When Star got to the store, it was closed, locked. She unlocked it and was surprised by the number of shipping boxes in the front of the store. Her manager left a note, “These arrived with the instruction that I wouldn’t need to open today. Hope all is well. Beautiful new pieces. I peeked at some.”
She lifted the lid of an opened box and lifted a heavy object from inside. When she saw it, she stared in wonder, turning it over in her hands, studying all sides. The very piece she’d been searching for in Germany last week, struggled to find a seller, gave up, and here they were.
Other boxes held more of the same and other beautiful pieces by the same artist. She shuffled through the mail and took out a letter, with tape on the end, as though stuck to a box. Ezra. “I hope you love these. They seemed like what you’ve been looking for. I’m excited about the future of your store, great things ahead. For perhaps more than just our commercial relationship?” He included two tickets to the Rockettes in New York City the week after Christmas. Front row.
Confusion swirled in her brain. A U-Haul pulled up in front of her store and two men knocked on her door. “We’re here to assist you in whatever ways you desire as you pack up the store. A storage facility has been rented and we will deliver and unload there as well.”
Ezra.
“Ok. Let’s get to work. For starters, lets clear out the boxes that are already filled and taped shut. And work on getting some new empty ones.”
“Oh, he took care of that, too. We’ll bring in the empty boxes and tape in just a minute.”
What a relief. She let out her air and a tight ball pinching her chest. Nothing was fixed, but at least she would be able to clear out her store in time.
She worked without stopping for two hours, the two men at her side. Then other shop owners arrived, and some of the children. Before long they had the place all cleaned out, and Star ran a broom over the floors for the last time.
Tears wet the broom handle. She relived every moment on those floors as a young teenager with her mother, relived the moment they read through the finances, and she came out ahead. She relived the moment she got her first shipment from Germany, their first customer in July, their first Facebook post. All of it came pouring back as she mourned the loss of her store, and even her mother all over again.
She glanced up to where her picture always hung, a darker space on the wall in its place. “It’s time to close up, Mom.”
Chapter 12
Ezra landed in Kentucky, his emotions a confused whirl. His mother. All these years he’d thought she’d abandoned him and his father, he knew his dad hated her, but Ezra thought he reacted out of pain and hurt to being left by his wife. But here she was fighting against his dad to try to be in Ezra’s life, and to take down his father’s financial empire. Impressive. Her actions belied everything his father had ever said about her.
He had to consider that she left more than twenty years ago. She could have changed a lot in those years and could truly have been everything his father said about her initially. But as he thought back and considered what his father spouted about her over the years, he mostly gloated at her weak mind, her scared nature, her simpleness and fear in crossing him. His father had taught Ezra to look down on her and fear Christmas because of it. But as he thought more about it, his father’s criticisms said much more about his father than they did about his mother.
He stepped inside his limo in the airport hanger, giving the driver the last known address of his mother. They had tracked her to a simple home on the outskirts of Bowling Green, Kentucky. He hardly registered the lush grass and the beauty around him as his distracted mind raced from one topic to the next, fear of this woman’s disdain haunting his entire childhood. His hands shook, and he fought every demon that had plagued him his whole childhood.
At last they pulled in front of her home. He stepped to the front door and before he could knock, it opened to a woman he recognized. Instead of scornful, she was tremulous, instead of rejecting, she was hopeful. He saw a desperate love in her eyes he recognized. Before he knew to do anything else, he stepped into her arms and held his mother as he’d wished to all those years ago as a child.
“I’m sorry mother.” His body shuddered before he could calm his breathing.
“Oh honey. Please no, none of this is your fault. I can only guess what your father’s told you all these years, but no, no.” She stepped back and wiped her eyes, now full of joy. “Let’s step inside.” She looked up and down the street. “And maybe you could ask your driver to wait somewhere else?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I’m afraid the press’s gonna find me, and then I’ll never have any peace.”
“Sorry I didn’t think of that earlier.” He texted the driver and soon the limo was moving away from her home.
They sat on the sofa. It was a pleasant room, and it smelled of her. He thought he’d forgotten, but now, sitting beside her, a rush of memories returned and her smell seemed like home to him.
They caught up a little bit, mostly in unspoken ways. She never took her eyes off of him. She studied every feature. He didn’t feel that awkward feeling most get when they’re being stared at, just enjoyed the warmth of his mother. She asked him question after question, until he laughed and said, “I promise we’ll talk again.”
She turned pink in her cheeks. “I hope so. You don’t know your father.” She choked up and her face pinched. “You don’t know how I’ve tried.”
He pulled her close. “Mom. Don’t. I’m sorry. If I’d known, if only I’d known.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Look, here. Add your number.”
She shook her head. “I don’t dare. That’s a company phone, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“Nope. He has his own trackers and security on those. He used to do it to me.”
“He did?”
