Christmas in winter hill, p.13
Christmas in Winter Hill,
p.13
As she helped Emily pack her bag, Krista ran a mental to-do list through her head. First of all, she’d call Pauline and tell her the news. Then she’d write a formal resignation letter—and she would put the Christmas House key inside of it. She’d make her letter as gracious and professional as possible and even ask Mayor Barry for a letter of recommendation.
She’d arrange for the U-Haul truck tomorrow—maybe one that could pull their little red car behind it. She’d give notice on the apartment and utilities. She and Emily would spend the next couple days repacking boxes. She’d pick up the moving truck by the end of the week and perhaps pay the twenty-something brothers next door to help them load it. By the weekend she and Emily would be out of Winter Hill for good.
15
As hard as Krista tried to keep her bad feelings toward the city hidden inside, she knew they must’ve been seeping out. Emily was obviously more perceptive than Krista realized. And by Wednesday afternoon, her young daughter’s negative comments were starting to concern her. Was Emily becoming as jaded as her mother?
“Winter Hill is a stupid old place,” Emily declared as she dug out some pans from a low cupboard, handing them one by one to Krista.
“Why do you say that?” Krista set the frying pan into a box.
“This town is called Winter Hill, but it never even snowed here.”
“That’s true.”
“And it’s way too cold.” She handed Krista a saucepan. “Last night, after I went to bed, it took forever for my feet to get warm.”
Krista almost pointed out that the apartment’s heating system wasn’t too great, but thought better of it. “Yes, my feet were cold too. I guess we need some warmer socks.”
“So all we get here is cold, cold, cold—but no snow.” She shook her head as she handed Krista a pie tin. “And even if it did snow, we don’t have a backyard to build a snowman in. So what’s the use?”
Krista sighed as she slid the tin down the side of the full box.
“We could’ve had a backyard, but they tricked us.”
“Tricked us?”
“Yeah, first they said I won the Christmas House and then they took it away. That wasn’t fair. The people in Winter Hill are selfish and mean. Well, except for Anna and her family and my BFF and my teacher. But the rest of them are bad. Bad, bad, bad.” She handed her a cake pan with a dark scowl.
“Oh, they’re not all bad, Em.” Krista thought about Conner as she closed the full box. She still hadn’t heard from him this week, but she knew he was working out of town. Hopefully Pauline had tipped him off by now. “I’ll admit that a few of them aren’t too nice. But most of them really are good.”
“If they’re so good, why did they take the Christmas House away from me? Why did they make you quit your job? And why are we leaving?”
“It’s a complicated story, Emily. But you just need to realize it’s probably for the best. It’ll turn out okay. We might have disappointments, but God never lets us down. Not in the end.” Krista tried to believe this herself as she started to load another box. “Remember when I told you we were moving here? You were so upset about leaving Phoenix. And then we got here and you decided it was really great.”
“Yeah, but now we’re leaving again.” Emily looked up with sad blue eyes. “I don’t really hate Winter Hill, Mama. Even if it doesn’t snow ever—” Her voice cracked with emotion. “It’s just that I’m mad. Really, really mad.”
Krista hugged her, holding her close. “The truth is I’m mad too, Em. I know just how you feel.” She let her go, looking into her eyes. “But I guess we’ll just have to forgive them, won’t we? Otherwise, we’ll be stuck being mad forever.”
Emily sniffed. “I don’t think I can ever forgive them. Not the ones who took the house away from me. I just think that’s mean and nasty. Just like the Grinch before he turned good. Santa Claus said—oh, I know he wasn’t really Santa Claus because he’s really the mayor and my principal is his wife and she was pretending to be Mrs. Claus. But the mayor said the Christmas House Committee picked my essay, and he said that I won. So how can they take my house away? How is that fair?”
“I don’t know, honey.” Krista didn’t want to go over this again and again. What good did it do? She looked at her watch. “But I do know this—it’s almost dinnertime and our kitchen is a disaster area. How about if we go to Comet’s tonight?”
