up the steps to start her bath.
Bernadine was wearing a white down parka that made the small woman resemble the Michelin man.
“Ho, Ho, Ho!” She called out when Grace opened the front door.
“I thought you were distributing gifts to orphans and small waifs tonight, Bernadine! Come in and take the chill off.”
“Merry Christmas, Grace! Little Gus wanted to make sure you had a gift under your tree from him this year. And I believe there’s a little something here from the Rodwells.”
“The Rodwells? Amazing.” Grace helped Bernadine with her coat, made more difficult because she was juggling a bag that seemed to be spilling over with gifts.
“I saw Norman’s truck out at the trailer park. You were busy, from the looks of it. My word! Look at that beautiful tree!” Bernadine sat for a while, exhausted from her expedition out to the Knot and back, distributing gifts. She told Grace of the travails of dispensing her bounty to the backwater community where the residents were wary of any outsiders from Franklin Hill.
“The saving grace was the children, really. They all knew me from school. Once the children had spotted my truck, I was welcome. There’s many folks that are doing without down in those hollers. And on the hill in town sits Gus’s father, dying. Enough money on one sorry hill to cure the ails of other folks down in an even sorrier place. As careful as he’s been with it, that money sure hasn’t been able to cure what ails Elwyn Turner.”
Grace was silent. She had been witness to the changes in Elwyn Turner’s will, but had given her word she would not repeat them.
“How is he doing, Bernadine?”
“About the same. There are days when he’s sharp as a tack and then there are moments when he thinks Meredith is there with him. I don’t think,” she sighed, struggling to explain, “I don’t think the children, even Gus—God rest his soul—understood how much their father loved Meredith. He did. He loved her completely. Now I’m convinced of it. Losing her caused him to close his heart to the world. And I believe that now he regrets losing his children.” She looked at Grace and smiled sadly. “Really, what he lost, I gained. I have no family left. But the Turners took me in. They embraced me. I’m one of them now. I have been from the day Gus brought me to the first family picnic. That was forty years ago. Nathan Senior was just a young man then. He taught me how to bait a hook and he and his brother took me fishing.”
“There’s still time, Bernadine. Maybe there’s hope for Elwyn.”
“Well, for Nathan’s sake, I hope so. It was certainly Gus’s biggest struggle. He just wanted his father to love him. And what he didn’t know is, I believe his father always has.”
They sipped a glass of wine together, watching the fire. Grace shared a plate of fruit and cheese with Bernadine, then they lingered over a cup of coffee before Bernadine journeyed home.
Grace waved to Bernadine from the small front porch and watched her back out of the drive. As she stood there, waving, an all-too-familiar paneled Jeep stopped, idling in the street, and then pulled in while Bernadine tooted her horn as she drove away.
Grace said a silent prayer of thanks that Greg’s necklace was safely tucked back in the velvet beggar’s pouch it had come in. She reached up self-consciously, and quickly reseated a tortoise-shell comb which valiantly attempted to anchor the jumbled mass of hair high on her head, still ready for the bathtub.
“Merry Christmas, Grace!” Gabriel presented her with a large white envelope.
“Gabriel, I’m surprised you aren’t with family on Christmas Eve. Would you like a glass of wine or some coffee?” She held the door open for him. Better to be gracious, although she was unprepared for visitors. But it seemed to be the night for it.
“No, thank you, I can’t. Please go in. I’m on my way up the hill to see Connie and Cindy with the Christmas gifts. I’ll be out at the nursing home tomorrow with my Dad.”
“Oh, Gabriel, I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.” She was. A nursing home could be a sad place to be on Christmas Day.
“Well, he still knows I’m here. At least this Christmas.” To her questioning look he added, “Alzheimer’s.”
“I’m so sorry, Gabriel. I really am.”
“Norm and Ed go to see him regularly and that seems to perk him up. He’s had a great life, Grace. There are no regrets there.”
“That’s good, then. Gabriel . . . ” She was beginning to shiver. “Please, are you sure you won’t come in?”
“No, no, but you should. I always spend some time with Uncle Norm and Uncle Ed on Christmas Eve.” There was an awkward pause. Grace looked down at the envelope just as Gabriel leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
“Merry Christmas, Grace. Enjoy your family tomorrow.”
He
could feel her smile.
