Chapter 28 #2
Noel joined them outside with her camera in hand and whispered, “Everything is ready” into Cavin’s ear.
They all played in the snow and watched it fall on the creek for a bit longer before heading in to open presents.
As Levi and Laney tore the paper off each gift, joy filled Cavin’s and Noel’s hearts as they watched the children’s little faces bubble with excitement.
Scout loved playing in the wrapping paper scattered across the floor, and that was the only present he seemed to need.
Noel was thankful he never discovered nor started eating the candy.
When the kids finished opening gifts, they ran upstairs and brought Noel a box that Cavin helped them wrap last night.
“What is this?” Noel inquired, smiling with that smile that only a mom is capable of producing.
“We’re helping you save the candy shop,” Levi announced.
Noel’s brow furrowed ever so slightly, but she continued to wear an appreciative grin as she wondered what she would discover inside. What did Levi mean? How did he know? What did he know?
Laney punched Levi in the arm. “Don’t tell her, just let her open it.”
Noel slowly peeled back the foil wrapping and discovered a small wooden box featuring an ocean wave resin acrylic design handmade by their friend who owned Grace Bell Art.
Cavin helped the kids inconspicuously buy the item at the farmers’ market, and when Noel lifted the top and pulled back the tissue paper stuffed inside, she discovered a large pile of wrinkled cash and one quarter.
“It’s 2,525.25,” Laney disclosed.
Levi then punched her in the arm. “You’re supposed to let her count it,” he reminded his cousin.
“That’s a whole lot of money to count,” Noel remarked as she looked at both of them before turning her eyes to Cavin. “Where did all this come from?” she asked, wondering if Cavin had something to do with it.
Cavin pointed to the kids. “Your little entrepreneurs.”
“We made it at the hot chocolate stand,” Levi announced proudly.
“It was Cavin’s idea to make all the numbers say twenty-five like Christmas,” Laney disclosed. “We even have a little bit of money left over to start the pet finding business.”
“You guys are the best,” Noel proclaimed, wrapping both of them with big hugs like the greatest gifts ever that they were to her.
Cavin and Noel opened a few small presents from each other that they picked out at the farmers’ market event including matching alpaca socks, a book cover journal from Beach Chicken Designs, and a kazoo from Junkman’s Crossroads.
The kids snickered at many of the vendors’ names.
Levi was the one who talked Cavin into getting his mom the instrument from the long-haired fellow playing a license plate guitar because he thought he looked like Jesus.
The gift that excited Cavin the most was one he and Noel discovered simultaneously in the Island Accents booth.
The seller told them that his wife hand painted the two Santa hats that encompassed six panes of frosted glass on an antique wooden window.
The piece exceeded their budget, but as fate would have it, the man secretly whispered into Cavin’s ear just before he and Noel walked out of the space, “My wife and I decided to give this artwork to the first couple we saw wearing Santa hats at the Christmas market. Come back for it when Noel isn’t around,” he added, “so you can give it to her for Christmas.”
Noel’s face lit up as she held the art at arm’s length with the Christmas tree in the background, and happy tears tickled her cheeks when she set it down and hugged Cavin. “How did you get this?” she asked.
Cavin told her the story, causing more tears of joy to flow from her eyes, and he couldn’t help but let the bottom fall out of his as well.
When the kids got bored watching the adults open presents, they ran off to play with Scout some more.
“Did you tell the kids that the candy shop was struggling?” Noel questioned, thinking back to the gift she opened from them and wanting to believe Cavin wouldn’t have betrayed her trust.
“Actually, they told me,” Cavin reported.
Noel didn’t hide her furrowed brow this time. “What?” she asked. “But I told you, just the other day.”
“They told me way before that,” Cavin shared. “But I was sworn to secrecy, so do not tell on me, please.”
“When did they tell you?” Noel asked. “How did they know?”
“One of them accidentally blurted it out the first day I bought hot chocolate from them at the stand,” Cavin explained. “That is why they came up with the idea in the first place.”
Noel covered her gaping mouth. “How did they know?” she asked again.
“They mentioned they overheard you and Mrs. Madelyn talking one day about the store struggling and possibly having to close it.”
“Oh no,” Noel sighed. “I feel terrible.”
A moment later the kids came running back over.
“Mommy, we have to take Scout to Rudy.”
