Mistletoe and Memories (Evergreen Hollow Christmas #4)

Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

The first evening that Donovan was back home, Nora and Aiden got Madison into the car after Aiden got home from work, and picked up dinner from Rockridge Grill to bring to The Mistletoe Inn. Caroline had protested that she could cook for Rhonda and everyone, but Nora had insisted they could handle bringing dinner for one night, baby and all. She thought seeing Madison would lift Donovan’s spirits, and knowing Caroline’s secret, she thought her sister might prefer not to have to cook as much as possible. Of course, Caroline would never admit that, but Nora remembered how she had felt about cooking when she’d first been pregnant. Every little smell had been too much, and she’d felt nauseous all the time. Since Caroline was still keeping it between them, Nora thought the least she could do was make it easier for Caroline to keep the secret, for the time being.

The special for the night had been pot roast sandwiches with house-made fries, and they’d picked up sandwiches for everyone, along with the homemade apple pie for dessert that was available. It wasn’t Rhonda’s baking, but Nora knew how much her mother loved apple pie, and sometimes it was nice to have a treat that you hadn’t had to bake yourself.

Donovan was in an armchair in the living room, looking tired. It was a Monday, so there were only a few guests at the inn, most of them having checked out the day before, and the new guests for the week still trickling in. Nora thought his color was not as good as it should be, but he looked better than he had in the hospital, and that lifted her spirits. She also knew from Margo that Spencer had been double-checking everything from the hospital, and he would have told them if there was anything to be truly worried about.

“There’s my little girl.” Donovan was immediately cheered by seeing Madison, just as Nora had thought he would be. “Let me hold her,” he said, looking content as Nora handed over his granddaughter to him.

“She’s going to be cranky in a minute, with everyone eating except her,” Nora warned. “I’ll go make her a bottle.”

“I’ll get dinner out,” Margo said, walking in from the kitchen and wiping her hands off on her jeans. “I was just doing dishes for Mom. I’ll get everything set up while you take care of the bottle.”

“Thanks,” Nora said gratefully. “It’s all on the table in the living room. Let Mom know we’re here with dinner?”

“Sure thing.” Margo gave her arm a quick squeeze, and hurried out of the kitchen.

As Nora was warming up the milk and fixing Madison’s bottle, Aiden walked into the kitchen. “Do you want me to help?” he offered, coming up behind her and resting his hands on her hips as he watched. “You look tired. I can do this, if you want to go sit down.”

Nora laughed. “I’m always tired. You’d be doing everything, if I used that as an excuse.” She smiled up at him, trying to stifle a yawn that she could feel coming on.

Aiden reached over, plucking the bottle out of her hands. “I’ll finish this,” he said firmly. “And then why don’t I take care of everything to do with Madison for the rest of the night, and once we’re home and she’s down for the evening, we’ll have a movie night and I’ll rub your feet. How does that sound?”

“Amazing,” Nora admitted with a sigh. “Thank you.” She leaned up, giving him a quick kiss as he went to get the warmed milk.

As she walked out of the kitchen, heading to go and join the others, she saw Spencer walking toward her. He gave a small wave, and she paused. “Margo didn’t say you were coming over too,” Nora said with a smile. “I thought you might have been at the clinic late.”

“I was,” he admitted. “But I wanted to come by and check on Donovan, now that he’s home.”

“From what I can tell, he’s doing well,” Nora said, relief clear in her voice. “But he’ll be glad to see you, even if I’m sure he’ll grouch about more doctors.” She gave a small laugh. “But you’re Margo’s doctor, so you’ll probably get a pass.”

Spencer laughed at that. “I heard she spilled the beans to your mother about part of the anniversary celebration. She was worried you and Caroline would be upset, but she said you understood.”

Nora nodded. “I think Mom needed something to look forward to. Just in case their trip is canceled. She’s still hopeful it will happen, but…” She lifted one shoulder. “It’s hard to say for sure right now.”

“Margo is definitely going all in on it,” Spencer said. “Which I’m glad about. She’s seemed a little bit restless lately.”

Nora looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”

Spencer frowned, leaning up against the wall. “I don’t know,” he said quietly, but Nora could hear the worry in his voice. “She’s just… made a few comments here and there lately. Things about the job at the paper being the ‘same old, same old.’ Telling me stories about all of the holiday traditions she used to experience by going to different countries at Christmastime.” He sighed. “I don’t think it would come as a surprise that I’m worried Evergreen Hollow might be too sleepy for her to stay. I think it was always a little bit of a worry. I’m just seeing now that it might be more than that.”

Nora could understand his concern. She’d wondered about that too, from the moment Margo had said last year that she was going to stay in Evergreen Hollow, instead of going back to New Jersey or moving somewhere else.

Margo had been gone for a long time, living an adventurous, exciting life, after all. She knew what it was like to live in a big city, to have a fast-paced job. She’d missed it from time to time, but she’d been ready to give it up. She’d voluntarily left her job to move back home. Margo had been let go, pushed back home by a series of events outside of her control.

She had wondered too, if Margo would start feeling the itch to travel and move on again. But Margo hadn’t said anything about it to her, and she didn’t want to add to Spencer’s fears.

“Margo loves you,” she said firmly. “You shouldn’t give any of that a second thought. She’s not going to go anywhere.”

Spencer smiled, his expression relaxing a little. Nora thought that he looked at least a little bit reassured. “I’m glad you think so,” he said. “I’ll go check on Donovan, and let you all get back to dinner.”

Nora watched him go, leaning back against the wall herself for a moment, fighting the urge to let her eyes slide briefly shut. Margo might be feeling a little restless, but Nora felt anything but. Privately, she thought she could use a little monotony and boring ‘same old, same old.’

Motherhood, she thought, was definitely shaping up to be no joke.