Chapter 17
Willa Rose made coffee and two pieces of avocado toast on Sunday morning.
She thought back over the past couple of years as she ate breakfast. Two years ago, on a freezing day like this, she and Vada had the same breakfast, then hurried off to the church to take care of little last-minute details for the program.
One year ago, she had sat with her mother, who drifted in and out of sleep.
Every breath was labored, and she seemed to be waiting for something or someone before she could make the transition from earth into eternity.
Willa Rose had told her that it was all right to go on if she was tired, but the last two days of her life she kept asking for Erica.
“She never came, not once, and I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive her,” Willa Rose muttered.
A hard knock on the front door brought her out of her funk. She rushed over, thinking she might find her father on the other side, but it was Tripp.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Why would I be ready at nine o’clock?”
“The electricity blinked last night. Your phone is turned off and you didn’t reset any clocks in the house. It is ten twenty-five right now, and the program starts at eleven.”
She headed down the hall in a dead run. “Give me five minutes to get dressed and run a brush through my hair.”
“If you can do that in five minutes, we need to call the Smithsonian or get in touch with whatever religion decides about saints,” Tripp said.
She stopped and turned around. “What are you talking about?”
“It will be a miracle,” he told her.
“That’s not even funny,” she said.
Tripp looked down at his watch. “Nine minutes, thirty seconds, and it is a little bit funny.”
Willa Rose had never slapped on a bit of makeup, gotten dressed, and twisted her hair up into a messy bun so fast in her entire life. She shoved her feet down into a pair of cowboy boots and found Tripp finishing off a cup of coffee when she made it back to the kitchen.
“A miracle has happened. You made yourself even more beautiful than you were when I arrived, and you did it in four minutes and ten seconds. Shall we go?”
“As you can see, I’m wearing boots, so I don’t need a knight in shining denim jacket to carry me to the vehicle,” she told him.
“But parking will be at a premium with all the family vehicles plus a big percentage of the townsfolks’ cars and trucks who are coming for the program.
You might have to put your SUV out in the north forty, so to speak, and walk half a mile back to the barn.
This denim jacket knight can take you right up to the door,” Tripp said.
“Don’t worry. It’s not a date. I don’t have the energy to date two women at one time, and Melanie might be the jealous type. ”
“Then I will take you up on the offer,” Willa Rose said as she put on her coat. “What is this big deal about Santa Claus?”
“Every year after the program, there’s a potluck dinner in the fellowship hall,” Tripp explained on the way outside to his truck.
“Joe Clay dresses up as Santa Claus and pictures are always taken of the kids sitting on his lap. Each child gets a wrapped present and takes home a paper sack full of candy, fruit, and nuts.”
“And where is this happening?”
He opened the door for her and then jogged around to his side of the truck.
“While everyone is enjoying the potluck, Joe Clay, Brodie, and Knox will slip away and set the big Santa chair up in the barn. He’ll come from behind the curtain where the animals are penned up and surprise everyone. Then the fun begins.”
“If this is the first year you’ve been involved, how do you know all this?” Willa Rose asked.
“Seven sisters,” he said with a shrug and started the engine. “I’m surprised that they haven’t given you the rundown. But then there’s a couple of brand-new babies that have them all spun up, and you’ve fit so well into the family that they probably forgot that you haven’t been here that long.”
He’s right. You really are fitting into the community as well as you do in Poetry, her mother seemed to whisper in her ear.
“Looks like we’ve got a full day ahead of us,” she said.
“Yep, and then tomorrow the carnival leaves.”
“And Ivy stays behind to live at the Paradise,” Willa Rose said.
“I’d forgotten about that. I was focusing on today and the fact that we both have a date tomorrow evening.” Tripp groaned. “I am not looking forward to making small talk for an hour.”
She reached across the console and patted him on the shoulder. “We will survive and then we don’t have to worry about Aunt Bernie’s matchmaking for a while.”
“Why don’t you just marry me, and then we would never have to worry about it,” Tripp asked.
“Are you serious?” Willa Rose gasped.
“No, but Aunt Bernie wouldn’t have to know,” he answered. “We could say that we are going to have a long engagement. Then she would move on to Knox and leave us both alone.”