“Yes, we do,” Noel agreed, almost forgetting the dog didn’t belong to them.
“I am going to miss him,” Laney shared.
“I know you will, sweetie, but Mr. Rudy will be very happy to have his dog back.”
“I imagine Rudy will let you all play with Scout often,” Cavin inserted. “Also surprising Rudy with Scout today will be the best Christmas gift.”
As expected, Rudy was tickled pink—or maybe red and green—to have Scout back, safe and secure on the boat.
“You kids just made this old man the happiest person alive,” Rudy declared as they oohed and aahed at his fancy boat that Levi and Laney decided looked more like a house on the inside.
“It doesn’t even feel like we’re in a boat,” Laney observed, taking in the size of the rooms and the height of the ceilings.
“It’s way bigger than our house,” Levi whispered at one point while Rudy gave them the tour.
In the living room area, Rudy opened a checkbook he inconspicuously picked up in the office a few minutes earlier. “I owe you both a finder’s fee,” he declared, gazing at Levi and Laney with appreciation.
“What’s that?” Laney quizzed with a scrunched brow.
“It’s the reward I promised on the posters.”
“Mr. Emerson, you really don’t have to give the kids anything,” Noel interjected. “We all had the best time looking for Scout.”
“Noel, I am a man of my word,” Rudy offered, then turned his attention back to the kids whose eyes shone wide with pleasure.
“Since there are two of you, I am writing each of you a check for $5,000. It’s up to your mom how you use it, but maybe some of it can go to start your animal non-profit; you could save a portion for college and careers and maybe spend a little on yourselves,” he concluded by rubbing their heads.
“We are giving it all to Mom to save the candy shop,” Levi announced enthusiastically.
“Yeah, Beaufort Candy Company is more important to our family than anything,” Laney shared.
“You kids have the most amazing hearts,” Rudy noted. “However, your mom doesn’t need you to save the candy shop.”
Noel couldn’t hide her sudden confusion, and Cavin, standing on the other side of her and the kids, squinted his eyes a bit wondering what Rudy planned to reveal.
“She doesn’t?” Levi questioned.
“But we thought . . .,” Laney trailed off.
Noel didn’t have the heart to tell the kids that the cash they gave her this morning wouldn’t save the candy shop, and she couldn’t imagine that an additional $10,000 would quite fill the gap either.
It might buy some time, but it would only offer a temporary fix.
However, she didn’t really want to have this conversation with them, especially here, and she had no idea why Rudy made the comment.
She couldn’t help but wonder if the kids previously mentioned the fate of the candy shop to him like they did with Cavin.
Regardless, why would he make the statement that she didn’t need the kids' help?
“Cavin, is it okay if we give Noel and the kids their Christmas present earlier than we planned?” Rudy asked. “The timing seems perfect since you all just brought me my Scout.”
Tears of joy swirled in Cavin’s eyes like the scene in a snow globe, and somehow as if an imaginary glass existed, they held there rather than falling down his cheeks. “Yes, of course,” he agreed, now knowing exactly what was about to happen.
Noel’s eyes darted between Rudy and Cavin who both seemed genuinely excited about something.
“I told Cavin this story last night when he came over asking for my thoughts regarding all that’s going on with the candy shop, specifically with the proposal and Cavin’s research.
” As Rudy spoke, Noel glanced at Cavin out of the corner of her eye wondering why he chose to share this information with Rudy.
She wasn’t upset with him, at least not yet, but definitely curious why he would involve someone who was more or less a stranger to her.
“You see, the reason I came to Beaufort was because I found out the man who taught me how to make chocolate passed away,” Rudy continued.
“That man was your grandfather,” he offered, looking at the kids with appreciation.
Noel’s eyes suddenly swelled with amazement at the announcement that her father taught one of the most well-known chocolatiers in the world how to make chocolate.
Rudy went on to share the story of how he ventured to Beaufort many years ago after walking away from his dad’s lucrative business to discover his own passion.
At the time he thought he wanted to open a restaurant on the waterfront because he dreamed of being a chef.
While he explored the idea, he wandered into the candy shop one day where Noel’s dad offered him a job on the spot.
Needing a steady income while raising money for his restaurant, Rudy took the position because of the kitchen experience opportunity, and the rest proved to be history.