Chapter Twenty-five
Sheila couldn’t believe it was already the eve before Christmas Eve. Two weeks had sounded like such a long time to spend in Chestnut Ridge, and now she didn’t want it to end.
She got up and made her bed, still exhilarated from last night’s win.
Christmas is almost here.
She was wearing the pajamas with holiday penguins on them that Natalie had given her last Christmas. It had become their tradition to give each other pajamas, and she couldn’t wait for Nat to open the ones she’d picked out for her this year. It was a complete coincidence, but the pattern was called Jolly Good Forest and in muted dark gray and white they looked like a winter Christmas to Sheila, and with the tiny birds amid the snowy limbs, they were sort of perfect following the Christmas Tree Stroll win.
The wooden floors were cold this morning. She pulled warm socks on, then went downstairs.
Orene greeted her. “Good morning. How’s it feel to be a winner?”
“Fabulous.” She poured a cup of coffee and joined Orene at the table. “You should be exhausted. How do you keep up this pace?”
Orene shrugged. “I just do what I feel up to for as long as I want to, and then I take a nap and do it all over again.”
Sheila enjoyed the first sip of coffee. “If only it were that simple. I can’t believe how fast the time has passed.”
“Maybe you need more naps.” Orene lifted her brows. “Could help. Santa will be here before we know it.”
“On the bright side, I’ve been so busy that I didn’t give anyone their presents early for the first time in maybe forever.”
“Well, not for lack of trying,” Orene reminded her.
“True, but you resisted my insisting nature and saved me from myself.”
“You are welcome.” Orene looked quite pleased with herself. “Isn’t this more exciting?”
“I’ve been too busy to even think about it. I want to do something for Tucker, but I don’t want to embarrass him with anything expensive. I mean, we really just met, and he probably won’t be giving me a gift. But it would be so nice to do something for him. He’s pretty much made my holiday. He deserves some kind of thank-you. Don’t you think?” She pushed her fingers through her hair and groaned. “Am I overthinking this?”
“No. I think it’s nice that you want to let him know he’s appreciated. I’m of the school of thought that homemade gifts are always the best way to go in this situation.”
“True. Right!” Sheila nodded. “You are brilliant. Do you always know the right thing to say to everyone, or just to me? Never mind. Doesn’t matter. Would you mind if I did some baking today?”
“Not at all. Make yourself at home.”
“That would be great. I’m going to bake Tucker something special for Christmas.” She got up from the table. “I’m going to take my coffee upstairs. I need to wrap all those presents for the Jacob family that were delivered yesterday.”
“I was afraid the UPS man was going to ask to spend the night he was so exhausted after carrying all those packages to the porch.”
“They had some amazing sales going on. I stuck to my budget, though.”
“It looks like you spent a fortune.”
“I didn’t, but I do hope it helps them have an easier holiday. It just breaks my heart that they went through that.”
“There are a lot of other families going through tough times too. It’s too bad more people don’t help each other the way you are doing. This world would be in a much better place. Kindness breeds kindness, ya know.”
“I know what you mean.” She stood. “Actually, ‘kindness breeds kindness’ sounds like a really good Christmas Tree Stroll theme.” She tapped her head. “I’m tucking that away for next year.” She pressed her finger to her lips. “Shh. Our secret.”
“I told you! You’ve got the Christmas Tree Stroll bug. You’ll have ideas all year long.”
“I definitely want to do it again. And I think this lesson in helping others is long overdue for me. I’ve never really done anything like this.”
“Knowing you, that really surprises me, but it’s never too late to start,” Orene said.
Sheila went upstairs and gathered the gifts she’d wrapped for Natalie and Randy and put them in the fancy gift bag she’d bought at Hobby Lobby last week to carry them over to the cabin on Christmas morning.
She packed some of her things to clear the room enough to get down to the work at hand—wrapping presents.
With the pretty paper spread out across the bed, she began the process, one gift at a time.
It took her nearly four hours to get everything wrapped. She’d run out of store-bought rosette bows, but made do with extra ribbon simply folded over in a one-loop bow.
The gifts looked nice stacked by the door.
After lunch, she went to the store to get everything to make from-scratch cheddar wafers and a big pot of tomato basil soup. Mom taught her to make both. She and Cassie could devour a whole batch of them in short order. To this day it was her favorite winter meal.
Orene wasn’t home when Sheila got back, so she got right to work. It didn’t take long for the aroma from the savory spices in the cheddar wafers to fill the house. The soup simmered as her first batch of crispy cheese crackers were about ready to take out of the oven.
Sheila watched through the oven window as the edges of the lacy wafers began to brown.
She’d made extras so even after she filled the big mason jar with them for Tucker, there’d be plenty for Orene to enjoy.
The timer buzzed, and the wafers looked perfect. She switched a new baking sheet for the finished ones to let them cool a bit before putting them on the rack.
“What smells so good in here?” Orene walked in wearing a red skirt and white blouse. Her Christmas vest had snowflakes appliquéd on the front. “When you said you were going to use the kitchen, I didn’t expect to come home to this. It smells so homey in here.”
“It always smells better when someone else does the cooking, don’t you think?” Sheila felt at home in the kitchen. Truth be told, ever since she and Dan split, she hadn’t done much cooking or baking, so this was a treat.