Emily agreed, but not with any real joy. And Krista felt oppressively sad as she drove them to the drive-in restaurant. She knew that Emily eventually needed to accept the realities of this world, but she was only eight. She had already been abandoned by her father . . . and now this. Wasn’t that a big load for a little girl to bear? Krista felt certain she’d been through much harder things by that age, but she’d hoped for better for her child. Emily didn’t deserve this!
By midmorning Friday, with the help of neighbors, Krista had the U-Haul truck completely packed. All she needed was to get her car onto the trailer behind the moving truck, and she and Emily would be on their way. Krista had already made a reservation at Moose Lodge, about four hours away, and the manager had even given her permission to park the U-Haul in an overflow parking lot until after Christmas.
As they stood outside the emptied apartment, Krista studied a YouTube video on her phone, trying to learn how to safely secure her car to the trailer. Halfway through the tutorial, her phone began to ring. Tempted to let the call go, she saw it was from Pauline and decided to answer. Especially since she still hadn’t had a chance to speak to Conner.
“Oh, good,” Pauline said quickly. “Where are you right now? Have you left yet?”
“In the parking lot outside the apartment.” She smiled at Emily, tweaking the puff ball on her stocking cap. “We’re all packed up and ready to go. We have reservations at Moose Lodge and—”
“Hold off a bit, will you?” Pauline sounded urgent.
“But if we leave now, we’ll get there in daylight,” Krista explained. “And I really don’t want to drive this big truck after—”
“Well, then at least let me tell you the news. Or have you already heard?”
“I’ve been pretty busy, Pauline. I haven’t heard any news.”
“Can you hold for a moment?” Without waiting for an answer, Krista was placed on hold, listening to the peaceful instrumental music that City Hall hoped would pacify those waiting for assistance.
“Drat.” Krista was tempted to hang up, but curious to hear “the news,” she waited. She looked up at the lead-gray sky. Was it her imagination, or was it getting darker? Her watch said it was not quite noon.
“Okay, I’m back. You still there, Krista?”
“Yes. What’s the news?”
Pauline proceeded to tell her that Byron Peters and his private investigator had collected solid proof that Winston had indeed done some serious embezzling. “He’s been arrested and taken into custody, Krista. And his bail is set quite high.”
“You’re kidding.” Krista sat down on the edge of the car trailer.
“Not in the least. Naturally, everyone was sort of in shock last night when it all transpired. Beth has been here all morning, getting the full story. I told her everything I know. I want this to make the news in a big way.”
“I guess people have a right to know the truth.” Emily sat down beside her, snuggling close to get warm.
“So, you can come back to your job now.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Krista felt torn. Part of her wanted to go back. But part of her still ached. She put her arm around Emily. “That doesn’t really take care of everything, Pauline. There’s still the question of city employees and ineligibility, you know?” She didn’t want to go into details of the Christmas House again, not with Emily listening. “It’s not only about Winston.”
“But don’t you see?” Pauline persisted. “Winston was using the Christmas House against you. It was his smoke screen. He wanted to take the focus from what he knew he’d done. He thought if he got you into hot water, he’d escape detection. But it didn’t work.”
“Seems like it worked to me. You heard about what the mayor and council said on Monday.”
“Yes, but . . . hey, are you alone?”
Krista frowned in confusion. “Well, Emily is here with me.”
“No one else? Yet?”
“What do you mean, yet?”
“Oh, I just—”
“Look, Mama.” Emily tugged on Krista’s parka sleeve. “There’s Conner’s big white pickup. Anna is with him.”
“As a matter of fact, your son and granddaughter just pulled up.”
“Oh good.” Now Pauline hung up.
“Well, that was interesting.” Krista pocketed her phone in time to see Conner parking beside the moving truck. But there were other vehicles pulling in as well and before long the whole apartment complex parking lot and the other side of the street quickly filled with cars too. Krista felt a slight rush of fear—had everyone come to run her out of town? But not Conner and Anna—they weren’t like that.
