Ill be home for christma.., p.1
I'll Be Home For Christmas, page 1
I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a work of fiction. The location, characters, and businesses are products of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real people, living or dead, places, or businesses, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2022 Erin Lanter
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-7357188-4-2
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7357188-5-9
For Zoe, the biggest elf I know.
Chapter One
December 21st
A light snow fell on Saddle Hill, Kentucky as Bing Crosby crooned “White Christmas” in the background. Marian Bright put the finishing touches on the hot cocoa bar she’d set up for the volunteer choir to enjoy after their first annual Christmas caroling outing.
Last Christmas, the whole community banded together when a jewelry theft rocked the town. This year, the town council decided to celebrate the first official day of winter by making Christmas caroling on the winter solstice an annual event.
Marian took a step back to scrutinize the buffet. Homemade hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, and even crushed candy canes promised to bring warmth and comfort to the carolers after standing outside in the frigid night air.
“Perfect,” she muttered with a satisfied smile on her face. Dressed in one of her many Christmas sweaters—this one with a Christmas tree complete with colorful puff-ball ornaments sewn onto the knit boughs—seventy-three-year-old Marian was delighted to bring Christmas cheer to everyone, young and old, on this beautiful evening.
“I’m ready to go whenever you are,” Holly Berry announced, emerging from her bedroom.
Marian, the joy of the season etched on her face, turned to study the young woman walking toward her. Holly, who’d come to stay with her for the Christmas season last year, had never left. With a troubled past and a police record, Holly had been more than willing to start a new life in Saddle Hill. As a recent widow, Marian had been happy to have Holly move in with her.
“That looks wonderful!” Holly exclaimed, admiring the hot cocoa bar Marian had so lovingly arranged.
Turning her attention back to the buffet, she said, “Thank you, dear. I’m afraid it’s not complete without Nadine’s Christmas cookies, though.”
“Is she still bringing them?” Holly asked as she adjusted her scarf and flipped her long red hair over her shoulder.
“Yes. I talked to her about an hour ago, and she’s feeling well enough to come caroling with us, too. It will be such a wonderful evening.” Marian turned back toward Holly.
What a lovely young woman, she thought. At twenty-six years old, Holly finally seemed happy. No thanks to her parents who criticized everything she did and were incapable of being civil to each other, Marian mused.
“Do I look okay?” Holly asked and turned in a circle, her voice betraying her nervousness about the evening. With her slender figure and shimmering hair, she’d caught the eye of many young men in town. The only one she was interested in, though, was Eli Nolan, a sheriff’s deputy she’d met last year when she’d been locked in a storage closet by her boss’s ex-wife.
With all the tenderness of a doting grandmother, Marian said, “You look wonderful, dear. Eli won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”
Holly blushed and fiddled with the scarf. “Thank you for this scarf. It’s beautiful.”
“It should keep that pretty little neck of yours warm tonight. Much better than that ratty old thing you had been wearing,” Marian said. “Let me get my jacket, and we’ll be on our way.”
As she retrieved her fur-lined jacket and slid it on over her Christmas sweater, Marian thought, with as peaceful as things are this year, this might just be the best Christmas yet.
Chapter Two
“Are you almost ready, Joe?” Nadine called as she slid the last of the Christmas cookies onto the platter. “We need to meet the other carolers at the community center in fifteen minutes.”
“Just a minute,” Joe replied. He settled into his favorite chair to tie his snow boots, then stood and shook his pant legs down to his ankles. “Ready,” he announced, then walked into the kitchen where his wife was putting the finishing touches on the plate of Christmas cookies.
“What do you think?” Nadine asked, looking up into Joe’s eyes.
“I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he said, and gently kissed her forehead.
The corner of Nadine’s mouth drooped. “I mean about the cookies. Does this look okay?”
Joe shifted his eyes to the confections in assorted Christmas shapes. “Wonderful, as always. But, you know, you don’t always have to garnish your platters of cookies. This is just for the volunteer carolers,” he teased.
Nadine’s doe-brown eyes narrowed. “So what? I want it to look good, no matter who it’s for.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Your pastries aren’t good because of the way they look, although they are beautiful. They’re good because you love the people you make them for.”
She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. “This will be a great evening, won’t it?”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” Joe agreed. A concerned look flitted across his face. “You sure you’re up to this? I mean, that’s a long time to be standing in the cold. I just don’t want anything to happen…”
“I’m fine, really. I admit this has been a hard year for me—for both of us—with the miscarriage and all, but this little guy is strong. The way he pummels me, he certainly won’t let me forget that.” Nadine placed her hands on her basketball-shaped stomach. “I bet he’ll love hearing the songs we sing.”
Joe hesitated. “If you’re sure.”
“I am.” Standing straighter, she said, “Now, will you please cover that platter with plastic wrap while I try to get my boots on. Before long, I’m going to need you to help me.”