“It’s a great idea, but to make it work, my dad would have to believe it, and I couldn’t do that to him.”
Tripp turned into the lane to the Paradise. “You are right, and I could never lie to Hank. I guess we’ll have to be satisfied with Aunt Bernie’s promise to lay off for a little while.”
“That’s right, and maybe when she sets us up again, we can renegotiate a new deal, like no more until Easter or Mother’s Day.” She opened the door and got out as soon as Tripp stopped the vehicle. “Thanks for the ride. You were right about the parking.”
“You are welcome, and I’m always right.”
“Until it comes to a fake engagement,” she shot back.
Willa Rose had to stand still inside the utility room to adjust to the noise of a dozen children lined up in the kitchen, while a bunch of older folks practiced their songs in the living room.
When she had adjusted from a quiet morning—except for the race to get dressed—to the total chaos in the house, she caught Rae’s eye and asked, “What do I need to do?”
“Daddy is taking the children to the barn on the flatbed trailer so they don’t get their shoes all muddy,” Rae answered. “You and I can ride with them. You will start everything at exactly eleven o’clock, which is ten minutes from now.”
“‘Start everything’?” Willa Rose asked.
“Either Parker or Endora gives a little welcoming speech before the program begins and reminds everyone that the potluck begins when it’s over and after dinner Santa Claus will arrive…
That kind of thing,” Rae answered. “Gunner will film the whole thing so those of us who are in the house getting things ready for the potluck can watch it. We didn’t expect so much food to get brought in, but then the blizzard kept folks holed up for weeks.
We’ve all got cabin fever. Oh, and you might need to entertain a little while the little kids are leaving and we bring out the older group. ”
Mary Jane came into the kitchen and handed off a microphone to Willa Rose.
“When you finish the introduction, give this to Bo. Y’all will hand it off to each other as needed, and it will finally end up in Ivy’s hands.
Everything is coming along better than we thought it could. Thank you for stepping in for Endora.”
“You are welcome, but it’s been a team effort. Hopefully, next year they’ll have the church ready to go back to normal,” Willa Rose said.
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Mary Jane said and disappeared back into the foyer.
Rae clapped her hands to get the kids’ attention.
“Okay, here’s the rules. We are going to stay on the path that has been cleared.
You are going to let either me or Miz Willa Rose help you up on the trailer, and then you are going to sit down on one of the quilts.
When we get to the barn, we will help the little kids get up on the sleigh, and the bigger ones will ride on the carousel. ”
“But…but…” one little guy started.
“This is for the program, and there are no buts, but afterward if we can talk Santa Claus into coming with presents, then everyone who wants to ride the carousel will have a turn. Any more questions?”
One little girl’s chin quivered. “I don’t remember all the words to the songs.”
“You just look pretty and sing what you do know,” Willa Rose said. “There’s going to be plenty of others singing with you. Now let’s get in line and remember what Miz Rae told you.”
The little girl beamed. “Yes, ma’am.”
***
Tripp peeked out from between the curtains circling around the animal pens when everything went quiet in the barn full of people.
Rae led the little children down the aisle between two rows of folding chairs, and Willa Rose followed behind them.
She had been beautiful that morning when he arrived at her house.
Her hair had been going every which way.
She still had sleepy eyes and was wearing a tattered robe that looked like it had survived a couple of world wars.
But in less than five minutes she had transformed into someone who could have won a beauty contest. Her thick, dark hair was twisted up on top of her head.
A bright-blue sweater made her skin glow, and her slim skirt hugged her curves.
“Damn it,” he said under his breath.
Why did he have to have real feelings for her, and why did she think they were just playing around with all their banter? Ever since those kisses in the old store, he had felt something he couldn’t describe between them.
“Are you swearing in church?” Ivy whispered from beside him.
“This is a community center today,” he informed her. “But damn it anyway.”
Ivy giggled under her breath and held up a Bible. “I’m reading straight out of this, so for a little while, it’s a church. And what are you so upset about?”
“Then forgive me for swearing in church, and it would take a couple of hours to tell you why I was talking that way,” he answered. “Right now, Willa Rose motioned for us to take our places.”
“Lead the way, and I will follow,” Ivy said.