She nodded. “I don’t want to defame your father in his son’s eyes, but know this, unless you are completely controlled by him, he is an unhappy man.” She handed him a phone. “Here’s a prepaid phone. If you just use it to call me, you should have plenty of minutes for now.”
He chuckled. “I feel like I might have when I was eight and you gave me a phone for only calling you.” But he pocketed it. “I assume it has your number.”
She squeezed his hand. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. With your father.”
He nodded. “I’m proud of you, you know. It takes real strength.”
Her eyes shone. “Thank you. It took many years and therapy to work up the courage, but I’m determined. I don’t care so much about the wealth, but that’s the only way I know to break him. If he’s scared enough, he’ll compromise.”
“He said they’re talking settlement.”
She held up a hand. “See there, you shouldn’t tell me. I don’t want you in the middle of this.”
“I’m working on my own declaration for freedom.”
She grinned. “Good for you.”
They talked for several more hours. She made him grilled cheese like she used to. And they became reacquainted as mother and son. Finally, when he knew he would need to get back to the airport, he asked what he’d been afraid to know all these years. “Mom, when you left, you said—”
“Don’t say it. Don’t. I’ve tortured myself all these years. I saw your face. I knew what you thought, and I didn’t take a moment, one tiny moment, to reassure you. I did not mean what that sounded like. I was not giving up my son. No.” She shook her head, her face pinching in evidence of her years of pain. “Your father said if I fought him in court, he would drag you through it right along with me. If I gave him anything less than full custody, he’d bring you in for questioning, depositions, trials, one after another after another, appeals, arguments, mediation, more trials; he threatened to never give up, ever. And when I saw he was serious, I couldn’t do that to you. I gave you up to spare you.” A tear rolled down her face. “I thought I would still be able to call, to write letters
to be in touch. Little did I know the power of your father.”
“How can I ever look at him in the same way again?”
“You shouldn’t. Especially if you are planning some sort of freedom, like you said. Know that even his love changes when crossed. At least it did for me.”
Ezra stood. His emotions were on overload. Hugging his mother to him, he cherished the feel of her soft yet strong body in his arms. He felt grateful he had time with her still. “I’ve got my phone.”
“I don’t have to tell you to hide it.”
“I’ll just keep it with me. If you need anything, if you’re in danger, call.”
“Don’t you worry about me.”
He texted a few messages. “In fact, I’ll be sending some men around to keep an eye. They’ll let you know I sent them.”
“Bless you, son. I’ll sure sleep better at night.”
He walked down the walk, feeling her eyes watching his retreating form. Then he hopped in the limo to return to the airport, a changed person.
What to do with all this new perspective? He didn’t know, but he did know one thing—he owed Star a conversation. By now, she’d heard about her store and the ribbon cutting. He’d be unkind to leave her in the dark. Revenge was a thing his father’d taught, one of the many things he wished to leave behind.
She didn’t answer her phone, and he didn’t leave a message. Instead he texted. “Call when you get a minute.”
Even if she was only getting to know him to save her store, he was grateful for their time and happy to have known her. He was a better man because of it. Plus, he had done more for each of the shop owners, for the children’s home, for her, because he’d known her, and that was a good thing.
He blinked. There was more he could do. Ideas rushed through him, and a whole new plan settled inside. He checked his watch. He’d better hurry and use the remaining eighteen hours before the parade and then the Christmas day ribbon cutting.
Chapter 13
The crowds were huge this year, packing the streets on both sides for the entire route, but most gathered around her store and the huge tree out front. The papers had blasted the plan to raze her store over and over. They talked of innovation, of modernizing Christmas. They theorized about all the symbolic reasons it might be good to usher in the new for the old, but really, they all knew the most obvious contributing factor to all the change, what they most hoped to benefit, and that was money. Her city council had sold out for more money.
She couldn’t blame them, but she did. But she didn’t hate them for it. They did what they thought best. Oh, but she ached.
All the floats lined up in the order they should be. The trees outside every shop had been decorated. The store owners outdid themselves. Star tried not to remember it was their last year to participate. The huge sycamore had been decorated, too, and the lights for the wrapped gifts checked and re-checked. Everything was in order, except her co-chair Ezra was not present.
She worried he wouldn’t come. He was the emcee for the evening, but that wasn’t her real concern. She wanted to see him. Ever since she’d heard the mayor mention the “charm him” comment, she’d felt sick at what he must think of her. She wanted to ask him about his mother, wanted to understand. She hoped, so badly, that he wasn’t as bad as he sounded. Mostly she just wanted to look into his face again to determine if she still saw the same goodness there, the same sparkle in his eye.
But the time to begin the festival came and went. Herald took on the job as emcee and everything was a smashing success. She took up her usual spot in lawn chairs outside her store with her father. Every float featured a tree from their farm. She had helped decorate many of them, and she and her father spent most of the evening admiring their work. “That was a particularly fine tree, grew up in the west pasture.” Or “See that star of David? I found that one in Jerusalem.”