He watched as she walked to the coat closet to retrieve her snow boots. What a year it had been. After getting married last Christmas Eve, it had been a whirlwind of life changes. Shortly after the new year, Sheriff Arnold left Saddle Hill in search of another position in a bigger city, and Joe had been elected as the new sheriff. With years of experience as mall security under his belt, he helped catch the thief who’d stolen a special Christmas piece from the local jewelry store, Stockton’s Jewel Palace, last year.
If that wasn’t a big enough change, Wanda Kirk, the owner of the Rose Petal Café where Nadine was the pastry chef, abruptly decided to retire, giving Nadine the opportunity to buy the small restaurant. After weeks of going back and forth about whether or not she wanted the responsibility, Nadine decided that she’d love to have her own place. For the past several months, she’d been working long hours putting her own personal touch on the café. The result was a warm and welcoming environment staffed by smiling employees who went out of their way to make the customers feel welcome.
Somewhere in the middle of that transition, they’d found out Nadine was pregnant. A few months later, they’d been devastated by her miscarriage late in the first trimester. With this second pregnancy, Joe found it impossible not to treat Nadine like she’d break every time the wind blew. He knew Nadine was aware of what he was doing, but as patient as she was, she never let him see her frustration.
Now, as he watched her struggle to lace up her snow boots, he was overwhelmed by the knowledge that there was no one else he’d rather go through the whirlwind with.
Nadine sighed, pulling Joe from his revelry. As she stood, she said, “You might have to help me with my shoes sooner than I thought.”
Joe turned his attention to her feet, where the laces on her boots were a jumbled mess of knots. He bent over to fix them. “We can’t have you tripping on these when they come untied.”
“Thanks,” Nadine said as she wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled on a warm hat to cover her light brown hair, then pulled on her brown, puffy jacket. “I look like a burnt marshmallow,” she said wryly, but forced a smile. “Let’s go bring Christmas cheer to the masses.”
Balancing the platter of cookies on one hand and tucking the other under Nadine’s elbow to steady her on the snowy steps, Joe relished the upcoming serenity of the next several days. As long as everything went as planned, he and Nadine would celebrate their last Christmas with just the two of them in perfect peace.
Chapter Three
“But why can’t I wear my Santa suit?” James Jingle complained to his wife, Patricia, as they bundled up for the town’s first annual Christmas caroling event.
Patricia rolled her eyes. “Because we’re going to sing to people as neighbors, not the Clauses,” she explained.
“It’s just a few days until Christmas, though. Don’t you think that’s an acceptable time to be Santa?” he argued.
Patricia shot James a warning look as she put the finishing touches on her hair, which she’d recently had cut into a fashionable, chin-length bob.
For decades, she’d worn her hair in a bun, just as Mrs. Claus would. After giving James an ultimatum about all the problems their year-round Christmas caused, she’d shown him the manuscript of the memoir she’d been working on. Forever Mrs. Claus came out last week, and tomorrow she’d be doing her first book signing at Dusty Jackets, the local bookstore.
Over the past year, she’d spread her wings in the fashion department, and no longer wore only red, white, and green. Her hair had been the final change.
Her husband, James, the patriarch of the Jingle family, hadn’t been so eager to make the change. He still looked uncomfortable in anything other than Santa-approved apparel, though he did recognize the need to move on from the traditions that had created a wedge between their oldest son, Kris, and the rest of the family.
As James shifted the suspenders that were holding up the now-too-baggy jeans, Patricia looked at him with compassion. He really was trying to live like a regular person, though regular wasn’t something that came naturally to him.
She’d cut the amount of Christmas sweets he’d been allowed to eat throughout the year, which accounted for the pants that no longer fit and his lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels. As a treat for his hard work and mostly positive attitude, Patricia retrieved a Christmas cookie from the stash she kept hidden in the back of the freezer. Deciding that he deserved the biggest one, she popped it in the microwave for several seconds, then put it on their most festive plate, and carried it back to their bedroom where James was buttoning a red-plaid, flannel shirt over his suspenders.
Scowling as he buttoned, he said, “Do you think this should be tucked in? I don’t know how to do that with suspenders on.”
She smiled at her husband of more than forty years, held the plate out toward him, and was rewarded with the jolly smile she hadn’t seen lately.
“It might help if you wore the suspenders over your shirt. Then you’d be able to tuck it in,” Patricia suggested.
Eyes focused only on the plate she was holding, he said, “Really? That’s a big one!” His face glowed like a child’s as he snatched the cookie off the plate and took a large bite.
“Yes, but hurry up. We need to get to the community center to meet everyone. I don’t want to miss the first year of town-wide Christmas caroling.”
Crumbs fell onto James’s shirt as he ate the cookie. “I’m hurrying,” he mumbled, dropping more crumbs out of his mouth. He dropped the suspenders off his shoulders and put the shirt back on. He stuffed it into the waist of his jeans, and pulled the suspenders back up. “Oh, this does help,” he muttered.
“I’m really excited about tonight,” Patricia said as she brushed a wrinkle out of her sweater. “This will be such a good way to kick off the official winter season, and it could be the last time we see some of our friends before Christmas Day. Then we’ll go back to Marian’s house to visit with everyone and warm up. She brags about her top-secret hot chocolate recipe, so I can’t wait to try it.”
