Sheila noticed antlers protruding from both side windows of an old red pickup truck in the right-hand lane. Smiling as she pulled alongside, she noticed that the man in the front seat was dressed like Santa, white beard and all, and darn if he didn’t have a giant red ball like Rudolph’s nose on the front of that red sled.
“Merry Christmas,” she shouted, and waved as she passed him. “How fun is that?”
She started singing “Here Comes Santa Claus,” and was pleasantly surprised to find that she actually remembered all the words. It was another story when she tried to count off “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” however, hiccupping on what her true love was supposed to give to her each day, so she just made it up as she went along—and laughed when for lack of a better idea for the tenth day she sang “Ten perfectly manicured fingernails!” Tapping them on the steering wheel, she sang on, quite pleased with herself.
The Chestnut Ridge sign welcomed her back.
Passing through town it was a different situation here. Main Street was quiet, and there was a bustle of activity at the big church, where they were setting up a live nativity.
Not ready to answer a lot of questions about where’d she been, she parked on the street and walked down to Orene’s. Randy’s and Natalie’s vehicles were both parked out front.
She left her suitcase on the front porch and walked inside. “Hey. It’s me,” Sheila shouted.
“Sheila? Where have you been all day?” Natalie rounded the corner from the kitchen. “Orene is being really evasive about it all.”
“No, she’s not. I didn’t tell her where I was going. I had some things to take care of.”
“That’s what she said.”
Sheila shrugged, a teensy bit of snicker escaping. “Well, that’s all there is to it.”
“She said you might not even be back until morning. Why do I think you’re leaving something out?”
“Is there anything to eat? I’m starving,” Sheila said.
Orene piped up. “You know there’s always something to eat! Spiral-cut ham and sweet potato biscuits. They should still be warm.”
“Perfect,” Sheila said, purposely ignoring Natalie’s questions not just to torture her bestie a little but also because it would make her announcement that much sweeter. “Aren’t we supposed to deliver our Christmas Tree Stroll tree tonight?”
“We are,” said Randy as he walked into the room. “It’s about time for us to head over to the stadium to pick it up.”
“That’s exciting,” Sheila said. “Do you know who it’s going to?”
Natalie pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket. “A Ms. Ferebee. She’s a widow who lives near the old mill. I’ve got the address right here.”
“Oh gosh. Yes,” Orene said. “It’s her first Christmas alone. Her sister asked to put her on the list even though the deadline had passed. She was so worried about her when she found out she hadn’t decorated.”
“First Christmases without your husband are the hardest,” Natalie said.
“I know.” Sheila hugged her. “So hard.”
“Eli and I will meet you over at Ms. Ferebee’s house to unload the tree and set it up,” Randy said.
“That works. They’ll load it up for us at the stadium. You riding with me, Sheila?”
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
Natalie and Sheila headed for the stadium. A line of trucks was already forming at the stadium gate. They watched the volunteers load the trees.
The line moved surprisingly fast.
Natalie edged up for her turn, handing a red-haired boy in his teens her form with the information on it.
“Be right here, ma’am,” he said with a big smile.
“He called you ‘ma’am,’” Sheila said with a laugh.
“That sucks. We are not that old.” Natalie pursed her lips. “I don’t feel that old.”
“We’re not. He’s just that young. And brought up right!”
“The Chestnut Ridge way,” Natalie said.
“Yeah. It’s a whole different world up here.” She sat back in the seat and watched as two men in red firefighter T-shirts carried a tree out to the truck. “Did they wrap our tree in plastic, or did they just chuck a dead body into the back of your truck?”
Natalie laughed. “It’s that clear moving wrap. They said it keeps the ornaments mostly in place so we can just unwrap and voilà it’s perfect again.” Natalie crossed her fingers.
“It looks like an alien,” Sheila remarked. “Hopefully it works, and it’ll fluff back out nicely. It looks menacing. I hope we don’t scare this old lady to death when we show up on her doorstep with it.”
“They do it every year.” Natalie handed Sheila the sheet of paper with the address on it. “Can you put this address in your phone?”
“Got it.”
They drove to the other side of town, up a winding road. Natalie’s headlights came on as dusk began to fall and the clouds hung low like fog ahead.
“It should be up here on the left,” Sheila said.
The GPS announced their arrival, and Natalie stopped and texted Randy to see where they were.
RANDY: Coming up behind you now love.
She glanced in the rearview mirror, then turned in to a driveway marked with blue reflective markers on each side of a black rail fence. The porch light was on, but only one light in the house glowed.
