(advent) Tuesday, December 3

You have to tell me, Schrodinger said, as they waited with Jack for Lily and Zoey to come out of the school. I know you had something to do with this. He’d used their private link to say this, so Molly knew that Jack couldn’t hear them.

 

I don’t know what you mean, she said silently. They were waiting in the playground, Molly sitting on a swing while she and Schrodinger watched Jack chase snowflakes. It was flurrying in little bursts, nothing serious, but just enough to add a holiday feel to the day.

 

Schrodinger looked up at her, disbelief in his green eyes. Seriously? I’m not a kid, Molly. I know you weren’t going to let Zoey and Lily ruin Christmas.

 

Okay, I’ll give you that, she said. I may have made a few phone calls. But I had no idea what they would do.

 

You called the Snow Queen?

 

Among others. Molly looked fondly down at the CrossCat. You looked so bereft when Corrine told us. And really, Jade has been looking for an excuse to do something like this ever since Drew and I told her the story of what he did with the carols.

 

Really?

 

Molly nodded, laughing a bit at Jack’s antics. “She’s a bit of a romantic, you know,” she said out loud. “I wonder why she’s never found someone.”

 

Well, there’s the whole being the Snow Queen bit, Schrodinger said. I can see that being a bit off-putting.

 

“True.”

 

The bell rang then, and the doors of the school opened, disgorging students. Lily and Zoey were in the second wave, and when they saw Molly waiting for them, they ran over.

 

“What do you think today’s advent adventure will be?” Lily cried, throwing herself at her aunt. Molly wasn’t prepared for the assault and they both went over into the snow, laughing.

 

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I bet it will be fun!”

 

Which wasn’t true – that she didn’t know. When she’d first called her, Molly had demanded a part in the calendar, and Jade had sent her a list of the adventures she’d planned. Which is why Drew was waiting for them at the tea room, his Range Rover ready to take them where they needed to go.

 

“All right, let’s go!” she said now, pushing herself up from the snow. “I want to see what’s coming up too!”

 

They walked quickly to the bookstore, admiring the Christmas lights that were starting to glow in the late afternoon air. “It’s so pretty here,” Zoey said. “Do you think we’ll see Spot and Mr. Grey again?”

 

“I don’t know,” Molly said. “I don’t think so. It’s Tuesday – they usually come by on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They seem to have something else to do on the other days.”

 

And I’m not sure I want to know what, Jack said. Spot is cool, but he’s a little creepy sometimes.

 

Well, he’s a hell hound, Schrodinger pointed out reasonably. He kind of can’t help it. And he’s still a puppy, you know.

 

Molly idly wondered what a fully grown Spot would look like, and didn’t envy Mr. Grey at all. “I think Spot will be fine,” she said. “It’s all about the owner, after all. And Mr. Grey isn’t creepy.”

 

I like him, Schrodinger said. He likes Earl Grey tea – that shows that he’s a man of sophistication.

 

“It does?” Zoey said, eyes wide, and the CrossCat nodded. Molly smothered a laugh at that.

 

“Are you guys hungry?” she asked, as she unlocked the back door. On her off days, she didn’t usually unlock it, since Schrodinger didn’t need to get in when Molly wasn’t at work. If he’d gone without her, he’d just go to the front door and wait for DC or Margie to let her in. Grace, the assistant clerk who helped cover the tea room on Molly’s off days, didn’t actually go into the pantry unless someone broke a mug or needed one of the more exotic teas Molly stocked.

 

“Yes,” Drew said, from his perch on one of the stools. “Starving.”

 

“I wasn’t asking you,” Molly said, laughing as she went over to him and gave him a quick kiss in hello. “I was asking them.”

 

“Well, you didn’t specify,” he said, pulling her close and stealing another kiss, since the kids had made a beeline for the Advent Calendar. “And you know Mac never feeds us on shift.”

 

“Hah. Then what does he do with all the baskets of goodies I send up to you guys all the time?”

