“It was just dinner, Mom,” Ella said, not wanting to get into it. “We don’t have to worry about twenty years into the future. One step at a time, right?”
“Right you are, kiddo,” her mother said, pulling her in for a quick hug. “And I don’t mean to pressure you, my love. Now you’d better get in there and admire your daughter’s cookies before she explodes.”
“And before Dalton eats them all,” Ella said with a smile.
But as she followed her mother into the house, shecouldn’t help thinking about what she had said. She couldn’t imagine life without seeing her parents and Dove every day.
If these really were the happiest remaining days with her family, maybe she ought to take her mother’s words into consideration and find someone to share them with.
15
ELLA
Saturday morning, Ella walked with Dalton and Dove as they took in the sights of the Hometown Holiday Celebration in Trinity Falls village.
The roads in town had been closed to cars for the event, allowing the fun to spill into the streets without anyone worrying about children dashing between booths and activities.
Playful snow flurries drifted and swirled from the pale gray sky to the sandstone sidewalks, and friends and neighbors wandered the open streets with smiles on their faces. Colorful booths and banners announced the various shops and charities offering treats and gifts, and down by the library someone was practicing Christmas carols on an acoustic guitar.
“This is incredible,” Dalton said softly.
There was wonder on the big man’s face, maybe as much as there was on Dove’s. It made Ella’s heart ache to see them both so happy.
Dalton had asked if he could accompany her heretoday and when she asked if Dove could be included, he’d looked almost horrified.
“Of courseshe’s included,” he’d said. “She’s the main reason I thought you’d want to go.”
Heryeshad brought him such obvious pleasure that she felt a corresponding twinge of satisfaction herself, followed by a pang of guilt.
But the guilt was fading these days. Maybe it was Mom’s words the other night. Or maybe she was starting to pay attention to how the years since Lee passed had changed her.
I’m glad I let Dalton bring us here,she thought to herself now.Maybe I do deserve another chance at love.
“What should we do first?” she asked Dove.
“I want to stay until Santa comes,” Dove said firmly. “He gives out candy.”
“Yes,” Ella said. “But that’s not until the very end of the day. So we can do whatever looks like fun to you, and then after we sing carols, we’ll go wait for Santa Claus.”
“Hot cocoa,” Dove said right away, pointing to a booth that had two big urns with a plate of homemade Christmas cookies between them.
“Sounds great,” Dalton agreed.
But before they made it that far, Dove spotted a friend from school and dashed off to greet her.
“She’s really coming out of her shell,” Ella said, amazed as she watched her quiet daughter jumping up and down and hugging her friend.
“Was she always quiet?” Dalton asked.
“She was a handful as a toddler,” Ella remembered. “But yes, she’s been pretty quiet and super cooperative ever since.”
“That’s good,” Dalton said.
“I don’t know,” Ella admitted. “Sometimes I think she’s burying her own feelings because she doesn’t want to upset anyone. Or maybe she’s quiet because she spends all her time at home with adults.”
Dalton opened his mouth and closed it again, then nodded.
“What is it?” she asked him.