“Think she’s home?” Sheila said.
“Hope so.” She put the truck in park. “Let’s see.”
They waved to Eli and Randy, who were getting out of their truck and dropping the tailgate on Natalie’s by the time Natalie and Sheila reached Ms. Ferebee’s door.
Sheila knocked.
Randy and Eli wrestled the tree out of the truck and lugged it to the porch.
“You’re right. It really looks like a dead body,” Natalie agreed. “Maybe we should ring the bell. She might be hard of hearing or something.”
“Or not home. It’s Christmas Eve. She could be at church.”
“True.” Natalie reached over and rang the bell.
Finally, a white-haired woman in a red robe opened the door, and peered around the edge. “Can I help you?”
“Hello, Ms. Ferebee. We have a special delivery for you,” Natalie said with all the glee of a rock-star elf.
“Oh?”
“May we come in? I’m Natalie, and this is my best friend, Sheila. I live up on the mountain.”
“Best friends? How sweet. But I didn’t order anything. You must have the wrong address.”
“No ma’am. Actually, we’re here to see you. We have a little surprise for you.” Sheila hoped Ms. Ferebee wouldn’t have the same first impression of the mummified tree that she’d had.
“We won the Christmas Tree Stroll,” Natalie piped up. “And you, my new friend, are the winning recipient of it.”
Randy danced the tree behind them catching Ms. Ferebee’s attention.
Sheila couldn’t hold back the laughter. “I promise it’s a beauty under all that cellophane. We were just trying to keep all the ornaments in place for you. You don’t have a Christmas tree, do you?”
“Oh my goodness. No, I didn’t put one up this year. Please, come in.” She opened the door enough for them to enter. “This is such a nice surprise.”
“Merry Christmas,” they said as they stepped inside and the guys shuffled the tree in behind them, then moved a chair out of the way to make room for it.
Sheila pulled a pair of scissors from her purse and started cutting away the clear wrap, straightening the ornaments as she went. “See! It’s beautiful! Did you make it over to the Christmas Tree Stroll? It was my first year.”
“I didn’t go this year. First time in my life I didn’t.” She looked sad. “I probably should have.”
“You missed one glorious night,” Natalie agreed.
A tear slipped down the woman’s cheek. “You have no idea how nice a surprise this is for me.”
“We’re glad you like it,” Natalie said.
Randy whispered goodbye, and he and Eli left to help the next folks tote and set up their tree.
Ms. Ferebee pressed her hands to her heart. “Birdhouses?”
“Yes. We called it the Feathered Friends Home for the Holidays tree,” Natalie said. “Do you like it?”
Through tears in her twinkling blue eyes she said, “Did you know that my husband was a bird-watcher?” She reached for one of the birdhouses. “This is my first Christmas in fifty-seven years that I’ve been without him.”
“I’m so sorry.” Sheila took her hand. “We’d heard you’ve had a difficult year. Can I give you a hug?”
The woman stepped right into her arms. “Sometimes we need hugs,” Sheila said as she held the tiny woman tightly.
Ms. Ferebee stood there a long time before she stepped back, and patted Sheila’s hand. “I’ve been really struggling.” Tears fogged the woman’s glasses. She tugged them from her face, wiping them clear on her robe. “He would’ve loved this.”
“Oh gosh, I hope this is a welcome addition to your holiday. If it’s not—”
“It’s as if you knew I needed a reminder, or a sign, that he is still with me in a way.”
“He always will be,” Natalie said, pressing her hand to Ms. Ferebee’s. “He will be in your heart always. You take your time. It’s hard going through the holidays without the ones we love.”
“It is.” She stood quietly staring at the tree. “There are good memories though. So many of them.”
“Cling to those.”
Ms. Ferebee smiled.
Sheila said, “I bet he loved your smile. I hope you enjoy the tree.”
“Bless you. This really couldn’t be more perfect,” Ms. Ferebee said.
“Merry Christmas,” Natalie said.
“And to you both.”
“Hang on, I want to get one more thing.” Sheila jogged out to the truck and came back. “This is my business card, but my cell phone is on it. I’m going to be in town pretty often. If you need something, please call me. We’re sort of new in town, it’ll be nice for us to make some new friends, and I have a feeling we can help each other have some better days ahead.”
“I’d really like that. Thank you. That’s so kind of you.” Ms. Ferebee placed the card on her mantel and looked at the tree. The guys had plugged the lights in. She reached out and touched one of the birdhouses. “The bird nest as the topper is such a unique choice. Makes me think of new beginnings. Quite appropriate for this year. Thank you.”
