Christmas Catch-Up X

by Cindy Caldwell

  A spoon clattered on the kitchen counter—Bernard had been stirring spaghetti sauce while she wrapped—and he’d rushed out of the kitchen each time she’d needed him. He gave her a quick kiss before he set his thumb on the ribbon so she could tie it in a bow, and as she ran over the past year in her mind, she realized that he’d always been there for her when she needed him. Every single time, since they’d first met.

  “Thank you,” she said as he extricated his thumb and she finished tying the bow. She picked up the wrapped frame and admired her handiwork.

  “Who is that for?” he asked, poised with a pen to write the name on a tag.

  She put the framed picture of the baby bears in a neat, small stack on their kitchen table.

  “These are for your mom. I tried not to make them too big so they’d be sure to fit in our luggage.”

  Bernard smiled at her, pulled off a piece of tape and attached the label to the package. He lifted up one of the other packages and raised his eyebrows in her direction.

  “All the pictures we decided on?”

  Opal nodded. She’d taken great care to go through all of them that she and Bernard had taken over the past few months. When his mother had been out for their wedding, she’d been in awe at some of the wildlife—bears, hawks, deer—and when it had been finalized that they’d be visiting her in France after Christmas, she knew she wanted to frame some and take them for her. Bernard had agreed, and they’d picked out the best ones.

  Her favorite was still the one of the bear cubs and their mother, and the butterflies that had been in her tummy for a couple of months now fluttered again at the thought of telling her she was going to be a grandmother. She and Bernard had agreed that they wanted to tell her in person and—well, she was hoping that the picture of the cubs might be a good icebreaker.

  “I hope she doesn’t fall over in shock,” Bernard said. “I’m not sure my mother ever had it in her head that she’d be a grandmother. Doesn’t quite fit with her self-image.”

  Opal laughed and nodded. She hadn’t gotten to know her new mother-in-law all that well, but from what Bernard had shared, his grandparents were more parents to him than his mother. But she couldn’t imagine that his mother wouldn’t be excited. And she knew for a fact that her family would be—and she couldn’t wait until she saw them all tomorrow at the cabin to tell them. It had been torture to keep it from them—especially her sister, Olivia—but they’d decided it wouldn’t be right if they knew that much before his mother and Bernard wanted to tell her in person. So they’d decided to wait. Besides, it wasn’t a bad idea to wait until she was at least three months along, just in case.

  “Our first Christmas together portends to be pretty interesting,” Bernard said as he pulled his wife up from the couch and ran his finger down her cheek. “I guess it’ll be our one and only Christmas together that we’re not putting together wagons or bikes or hiding stuffed animals.”

  Opal laughed and kissed him. “That’s your job, future Daddy. I’m on wrapping.”

  She squeezed his hand and crossed over to the small tree they’d gotten and decorated right after Thanksgiving. Her sister, Olivia, had gotten her their first ornament that was engraved with ‘Opal and Bernard’s First Christmas,” and she lifted it gingerly out of its velvet box. She’d wanted to wait to hang that one Christmas Eve.

  He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned her head back on his chest, knowing that this would not only be a year of firsts, but a year of lasts.

  “I guess this will be our first and last Christmas morning to sleep in,” she said as she turned around and looked into her husband’s eyes.

  Bernard smiled. “I suppose we’d better get to bed early, then. Maybe right after dinner. We need all the energy we can muster, I’m sure, to be at the cabin by noon.”

  Opal’s cheeks heated, and she said, “Well, we’d better get on with dinner, then. And we were going to watch It’s a Wonderful Life before we go to bed so we’d better hurry.”

  Bernard grabbed her hand. “I don’t need to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. I have the most wonderful life right here.”

  Opal sighed and knew he was right. Who would ever have thought that those bear cubs would have brought them together? And that their lives would have been so much more together than alone? She would have never guessed. But now that it was her wonderful life, she couldn’t imagine it any other way.

