Christmas in Candle Cove

by Mary L. Briggs

  After a moment she realized his hesitation. “It’s OK, Gabe. Really it is. They sound like good stories. Just tell me.” People were forever walking on eggshells around her. Didn’t they know it made her feel worse? Harry was dead, but thousands of other soldiers weren’t. It made her feel good to hear about them and know they were doing well.

  Chapter 17

  “Thank you for coming back with me.” Ellie glanced at Gabe as they stepped up to the long porch of Farmhouse Finds. It seemed silly to dread facing Madge on her own, but somehow, the lunch conversation had left its mark on her. And she didn’t usually scare easily. Unless it was storming. Her nerves ran wild during any thunder and lightning event. It was all she could do not to convey her fright to Danny.

  “No problem. Do you think I should mention her relationship to Charles Sinclair?” he asked, as he reached for the door handle.”

  “No! Gabe—” she stopped. The impish grin on his handsome face told her everything she needed to know. “You should be ashamed,” she laughed, as the door swung open.

  It was a look that she should know well. Even as a teenager, he had managed to fool her with his deadpan expression and reasonable sounding words. And she had fallen for it almost every time. Some things never change.

  ***

  “Nope. She left about forty minutes ago,” Rory informed them. “Said she wouldn’t be in on Friday,” he added, straightening the stack of Christmas books on the counter. Ellie grabbed a wayward copy of A Christmas Carol and relegated it to the top of the pile.

  Disappointment flowed freely through Ellie’s thoughts. Despite her shock that Gabe might mention to Madge her ties to the Sinclair family, she had been working on a round-about way to ask the woman, herself. Nothing as blunt as Gabe might say, she was sure.

  “But she always comes on Fridays,” Ellie blurted. It would be impossible to have any such conversation with a woman who wouldn’t show up for work. She couldn’t recall any day that Madge had even called in sick.

  Rory shrugged. “Sorry. She said something about spending the day shopping with a friend.”

  “Weren’t you going to show me something in your office?” Gabe asked.

  Ellie paused. “Oh. . .yes. Come on back.”

  Inside the room she pushed the door almost shut and looked around the room. “As you can see, its’ pretty much back to normal.”

  Gabe took a seat on the blue sofa and let his gaze roam around the room. After a moment, his eyes snapped to hers. “What about that list you have? The one that Bart Sinclair wanted to see? Is it here?”

  Ellie dropped her purse on the desk and let her fingers flip through the papers in the different compartments. She searched again. Finally, she turned to Gabe. “It’s gone. I keep it in a little blue, leather notebook. It’s very small. I hadn’t even noticed that it was not in its place.”

  He nodded and grimaced. “I should have thought of that last night. After the conversation you had with the so-called heir, it should have been the first thing we looked for. Let’s call Cal.”

  ***

  Ellie watched as Cal carefully recorded her story, his hands moving swiftly across the small notepad in his hand. He had been the most handsome boy in high school, and those good looks were still with him today, she noted. Most of the girls had been crazy about him, but for her, as one of Gabe’s best buddies, he had only been a friend. And nothing about that had changed through the years.

  All the silly girls from high school had drifted away, and Cal had married Bonnie Page. She had been killed in a freak rodeo accident a few months after the birth of their child, Jessa. Ellie felt for him. No doubt, she and Cal had a lot in common, but romantic love was not one of those things.

  “Is that all he said?” Cal asked, looking up from his notebook.

  Ellie glanced at Gabe. “That’s all I can remember. It was such an odd thing. No one has ever asked to see a list of my customers before.”

  “More like demanded it,” Gabe interjected. “He was pretty abrasive during the entire episode.”

  “But nothing threatening?” Cal asked, his eyes on Ellie.

  She shook her head. “No. I think he thought that if he sounded authoritative enough, I might do whatever he was asking.’

  Cal grinned and looked at Gabe. “He had no idea who he was talking to.”