Chapter Thirty
Two days later, Grace was still in possession of the envelope containing the key. It was, as yet unused. Almost a symbol of her hesitation about the little house she had begun to love. Grace stood in the kitchen, watching water pool around her feet. She realized, panic beginning to build, that she had no idea where the main shutoff was for the house. Then she heard Norm’s boots on the back porch. Angels of mercy again, no questions asked. She could only be gracious and grateful for the help.
Norm returned from the dark basement, crescent wrench in one hand and flashlight in the other, the water having finally stopped its spill from the broken pipe. “You’ll need to be fixing that floor now. Can’t be helped.”
Grace winced. Old houses were expensive to maintain. She knew that from Ellie and Timothy’s constant battles with leaking pipes and termite assaults. Grace also had the vague recollection of a house jack being installed under Granny Stillwell’s old shotgun cottage at some point. So this was home ownership. Well that first month’s rent she would save would be spent plus some, she supposed. Of course she didn’t have to take this house. Babe had said “if” in her note. This was turning into a major “if.”
“Need to do some plastering or put up some wall board back here.” Norm was talking to her from under the sink, his voice hollow in the cavernous space. “Might have to replace that pipe from the faucet on down. “
On cue, Ed came in the back door, reached down to scoop up Joy, who was investigating the water, dipping in each paw and then shaking it gingerly. “Here now, little fur ball, you’ll get yourself in a mess. Let’s see about sweatin’ that pipe, Norman.”
Grace mopped the water up, wringing until her hands ached and then watched the linoleum buckle as it dried. As Norm had said, a new floor would be needed, along with a serious trip to the hardware store. And she would have to venture into the dark basement so that her guardians could show her the shut-offs for the house water, gas and electric. Something every homeowner should know. She wondered if the house were even on circuit breakers or if fuses still sat in a cabinet in the darkest corner of the basement. She cringed. She would invest in a good flashlight and some hundred-watt bulbs for events like these. But she wouldn’t go down there without Norm and Ed now, not into the blackness of that old basement.
She was still making her shopping list when she heard an oath come from Ed as he backed out from under the sink. A warped baseboard came free in his hand. “Hmph,” he grunted.
“I know, I know.” Grace said. “It needs some work.” Ed squinted at her, the look on his weathered face showing that he knew what she was thinking.
Joy padded back across the now dry floor and climbed into the crook of Ed’s arm. He scratched her ear affectionately and advised, “Tell your Mistress there that anything worth havin’ usually needs some care now and then.” Joy’s head butted against Ed’s calloused fingers. “Had a flood up the hill there last year. Connie and Cindy mopped water for an hour. Took forever to get it dried out. But the new floor don’t squeak like the old one. Always got to look to the positive, it makes the bumps a lot easier to bear.”
He gently scooted the white kitten away and then examined the warped baseboard. “Got a piece of wood up at the shed. It’ll work.”
The trip to the hardware store in the green pickup truck with Norm was less painful than she had anticipated. The smell of fresh wood and clean linoleum invaded her senses and soon she was excited about the prospect of putting down the new floor. Norm guided her through the necessities, seeming to know everything that was required. He was unusually verbose on the trip back.
“We laid that linoleum for the Old Man forty years ago, I reckon.” They sat at the stoplight in town, Boyd Reed’s newest deputy watched Norm from near the courthouse, his tall hat tilted low over his clipboard.
“The Old Man didn’t want to spend more than fifty dollars on that floor. That sheet linoleum, I was thinking at the time, was thin as a dollar bill. Surprised it lasted this long. Had to fix those pipes one winter about twenty years ago, too.”
So things weren’t breaking in the house on a regular schedule. But Norm and Ed would know if something was wrong or if something was going to go wrong. Norm continued,
“We’ll be replacing that furnace next week. Your brother-in-law saw to that, and the roof. A few other things need fixing. Nothing else major.”
Grace felt the tension go out of her shoulders. At least Mercer and Babe weren’t leaving her with something she couldn’t care for. Another Hallelujah.
“Norm, you have no idea how much I appreciate—“
He had raised a gnarled hand to point over the windshield. “Look at that line outside the bakery. Never seen anything like that.”
Appreciation would have to wait. She would think of something.
The smell of apple fritters filled the cab of the truck as they drove back across town and up the hill to the little house.
