Mistletoe and Memories (Evergreen Hollow Christmas #4)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

It was only early evening, and Nora already felt like the day had been ridiculously busy. She hadn’t stopped since she’d gotten up that morning, managing to cram a quick breakfast into her mouth as she got Madison up and dressed, intending to take her out for a walk in the snowy park while it was a bright and sunny day.

The paths had been plowed, so she’d been able to walk around with the stroller without a problem, and it had been a nice hour or so. Madison had gotten a nap in, which meant Nora had been able to get the grocery shopping done without Madison screaming her head off the entire time. She still wasn’t used to the startled looks from others when Madison was overly fussy in public, although she knew it was a million times better in Evergreen Hollow than it would have been trying to go out in Boston.

She’d forgotten to eat lunch entirely. By the time they’d gotten home with the groceries, Madison had been cranky again, and she wouldn’t go down for another nap. Nora had had to try to keep the overly tired baby happy all afternoon, going back and forth between her and putting groceries away, until she’d finally put her in the baby carrier and worn her around the house so that she could get some tasks done. She vaguely realized, sometime around five in the afternoon as she started to think about getting dinner ready before Aiden got home, that she was starving.

She picked Madison up, tucking her into the baby carrier again, and was just about to go to the kitchen in search of a quick snack and to try to remember what she had planned for dinner earlier at the store, when she heard a knock.

Quickly, she hurried to the door, hoping that it was Aiden home early. Instead, it was the second-best thing—her mother.

“I brought lasagna.” Rhonda held up the ceramic, covered baking dish like a peace offering, looking sympathetically at Nora. Nora had mostly kept her struggles lately to herself, not wanting to sound like she was complaining. But her mother had three children, and she was fairly sure that Rhonda could see in her face that she was exhausted.

“Thank you,” Nora said, relieved. The lasagna meant she wouldn’t have to cook, and Aiden loved his mother-in-law’s lasagna.

“I thought you might like to not have to worry about dinner for a couple of nights.” Rhonda nudged her boots off in the entryway, letting Nora take her coat while she carried the dish into the kitchen. “A little break for you. Caroline said something about Madison being fussy.”

“She wants to stay awake all of the time,” Nora admitted. “It’s like she thinks she’s missing out on something by sleeping. Meanwhile, I just want a nap,” she laughed dryly. “But we had an all right outing today, without too much fussing, so that was good.”

“Good.” Rhonda bustled around the kitchen, heating up two cups of tea while Nora sank into a chair at the table, bouncing Madison up and down to keep her entertained while she watched her mother.

“How’s Dad?” Nora asked, and Rhonda sighed, biting her lip as she brought the mugs of steaming apple cinnamon tea to the table.

“It was a scare,” Rhonda admitted. “Spencer said these things happen, ‘at our age.’” She rolled her eyes with a little smile as she said it. “He doesn’t seem overly worried, so I’m trying not to be. But I’m going to make sure he follows all Spencer’s instructions and does everything he’s supposed to, especially with our trip to Malibu coming up.”

“Definitely.” Nora smiled a little, thinking about her and her sisters’ plans for a celebration before their parents left for that trip. “Do you have all your planning done?”

“Mostly,” Rhonda said. “I booked the hotel last month. The same one we stayed in after our wedding.” Her eyes shone faintly with nostalgia as she said it, and she smiled. “And I’ve made some reservations at restaurants we went to. Including the one that catered our reception. And some new places too,” she added. “It doesn’t all have to be a walk down memory lane, although that’s certainly nice.”

“Maybe when this one is a little older, Aiden and I can sneak in a romantic vacation,” Nora said with a small sigh. “Our honeymoon already feels like it happened ages ago.”

“What about you?” Rhonda asked, concern tinging her voice. “Are you doing all right?”

“I’m really tired,” Nora admitted. “And honestly…” She hesitated, biting her lip as she bounced Madison up and down again, feeling the baby tense as if she were about to cry.

“What is it?” Rhonda asked gently, and Nora glanced at her mother. She felt ashamed to admit it, but this was her mother, after all. She should be able to talk to her, especially, about these things.

“I feel like a fish out of water with this whole parenting thing,” Nora said quietly. “And I know everyone says it gets easier as they get older, especially once they can tell you what they need, and that this is the hardest part. But I feel like I’m doing everything wrong. I can’t figure out how to get her to sleep, and I feel like I’m supposed to. Then I’m too tired to enjoy any of the good moments, and I always worry Aiden is feeling neglected.”

