He started ringing jingle bells.
“So, you’ve been waiting out here since December first?” I asked.
“Sorry I couldn’t have you over to my house the day after Thanksgiving.” He stood and turned to look at me. “I was a little busy.”
I ran over to him and threw my arms around him, giving him a huge hug, and then stepped back, embarrassed. “I’m sorry I broke the calendar. It wasn’t on purpose … at first. And then I guess I kind of threw a temper tantrum. Thank you for fixing it. And for making it. It’s utterly amazing!”
We sat down on the blanket, and he poured hot cocoa for us and took out a selection of Christmas cookies. I took off my gloves, gently pulled his gift out of my backpack and handed it over.
“Was I that obvious?” he asked.
“I didn’t know until the calendar was fixed after the hospital,” I said.
He grinned. “Good.”
He opened his present. He took his gloves off and ran his finger over each scene. Finally he said, “Thank you, Sadie.”
His long lashes were shadowy in the candlelight. He held my gaze, his eyes warm and all lit up from the inside. It was the same look he’d given me so many times these past few weeks, the look that had so confused me, but now, finally, it made sense. I felt the same way too, like my happiness had grown too big to fit inside my body and would overflow any minute. He reached over and twined his fingers through mine. I leaned my head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around me.
We sat there in the candlelight for a long time, talking and laughing until the hot cocoa and cookies were gone. I remembered how afraid I had been on Thanksgiving of what would happen if Andrew and I were anything more than friends. Maybe, Pips, I said silently. Maybe he’s just the tiniest bit of a crush.
“Time for Christmas.” Andrew stood and helped me up. We blew out the candles and collected them in the picnic basket and his backpack, and I followed him back toward my house.
When Dad threw open the front door, he grinned. “Told you it wasn’t me.”
Andrew waited with us while Mom finished dressing in the new pajamas Dad bought her for Christmas, and then Dad carried Mom, slippers and all, out to the Jeep. I grabbed my presents for Ruth and Helen, and Andrew scooped up Higgins. We piled into the car and laughed as Dad spun the tires on purpose on the way out the driveway.
Mom told her gravy-disaster stories on the way to the research station, and we laughed so hard we were in tears by the time we arrived. I couldn’t tell if I was laughing or really crying, but I knew whatever this feeling was, it had everything to do with happiness. Even though Mom’s cheeks were still pale, she smiled her real smile, the smile that crinkled the skin around her eyes.
Dad pulled into the research station. Ruth’s family was already there, and we threw open our doors to head inside. I carried Higgins, and Dad carried Mom again. I waited at the front door, holding it for them, feeling the warm air from inside, the smells of spices and Christmas Eve fondue wafting out toward us.
Dad set Mom down inside the door, and suddenly I realized everyone was looking at me.
“What?”
No one answered, but Higgins barked and rushed inside.
I followed him in. “What is it, Higgy?”
I heard a laugh that could only come from one person. “Stop. Down. Not my face,” she said.
“Pips?” I shouted, running around the corner.
“Sades!” She threw herself into my arms, and then we were laughing and hugging and she was telling me how hard it was to keep the secret about coming for Christmas.
I dragged her over to introduce her to Ruth, but of course they had already met, and then I hugged Pippa’s parents and even her sister, Andrea.
“You better appreciate this, Sades.” Andrea tugged on my braids, grinning. “I gave up a big Christmas party for you.”
“So, what do you think?” Pippa flopped down on the couch next to me, as everyone settled into the station. “Is it better than a kitten?”
Higgins jumped up on my lap, and Andrew and Ruth piled onto the couch to join us.
“What do you think, Hig? Pips or a kitten? Which do you prefer?”
He barked and licked Pippa’s face from chin to hairline, making her shriek and hide her face behind my shoulder. “Make him stop!”
I laughed and laid my head back against the couch, squished between Higgy, Pips, Andrew, and Ruth and let my happiness whirl around me, like the snow in the forest.
“It’s perfect, Pips,” I said. “Absolutely perfect.”
THE END
Other Books in the Growing Faithgirlz!™ Library
Fiction
From Sadie’s Sketchbook
Shades of Truth (Book One)
Flickering Hope (Book Two)
Sophie’s World Series
Sophie’s World
Sophie’s Secret
Sophie Under Pressure
Sophie Steps Up
Sophie’s First Dance
Sophie’s Stormy Summer
Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco
Sophie and the New Girl
Sophie Flakes Out
Sophie Loves Jimmy
Sophie’s Drama
Sophie Gets Real
The Girls of Harbor View
Girl Power
Rescue Chelsea
Raising Faith
Secret Admirer
The Lucy Series
Lucy Doesn’t Wear Pink (Book One)
Lucy Out of Bounds (Book Two)
Lucy’s Perfect Summer (Book Three)
Lucy Finds Her Way (Book Four)
Boarding School Mysteries
Vanished (Book One)
Betrayed (Book Two)
Burned (Book Three)
Poisoned (Book Four)
Nonfiction
My Faithgirlz Journal
The Faithgirlz! Handbook
The Faithgirlz! Cookbook
No Boys Allowed
What’s A Girl To Do?
Girlz Rock
Chick Chat
Real Girls of the Bible
Faithgirlz! Whatever!
My Beautiful Daughter
Beauty Lab
Body Talk
Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself,
But I Don’t Know Who I Am
Girl Politics
Bibles
The Faithgirlz! Bible
NIV Faithgirlz! Backpack Bible
Faithgirlz! Bible Studies
Secret Power of Love
Secret Power of Joy
Secret Power of Goodness
Secret Power of Grace
Check out www.faithgirlz.com
About the Author
NAOMI KINSMAN has always dreamed of plunging into a fictional world, like Lucy does in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In Naomi’s fi rst career, acting and directing for the theater, this dream was inches from her reach. Writing, however, has made the impossible possible, and now Naomi regularly slips into book worlds and has fantastical adventures. Naomi shares these adventures through her company, Society of Young Inklings, dedicated to empowering young writers across the country. Naomi lives in Northern California with her husband and identically colored pets: a tuxedo cat and a Portuguese water dog.
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ZONDERKIDZ
Flickering Hope
Copyright © 2011 by Naomi Kinsman Downing
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