Traversing the streets of the town, Nicholas drew the fresh, crisp, air into his lungs, his hands tucked deep into his coat pockets to shelter them from the cold. It was about a week from Christmas, and the evidence of it was everywhere; the lampposts, store windows, trees, and every surface that allowed for a red, green, or gold ribbon, were decorated. Even some of the people’s wagons sported ribbons at the top of the buckboards, their festive cheer starting to rub off on him as he made his way to church.
He had closed the mine a few hours earlier, granting the men time to spend with their families this Christmas. Just because he didn’t have anyone to spend it with, did not mean others had to suffer as well. However, he realized that it wasn't true—he did have someone to spend his Christmas with.
A smile graced his face as he remembered his lunch arrangements with Noelle and Carol, his heart lightening as he finally didn’t have to spend Christmas alone. He couldn’t believe he had almost forgotten, but he supposed old habits die hard. Along with thoughts of Christmas, came thoughts of Noelle—and their little moment they’d had the other morning before he’d left. He would see her shortly at the church, for the annual Christmas Caroling, but somehow, it felt like it had been ages since he’d last laughed with her, seen her smile, watched little Carol’s chaotic ways.
He wondered what she made of it all. Did she mind his visits? Or did she come to adore them as he did? Was he overstepping boundaries? It didn’t seem like it, as she hadn’t yet said anything. And, unless he was oblivious to it, she did not seem upset in the least when he visited them or did things with them. Nicholas wondered, thinking back to all the times he’d been with them and how they had reacted to him. Why was he overthinking things in the first place? It wasn’t like his friend would change her mind about him at a moment’s notice; if she was still a friend and not something more.
That was another of his problems. He didn’t know where they stood with each other; if they were very good friends, or if she had become something more to him in the last few weeks. They’d been spending so much time together. He didn’t even know if he was ready to have her be something more than a friend. He had been so alone for so long, he didn’t know if he had it in him to be a good partner to a wonderful woman like Noelle. Then there was the whole issue of the lying—he still didn’t know how to feel about that. Would their relationship be made to last if it was built on lies in the first place? Should they proceed with whatever was growing between them? Or would they be set up for failure?
Before Nicholas could answer his own questions, he turned onto the path that would lead straight to the entrance of the church. It seemed his thoughts and dilemmas would have to wait until after the caroling, or when he was alone.
The church was teeming with people, the carolers dressed in pretty, matching robes, all of them standing side by side on the small, raised dais at the front of the church. They would have a small ceremony, and then a performance before the carolers entered the streets to spread the holiday cheer.
The people around him were all dressed in the holiday colors, most of them sporting the deep forest green of Christmas cheer. Everyone conversed joyfully, standing in groups and laughing, as old friends and family reunited in the season of blessings. Nicholas’ eyes scanned the crowd for familiar red hair and its accompanying blonde. He spotted her standing beside Pastor Sam and his wife, smiling and laughing as if nothing in the world bothered her.
It was so at odds with the sobbing woman he’d seen last night. This woman was so different from the one that had suffered so many years of sadness and abuse at the hands of the man that had vowed to protect her, that should have loved her unconditionally. Instead, Noelle looked weightless, and free. As if her admissions to him had aided in bringing on this carefree mood.
Nicholas weaved his way through the crowd, brushing past his own friends while keeping his eyes on her. That laugh pulled him to her, like a tether, a moth to a flame. He heard no greetings, only the sweet pitch of her wondrous laugh. She smiled brightly at him when he finally made it to the small gathering of friends, Pastor Sam greeting him with a quick clasp of hands.
“Nicholas!” Carol squealed, almost shoving him from his feet with the force of her hug. He rubbed her little back, beaming down at her.
“Is that the special dress you’ve been telling me so much about?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow at the green dress done with golden thread, puffy sleeves, and an even puffier skirt. She looked like a Christmas ornament, in the most glorious way, and he could see why she called it her special dress. However, she shook her head,
“No, that one’s red,” she answered incredulously, as if he should have known that. Nicholas lifted his hands in surrender.
“You’ll have to wait to see that one,” Noelle intervened, placing a hand on the girl’s head. “She’s saving it for a special occasion.”
“What could be more special than Christmas caroling?” Nicholas teased, feigning disappointment. Carol just shook her head, and bound off with some of Pastor Sam’s gaggle of children.
Just as she did, Pastor Sam called for the start of the sermon. A shuffling of feet ensued as they all made their way over to the benches, conversation dying off almost immediately. The children were all ushered out of the church and to the adjacent building where they would receive their Sunday school lessons.
It was too cold for them to play outside, so they would have to do with some fun bible stories. Nicholas and Noelle took their seats at the back of the church, a few pews from the middle where all of the people had squeezed themselves together to fit as many people as possible. It wasn’t too comfortable where they were sitting, but it was better than the overstuffed middle pews.
The sermon was short and powerful, Pastor Sam having them all in tears at some point or the other. He had made a point of reminding all what the true celebration of Christmas was, and to not let the gifts and merriment make them forget why they were truly celebrating Christmas. Afterward, the carolers gave an outstanding performance of all the well-known holiday songs, their voices mixing angelically.
