Lib Novel Page 21
“Not from a book, I bet,” Scout said, then started giggling.
Sylvester started giggling too, and even Mom shook her head with a smile on her face.
“Time to start decorating,” she said briskly.
Everyone began carrying in ornaments and setting the boxes on the floor by the tree.
The room was filled with the scent of pine needles and oatmeal cookies, and the sounds of his family, happily joking and exclaiming over their favorite ornaments.
This was the Webbs at their best. He was so glad Cora and Sylvester could be here for it. And Sylvester seemed to be doing just fine with everything. There hadn’t been so much as a sneeze since they arrived.
He glanced over to see what Cora thought of it all.
She sat perfectly still on the loveseat, gazing at the people gathered around the tree. Her eyes were dreamy and a little moist.
It hit him in that moment that while his Christmas memories were all joyful scenes of his childhood, her memories of Christmases past might always bring a little sadness with them. She had lost the person she loved the most.
And unlike the quick justice of a stolen cookie for Jared, or the slow unfurling of a shy demeanor for Derek, Cora’s wounds could never be fully healed.
Looking at her, he suddenly felt small and insignificant in the face of the ocean of her loss.
And although it seemed crazy, in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to spend a lifetime making her feel better, if that’s what it took.
8
CORA
Cora stood by her own oven the next day, waiting for one last minute before pulling out the first batch of gingerbread cookies of the year.
The kitchen was already filled with the delicious aroma, and Sylvester waited by the counter, looking like he was going to explode if he didn’t have a cookie in his mouth this minute.
“Almost,” she told him with a smile.
“Thirty seconds,” he told her. “Twenty-nine.”
She laughed as he continued his countdown.
Ever since the get-together yesterday at Timber Run, Sylvester had been insistent that they have their own day of decorating. Though they didn’t have a tree yet, they did have a small manger scene to set up on the little table by the fireplace, and some pine boughs waiting in a pile on the porch to be hung from the railings.
Sylvester hadn’t seemed to have any kind of reaction to the tree yesterday, thank goodness. She would have to figure out how to get a real tree delivered. But for now, putting up the boughs on the porch would help them feel like it was the Christmas season.
I probably should have just taken Jared up on his offer, she thought to herself. We could have kept the tree on the porch if Sylvester had reacted.
But she knew better. She wouldn’t have wanted that tree anywhere near them if it threatened an asthma attack, even if it made her seem too overprotective.
The doorbell interrupted her thoughts.
“Who can that be?” she asked out loud.
“I’ll get it,” Sylvester said as the oven timer dinged. “You have to get the cookies out.”
He was off before she could stop him.
“Hang on,” she called to him, quickly grabbing the cookies out of the oven, and placing the whole tray right on the cooling rack. She couldn’t have him opening the door to just anyone.
He waited obediently, letting her get ahead of him to open the door herself.
When she did, a gust of cold air greeted her, along with the wide smile of Jared Webb. He had a tree trunk in his arms, the rest of the massive evergreen rested on the porch floor behind him, wrapped in clear netting.