  Chapter 4

  SECOND-CHANCE SWEETHEARTS

  Corinne and Allen

  “I can’t believe I forgot the sweet potatoes,” Corinne said, slapping her forehead with her hand. “It’s the only thing Gillian asked me to bring. And I’ve been worried about it for days.”

  Her husband, Allen, leaned back against the kitchen counter and smiled.

  “After all that fuss and worry, we didn’t even get the potatoes?” he asked as he eyed his wife.

  Corinne spun on heel and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “What do you mean all that stress and worry? I haven’t said a word to you about it.” She knew for a fact she hadn’t. She’d wanted to make something special, something that his daughters, Opal and Olivia, would find familiar and she’d flipped the pages of their mother’s cookbook back and forth for over two weeks to find the best recipe. But she hadn’t said a word to Allen.

  He cocked an eyebrow in her direction, reached behind him on the counter and pulled out the dog-eared cookbook.

  “I’ve been putting this away every night and every morning it’s back on the counter again. I’d thought we were done with this after the chili fiasco,” he said. “The girls love you. I love you. You don’t need to cook like Mary for us to love you.”

  She sighed and leaned up against him, her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  “I know. I just wanted our first Christmas together to be special. For all of us.”

  He rested his cheek on the top of her head.

  “Think about all the things that have happened in the past year. Aaron and Gillian found each other. Opal and Bernard got married. Tamlyn and Bradley are happy and will be home for Christmas. And Olivia and Fred had twins. We’re grandparents.”

  She smiled up at him. It had been a pretty eventful year. They’d opened their shop, bought a home and were able to see the twins almost every weekend. A year before, when she’d retired from teaching, she’d never imagined her life could change so much. She’d been single all her life, and now had an instant—and growing—family.

  But with that, she’d taken her role very seriously. If she was going to be a grandmother and help ease Opal and Olivia’s loss of their mother, she thought that meant cooking, too. At least she wanted to try.

  He cocked his head as he watched her turn this all over in her mind. And just like when they’d first met, he seemed to know what she was thinking.

  “You have your heart set on the sweet potatoes?” he asked as he reached for his coat and truck keys.

  She nodded slowly and said, “I’ll have some hot chocolate waiting for you when you get back. With marshmallows.”

  He laughed as he walked out the door. “I’ll hold you to it.”

  Chapter 5

  TEACHING TAMLYN

  Tamlyn and Bradley

  Snow fell in soft drifts as Tamlyn and Bradley finally made it back to Riston after their most recent trip. It had been a relatively short one for them. They hadn’t wanted to leave before seeing the Christmas play that Bradley’s sister had been able to put on at the middle school, but they’d also wanted to make sure they were back in time for Christmas with Tamlyn’s Aunt Corinne and her new husband’s family, as well as spending time with Bradley’s new niece. It promised to be a busy few days, but they planned to get back on the road right after, spending the rest of Bradley’s vacation someplace warmer.

  For now, though, they had a lot to do. They’d gotten to know Opal and Olivia’s families fairly well over the summer, and Tamlyn hadn’t wa
nted to miss the twins’ first Christmas, so they were back—almost ready for family.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Tamlyn said as they rolled into Riston. “Bradley, can you stop by the grocery store? I forgot I told Aunt Corinne and Gillian I’d bring something for Christmas dinner tomorrow. We don’t have anything at home.”

  Bradley turned his truck into the grocery store parking lot, weaving around the snow drifts that were starting to stick and finding the closest parking spot he could.

  “Your wish is my command, co-pilot,” he said as he parked the truck. “Got anything in mind?”

  She reached for his hand as he opened her car door and helped her out. She always felt so safe with him on their road trips—not that she wouldn’t be safe on her own—but he always looked after her even while they were exploring. It felt nice.

  She nodded. “I still have a lot of the maple butter we brought back from Canada. I’m giving some as Christmas gifts, but I thought it would be fun to make a recipe that I found in a magazine that calls for it. Sweet potatoes, roasted then tossed in maple butter. A couple other things go in, too, but it sounded kind of like a nice change from the sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

  “Sounds great,” Bradley said as he held her elbow and they navigated the icy parking lot together, heads down.

