Chapter One
Cora Mullikan lifted the lid off a candle from that morning’s Parcel Post shipment. She inhaled the festive scent, letting the blend of balsam, cedar, and berries fill her with Christmas cheer. “Exactly as I imagined.”
After sampling the other new scents, she moved the shipment to the empty spot on her candle display and arranged them in an enticing manner. Candle demand had increased this year, and she’d sold out on Saturday, prompting her to take advantage of the free overnight shipping promotion from a new supplier.
She stepped back and observed the display. Deciding something was missing, she wrinkled her nose and pondered. What could she add to make the presentation pop?
“Marie, can you come here for a minute if you’re not busy?” Her only full-time employee had a keen eye for merchandising, and Cora often delegated those responsibilities to her.
Red ribbon adorned with white snowflakes dangled from Marie’s arms. “I’m wrapping the last of the packages to send out today, but I have a few hours before the mailman runs. What do you need?”
“Can you work your magic with these candles? The entire display is lacking oomph.”
Before Cora had finished the sentence, Marie grabbed a candle snuffer, pulled a thin red ribbon from her apron pocket, and was tying it around the pewter handle. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll have it done.”
“You’re the best.” Cora walked away, knowing she didn’t need to supervise. Marie’s maturity and work ethic couldn’t be topped.
She returned to the shipment, continued to unpack the boxes and replenish the shelves between assisting customers. Compared to the chaotic weekend that carried into Monday, business was slow, and for once, Cora didn’t mind. She needed the time to recoup her store’s aesthetics. After all, when people shopped a Christmas-themed store, they expected a winter wonderland inside.
Another smile danced on her lips. Not everyone was lucky enough to live their dream, but hers had come true when she opened Mistletoe Mercantile five years ago. Nestled between a bakery and souvenir shop on Main Street, the store in downtown Overlook, Tennessee offered a gorgeous view of the Great Smoky Mountains from the top floor.
Within a week of first leasing the building, she’d transformed a small storage closet upstairs into her office simply because it had an out-of-place window that granted photo-worthy nature scenes while she worked on administrative tasks. With that thought, she remembered she had to file a claim on a box of ornaments that arrived broken.
She let Marie know she’d be in the office for a few minutes, grabbed a cup of apple cider they kept warm as a courtesy for customers, then retreated upstairs. Her sketches for this year’s yard decorating marathon were spread over her desk. Typically, she spent the week before Thanksgiving transforming her yard, but she was a week behind and this year, she’d have to settle for the Wednesday after.
Tomorrow would be the first day she’d taken off in a month—she’d even come in on Thanksgiving to prepare for Black Friday—and that was only because Marie threatened to quit if Cora didn’t take care of herself. She didn’t think her friend and employee would follow through, but she wasn’t about to take that chance.
Stacking the drawings in a neat pile, she stared outside. A light dusting of snow covered the bare branches of the maple and hickory trees that had shed their leaves last month. The meteorologist said another dusting would come overnight. Cora prayed it wouldn’t be more than that. As much as she loved snow, she didn’t relish setting up her entire outdoor display with several inches of the precipitation on the ground.
After tomorrow, let the snow come. She’d learned that short of a blizzard, her shop did well when the snow came—it tended to put people in the mood for Christmas. Setting up in a tourist town helped as well, since there were many hotels along Main Street. Even if driving conditions weren’t favorable, people would roam the sidewalks.
She tore her attention from the scene outside and logged on to the supplier’s website. After she filed her claim for the ornaments, she checked the tracking on several shipments that hadn’t arrived yet. With the coming month predicted to be her busiest, it was imperative that she had ample stock on hand.
Her cellphone buzzed in her pocket. She withdrew it and answered the call from her mom.
“Good afternoon, Cora.” Eileen Mullikan’s voice didn’t possess its typical chipper tone. “How are you?”
“Busy, but good. What about you? You don’t sound yourself.” Thirty different thoughts assailed her. Dad hadn’t looked so well at Thanksgiving. Had something happened to him? Was her pregnant twin Flora okay?
“I’m fine.” Eileen cleared her throat. “There’s something I’d like to ask you, and before I do, please promise me that you’ll keep an open mind about it.”
Curious, she arched a brow, though no one could see. “What is it?”
“Flora would like to host Christmas dinner this year.” The words rushed from her mom’s mouth in a quick push of air.
Cora sucked in a breath, didn’t answer right away. “I’ve always hosted Christmas, ever since I graduated from college.”
“I know, dear, and I know how important it is to you and how much you love doing it, but this is important to your sister.”
“Why didn’t she ask me herself?” Cora bit her lip to keep from saying more.
“She was worried about your reaction.”
“That hurts.” Her bottom lip protruded out. “Flora and I talk about everything.”
“Then you don’t mind passing the torch this year?”
“I didn’t say that.” She had an argument on the tip of her tongue but stopped herself from voicing the protest when she realized her sister had a valid point. If a person could be possessive over a meal, then Cora fit that bill. “Did she say why?”