“All her recipes are top secret,” James said as they walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the living room, where the lights on the Christmas tree winked at them. “I hate to admit it, but Christmas does feel more magical when we don’t have the tree up all the time. I guess I didn’t realize that I’d gotten so used to seeing it that I didn’t really even notice it anymore.”
“I know more than you give me credit for,” Patricia teased. “Now, put on your shoes and coat. We’ve got to get going or we’ll be late.”
James settled onto the sofa and pulled on his fleece-lined snow boots, then stood and wrapped the hand-knit scarf Patricia made for him several years ago around his neck, donned his earmuffs, and stuffed his hands into his gloves. “Ready,” he announced.
“Good. Let’s go.”
As they drove toward the community center, Christmas music filled the car and the joy of the season was written on both their faces.
“Do you think Kris will be there tonight?” James asked, a hopeful note in his voice. He’d been working hard the last year to mend the broken relationship with his oldest son, though sometimes he felt like he was trying too hard.
“I don’t know. He might be busy with that new girlfriend of his,” Patricia said. “I’m glad he seems happy, though. It’s been a long time since he’s been happy.”
James nodded in agreement. “Too bad Nicholas won’t be able to be there.”
Patricia didn’t answer. Instead, she looked out the window, watching the snow fall.
Nicholas wouldn’t be eligible for parole for another year.
She sighed. There’s no way this Christmas could be harder than last year, she mused. With the exception of her youngest son sitting in jail for robbing Stockton’s Jewel Palace last year and framing his older brother, everything this year was picture-perfect.
Leaning her head back on the headrest, she closed her eyes and smiled. This promised to be a very merry Christmas, indeed, and tonight was just what the town needed.
Looking out at the gentle snowfall, Patricia believed nothing could possibly ruin this perfect night.
Chapter Four
Ralph Stockton beamed at his new bride as she pulled on her snow boots.
After a disastrous two-year marriage to Brenda Morris, he’d had the marriage annulled when she was caught sabotaging the jewelry in his store and stealing a diamond tennis bracelet worth several thousand dollars.
Once the hurt and anger wore off, he’d felt like a fool for thinking someone like Brenda would ever be interested in him without an ulterior motive. It had been a whirlwind romance, the aftermath leaving him reeling with regret.
Now, only a year after the annulment, he was married to the love of his life, Carla Whipple. It had also been Carla who always understood him, and it was Carla who shared his love for small-town living. It had been Carla whose heart he’d broken when he met and married Brenda.
Unfortunately, it had also been Carla who, saying she missed him and thought the star represented the very best of him, broke into Ralph’s safe at Stockton’s Jewel Palace last year and stole one of the prototypes for the Christmas piece he’d designed in an effort to save his store. He couldn’t bring himself to press charges against someone he cared so deeply about, so they rekindled their romance instead.
Carla had even managed to get Ralph to do something he never thought he would: he sold his childhood home where he’d lived his whole life and moved into a house where he and Carla could start over. Carla had said, and Ralph agreed, that they wanted to live somewhere “that wretched Brenda had never set foot in.” This house even had a garage, a feature Ralph never thought was necessary and Brenda always pointed out made the house no better than a shack. Now that it was winter, he had to agree that it was nice not having to scrape the car every time it snowed.
“Ready,” Carla announced, as she pulled down her toboggan hat far enough to cover her ears and forehead.
“Me, too,” Ralph agreed once he’d torn his admiring gaze away from his wife. “Let’s go.”
As they pulled out of the garage of the brand-new house, Andy Williams sang “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” on the car radio.
Thoughtful silence drifted between the newlyweds as they each reflected on how different their lives were this Christmas compared to last.
“Can you believe how much has changed in the past year?” Carla asked, gazing lovingly at her new husband. “I never thought I’d be married to the man of my dreams by Christmas.”
Ralph returned her gaze briefly before turning his attention back to the road. “And after being married to Brenda, I never thought I’d be happy again.”
Carla could see his eyes sparkling with mischief. “I can’t imagine the queen being willing to stand outside in the snow, singing to people she hates… which was everybody.”
Ralph chuckled warmly. “Unfortunately that’s true. Her royal highness would think a warm jacket would make her look fat. Not to mention the unflattering way the cold would turn her nose red.”
“Hail to the queen,” they said in unison, then burst into laughter.
Ralph reached across the center console and grasped Carla’s gloved hand. He raised it to his mouth and kissed her fingers. His life was so different than it had been just a year ago. A new business opportunity had taken care of all his financial worries that had nearly cost him his store last year, and Carla had come back into his life, providing love and companionship when he was certain he’d be trapped in a loveless marriage forever, facing a lifetime of loneliness.
Ralph smiled again, this time at his good fortune. It truly was the most wonderful time of the year, and, remembering how the town had come together to help him last year, Ralph could hardly wait to spread the joy he felt with everyone else.