“What’s going on?” she asked Conner.
“We’re here to take you home.” He wrapped both Krista and Emily in a big bear hug. “Looks like you’re ready.”
“Home?” Krista asked as he released them.
“To the Christmas House,” Anna declared.
“What?” Emily’s eyes lit up.
Suddenly the mayor and his wife, all the council members, the Christmasville Committee, and members of the Chamber of Commerce gathered around. There were many others as well whom Krista didn’t know. Even Beth was there, camera in hand and snapping photos.
“We are here to express our deepest apologies,” Mayor Barry declared. “We hope that you will forgive us.” He turned to Emily. “As you recall, Santa Claus told you that you were the winner of the Christmas House last week, but then certain things happened.” He grimaced as his wife nudged him with her elbow. “Unfortunate things that we all deeply regret. But we are all here to officially declare that after a thorough and complete review, we have all determined unanimously that you, Emily Galloway, are the official winner of the Christmas House. Congratulations.” He handed Emily the brass key again.
Krista was speechless—and slightly skeptical. Was this going to turn out like last time? It wasn’t fair to put Emily through this again. But it was too late. Emily was already beaming. “Thank you, thank you,” she cried out. “Thank all of you!”
Krista took the mayor aside as Emily continued to gush her gratefulness, leaping from one foot to the other with unbridled joy. “Are you sure?” Krista whispered to him. “I can’t do this again. Not to my daughter. It will kill her.”
“We had a big emergency meeting at City Hall just now.” He nodded to the others all happily smiling. “Everyone agreed.” He pointed to another car pulling up. “And that will be our city attorney and your assistant. Let Byron confirm it to you. He completed his legal research and gave me the first green light. But then I called the meeting and everyone agreed, Krista. Emily won that house fair and square. It’s hers . . . and yours.”
“It’s true,” Byron confirmed as he and Pauline joined the celebration. “Emily won the house. It’s been determined that the Christmas House was never owned by the city and the contest was not run by the city. There are no ineligibilities. It’s all legal and fair.”
“And it will all be in tomorrow’s paper,” Beth told Krista. “Right next to the embezzlement news. So everyone in town will know the truth.”
Conner wrapped an arm around Krista, giving her a warm squeeze as he sneaked her around to the other side of the U-Haul truck. “Remember I told you it would all work out.” He leaned down to kiss her, taking his time—and leaving her breathless. “You need to trust me more.” He grinned as he led her back to the excited crowd.
“And we’ve got plenty of hands to help you move your furnishings, the ones you don’t need anyway, into a storage unit on my property.” He patted the side of the moving truck. “That’s great you’re all packed up and ready to go—ready to go home to the Christmas House.”
“Yes, yes!” Emily jumped up and down. “We’re ready to go home! We’re really, really ready.”
Krista did not know what to say—she was literally speechless. So she turned to the happy crowd still gathered around her and simply murmured her thanks. But her eyes were filled with tears of genuine joy this time.
“You’re welcome,” the mayor said. “You’re welcome—from everyone.”
“You haven’t just given us the Christmas House,” she told them. “You’ve given us a home. Thank you. Thank you so much!” And now everyone cheered.
“Look, Mama!” Emily pointed upward with wide eyes. “It’s snowing!”
And the crowd cheered even louder.
With around 250 books published and 7.5 million sold, Melody Carlson is one of the most prolific writers of our times. Writing primarily for women and teens, and in various genres, she has won numerous national awards—including the Rita, Gold Medallion, Carol Award, Christy, and two career achievement awards. Several of her novels have been optioned for film, with one scheduled as a Hallmark TV movie for summer 2019. Melody makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband near the Cascade Mountains. When not writing, Melody enjoys interior design, gardening, camping, and biking.
MelodyCarlson.com
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Table of Contents
Cover
Endorsements
Books by Melody Carlson
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
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About the Author
Back Ads
Cover Flaps
Back Cover
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Melody Carlson, Christmas in Winter Hill
