Belle, James, and Daisy had come up with a recipe for a spiced eggnog cake with rum frosting that they’d spent the last month perfecting. Gladys and Meg had tasted every version, and when they’d declared the most recent the winner out of almost thirty cakes, the trio knew that they were finally ready.
Daisy hadn’t been able to talk about anything but the contest for weeks and how excited she was to finally have her name on an entry. Now that Christmas Eve was finally here? She had barely been able to contain herself. Belle had been at the shop all day to handle the last-minute orders, and not an hour had gone by where Daisy hadn’t called her to make sure the cake was okay in her work fridge.
Annabelle slid the mayor a cup of free espresso to hold her over until Gladys returned with her snowmen. “It’s a surprise, Mayor Graham but I think you will enjoy it!”
“Oh, I’m sure of it. Truth be told, I’m little sad it won’t be like last year where both of you had your own entries. That meant we had even more delicious food to taste.”
Belle laughed as she rang up another customer who had bought a gingerbread house to display at her holiday festivities. “Don’t worry, Mayor, it just means this year’s entry will be twice as delicious.”
The Mayor winked at Belle as Gladys appeared with a beautifully packaged box of snowman cookies. “All ready, ma’am! You have yourself a fine holiday, now!” Gladys said cheerily.
They said their goodbyes and Glady and Belle kept filling orders until Annabelle felt her cell buzz in her pocket. She checked to see who was calling and when she saw it was Sam, she waved over to Gladys.
“Do you mind if I go outside for a second?”
She waved at her. “Go on, I can handle this.”
Belle stepped out into the freezing Vermont winter and shivered involuntarily as she answered the phone. “Hey… Sam,” she said through chattering teeth.
“How is it so much colder there than it is here? I swear, it sounds like you’re in the arctic!”
“Wintervale got its name for a reason! Obviously, it’s colder. Did you just call to brag that you aren’t freezing?”
Sam laughed, and she could hear him bustling around in the busy dining room at Arcadia. In the last year, the restaurant had been booked up six months in advance for reservations, and there had even been talk of opening a second location further uptown. Belle and Sam had kept to their plan regarding her involvement, but they were discussing hiring on someone else, so she could stay in Vermont full-time next year. Everything was running like a well-oiled machine, so they saw no reason to keep her running back and forth.
“I didn’t call just to brag. Not about that, anyway. You’ll never guess who is coming back for Christmas Eve dinner this year with his family and has promised to stay sober?”
Belle couldn’t help but laugh. “Based on your inflection, it’s not hard to guess… Logan Gale?”
“Yes! We were supposed to be closed but he asked if we’d make an exception. I offered anyone who wanted to stay double their usual rate and you know a few jumped at the chance. So, now we’re trying to match up to what we did last year but you know it will never be as good as yours, Annabelle.”
“Oh, come on,” Belle chuckled. “You’re doing just fine without me and you know it. But I promise to keep sending holiday-themed cookies as long as you let us eat for free when we come visit.”
There was a long pause. “I’ll consider it.”
“Yeah, yeah, love you, too. Merry Christmas, Sam.”
Annabelle went back inside to help field the last of the orders and a few last-minute stragglers who just needed holiday sugar fuel before their parties started. It was almost closing time when Gladys started to yawn and look at her watch.
“Do you want to head out, lady? I bet your family will be getting to your house soon?”
Belle hadn’t even finished the sentence before Gladys was putting her stuff in her bag and starting for the door. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you in a bind or anything,” she said with one foot already on the pavement.
“Go ahead! I’ll close up here,” Belle laughed.
With a ding of the shop’s door bell, she was alone less than ten seconds later and could get started on packaging up anything they could save for the day after Christmas and putting together sample bags to give away at the contest. She was almost done stuffing a basket with little red cellophane bags full of cookies when she heard the bell ring over the door again.
“I’m sorry, we’re closed unless it’s a cookie emergency!”
When she didn’t hear anyone answer her, she finally looked up and almost dropped the entire basket when she saw Addison Murdoch standing in the doorway. Except for a few sightings at a distance, neither she nor James had seen Addison since last Christmas. She had moved to Burlington in the spring and only seemed to come back on holidays. It mostly appeared like she was doing her best to keep an acceptable distance from everyone, so for a second Belle thought she was going to faint dead away when she saw her, mostly from the shock of it.
“Addison… I… Merry Christmas?”
“Merry Christmas to you, too, Belle. I was wondering if I could get a box of cookies to take home to my mom. I know I’m a little late, but I’ll take anything you have left over.”
She took a few steps backward away from Addison, trying to put a little bit of distance between them. “Yeah, of course. I just boxed up some to sell on Friday, but they’re still fresh. You can have them on them house… consider them a Christmas gift.” In truth, she was just trying to get Addison out the door as quickly as possible but if she could do something nice in the process, it wasn’t the worst thing. Thought she was still a little bit nervous around the other woman, it didn’t mean she had to be mean. But the way Addison was looking at her made Belle think that maybe she didn’t have nefarious intentions.
When she returned with the box of cookies in the shape of Santa hats, Addison was standing right in front of the counter, which put Belle on guard all over again. Still, she handed her the baked goods with her biggest smile plastered on her face.
“Well, you have a great holiday, see you later!” she spilled out before Addison could get in a word in. But instead of leaving, Addison just stood there. After a moment of silence, it started to feel uncomfortable. Finally, when Belle was getting ready to make her escape out the emergency exit in the kitchen, Addison took a deep breath.