The songs rose in a symphony that seemed to echo off the wooden walls of the church, captured and contained by the walls of their hearts. It made goosebumps pebble on his skin, as his voice rose with the overwhelming feelings now taking root in his body. During that moment, Nicholas glanced at Noelle, who was singing in-tune beside him, catching her smile just as their eyes met. It almost took his breath away.
Were it the music, the moment she chose to smile at him, or the heightened feelings—Nicholas didn’t know. All he felt was the ever-growing feeling in his heart. That growing interest he had contemplated earlier. So he smiled back, wondering what it was that was sparking between them.
There was not a dry eye to be seen when everyone filed out of the church.
Afterward, once everyone had dried their eyes and bonded over the shared crying-experience, everyone disbanded, returning to their homes to await the encore of the carolers who would grace their ears with angelic symphonies yet again. Noelle and Nicholas made their way to her wagon, Carol using the few extra minutes they stood talking to play with her friends.
“What are your plans for the evening?” Noelle asked him, coming to a standstill right next to her monstrous mount, Goliath. He huffed, pawing at the snow-carpeted ground, the air escaping from his nostrils appearing as white puffs in the air.
Nicholas shrugged. “For now, getting out of the cold would be nice.” He swore he could feel his toes detach from his feet inside his boots. His hands didn’t feel much better, the digits having gone numb from the biting frost threatening to claim his limbs. When he looked closely, he could see Noelle shivering as well, her nose bright red.
Noelle laughed, glancing back at Carol. “I should probably get her out of the cold too. That wet dress is only cause for trouble.”
The little girl had fancied herself a boy, and went sliding through the ice on the slide as if it were summer. Her dress had become wetter and wetter the more she went down the slide, resulting in a soaking dress and a freezing child. Although, as he watched her hysterically laugh as she was chased by a little girl twice her size, he wondered if she was freezing or if Noelle was freezing for her.
“May I accompany you?” He asked, returning his gaze to the woman before him. “I just want to make sure you get home safe.”
Noelle’s smile stretched across her face, and she nodded. “Of course.” She glanced behind him, looking for River.
“I walked here,” he supplied, when she frowned in confusion. “I don’t live too far from here.”
“But how will you get home?”
He shrugged. “A man walking from ranch to town is different from a woman and child walking from town to ranch.”
Noelle considered, shaking her head. “I understand; but that’s utter nonsense. You can take Goliath and just bring him back when you visit us tomorrow.”
Her eyes were twinkling as she said it, filled with mischief and a determination that suggested it was not up for debate. Nicholas let out a laugh.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, helping her onto the buckboard. Then he whistled, waving an arm at a still laughing Carol. He hoisted the little girl up, then took his own seat and lifted the reins. A quick whip and click of a tongue, and Goliath the Giant Friesian was on his way.
Snowflakes dotted their hair as they made their way home, Nicholas keeping his wits about him on the frozen path so as not to get her wagon stuck in the heaps of snow, or slip on the death-trap they currently rode on. He cleared his throat, trying his best to find a good way to say what he needed to.
“The next time the road looks like this, you leave the wagon behind and come on horseback.” He almost cringed at the harshness of his tone, so he added, “Wagons are death-traps on ice like this.”
Noelle glanced down the side of the wagon, her eyes assessing the direness of the threat he’d just made her aware of. It was a moment before she nodded, for once not having anything to say back or argue against. No wonder they called Christmas the season of giving.
Carol talked the whole way home, telling him all about her day, what they did, how Noelle baked a delicious bread, and how many friends she made during the sermon. His heart almost burst with joy when she told him, relief crashing through him at the thought of her adjusting well to the recent changes and being happy. Not that he’d ever doubted that she would be happy at Noelle’s—the woman had the biggest heart he’d ever seen.
The girl talked so much that he barely noticed the time had passed until they took the turn onto the snow=packed dirt road that led straight to the ranch. It was dark and surrounded with woods, the perfect hiding place for any evildoers. He was suddenly glad he’d accompanied them home, musing that it was better safe than sorry. The dark woods were no place for a woman and child to navigate alone. He had no idea how Noelle had done it all these years, considering Henry was as helpful as a fly on the wall.
Nicholas pulled the wagon to a stop, Goliath’s muted stomps no more than a soft crunch as he plowed through the snow. Noelle and Carol jumped from the buckboard, making their way over to the porch whilst Nicholas removed Goliath from the wagon. The horse protested the slightest bit, ripping the lead from his hands a few times, until he finally got him hitched to a tree.
Noelle was waiting for him when he finally walked up the porch, his hands officially numb and maybe slightly frost-bitten from the unrelenting cold. She was bundled up in a throw blanket, but from her shivering he could tell it was no use.
“Thank you for bringing us home,” she said, smiling gratefully. Glancing at the woods, she grinned sheepishly. “I would have rolled the wagon toward the woods, if only to speed away.”
Nicholas snickered. “They are slightly on the terrifying side of things. It was my pleasure.”
Noelle nodded, looking like she wanted to say more, but decided against it. Trying not to feel too disappointed, Nicholas waited until she was safely inside with the doors locked, before he made his way to Goliath, keeping one eye on the woods behind the pitch-black horse. Although he was ashamed to admit it, he had hoped she’d invite him to stay over again—no matter what type of man that made him.
He did not want to return to an empty house, where there was nothing and no one to greet him but the dark. The way home was sad for him, the house empty of their laughter and smiles.