“You’re doing great,” Rhonda said encouragingly, reaching over to pat her daughter’s hand. “Honestly, it doesn’t get easier, it just gets different. You’ll have other challenges at every stage, maybe especially when she can tell you what she thinks,” Rhonda added with a laugh. “You’re doing your best, and that’s all you can do. I’m very proud of you. And this part will get easier,” she promised. “There’s always something, when they’re this little. Madison’s thing just happens to be sleep.”

Nora managed a smile at that. “Thank you,” she said softly. “That really does make me feel better.”

“And if you ever need to ask anything, you can ask me.” Rhonda patted her hand again gently. “I’m always here for you. I did this three times, remember. And now I’m a grandma. It’s part of my job as your mother and Madison’s grandmother to help you however I can. So don’t ever hesitate to ask me anything.”

Nora leaned forward, giving her mother a careful hug with Madison between them. And she realized, after a moment, that she did feel a little better.

The sky was clear for the first time that week, with the stars out and shining and the snow still pretty and fresh, so Margo suggested to Spencer that they go for a walk that evening, after dinner. She was over at his house for the meal, which was closer to the main streets of town than The Mistletoe Inn, so they were able to just walk a short distance to where all of the Christmas lights had been strung up right after Thanksgiving. It was freezing cold, but bundled up in her heavy coat with mittens, a fur-lined beanie and a soft angora scarf—that Rhonda had bought her last Christmas, saying Margo would need it since she’d decided to stay—it actually didn’t feel terribly cold.

“This reminds me of the date you took me on in that sleigh last year,” Margo said with a smile, looking up at the clear sky as their boots crunched through the snow.

Spencer chuckled. “You were so determined to see those fireworks. But we figured it out, didn’t we?” he added, wrapping a mittened hand around hers. “The best date I’ve ever been on.”

“It really was,” Margo agreed.

They walked in companionable silence for a little while after that, looking at the lights and the decorations on the storefronts. “What have you been working on for The Gazette ?” Spencer asked finally, glancing over at her. Margo let out a small sigh, shrugging.

“The typical stuff that Sabrina said the paper covers every year. Annual events in the town and nearby, where to go to pick out a Christmas tree, that kind of thing.” She could hear the lack of excitement in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. She was happy to be home with her family for the holidays, madly in love with Spencer, and she wasn’t dissatisfied with her life now. But she felt a faint sense of being… fidgety, was maybe the right word to describe it, she thought. Most years she had spent Christmas in some faraway place, exploring. Her former boss had always tried to make sure that she had a good assignment lined up for the holidays, since she had been one of the few journalists who had wanted to be away from home for Christmas. Everyone else wanted to be home or had their own travel plans. Meanwhile, she’d always been thrilled to be somewhere new.

“What did you used to do for Christmas?” Spencer asked suddenly, as if he could pick up on the direction that her thoughts were going. “When you were traveling.”

Margo grinned, remembering some of the adventures that she’d had. “One year, my boss sent me on assignment to Sweden. There’s a tradition they brought back in the sixties of building this huge straw goat. They call it the G?vle Goat. It weighs like three tons, and it’s a big event—it stays up until after the New Year. I also got to go to the Philippines one year, which was lovely. They have the most beautiful light festivals for Christmas. Iceland is fun, because if you go for a walk in the morning, you’ll see all these pairs of children’s shoes tucked in the windowsill, during the thirteen days leading up to Christmas. The Krampus festivals in Austria at the beginning of the month are fun, if you like a little bit of creepiness with your Christmas.” She laughed. “And the Christmas markets are beautiful—so many cool and interesting gifts and the most delicious mulled wine. One year I was in Australia for the holidays, and that was nice since it was very warm. It was fun, they just barbecue and treat it like a summer holiday.”

Spencer was quiet for a moment, his hand still wrapped snugly around hers. “That all sounds really exciting,” he said after a moment. “So many different experiences. It must feel pretty boring, being back here this year.”

He said it with a laugh, but Margo could hear a note of tension in his voice. It didn’t escape her that he probably had noticed that she was feeling restless. And she knew it wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to worry that she might be getting bored. That after a year of being back in her small hometown, she might be starting to feel that she needed to explore again.

“Things are just different now,” she said, as reassuringly as she could manage. “Not bad, just different.”

Spencer nodded. He glanced at her, and she saw that his easy smile had returned. “Different can be good.”

“Exactly.” Margo steered him toward a bench flanked by trees wrapped in lights. “I brought some peppermint tea. Let’s sit down and drink it, and look at the lights.”

Spencer agreed, following, and they both sank down on the bench. Margo snuggled close to him, her leg pressed against his, echoing the closeness of that date in the sleigh that she’d remembered earlier.

She didn’t want Spencer to worry about the future, and she’d always been the kind of person to live in the present. And at that precise moment, she was very happy, right where she was sitting, looking at Christmas lights with the man she loved.