“It’s only your cookies he doesn’t like. He still loves you. In fact, he loves you so much he didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
The scowl downgraded to a frown. “Well.”
On impulse, Molly grabbed the plate of cookies. “Wait here.”
“Where am I going to go? You haven’t given me my stamp,” Mrs. Bigman groused.
Molly took her plate back to the break room. She dug out her lunch bag and pulled out the quart bag of pretzels she’d brought. She dumped them into the sack, then stuffed as many cookies as she could manage into the bag. They’d surround them with packing peanuts and send them overnight. On Molly.
She handed it to Mrs. Bigman. “Get one of those priority boxes and address it to your son. We’re going to send him some cookies he’ll like.”
Mrs. Bigman blinked in surprise. “Really?”
“Really. And when you get home, call and tell him not to toss these. You had help and they taste fine.”
Mrs. Bigman grinned and hobbled off to get a box.
The next woman in line stepped up to the counter. “That was really sweet of you.”
“We’re here to serve,” Molly said.Christmas all year.
CHRISTMAS
IN AUGUST
23
Sunny and Travis joined the rest of the clan for Sunny’s sister, Rae, and Will’s wedding at Lairmont Manor, up north in Bellingham, Washington, not far from Birch Bay, where Will’s family lived. The area for the outdoor ceremony was a lovely lawn shaded with trees and accented with hydrangeas and hanging flower baskets. At the end of a brick walk stood a fountain, which served as the backdrop for the bride and groom as they took their vows.
Sunny stood as matron of honor, the beginnings of a baby bump pushing against the gray chiffon of her dress, her hair threaded with pink rosebuds. Rae was elegant in her off-the-shoulder gown. Sunny noted the happy tears in her mom’s eyes as she watched her younger daughter make her way to the man she’d chosen to spend her life with.
It brought back memories of Sunny’s own wedding, when she and Travis had said their I do’s a year earlier at the Kiana Lodge, located in Poulsbo. It had been a gorgeous venue, too, located on the shore of the Agate Passage, giving them a backdrop of sparkling water. How simple life had seemed when they’d first gotten together and how sure they’d been that everything would work out smoothly for them.
Oh, well, no couple’s path was ever completely smooth. She hoped it would be a long, long time before Rae made that discovery.
The ceremony ended and it was time to congratulate the bride and groom. Sunny experienced a wistful moment as she watched how happily Rae’s new mother-in-law introduced her to her friends. Jeanette had frowned through Sunny and Travis’s rehearsal dinner, cried during the ceremony and managed the wan smile of a mourner when she’d introduced Sunny to her friends. Bella had refused to be a flower girl, and come the day of the wedding, it had only been Dylan in the ceremony, standing next to his father, holding the ring.
None of that mattered. Sunny would choose Travis all over again. It was just too bad you couldn’t choose the family your groom came with.
The guests settled down under canopies to eat. Catering, done by East-West Catering, offered them bourbon-glazed northwest salmon, chicken poached in white wine and all manner of salads and appetizers, and Sunny was happy her stomach had settled down and she could enjoy it all.
The time came for toasts and, as matron of honor, Sunny was ready to do her duty. “Who doesn’t dream of finding that perfect person to share her life with? Some of us don’t get it right, and that’s sad. But then, there are those of us who do and it gives everyone hope, makes us all believers in love. Rae has found that perfect someone. She and Will are going to be one of love’s success stories. I’m so happy for you, sis. I know I don’t need to wish you a happy life because you’re already living it. But I do. I love you. And I love you, too, Will. Welcome to the family.”
“Hear, hear,” called out their father and Will’s, and the guests echoed the sentiment with applause.
The best man had a sentimental speech, too, but he mostly remembered lots of fun beer parties and goofy practical jokes in the groom’s bachelor days that had Will shading his eyes and shaking his head. “I never thought you’d find any woman crazy enough to want you, dude, but you did. Rae, you’re the best. Congrats, you two,” he finished.
“Yep, gotta love those best men,” Travis whispered to Sunny as she raised her glass of sparkling cider.
The mother-in-law had a speech prepared also. “It’s a funny thing about mothers and sons,” she observed. “We mothers fall in love the minute we hold our sons in our arms. We kiss their owies, drive the carpools and bake their favorite cookies. We’re the one our son looks for in the audience when he’s up on stage in that school play. We’re the one he tells his troubles to. But a son grows up and falls in love and suddenly there’s a new woman his world revolves around, a new woman he’s given his heart to. It can be hard to share, hard to let go. And yet, in sharing, we open our lives and a new person comes in. If we’re lucky, our loss turns to gain and we inherit someone who will also become precious to us. I’m one of those lucky women. RaeAnn, I’m thankful my son found you, and even though it’s still a little hard to share, there’s no one I’d rather share with.”
Sunny saw her sister tearing up. So was she. Will’s mom had it right. Love meant you shared. Even at Christmas, which meant she was going to have to get used to Christmas Future no longer looking like Christmas Past. The last Christmas had felt like a fail. In some ways it had been. But it had also been a reminder that life was about change. Plans shifted, and newcomers needed to be accommodated. Family members moved out and moved in new directions, but the connection was always there and there would always be ways to celebrate it. She’d been so caught up in her frustration she’d failed to see that.
There was something else she’d failed to see. How hard it was to give up the number one spot in someone’s heart. And suddenly the pieces began falling into place. She should have seen it from the start.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” she said to Travis the next night as they shared a Seabeck pizza.
“Uh-oh. Is this gonna cost me money?” he teased.
