Yours for Christmas (Fool's Gold #15.5)(24)
“Not necessary.”
The door swung open. Before she could figure out how that was possible, she saw over a dozen women waiting in her new living room. Larissa and Isabel stood together, with Dellina right behind them. Noelle and Patience, Heidi, Annabelle and Charlie, the Hendrix triplets, Consuelo, and even Mayor Marsha was there. They were all dressed in jeans and sweatshirts.
“Surprise!” they yelled.
Bailey blinked. “I don’t understand.”
Isabel hugged her. “We’re here to help. We’re going to clean and sand and paint and put down shelf paper. By Sunday night, your house is going to be ready for you to move in.”
Larissa laughed. “Don’t look so surprised. We love you. We were planning on helping when Kenny talked to me about it. The two of us arranged everything.”
“I’m on lunch duty,” Noelle said, patting her stomach. “I can’t do paint, what with being pregnant. But I’m happy to run errands.”
Bailey looked at all her friends and felt their affection wash over her. Turning to Kenny was a different story. She was afraid of what he might see in her eyes if she looked at him just now.
“I don’t know how to thank all of you,” she said honestly.
“Child, we’re your family now,” Mayor Marsha told her. “All right, everyone, let’s get to work.”
By the time Bailey had collected Chloe from school, her house was controlled chaos. Charlie Stryker, a firefighter in town, had taken control of the work parties. The bathrooms and kitchens were being scrubbed from top to bottom. Kenny had been joined by Jack and Sam. They were hard at work, prepping the walls.
“I want to complain about the traditional division of labor,” Charlie said when Bailey walked in with her daughter, “but the guys are doing good work. So I won’t.”
Bailey listened to the happy conversations from every corner of the house and knew that she would treasure this memory always. As for the man who had made it happen...well, that was a problem for later.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE DAY BEFORE the move, Bailey packed up her kitchen. At least the breakable items. Pots, pans and flatware she simply placed loose in boxes. She wasn’t going to move across the country—just a few blocks away.
The weekend had been a lot of work, but so much had been accomplished. The house was clean and painted. Chloe’s bedroom was a beautiful lavender color, with the doors, windows and trim all done in white. Bailey had picked a soft blue-gray for her bedroom, and a muted sage-green for the rest of the house.
She straightened, putting her hand at the small of her back. There were aches and pains from all she’d been doing, but it was worth it. Right after lunch she was meeting the delivery guys at the new house. They would deliver and put together Chloe’s bedroom furniture. Tomorrow was the move and then she and her daughter would be in their new home.
She pulled the step stool over to the cabinet above the refrigerator, then climbed up. There were only a few serving pieces up there—ones she used for special occasions, like Christmas dinner.
As she lowered the items to the counter, she smiled. There was a crystal bowl she used every year. It had be a wedding gift from her grandmother. The bowl had been in the family for nearly a hundred years. While she loved that bowl, for some reason, Will had loved it even more. Her smile faded as she remembered how hard last Christmas had been and how she hadn’t bothered to get down the fancy serving pieces. She just hadn’t been able to face them.
Now she touched the bowl and remembered all the good times they’d had as a family. She might not have been madly in love with Will before he died, but she would always remember how he’d been a good husband and father.
She picked up the crystal bowl to wrap it and saw there was an envelope tucked inside. Her name was on the front, in Will’s handwriting.
She started to shake. After picking up the envelope, she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. She opened the envelope and found a Christmas card inside. She opened it.
Bailey, I’m putting this where I know you’ll find it on Christmas Eve. I’m heading out tomorrow and I won’t be back for six months. I’m sorry to be away from you and Chloe, especially at the holiday. Know that I’ll always love you both, so much.
Her eyes filled with tears. She hadn’t found it on Christmas Eve, she thought sadly. Hadn’t known he left it. Now, looking back, she wondered if having his card would have made last Christmas easier or more difficult.
She turned the card over in her hand, then got up and took it into her bedroom. She had a box of Will’s things she was saving for her daughter. When Chloe was a little older, they would go through them together.
She placed the card inside and closed the box. Then she got back to her packing.
* * *
KENNY WAITED BY the elementary school. He was a couple of minutes early, with his SUV in line with all the parents picking up their children. In Fool’s Gold most kids walked home from school, so he was surprised at the number of drivers. Then he noticed all the sports equipment and stickers for things like dance and drama and figured the kids being picked up were heading to an activity.
He was there for Chloe. Bailey was finishing up the last of her packing before the move tomorrow, so he’d scheduled his stocking shopping trip with Chloe for that afternoon. Bailey had been grateful to have more time to get work done and had tried to give him money to pay for the stocking contents, but he’d refused. He wanted to be a part of their Christmas morning, however remotely.