Nan was surprised to find she wasn’t the first one in the kitchen on Christmas morning.
“What are you doing here?” she asked Gertie. “Why aren’t you enjoying your own Christmas?” Eggs, biscuits, sausage, grits, ham and gravy, jellies, butter—everything was ready for an enormous breakfast.
“Christmas is no fun for two old people. Jake and I wanted to watch Clara. He’s lighting the fire right now. You go tell Clara and her father they’ve got fifteen minutes. After that, we start without them.”
But it didn’t take Clara that long. In exactly twenty-one seconds she was out of bed, into her robe and slippers, and downstairs wanting to know why the door to the gathering room was closed. Will wasn’t far behind. He had taken time to comb his hair and brush his teeth, but everything else was left for later.
“When do we get to open our presents?” Clara asked for the fifth time.
“After you finish your breakfast,” Nan said.
“But I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat something,” Will said. “Gertie has worked very hard to fix a nice breakfast.”
It was apparent to all four adults that while Clara might appreciate Gertie’s effort, she wished she had saved it for some other time. She toyed with her food, barely tasting what was put on her plate. She ate only half of a hot biscuit covered with butter and grape jelly.
“I think it’s time to open the presents,” Nan announced.
Clara was out of her chair and at the door like a flash.
“Close your eyes,” Nan said.
Clara slammed her eyes shut and put her hands over them.
“Don’t open them until I say so,” Nan said. She guided Clara out of the kitchen, down the hall, and into the gathering room. “Now open your eyes.”
Clara dropped her hands. She looked around at the many gifts. “Which one is mine?”
“All of them,” Nan said.
Clara’s eyes grew wider and wider. “Everything?”
Nan smiled and nodded.
“Can I, Daddy?”
Will nodded.
There were two dolls, one a beautiful, blond princess doll dressed in a lovely white gown, the second a country doll with pink cheeks and freckles on the end of her nose. She wore a calico dress with an apron, a sunbonnet on her unruly red hair, and black boots on her feet. Clara walked straight to the second doll, picked her up, and hugged her close.
“You have to give both your dolls names,” Gertie said.
“This is Peggy,” Clara said.
“The little girl she met at church last night,” Nan whispered to Will when he looked totally at sea.
“And the other?” Gertie prompted.
“That’s Nan,” Clara said.
“I don’t look a thing like—”
“I think that’s a perfect name,” Will said. “Now before you get busy with your other presents, Daddy has something for you.”
Will produced a package from behind one of the chairs. Clara tore the paper off to reveal a pretty white Sunday dress and a new pair of shiny, black patent-leather shoes. Clara couldn’t wait to try them on. She kicked off her slippers, shrugged off her robe, and pulled her nightgown over her head.
“Where did you get that?” Nan asked in an undervoice.
“I told him about it,” Gertie said. “I saw it at the mercantile.”
“It was the only thing in the place I’d buy,” Will said.
Clara put her shoes on bare feet and stood up and adjusted her dress.
“You look beautiful,” Nan said. “I think you ought to give your father a great big kiss.”
Clara ran over and gave her father a big hug and kiss. “Now I’ll look at the rest of my presents.”
Nan picked up a package wrapped in plain paper and handed it to Will. “It’s not much, but I thought you might like it.”
“Shortbreads!” Will crowed with laughter. “I’m never going to live this down, am I?”
“I’m afraid not. If I forget, Gertie’s bound to remember.”
Gertie and Jake were exchanging presents. They weren’t aware of anybody else just then.
“I’ve got a present for you,” Will said. “It’s a little strange, but I hope you’ll like it. Actually, I’ve got more than one, but open this one first.”
Puzzled, Nan accepted the envelope Will handed her. Inside she found a folded piece of paper. When she opened it up, she found a crude picture of a store with Atkins Mercantile written across the front.
“Now this one,” Will said, handing her a second envelope.
Inside, Nan found a second piece of paper. This time, Atkins Hotel was written across the front of a building that looked more like a country inn than a hotel.
“I don’t understand,” Nan said.
“You’ll never make an artist,” Gertie said, looking at the pictures with a critical eye. “Not if you can’t draw Wilmer’s inn or Grady’s mercantile any better than that.”
Nan grabbed the pictures and looked at them again. Then she looked up at Will and back at the pictures.
“You didn’t… You couldn’t… I didn’t know…”
“For goodness’ sake,” Gertie said, “they aren’t that bad.”
“It isn’t that,” Nan said. “Don’t you see? His name is on them.”
“I’m not blind,” Gertie replied. “Though why he’d want to put his name on those buildings is more than I can understand.”
“You bought them, didn’t you?” Nan said, turning to Will.
He nodded.
“You’re not going to take Clara to her grandparents?”
He shook his head.
“You’re not going back to Boston?”
“No.”
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Gertie demanded.
“Where am I going to live?” Clara asked.
“Right here, darling,” Nan said. She gave the child a hug, but her eyes never left Will.
“Where’s Daddy going to live?”
“That depends on whether Nan likes my last gift,” Will said.
He took a small box out of his pocket and opened it. A diamond ring nestled in a bed of deep-blue velvet. Nan looked at the ring, then at Will.
“I would have gone with you. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes, but I discovered I didn’t want to go. It’s ironic, but I discovered my new life was hollow, an illusion. Everything that’s real and lasting is right here.”
Will took the ring out of the box. His eyes never left Nan’s face, but somehow he managed to slip it on her finger. They stood there, holding hands, staring into each other’s eyes.
“Where’s Daddy going to live?” Clara asked again.
“Right here,” Gertie answered. “Now why don’t we go into the kitchen? Nan and your father have a lot to talk about.”
“But they’re not saying anything.”
“Yes, they are. You just can’t hear it.”
“Are they going to do that a lot?”
“Probably.”
* * *
“So that’s what you did yesterday.” They were seated on the sofa, Nan nestled in Will’s arms. “I knew Wilmer wanted to sell, but what about Grady? His family has owned the mercantile for a hundred years.”
“Maybe, but Paralee wants to join her son and daughter in Charlottesville. And when a woman wants something—”
“I know. Daddy used to say, ‘When a stubborn woman wants something, a wise man lets her have it.’ Is that how you felt about me?”
“You helped me to see what I wanted most. Once I knew that, the rest was easy.”
“Truly? You won’t regret it in a few years?”
“I haven’t changed what I want to do, just where I want to do it. I plan to build a business empire from one end of the valley to the other.”
“But you’ll come home every night?”
“Every night.”
“And you won’t be away at Christmas.”
“Never again.”
“And Clara can have some brothers and sisters?”
“As many as she wants. When can we get started?”
* * *
“What’s that funny sound?” Clara asked Gertie.
“I think it’s Nan saying yes.”
“It doesn’t sound like yes to me.”
“It will when you’re old enough to understand the question.”