  They both knocked the snow off their boots before they went inside, and took off their gloves.

  Tamlyn looked around and spotted the vegetable aisle and led Bradley in that direction.

  “Oh, hi, Allen,” Tamlyn said as she came upon her new uncle. She’d been a big fan of his courtship and marriage to her favorite aunt, and she looked forward to seeing him the following day for the celebration. This was just an extra added surprise.

  He had his phone to his ear and smiled at Tamlyn and Bradley.

  “Yes, I’ve got everything. Sweet potatoes, marshmallows. Oh, hot chocolate, too?” he said, chuckling about as hard as Tamlyn had ever seen him. “Okay, I’ll get it all and be right home.”

  He slid the phone into his pocket and reached out to give Tamlyn a hug.

  “Your aunt never ceases to amaze me. She said she’d have hot chocolate ready for me if I came to the store for sweet potatoes and apparently doesn’t have hot chocolate either. But I love her for trying.”

  Tamlyn put her hand in Bradley’s, happy that she and her aunt had both met men with good senses of humor, especially when it came to cooking.

  “Well, she’s a lucky woman that you let her try.”

  Allen shook his head. “I’ll sure give her that. She’s spent weeks going through the girls’ mother’s cookbook trying to find a recipe and finally settled on one. Some sort of sweet potato thing,” he said as he reached out and grabbed a bag of sweet potatoes. “We’ll be seeing you tomorrow, won’t we?”

  Tamlyn looked at the sweet potatoes and then at Bradley, who was starting to say something. She nudged him with her elbow quickly and said, “You sure will. Can’t wait.”

  “Great. Hope you like sweet potatoes,” he said, holding up the big bag of them as he walked off.

  “We sure do,” Bradley said with a grin. “See you tomorrow.”

  As Allen walked out of earshot, Bradley rubbed his side. “What was that for? I was just going to say you’re making sweet potatoes, too.”

  She looped her arm through his and smiled. “Exactly what I didn’t want you to say. We can think of something else. If Aunt Corinne’s planned that and is worried about it, she can bring the sweet potatoes. We can certainly find something else.”

  “Whatever you say,” Bradley said as they began to stroll through the vegetable aisle and Tamlyn took in all of their options.

  She almost ran into him when he stopped short. She looked up at him and followed his gaze across the stacks of tomatoes and onions, and her heart almost stopped, and she felt a bit faint. There, next to the big sign that advertised a sale on asparagus, was Mr. Burton, the man who’d crashed his car into hers and sent her to the hospital with a broken leg. The man whose trial she’d somehow managed to attend with Bradley’s love and support. The man she hadn’t seen since his conviction.

  She thought of dragging Bradley out of the vegetable aisle before Mr. Burton noticed them, but she was frozen in place. Before she could make her escape, the man turned and her eyes were locked with the man’s who’d caused her so much pain.

  “Tamlyn?” Bradley said softly. “We can go if you want.”

  Tamlyn cocked her head as she stared at Mr. Burton. When she’d seen him in the courtroom, he’d looked better than he had when she’d seen him in the hospital the night of the accident. That night, he was still drunk and looked horrible.

  At the courthouse, he’d been clean and sober for a bit and looked a little better. But now—after he’d asked the judge to sentence him to a complete six months so that he could get his life together—he looked utterly healthy, and a different light shone in his eyes.

  “No, I’m okay,” she said as she pulled her arm from Bradley’s and headed in Mr. Burton’s direction.

  She could feel her husband right behind her as she approached. She stopped directly in front of Mr. Burton and reached out her hand. He dropped the bag of tomatoes he was holding into his basket and took her hand in both of his warm ones—a little tentatively at first.

  “Hello. What a gift to see you. I’ve been wanting to tell you again how sorry I am, and am so glad I have the chance.”

  “Hello, Mr. Burton. It’s Mrs. Holbrook now,” she said as she nodded at Bradley.

