Page 23 of Christmas Secrets

CHAPTEREIGHT

“Holly, wake up! Holly, look!” Noel tugged at Holly’s sleeve, waking her from her wonderful dream of being intimate with Percival.

“Go back to sleep, Noel.” She turned over, hugging the pillow, not wanting to be disturbed.

“Look what’s on the table. How did that get there?” Her brother’s voice was so excited, that it made Holly curious. The only thing on the table last night when she went to sleep was Percival’s feet.

“All right, let me see.” She sat up and yawned, stretching her arms over her head. It seemed so warm in here that she thought she was dreaming. Didn’t Percival say they only had enough firewood to make it through the night? Rubbing her eyes, she swung her feet to the floor as Noel darted across the room and climbed atop a chair.

“Look, Henry. You have new friends,” she heard the little boy say, thunking his toy horse across the table, making it run.

“Oh. It’s a pig,” said Holly, making her way to the table. She wanted Noel to know what kind of animal it was supposed to be so he didn’t disappoint Percival by asking. Where was Percival anyway? She looked around the room for him and that is when she noticed something that hadn’t been there last night.

The fire burned hot. A large pile of logs was next to the hearth. And to her surprise, there were juniper boughs on the table, and acorn, and even sprigs of holly and what she thought might be mistletoe. They were arranged around a big red wax candle in the center. If she wasn’t mistaken, she even smelled cinnamon.

The door to the cottage opened, and Percival walked in yawning, carrying a wreath and fussing with it as he entered.

“Percival. There you are,” said Holly.

He stopped in his tracks. “Oh, you’re up. I wanted to hang this on the door before you awoke but it took me longer than I thought to shape the half-frozen grapevines into a circle and weave the branches from the greens through it.” He held it up for them to see. “Did I do it right? This is the first time I ever attempted anything like this.”

“It’s beautiful,” said Holly, walking over to take it from him. It was lopsided and needed a lot more greenery but it was special to her since he made it. “I thought you said you don’t like decorations or anything having to do with Christmas.”

“I still don’t,” he said, closing the door. “But I know you two like those kinds of things.”

“Well, thank you. That was very thoughtful. You must have gotten up pretty early to collect all that firewood and even put together a nice table for the holiday.”

“And I was hungry so I cooked up some eggs and sausage if you two are hungry.” He opened the top of an iron pot near the hearth and showed her. “I used salt and everything.”

“Oh, my that is a surprise. How did you get all this done this morning?”

“Actually, I didn’t sleep at all.”

“Oh, Percival, nay.” She wasn’t using his title and he didn’t seem to care. Holly liked it better this way.

“Look, Percival, look!” Noel ran over with his hands full and Holly stretched her neck to see what all he had. “Henry the horse has new friends. This is Beauregard the Bear and Walter the Wolf. Now Henry won’t be lonely.”

“I think that’s a pig, sweetheart,” Holly told him.

“Uh, uh,” said Percival shaking his head. “It’s a bear. Just like the boy said.”

“Percival carved those for you, Noel.”

“Thank you!” Noel wrapped his arms around Percival’s legs and gave him a big squeeze before running back to the bed to play with his new toys.

“What happened to Henrietta the Pig?” whispered Holly.

Percival spoke from behind his hand. “If the boy thinks it’s a bear then that is just what we’ll call it. As long as he is happy he can call it any animal he likes.”

Holly giggled.

“Oh, Noel, I made something else that will be fun for all of us.” Percival pulled something out of his pocket. He walked over to the table and spun it. Noel rushed over to see it.

“It’s a top,” said Holly. “How clever.”

Percival leaned over and whispered. “It’s what was left of Duncan the Duck that didn’t turn out either.” They both laughed at that. Noel squealed with delight. It did Holly’s heart good to see her little brother smiling instead of being sad at Christmas. After all the hardships they’d been through lately, especially with the deaths of their mother and grandmother, they really needed something good to transpire in their lives. And thanks to Percival, that had just happened.

“Thank you,” she said, getting on her tip-toes and kissing him quickly on the lips. He had a silly look on his face when she walked across the room with the wreath. “I’ll hang the wreath on the door.”