“You’ve got a point.” Orene wandered in, looking at everything. “I don’t remember the last time someone made themselves at home in this kitchen. I love it!”
That made Sheila happy. As lonely as she was for her own mother, she could only imagine how lonely it must be sometimes for Orene. “I made plenty for you.”
“May I?” Orene’s hand hovered over the cooling cheddar wafers.
“Please do.”
Orene lifted one to her mouth and took a delicate bite. “These are so light and crispy. Very nice.”
“I made tomato basil soup to go with them.”
“My favorite.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll serve some up for us right now.” Sheila took down two soup mugs from the cabinet. The sweet smell of basil rose from the mugs as she filled them. She carried them to the table and set a small plate of the crackers on the table between them.
Orene reached for her hand as Sheila sat. “I’m so glad you’ve spent this holiday here with me. It has been so nice having you here. Please know, honey, you are always welcome. Any time, for no reason at all.”
“It’s special for me too, Orene.”
“Tucker has added to a lot to the holiday for you too, hasn’t he?” Her lips pulled into a smile.
“I’m almost afraid to admit it.” She couldn’t deny it, though. “I hope he likes this as a gift. Something simple, but personal.” She didn’t mention that she had one more thing she planned to put with the gift, as a remembrance of their time together. “I’m meeting him tonight. We’re going to set up for the holiday food drive boxes over at the fire station so the team can just assemble them in the morning and get them delivered. He says it’ll take all night, but he hasn’t worked with someone as organized as me before. I figure we can knock it out in a couple of hours.”
“I know he’ll appreciate your help. Gifting your time for others is always a good way to spend time together.”
“I’m planning to do a lot more of that next year,” Sheila said.
“Already thinking about New Year’s resolutions?”
“Sort of, except different this year. I want to make tangible ones that I will keep. Maybe I’ll just call it a change of pace. Resolutions seem so easy to break.”
“If your heart is in it, then I’m sure you will be true to the change.” Orene ate her soup, and took another cracker. “These are addictive!”
“They are. I should’ve warned you.” She nibbled on one. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so fulfilled as I do here. I think a lot of that has to do with the things we’ve done as a community.”
“Well, I won’t argue with you there.” Taking the last spoon of her soup, she stood. “Why don’t you let me clean up these bowls so you can relax before you pull that all-nighter with Tucker?”
“Thanks, Orene.” Sheila rose, and stood there watching Orene begin to busy herself. “Orene. Thank you for being like a mother to me.”
“It’s my honor, darling. You are a wonderful young woman. I’m sorry your mother can’t see you shine right now.”
That night, Sheila packed her car full of the gifts she’d wrapped for the Jacob family, then drove over to Tucker’s house. She knocked on his door, hoping he’d go with her to deliver them.
She stood there waiting, suddenly wishing she’d texted him first.
He opened the door. “You’re early.”
“I am.” She grimaced. “Is it okay? I’m not interrupting, am I?”
“No, come on in.”
She stepped inside. “I was hoping you’d help me with something.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“I went a little wild with gifts for the Jacob family,” she admitted. “I wanted to kind of sneak up to the chapel house and leave them on the doorstep.”
“That’ll be tricky unless they aren’t home.”
“I know.” Her confidence dipped. “Maybe it’s a silly idea.”
He looked like he was thinking about it. “Unless it’s not. Hang on.” He pulled his phone out and dialed someone. “Hey, Doris. Do you happen to know what the Jacob family is up to tonight?”
He nodded, and Sheila was dying to know what they were saying. “I wondered about that. When will they be back home?”
He glanced up at the clock. “That’s actually perfect. Thanks.”
“What? What did she say? What’s perfect?” Sheila asked.
“They aren’t home,” he said. “They won’t be for about another hour.”
“Then let’s go. Hurry.”
He put on his shoes and they took off in her car.
“I’m so nervous. I feel like I’m breaking the law,” she teased.
“Imagine how Santa must feel breaking into houses all across the country on Christmas Eve.”
“You’re right.” She lifted her chin. “If he can do it, we can do it.”
“We have plenty of time,” he said.
“But we don’t want to get caught.”
“We won’t,” Tucker assured her.
They pulled through the gates and drove up the path to the chapel house. All the lights were on, making it look a little heavenly.
“I could live there,” she said. “It’s so pretty.”
As soon as they pulled up to the front she punched the button to lift the falcon-wing doors. “Let’s do this.”
Sheila raced back and forth toting the pretty packages and piling them near the door. “I feel like I should have worn my black leggings and sweatshirt,” she said. “Hurry! Go. Go. Go.”
He laughed at her silly antics. “You went bonkers. What all did you buy?”
“Mostly practical stuff for the family, but toys for each child, socks, mittens, the works. Okay, bonkers. Yes, just call me bonkers.”
“Is that it?” He double-checked the car.
“Yes. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
He hopped into the driver’s seat and smashed down on the gas pedal so hard they kicked up dust all the way out.
Sheila held her breath until they cleared the driveway gates and got back on the main road. “Thank goodness.” She couldn’t stop laughing. “That was so exciting.”
“It was!” He tapped the steering wheel, humming “Dashing through the snow…”
Lights swept the pavement ahead of them. The car passed them going toward the castle house.
“That might have been them,” he said.
“You think?”
He held his hand up for a high five. “Mission accomplished.”