  “Congratulations, Mr. Holbrook,” Mr. Burton said enthusiastically as he shook Bradley’s hand. “I’m so happy for both of you.”

  “Thank you,” Bradley said. “You look well, Mr. Burton.”

  Mr. Burton nodded vigorously. “I am, thank you. And I am so relieved to see Mrs. Holbrook so well and happy, too. For all the trauma I caused you, I’m glad you’re all right.”

  Tamlyn took in a deep breath. She was honestly glad that Mr. Burton looked so well, and she said so. “I am fine, Mr. Burton, and I’m really glad that the outcome of the accident was so good. You look great, and I did hear that you’re working.”

  “I am,” Mr. Burton said. “And in my off time, I’m helping out in the juvenile court system. Hoping to head some of the younger kids in a different direction than the one I took.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Tamlyn said. “I’m so glad you had the courage to turn your life around.”

  Mr. Burton cleared his throat. “I’ve been wanting to thank you for that, actually. I’m not sure I would have had the courage if it hadn’t been for you forgiving me in the hospital. It took me a few months to remember, and they were pretty dark months. But once I sobered up and remembered how kind you were to me—well, I figured I’d better get my act together so I actually deserved it. So I could make up for what I did to you.”

  Tamlyn took a step back, and a deep breath. She’d had no idea such a heartfelt and genuine act of forgiveness on her part could have made such a profound change in another person.

  “Oh,” she said slowly. “I’m so happy that it was helpful. And truly, as I said then, all is forgiven.”

  Mr. Burton nodded at both of them. “Thank you. It was a miracle for me, and I am very grateful. Merry Christmas to you both,” he said with a smile as he picked up his tomatoes and headed toward the front of the store.

  “Merry Christmas,” Bradley said as he left. He turned toward Tamlyn and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Are you all right?”

  Tamlyn smiled. She’d never been better in her life. The faintness had passed, her heart felt light and the miracle of Christmas enveloped her in warmth and possibility. And the best part was she had her new husband to share it all with, as there was plenty of love in her heart to spare.

  Epilogue

  Christmas morning dawned bright and sunny, just as predicted. Corinne and Allen had fallen asleep after hot chocolate and It’s a Wonderful Life so she’d gotten up especially early to m
ake Mary’s sweet potatoes. She made coffee and set the recipe book on the kitchen counter, setting out a mug for when Allen got up.

  She pre-heated the oven and threw all the ingredients together—butter, brown sugar, the sweet potatoes she’d boiled and mashed the night before. She got everything together, topped the concoction with marshmallows and popped it in the oven before she heard Allen rustling in the bedroom.

  She poured him a cup of coffee and when he came out, greeting him with, “Merry Christmas,” for the first time, as it was their first Christmas together.

  They sat by the tree for a bit, looking out over the snowy ranch before Allen reminded her that they still had a few presents to wrap. They set to it, Corinne cutting the paper and wrapping and Allen adding the bows and labels as they chatted about the twins, Opal and Bernard, Tamlyn and Bradley and once again counting their blessings.

  “What’s that smell,” Allen said as he stood to re-fill his coffee cup.

  “Oh, no,” Corinne cried as she raced into the kitchen, where smoke poured from the oven. “Oh, my gosh, I forgot to set the timer.”

  She opened the oven and smoke billowed out, the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes as black as the smoke. She shut the door and turned on the kitchen fan, shaking her head.

  Her eyebrows rose and she turned as Allen broke into deep laughter.

  “What’s so funny?” she said, her arms crossed over her chest, feeling like she might cry. “I’ve ruined it. Now the girls won’t have anything special that makes them feel like it’s home.”

  Allen reached into the oven and took the casserole dish out the front door, setting in on the porch and opening the kitchen window. He wrapped a scarf around his wife’s neck as the cold winter air flooded in, but also helped get the smoke out.

  “Corinne, we’re going to spend the day with family. And that’s what makes a place feel like home, not a sweet potato dish from when they were kids. It’s you, your heart, that they love. Certainly not your cooking ability,” he said, stifling a bit of a laugh before he kissed his wife.