More than once, her heart ached she would never have this experience again.
Then her dad leaned over and said, “Got a letter from Ezra today.”
Her heart clenched. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. He promised to place all the orders for live trees for the resort through us every year from now until we sell or go out of business.”
She smiled. She wasn’t surprised, but she was grateful. “He really is so wonderful, most of the time.”
“I like him, that mans’ got integrity.”
“But he’s so grumpy about Christmas.”
“I’m sure he’s got his reasons. Nothing you can’t fix.”
She nodded in agreement. “But Dad, he’s going to send a wrecking ball through mom’s store tomorrow.”
They both turned to look at it.
“I miss her.” His dad didn’t talk about his wife much, but Star knew she was always near in his thoughts.
“I miss her, too.”
They sat in companionable silence for the rest of the parade. When it came time to pack up, instead of storing the chairs in the store where they usually did, she loaded them into her truck and drove with her father out to the farm to stay in her old bedroom.
She saw she missed a call from Ezra. Right before bed, she texted him. Missed you today. I’m sorry about agreeing to charm you. That’s not why I stuck with you.
Her phone buzzed in reply. I’m coming.
That’s it. No acknowledgment, no explanation about where he’d been. But the words sent thrills through her, comforting and exhilarating all at the same time.
Christmas Eve was almost over. The strangest of her life. She set her alarm, not to catch Santa or be the first to open presents, but to be present when the ball knocked down their family’s store. She pulled the covers up to her chin and wondered again at her rebellious heart in looking forward to seeing Ezra. Any heart that listened to her mind would stay far away from that Ezra Stone.
Chapter 14
The snow fell in huge flakes, softly, silently all around her. It collected on the top of her knitted snow cap. It lined the arms of her warmest coat. It covered the ornaments on her sycamore tree and filled the roof with a blanket of white on her Christmas store.
Main Street was deserted. The sun was only just creeping up the horizon behind the clouds. In just a matter of hours, Main Street would be full of shouting, clamoring people, cameras, microphones and questions. So many questions she wouldn’t know how to answer. She didn’t even know where her store would go. Would she rebuild? As the only Main Street store left, would it even be worth it to move locations? Too many questions she would have to answer later. Today she just had to get over the moment when the walls of her store crashed in on themselves.
But for now, she felt strangely at peace. She stared up at the giant sycamore that had guarded her storefront all these years. Flakes collected on her lashes, but she blinked them away. “Thank you, old friend. Looks like you and me are moving on after this season.”
“I wouldn’t give up that easily if I were you.” A woman’s voice.
Star whirled around. A woman in a scarf and red coat stepped forward, out of the shadows. She had warm eyes, but they sparkled with challenge.
“What do you mean?”
“I’d stay and fight.”
“I’ve done all I can. Even the other shop owners have accepted payouts. What…” She didn’t want to talk about fighting. She’d exhausted every thought.
“You could sit on the roof and not move.”
She laughed. “Like those suffragettes from times past.”
“Sure, why not? I think this store is worth saving.” The woman’s eyes held love. Star didn’t understand that, couldn’t figure out who she was, but what she said made sense. “And then what?”
“You wait until someone backs down. Just make sure it’s not you.”
Star nodded, looking up and down the street with the ridiculous worry someone might have heard. She snorted. Was she brave enough to cause such a ruckus? She didn’t make waves like that. She always felt pressure to make things easier, to make pe
ace, and so she was never one to rock the boat.
But, her grin widened. If there was ever a time to make some waves, now was it. She stood taller. “I think I’m going to put up a little resistance.”
“That’s my girl. I knew my son chose well.”
“Your son?” She searched the woman’s face. “You’re…”
“Eirene.” She held out her hand. “And you’re Star.”
“Yes.” She shook her hand and wished to give her a hug. “I’ve been reading your story, crying about it. I lost my mother at Christmas. This was her store.”
“This is my favorite store of all time. I ordered ornaments every year from your mother. I think I’m partly to blame for its early demise.”
“Oh no, no one of this is your fault. I’m so sorry about everything. You know, Ezra was talking about that Christmas, he doesn’t know…”
“It’s all right. We’ve talked.” Her eyes were filled with peace, and Star couldn’t have felt better.
“So you were able to see him again? To reconcile?”
Eirene nodded. “We were.”
Star breathed out a slow breath of relief. “That makes me very happy.”
“So, shall we get you up there on the roof?”
“Would you like to join me?”
She paused, then raised one eyebrow with a wicked gleam. “I do believe I will.” They giggled together. “Oh, we are going to create quite the stir, you and I.”
“I can’t wait to see their faces.” Star paused. “Except I really don’t want to ruin Ezra’s plans. I’ve had the most confusing time.” She loved talking with another woman, a motherly figure. They moved around back to where Star knew the ladder was stored in between her store and the one on the left. Then one after the other, the two women climbed out onto the roof. “Be careful. It’s slippery.”
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