 

“He hoards them like a dragon,” Drew told her, and the image of dour Mac, curled up on a pile of picnic baskets and smoking his ever-present pipe, was enough to send Molly into peals of laughter loud enough to not only drag Lily, Zoey, Jack and Schrodinger from the Advent Calendar, but to bring Aunt Margie into the room as well.

 

“What mischief are you up to, Drew McIntyre?” she demanded, her hands on her hips and her eyes sparkling as she surveyed the room.

 

“Me?” he protested. “Why do you think it’s me?”

 

Aunt Margie shook her finger at him. “Because you’re the only one who can make her laugh like that.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like a maniac,” she said, and that set Molly off again.

 

When she finally got her giggles under control, she sighed. “I’ll never look at Mac the same again, you know,” Molly told Drew, who grinned. Then she turned to Aunt Margie. “How’s the day going?”

 

Aunt Margie shrugged. “It goes. It’s a holiday season. We’re going nuts.” She turned to leave, and then apparently remembered something. “Oh, did you have sandwiches set up for tomorrow? We’ve had a request.”

 

“Sort of, but I’m flexible.” Molly ignored Drew’s chuckle at that and went over to the notebook she kept on the sideboard, flipping to the menu she’d set up for the next day. “What’s the request?”

 

“Mr. Dorr asked if you could do a cranberry-nut bread sandwich with cream cheese,” Aunt Margie said. “He said his grand-mere used to do that every year, and he misses it.”

 

“For Mr. Dorr, I would do anything,” Molly said, and wrote down the change, then considered what she could do. The cream cheese was easy – she’d been planning to make cream cheese frosting for carrot cake cupcakes, so she’d ordered some extra. There were cranberries in her freezer, and if she remembered correctly, she had leftover orange concentrate in there too. “Yes, we can totally do that,” she said. “Tell him I’m expecting him to order one now!”

 

Aunt Margie nodded and left. Molly closed the notebook and stretched, then went to the fridge and started rummaging. She was hungry, and she knew Drew was too. Teasing aside, his job was hard, and he used a lot of energy working around the Gates. She tried to remember the last time she’d seen a fat Gate tech or engineer and failed.

 

“Well, what are we doing today?” she called out, as she pulled the remainder of a loaf of bread, some cheese and some roast beef, and the butter. She piled these on the counter and then turned the flame on under the cast iron skillet, then shed her coat.

 

“I love how you have your priorities straight,” Drew said, and Molly gave him a puzzled look. “Food first, and THEN take your coat off.”

 

“I was cold?” she said weakly, and shrugged. “No, I was hungry, I’ll admit it.” She looked over at the four around the calendar. “Whose turn is it today?”

 

That’s apparently what they were trying to figure out. Molly watched as they discussed it in low tones, and then Jack started to look at the calendar.

 

Lily was the one who spotted the little number 3, hidden in a pine tree bough on the sleigh. Jack pressed his nose to it, and the painting crumbled away. He backed up as the snowflake floated out.

 

A blast of cold air followed it out of the hole, cold air that smelled of pine and the forests. It whirled around the small kitchen, chilling them all with its bite.

 

“Oooh, look!” Zoey pointed at the snowflake, which had turned a forest green briefly, and hovered in front of Lily. She held out her hand, and the snowflake pulsed before turning white again. A perfect pine cone with a tag on it landed in Lily’s outstretched hand.

 

What does it say? Jack demanded, his tail wagging so ferociously that he nearly knocked Schrodinger over. Jack’s tail had a mind of its own most days.

 

“It says, ‘The perfect Christmas needs the perfect decorations,’” Lily said, squinting hard at the tag. She looked up at the others. “What do you think it means?”

 

“Well, I think it means that you need to follow the snowflake, after you eat,” Molly said, offering up a plate of grilled cheese and roast beef sandwiches. “I think it will wait, don’t you?”

 

The snowflake sparkled and then went to sit on the end of one of Zoey’s braids. She giggled and then they crowded around Molly.