  Gabe laughed and Ellie bit her tongue. These two weren’t much different at thirty-two, than they had been at eighteen. In some respects. But the two jokesters had turned out to be honest, respectable men. And maybe, with all that was going on in town, the situation needed a bit of levity added to it.

  “Just try your best to remember what you bought at that auction, Ellie. And make a list. If you can remember who bought them, all the better.”

  Ellie sighed and stood. “It’s been a few years, but I’ll do my best.”

  “And,” he added. “Let’s just keep this between us. I don’t want it getting around that you’ve realized what they have taken.”

  Chapter 18

  Ellie cradled the phone under her chin and continued to chop the celery for the cheeseburger soup. “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Gabe’s voice sounded. “Cal called and Bart Sinclair had an alibi. Says he was in Branson for a concert. He has ticket stubs as well as motel receipts.”

  Ellie took the cutting board to the Dutch oven on the stove, and scraped in the pieces of celery, as well as a few chopped carrots that were on the board. “So, I guess it wasn’t him,” she sighed. It would have been so much easier, wrapped up so many things, if it had been Bart Sinclair that broke into the store. No more frantic locking of doors, peeking out the windows at night, afraid of what might be out there. Everyone in town would rest easy, knowing the police chief had done his job.

  “I don’t see how it could be possible that he committed the break-in at your place,” Gabe told her. “I guess we’re back to the starting line. Maybe Rory has an idea.”

  She laughed and poured a jar of home canned tomatoes into the pot, and began to stir the dark red bits into the other ingredients. “I’m sure he does. I’ve never known Rory not to have an idea or opinion about anything.”

  “He might be the fellow I need to talk to whenever I get a little bit of writer’s block,” he chuckled. “Listen, I’m going to stop by and see Cal, later. If I learn anything new, I’ll let you know.”

  Thanks, Gabe. I appreciate it.” She listened as the phone clicked off on the other side. She could get used to talking to him every day. At some point, she was going to have to tell him to stay away. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it, just yet. Loneliness would keep her hanging on for a while longer. And if it was more than loneliness, she would deal with it later.

  ***

  Gabe dropped the old phone into its cradle and stared at the ancient contraption. Avocado green, it was the phone his grandmother had brought to them when she moved in for a few months when he was growing up. A plastic dial, and a cord a mile long. She had left it behind, and his parents had kept on using it. No silly cordless thing for his mom’s house. He smiled. It was nice to be home. And leaving for Memphis in a few weeks wasn’t sounding very appealing.

  The phone in his pocket buzzed. He must have turned it to vibrate sometime earlier today. He reached in and pulled it out. Marisa.

  “Hey there! About time you called me.”

  “Hi Gabe, sorry if there’s a lot of noise on here. I’m on the highway, and you know how loud it is.”

  He frowned. “I thought we talked about you driving and talking on the phone.”

  “Oh, I’m not driving. Stephen Lewis is. You know, the fellow that does the decorating at the antique store?”

  “Oh, yeah, I know who you mean. So, where are you going?” Marisa did some of the buying for her uncle’s large antique shop, but usually she stayed in the back room, taking care of inventory, and pricing the objects.

  “That’s why I’m calling. There’s a big auction in Savannah, and Uncle Sean wanted me to do so
me buying. So, I won’t be able to make it back to Hicksville for the weekend.”

  Gabe chomped his jaw for a minute. This was the third weekend in a row. If he didn’t know better, or maybe he did, he would think she didn’t plan to come back until Christmas. And maybe not then. “I see.” What more was there to say? If absence made the heart grow fonder, something was wrong with their situation.

  “You’re not mad are you, sweetie?” her voice purred over the air.

  He sighed. “You know I’m never mad at you, Marisa.” It was disturbing to him that he seemed to have no feeling toward her at all, at the moment.

  “You’re such a sweetheart, Gabe. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, OK?”

  “Sure. Talk to you tomorrow.” Part of him was tempted to tell her not to call until she was ready to board a plane for northwest Arkansas.

