Chapter 1 #2
“The best day of the year,” Levi reported, unwrapping his peanut butter cup and dropping it into his mouth.
“I’m opening this one next,” Laney reported as she ripped the clear plastic from around a multi-colored mini candy cane.
“Smart girl,” Noel pointed out. “That one will last for a while if you suck on it rather than chew.”
“So will my chocolate,” Levi shared, sticking out his brown tongue.
“You’re silly,” Noel replied. “Make sure the wrappers go into the trash can.”
As she finished the sentence, they snatched up their wrappers like little vacuums and ran to the end of the counter where a wooden barrel lined with an empty plastic bag doubled as a finish line at cleanup time.
A moment later a knock came at the front door, and a pair of eyes cupped by hands on either side peered through the glass.
“Mrs. Madelyn,” Laney and Levi shrilled, and another race ensued to a broad-shouldered lady with wavy white hair and large-rimmed black glasses.
A crisp November morning breeze blew through the doorframe while Levi and Laney temporarily held Mrs. Madelyn there, each wrapped around either of her legs.
She squeezed the balls of their Santa hats as if they might toot like bicycle horns.
“How are my two favorite munchkins?” Mrs. Madelyn inquired through a belly laugh that entered the store before she did.
The children responded quickly by each grabbing a hand. “Come see what we got,” Laney encouraged.
“Yeah, it’s candy,” Levi blurted out.
Elbows rested on the counter, Noel’s palms held her chin while she watched the greeting with a tired smile.
“I brought coffee,” Mrs. Madelyn announced when she finally spotted Noel.
“Oh, so sorry,” Noel blurted out. “Where are my manners? I was so engrossed in the reunion that I didn’t even realize you had hot coffee in your hands,” she confessed as she jumped from the stool and waltzed toward the front of the store.
“Wait, you don’t have coffee in your hands, you have little hands in your hands. ”
“Fret not,” Mrs. Madelyn responded. “I anticipated this greeting and placed the beverages on the sidewalk outside the door.”
“Wisdom,” Noel gleaned, “I will grab them.”
A few stray leaves swirled on the sidewalk as Noel shivered in response to the difference in the outside temperature, making the warmth radiating from the inside of the coffee cups comforting.
Once she turned the lock and made it to the counter, she found her three elves huddled around the candy like a fire as Levi and Laney explained each piece to Mrs. Madelyn.
“Now that everyone is here,” Noel announced after the kids plucked Mrs. Madelyn’s Santa hat from the box and mangled her hairdo, “are you all ready for the Christmas fun to begin?”
“It already has,” Laney proclaimed.
“But now it’s even more fun because Mrs. Madelyn is here,” Levi added.
“That’s right, and now we can decorate the Christmas tree and the whole shop then put out the new candy,” Mrs. Madelyn reminded them.
“The Christmas tree,” Levi and Laney shouted when Mrs. Madelyn’s and Noel’s eyes followed her impactful words to the back of the store where a twenty-foot live Eastern Red Cedar Christmas tree awaited its dressing.”
Noel smiled from ear to ear. The children had been so excited about their Santa hats and stockings that they ran right by the beautiful present the local Christmas tree farm delivered late last night.
“It’s so big,” Laney remarked.
“They always bring us the biggest one,” Mrs. Madelyn reported.
Last night Noel repeatedly thanked the farm’s owner when he showed up with two helpers to unload, set, and even fluff the tree. It made one less thing to worry about.
“It’s taller than all of us if we stood on each other’s heads,” Levi proclaimed.
The kids ran to the base of the tree and stretched their necks as if stargazing.
Noel and Mrs. Madelyn took their first sips of coffee as they watched the children from afar in awe.
“What are you asking for this Christmas?” Mrs. Madelyn whispered to Noel.
“I already have everything I need,” Noel stated.
“How about a handsome man?”
Noel’s eyes closed, and her lips fell open. She had a handsome man—once. “There is no replacement for Fletcher Puckett.”
“Of course not but every person deserves a companion and a helpmate. You run yourself ragged around here taking care of this shop and those two beautiful children; one of whom is more yours than your brother’s, whom I pray a miracle over every day.”
“With all due respect, Mrs. Madelyn, I don’t want any other man.”
“My dear, there is an overlap between wants and needs,” she disclosed.
“There are lots of days when I don’t want Jack Brown, but I need him regardless of whether my pride allows me to admit the truth.
Not in the way these culturally confused modern women say they don’t need a man but to fulfill the deepest desires of the human soul. ”
Noel snickered. “Jack is a treasure,” she acknowledged by attempting to turn the conversation towards Mrs. Madelyn’s marriage rather than discussing the hole in her own heart.
“He’s a pot of gold where the rainbow falls,” Mrs. Madelyn granted.
“Don’t you mean at the end of the rainbow?” Noel questioned yet thankful for the lead-in to a new topic.
“I like to imagine that rainbows never end. They just rise and fall on the earth, and beneath us they make a circle underground that we can’t see with our eyes but can feel in our hearts.”
The visual played out in Noel’s mind. “Sounds peaceful.”
“Something tells me that God might have a surprise gift in store for you this Christmas season,” Mrs. Madelyn predicted before taking another sip of her coffee.
Noel nearly spit out the words that came to mind: You better not try to play matchmaker during this busy holiday season. Thankfully the kids came running back over with ornaments in their hands putting an end to a silly conversation.