 

Once the sandwiches were consumed, Molly did a quick clean-up, grabbed some of the cranberries and the orange concentrate from the freezer, and tucked them in a small cooler. “For later tonight,” she told them. “I need to make cranberry-nut bread, remember?”

 

Then they all put their coats back on and looked at Zoey, who lifted up her braid and said to the snowflake, “I think we’re ready now. Where do we go?”

 

The snowflake floated up and shimmered at them, then led them out front, to where Drew’s new Range Rover was parked. It floated towards the vehicle and then stopped, obviously waiting for them to get in.

 

“Everyone in!” Drew said, clicking the doors open with his remote. They piled in, and then he pulled out into the road.

 

Clouds had come in and more snowflakes had started to fall while they’d been in the tea shop, and the Christmas lights glowed in the deepening twilight. Carter’s Cove put on quite a show in December. Molly leaned back against the seat, enjoying the light show. The snowflake was right ahead of the car, glowing above the Range Rover’s lights.

 

“Where are we going?” Zoey asked, as the ride stretched. “Are we even in the Cove anymore?”

 

“Oh yes,” Drew told her. “I think I know where we’re heading, though. What kind of decorations do you think we might find out here for Christmas?”

 

They didn’t have to answer, as a large sign that said “Lavalle Christmas Tree Farm” loomed out of the pine trees on the side of the road. The snowflake strobed again, and then vanished as they pulled into the driveway.

 

“Oh,” Zoey said, as they all got out and breathed in the pine-scented air. “This is wonderful.”

 

“Haven’t you ever gone to a tree farm before?” Lily asked her.

 

Zoey shook her head. “We have an artificial tree.” When Lily stared at her, incredulous, she shrugged. “Mom says real ones are a fire hazard.”

 

“Well, they are, if you don’t keep them watered,” said a new voice, as Josh Lavalle, the owner of the tree farm, came out of the small trailer that stood at the edge of the parking lot. “But if you take care of them, they can not only be fine, they can be recycled afterwards.”

 

“How do you recycle a Christmas tree?” Zoey asked him.

 

“We come and pick them up, and make mulch to use in gardens,” he said. He looked at Molly. “How many tickets do you want?”

 

“Two,” Molly said. “One for us, and one for Lily and Jack.”

 

“Sounds good.” He handed her the tickets, and then went to go and talk to another couple who had just climbed out of their car.

 

Molly turned back to her group. “Okay, so Corrine said nothing bigger than six feet this year,” she said. “She wants to make sure it fits in the living room with the tree topper, without your father having to take some off the bottom.” Lily nodded vigorously. “And I don’t need anything bigger than four or five feet. Got it?” They all nodded this time. “Then go ahead and look!”

 

Lily grabbed Zoey’s hand. “Come on!” she cried. “Let’s go find the perfect tree!”

 

Molly and Drew strolled behind them as they ran off. “This was such a good idea,” he said, slipping an arm around her waist.

 

“Yep.” Molly rested her head on his shoulder and sighed happily. “It was.”

 

They wandered through the trees, hearing the girls shout and Jack bark as they looked for trees. Schrodinger was quiet, of course, but Molly could “hear” his thoughts as they debated various trees. She really didn’t care what kind of tree they got. What she cared about was the fact that she was going to get to share the entire Christmas season with the two guys she really loved, for the first time.

 

“So, what do you want for Christmas?” she asked Drew. “You never gave me a list.”

 

He didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I really don’t want anything this year, except to spend it with you and Schrodinger. I’ve got everything I want.”

 

“Everything?” she teased gently. “There’s not one thing that you don’t have that you want?”

 

“Well, of course, but where are you going to find a castle for sale around here?” he teased back.

 

“Are you challenging me?” Molly asked.

 

“Oh no!” Drew laughed. “I know better than that!” Then he looked off over the trees. “Honestly, though, I don’t know what I want. I’ll think on it.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Molly, Drew, we found it!”