  Possibly, he was being unfair to her. A nagging feeling told him that maybe there were some things about their relationship he needed to reconsider. But that could wait. The telephone might not be the best place for that discussion.

  “Supper’s ready, Gabe,” his mother called from the kitchen.

  He took a deep breath and breathed in the scents from the room beyond. Pot roast, he was sure. “Be right there,” he said, rising from the couch. It occurred to him that he hadn’t told Marisa about the book deal, yet. But he had told Ellie the very next day. His stomach rolled over, and he wasn’t too sure it was from hunger.

  Chapter 19

  Ellie stared at the sky. It looked like snow. Yet, none was falling. At the first sign of it, she would be on her way to get Danny from school. She was not good at driving on slick roads.

  “I’m watching, too,” Willa said, coming up behind her. “I promised Kendra and Kenna that I’d get them the moment the white stuff started to fall. Last year, we slid around so much that it scared all of us. I’m no good driving on anything that resembles ice.”

  “If it starts to fall,” Ellie said, folding her arms across her chest, as if to ward off the possible cold that was on its way. “Looking down Main Street, I think everyone is believing the forecast. It’s pretty bare out there. And we’ve only had a few customers today. Do we have too many cookies stacking up?”

  Willa shook her head and studied the dark clouds headed towards the town. “I shut down the ovens and put the dough in the fridge. There are some extra already baked, but I’m thinking we might as well freeze them. If you like, we can use them for refreshments after the church play.”

  “That’s perfect. You always think of everything.”

  Willa laughed. “I wish I did. Lately, I’ve been falling down on everything I do.” Her smile faded and Ellie watched her eyes water.

  “Let’s go have some coffee.” Ellie put her arm around the girl, grabbing a tissue out of the box on the counter, as they passed it by.

  Ellie poured the coffee while Willa wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  “So tell me,” Ellie said, positioning herself in the chair opposite Willa.

  Willa stared at her coffee, and stirred in another lump of sugar. Finally, she looked up. “It all started Thanksgiving Day. Aunt Velma was so sweet to us about everything. Until dinner was over. She pulled me aside and said that she and Uncle Ollie had something they wanted to talk to me about.”

  She took a sip of her coffee and put it down, picking up the tissue and wiping her cheek.

  “She’s not sick is she?” Ellie asked. It seemed so many people were on the prayer lists for illnesses, these days. Last Sunday, the Reverend Wilder read off four new names to be added.

  Willa shook her head. “No. That’s exactly what I thought, at first. But it was nothing like that.” She sniffed. “She and Uncle Ollie want me to let them adopt the girls.” At that, she burst out crying.

  Ellie came around the table and pulled a chair in close to Willa, putting her arm around the young woman’s shoulder. “But they’re doing fine with you.”

  Willa nodded and blew her nose into the tissue. “I know. It was just such a shock. It was like they didn’t think I was doing a good job with them. Oh, Ellie, I don’t want to give them up! I know mom would want them with me.”

  Ellie reached and pushed back a few wayward strands of Willa’s beautiful golden hair. “I don’t see why you should have to. You have full custody, Willa. They can’t take them.”

  Willa brushed her fingers across her eyes as she reached for her cup. “I know. But it made me feel like they think I’m inadequate in taking care of them. I don’t understand why they think I might want to walk away from my responsibility.”

  Ellie shook her head. “Maybe they just thought it would help you. It is a big job. Raising children alone is hard. I say that to you, and I only have one. You are managing two. You don’t know how much I admire you for that.”

  A smile cracked the girl’s somber expression. “Thank you, Ellie. I can always count on you. And, I know you’re right, I don’t have to give the girls up. It was just such a shock that they asked. I don’t want to hurt them. They’re the last of my relatives. I need their support.”

  Ellie refilled their cups and set the carafe on the table. “Your aunt is a reasonable woman. I don’t think this will distance them from you. Just explain to them how you feel. And make sure they know what you just said to me—that you need them and might need their help sometimes.”