The card from Gabriel, a beautiful glittering Christmas tree in the snow, had contained an invitation to dinner in Columbia on New Year’s Eve. She had thought to spend New Year’s Eve with Granny Stillwell, quietly sipping Irish coffee and contemplating the trip to Hawaii, the new house, and the Disney World vacation that Katy’s family would enjoy courtesy of Mercer and Babe. But she hadn’t had a night out on New Year’s Eve in forever, it seemed. She remembered one tense holiday with a former lover when they had glared at each other in silence over champagne while the toast was raised around them.
When Gabriel’s followup phone call came, she wasn’t prepared to say yes, but she wasn’t sure why. And she knew he could hear it in her voice.
“Did someone else get an invitation to you before mine?” it was a mildly placed question.
“No, no that’s not it. I had thought to—well, this sounds silly. But I had thought to spend the evening with Granny Stillwell.”
He was relieved. “Well, I understand, you’ve only been home a few months. But, maybe we can make that work. How about we go to an early dinner and then come back and toast the New Year with your Granny?”
Now Grace was relieved. “Really? You would do that, Gabe? I mean, I know it might not be what you had in mind, but—“
“I’ve never been one to enjoy driving the roads on New Year’s, Grace. There’s always someone with a sick dog, cat or horse somewhere and it’s good to be close to home when that happens. Besides, we can drink an Irish coffee tucked in on Lee Street, out of the way of the drunken peasants.”
She smiled into the phone. This man was very accommodating. And he had those amazing eyes.
“Wear your party dress for dinner, we’ll do something special. I’ll pick you up at 6:00.”
“That’s fantastic, Gabe. I’ll be ready!”
A date. A real date. The last thing she had expected to find in Franklin Hill.
The restaurant Gabe selected for dinner was unknown to her, so she marshaled Ellie to help with her dress selection. Ellie produced a blue sweater dress from her own closet, shorter than Grace would have liked and with a plunging V neck and a clinging drape. Grace viewed herself in the full length mirror doubtfully. “Ellie?”
The next item out of Ellie’s closet was a stretchy black velvet number. With cap sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, it was reminiscent of Grace Kelly. Ellie pulled a belted cobalt blue cashmere coat from the closet, slipping it from the dry cleaning bag and displaying it across the bed.
“Where did you get this, Ellie? It’s amazing!” Grace shimmied into the dress and looked carefully over her shoulder checking the stretched fabric across her hips.
“It is not too tight, Gracie. It looks wonderful. Do you need shoes?”
“No, I have something. Wow.” Her voice trailed off. Ellie reached over and pulled her hair up and off her neckline.
“Wear it up.” She grinned. “Our vet won’t be able to keep his hands to himself.” Grace wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
“I ju
st want to have a nice meal and enjoy New Year’s Eve, Ellie. Let’s not plan any wrestling matches.” Ellie dropped her hair back down.
“You need a trip to the hairdresser, Gracie. Young Timothy is dating a girl from Columbia. She does amazing things with scissors.”
Grace admired Ellie’s hair, still long but stylishly layered.
“You think she can do something with this mop?”
“You know I always wanted your curls, Grace. Just let her trim it. I’ll go call.” Ellie was fully underway now, planning and plotting and loaded for bear. Grace dutifully removed the dress and listened to Ellie scheduling her life in the next room.
By midnight, Granny Stillwell had nodded off in her chair. They sat near the soapstone stove in the living room, a small glow came from the fire behind a sooted window, blinking warmth. She and Gabe raised their cordial glasses and whispered “Happy New Year” to each other. Their kiss was brief, but rewarding. At least Grace found it so. Granny Stillwell stirred slightly. Perfect timing, thought Grace as she turned to kiss Granny on the cheek and wish her a happy new year as well.
Gabe reached for his pocket as his cell phone chirped. He looked at the screen and sighed. “There’s a mare down. Out in the Knot. I’m sorry, Grace.” His lips turned downward. This was the first frown Grace had seen since he’d bumped his head on the cabinet when they met.
“It was a wonderful evening, Gabe. Thank you for sharing New Year’s with us.”
“I haven’t spent New Year’s Eve with a charming, good-looking man in fifteen years. Not since Grandpa Stillwell died.” Granny dabbed her eyes with an amazingly crisp handkerchief, then patted Gabriel when he swept her into a hug.
“You must have been sleeping, Miz Stillwell, because no one thinks I’m charming!” he laughed over his shoulder as he left them, his breath white in the night air.
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