 

The high-pitched shout of joy from Lily brought them at a run. She and Zoey were dancing excitedly in front of a tree that reached full branches up to the gently-falling snow. It was just a shade under 6 feet, and Molly nodded. “Your mother and father will love it,” she told Lily, and handed her the tag to tie on one of the branches. Each ticket had a number attached to it – Josh had already taken the other half of the ticket off before he’d given it to them, and written her name next to the numbers in his log book.

 

“Now you need to find one for Molly,” Drew told them, and they ran off again.

 

“Not as big!” Molly reminded them. “Lord, why do I think I’m going to get a huge tree this year?”

 

“Because they’re enthusiastic?” Drew chuckled. “Besides, a big tree wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

 

“Where would we put it?” Molly pointed out.

 

“Well, there’s that.”

 

However, the second time the cry went up, Molly and Drew had to admit that they had done wonderfully. Schrodinger and Jack had found a compact balsam fir, just a shade over four feet tall, with full branches and a lovely scent.

 

“You’re right,” she told them, as Drew put the tag on the tree branch. “This one is perfect too.”

 

“So now what?” Zoey asked, as they tromped back through the snow to the parking lot. “Are we going to get a saw?”

 

“Not yet,” Lily said. “It’s too early.”

 

“Too early?”

 

Lily nodded, clearly in her element. “If you cut the tree and put it up now, it runs a greater chance of drying out. So around the 15th or so, we’ll come back, and Josh will have the tree cut and waiting for us!”

 

“That’s really cool,” Zoey said, as she looked around. “Maybe I can convince my mom to get a real tree this year.”

 

Josh wasn’t outside when they got back to the parking lot, but his son Cory was, and he grinned. “Did you find trees?”

 

“We did!” Lily told him excitedly. “I can’t wait to come back and get it, so we can decorate it!”

 

He chuckled. “I’ll bet. Now, hold on a minute. Dad said something came today for you guys, and he wanted to make sure you didn’t leave without it.” As he ducked into the trailer, Lily and Zoey traded curious looks.

 

Do you know what this is? Schrodinger asked Molly, who shook her head.

 

Cory came back out with four large wreathes, each already decorated. “Yep, here they are. Ordered specially for each of you.”

 

They received their wreathes with awe, Molly and Drew taking Schrodinger and Jack’s for them. Each one was different, and beautiful. Lily’s had gingerbread men dancing all over it, while Jack’s had dog bones, tied with the same red ribbons on Lily’s cookies. Zoey’s and Schrodinger’s had blue ribbons, hers holding snowflakes on, and his holding dragons.

 

Oh, look, it’s Ember! He cried, nudging Molly.

 

“I know!” she said, admiring the wreath. “It looks just like her, doesn’t it?”

 

Ember was the dragon that Drew and Old Man Winter had rescued last year. They carried the wreathes back to the Range Rover, and headed off into the night.

 

When they dropped Zoey off at her house, she jumped out with her wreath clutched tightly in her hand and sprinted to the door, where her mother stood waiting. “Mom, Mom, look what I have!” she called, holding the wreath up. “Isn’t it pretty? They gave it to us – we each got one! Can we put it up? And can we go back and get a tree? Please?”

 

Mrs. Allard looked at the wreath, and then smiled down at her daughter before looking out at the car, where Molly and Drew and the others were waiting to make sure Zoey got in safely. She waved, but Molly wondered if she was truly as happy about the wreath as she was pretending to be.

 

Time to talk to Aunt Margie, she decided, as Drew put the Range Rover in gear. If anyone knows anything about the newcomers to the Cove, it’s her.

 

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.

I might be leaving LJ

Edited to add:  And now it calls me a liar.  *sigh*  I'm still posting here, but I'm not reading the comments much.  It's just too hard to get into anymore...

For some reason, it and WP just aren't talking anymore.  I've updated the password, and nope, nothing.  I can't get into it at work anymore, and I really don't have time to keep it up.  So I'm downgrading this to a Basic account when my paid account runs out, and I won't be updating here anymore.  Sorry!  You can keep up with me at www.vg-ford.com.