  Willa took a deep breath and sat straighter in her chair. “I will. Next weekend, I’ll go see them and have a long talk.”

  Ellie smiled. “Don’t worry, it will all work out.” She glanced toward the windows. “Snow! We’d better go!”

  ***

  Ellie turned the windshield wipers on high, but the snow and ice came down so fast that the wipers barely made a difference. It was hard to see more than a few feet in front of the vehicle. It was like driving in a sea of white foam.

  “Are we going to be OK, Mom?” Danny asked from the backseat of the SUV.

  “Your mom’s a great driver,” Kenna answered before Ellie spoke.

  “Thank you, Kenna,” she said, her eyes on the road. Only another block and they ought to be back to the store. “And, yes, we are going to be fine.” It was a mom rule to always sound confident.

  She glanced to the passenger seat and saw that Willa’s hand was gripping tight to the door handle. Ellie was sure that her friend’s knuckles were bleached white, beneath the cheery knitted gloves she wore. “It’s OK, Willa. We’ll be there in a minute.” No doubt, it had been those two cars they had passed, both with their noses in the ditch near the post office that had the girl so worried.

  Willa kept her eyes on the road. “I know. And I can never thank you enough for this. I can’t believe my car battery is completely dead. I just had the car serviced two weeks ago!”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Ellie replied, giving a brief glance in her rearview mirror. “We’ll all be OK at the store for the night. We’ve got the fireplace in the kitchen, if the electricity goes out, and there’s plenty of food and places to sleep. I’ll go upstairs and get some blankets and pillows for all of us. It will probably be melted by this time tomorrow.”

  “It’s going to be a camping adventure,” Danny volunteered from the backseat.

  “Something like that,” Ellie grinned, relief flooding through her as they edged past the diner. Only half a block to go. At worst, they could walk from here.

  Chapter 20

  “I think everybody is settled,” Ellie said in a loud whisper, as she returned to the front area of the store. Danny was asleep on the sofa in her office, and Willa’s sisters were on the pullout sofa in the kitchen. That left the two of them with a little bit of quiet time to visit. Especially since the phones seemed to be out and her cell phone was upstairs. She had brought down blankets and pillows, but now, the ice covered steps made it too dangerous to go up and retrieve the phone.

  Willa was seated at one of the tables, her eyes on her laptop screen. “The meteorologist in Fort Smith says that it should stop s
nowing and sleeting by midnight. The high tomorrow is forty, so I’m afraid you might be stuck with us for a while tomorrow, Ellie.”

  “I’d hardly call it stuck,” she said, bringing the coffee carafe and two dark brown mugs to the table. “More like spending some fun hours with one of my best friends.”

  Willa closed the computer and smiled. “I’m glad that we’re friends, and not just boss and employee.”

  Ellie nodded and poured the hot liquid. “It’s worked out well for all of us. Me, you, and Rory. We’ve bonded pretty well. We all trust each other and look out for each other. I couldn’t have asked for more when I hired either of you.”

  Willa sipped her coffee, then set the cup on the pine table. “I’ve always thought that you hired me because you felt sorry for me.”

  Ellie’s eyes widened. “Why would you think that?”

  “Well, the accident that mom and George had. . .and everything, you know, me left to raise the girls. And you knew that I had to quit college. Being a single mom, you knew how hard everything was for me at the time.”

  Ellie reached across the table and touched her hand. “Of course I felt bad for you. Why wouldn’t I? But,” she grinned, “I wanted to hire you the moment I bit into one of your chocolate peanut butter cookies.”

  Willa laughed. “I just might believe that.”

  “How about we take our coffee into the front and watch the snow?”

  Ellie led the way and cleared out a space for their cups on the counter that faced the big windows. She pulled out a bar stool and took a seat, as her eyes took in the snowy scene lighted by the streetlights. “It’s really starting to pile up. At least it has turned to all snow. How many inches are they predicting?”