Natalie edged toward the door. “We’ll let you get back to your Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas.”
“And Happy New Year,” Sheila added.
Natalie and Sheila held hands as they walked back to the truck.
“She’s so sweet,” Natalie said.
“I know. Bless her heart.” Sheila sniffled. “I can’t believe how well replacing the real topper with the bird nest worked. We couldn’t have planned that better.” She sniffled. “Oh my gosh, I’m crying like that first time we watched P.S. I Love You.”
“I know. Me too.”
“Fifty-seven years. She was married her whole life!” Natalie got back in the truck. “We should plan to visit her.”
“Definitely,” said Sheila. “I want to do a lot more things like this.”
“It feels good, doesn’t it?”
Sheila suddenly wanted to tell Natalie about her plan. At least part of it. “Natalie, I sold the Tesla.”
“What? When?”
“I drove to Richmond this morning. Sold it to one of my clients. He was beyond thrilled.”
“Did you make a profit?”
“A huge one. I’m going to loan the Jacob family their insurance deductible money.”
“What?”
“It’s the right thing to do. I know it might sound a little crazy, but I really want to do this.”
“I know they’ll appreciate it.”
“I’m going to give it to them tonight when we take the presents over.”
“You sure you want to do this? It’s a lot of money.”
“It is, and I realize there’s a risk that I might not see it again, but I think they’ll pay it back. I’m offering them zero interest, but they’ve got to have the money to get started, else they could be stuck for who knows how long.”
“I know. I’ve been racking my brain over it too. I think it’s a good thing.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d think so. I’m going to see if Orene would mind if I come up to stay more often.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I was thinking today that I could run my business from here, it would kind of force me to take my hands off the wheel a little—”
“And quit micromanaging?”
“That too. Plus, being here with you, and Orene, it just feels right.”
“That’s exactly how I felt about Chestnut Ridge when I came here. It felt safe, even though I didn’t know what all the pieces of the puzzle looked like.”
“I understand that now. I’m really sorry I wasn’t more supportive about your decision to move here. I knew it was out of necessity at first, but I didn’t recognize the peace that you gained being here until spending time here with you.”
“It’s hard to explain.” Natalie pulled over in front of the church where the nativity was set up.
“It is.”
“Want to go see?” Natalie’s eyes were filled with hope.
“Heck yeah!” They bailed out of the truck and walked over, listening as the children dressed in robes told the story they all knew so well. One of the lambs was sort of stealing the scene, probably calling for its mother, who called back in an annoyed “baaa-aa.”
“No wonder they didn’t want live animals on the stage. What is the saying, never act with kids or animals? Scene-stealers … all of them!”
The lamb suddenly spotted its mother and nosed right under her belly, practically lifting her right off the ground. Luckily, the focus shifted to the star of Bethlehem, which had just been lit high above them on the tallest tree.
“I wish we’d picked up Orene to see this,” Natalie whispered.
When the play ended, it was with quiet jubilation that they walked back to the truck.
Natalie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She smacked her pocket trying to quiet it and answered.
“Hey, babe,” Natalie said into her phone. “Yes. We’re on our way back now. Is everything okay?”
She glanced toward Sheila and rolled her eyes. “Yes. We’ll see you there.”
“He’s dying for us to get back to Orene’s.”
“He misses you. Isn’t that sweet?”
“It is.” Natalie started the truck and drove the short distance back to Orene’s.
When they got there, Tucker was sitting on his tailgate with packages in a blur of colors and patterns stacked up behind him.
“Hey there,” Sheila said.
“Hi. Thought you two might want to deliver presents to the Jacob family with me.” He gave Sheila a wink. “A little less covertly than before. I told them we’re coming.”
“I’m going to run in and see Randy.” Natalie ran up the porch steps, calling his name before she even hit the door.
“Count me in.” Sheila patted her coat pocket, where the check and note were safely tucked inside a little Christmas card. “Can you give me a minute, though? I just need to talk to Orene. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Take your time,” he said. “I’ll be right here.”
“Great.”
Sheila went inside. It always smelled like home here. She could hear Natalie talking up a storm to Randy about the visit with Ms. Ferebee. “Orene, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, honey. What’s on your mind?”
“I have a favor to ask of you, but promise me you will say no if it’s not convenient.”
Orene chuckled. “Well, that’s an intro. What do you have up your sleeve?”