“Belle, I came here to apologize to you. I’ve had a lot of time to think while I was in Burlington and, obviously, I know I acted like a jerk before I left. But I don’t think I understood why. I just became so absorbed in my fear of not leaving Wintervale because it was easy, and James was all I knew, that it was a way to stay frozen and safe. It wasn’t what I wanted, though. And when he fired me, it was the push I needed. I’m so much happier now and so much less of a nut. So, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry and… thank you. For not treating me the way I treated you, even though I deserved it.
Belle bit her lip to try and hide the fact that tears were forming in her eyes. “Thank you, Addison. I really appreciate the apology. It means a lot.”
“And thank you for these cookies. My mom will love them. Merry Christmas, Belle. And hey…”
“Yeah?” Belle answered, suddenly worried.
“Can you tell Daisy I said hi? I really miss her.”
Belle’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Of course. Merry Christmas, Addison.”
Once she left, Belle finished cleaning up, grabbed the basket full of cookies and the eggnog cake, and then locked up The Flour Girl to head to the Bake-Off. As soon as she got outside, she ran straight into her grandmother, who had just come around the corner, loaded down with shopping bags.
“Belle! I was just going to drop these off at the store until after the contest. I figured I’d meet you there, but I’d much rather walk together.” Meg had been under doctor’s orders to take it easy ever since her leg healed, but she’d also been slowly working back into hiking and tu
bing with the other Green Mountain Grannies. They’d had a great summer together enjoying the Vermont weather and how much fun everything was when it got warm, but now that the winter had taken over again, Meg had promised to settle down a little and skip the skiing. Instead, she had taken to fostering cats, and ended up with a new little tuxedo patterned gentleman named Otis who was getting on swimmingly with Henry.
They walked over to Meow & Then and dropped off all of her shopping bags as Belle looked on with amusement. “You really went crazy this year.”
“Well, I finally have a little one to shop for again. You know it’s my favorite time of year to go crazy,” Meg said with a laugh as she took the basket of cookies from Belle. “Now, let’s get to that contest. I’d wager a guess that a few people are already waiting for you!”
They walked through the streets of downtown Wintervale, taking in all of the beautiful lights and saying hello to people they knew and tourists alike. Belle couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there were double the people there that had showed up last year, and she could already see them eyeing the basket of samples in her grandmother’s hand. By the time they got to the town center, which was even more elaborately decorated this year, they practically had to push through a sea of bodies to get to the table that had been designated as theirs.
Thankfully it wasn’t hard to spot their space, even through the crowd, because Daisy was lit up even brighter than the tree.
She was wearing a beautiful sparkling silver dress with lights sewn into the hem that she, Belle, and James had been working on for months. They knew they were lucky it still fit her because she was growing like a weed, but she was intent on wearing the dress, and that meant every few weeks, they had to keep letting it out and making it longer as she grew. Belle breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that they’d managed to get Daisy in the dress and she could see the same relief in James’ eyes when they caught sight of each other. He lit up as bright as Daisy’s dress and practically ran up to her.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said with a grin, pulling Belle into a hug and giving her a kiss. “Just in time. I thought people were going to swarm you for those cookies.”
Annabelle laughed as Daisy ran up to her to gently take the cake out of her hands.
“I thought you were never going to come! We’ve been here for hours! Can I put the cake out? Can I? Please?” She barely took a breath in between sentences and ran off with the cake before anyone could say anything. Belle was happy to let her do it; after a day of baking, there was nothing she enjoyed more than handing off the work to someone else. Daisy was already proving herself to be adept at design and even cake decorating, which thrilled Belle to no end.
“How was the day?” James asked, stealing a bag of cookies from basket.
“Oh, I have a story to tell you, but it can wait until later. Has the judging already started?”
James peeked over the top of Belle’s head as the mayor and the rest of the judges as they inched their way closer to their table. “Yup, they were in a rush this year. Not sure why. Maybe Daisy’s enthusiasm was contagious.” They looked over at the glittering little girl who had already set up the cake and was doing everything possible to make it look as perfect as possible. James couldn’t help but laugh. “That cake could taste like sawdust and she would do everything in her power to convince them it was magic.”
“Fingers crossed,” Belle said as she put her arm around James’ waste and pulled him closer. “Why were you here so early, though?”
James wasn’t given the opportunity answer her because the judges walked up a second later. Mayor Graham shook both their hands vigorously, then walked over to Daisy with a huge smile on her face.
“Don’t you look beautiful, Miss Everley! You’re almost as bright as the Christmas tree!”
Daisy curtsied, then handed each of the judges a slice of cake. “Thank you, mayor! Judges! I hope you enjoy our spiced eggnog cake.”
“The consummate saleswoman,” James said with a wink.
The judges went about their way leaving the four of them to wait impatiently for the results, especially Daisy, who couldn’t stop moving, to the point she had to take off her coat because she was getting so hot.
“Daisy, you need to chill! I can’t believe you are this worked up about the contest,” Belle said, giving her a hug.
“It’s not just about the contest. It’s about…”
“Hey!” James interrupted. “It looks like judges are about to announce something.”
Belle looked around confused, especially because she couldn’t understand why everyone was acting so strangely. It wasn’t long before everyone had gathered near the stage because Mayor Graham had approached the mic stand. She tapped the microphone a few times to get stragglers’ attentions and then clapped her hands.
“Merry Christmas, one and all, and thank you for coming to our annual Christmas Eve Bake-Off once again! This is an extremely special year for Wintervale. And we’re going to kick off an amazing night by announcing the winners of the competition. In a landslide victory, the best holiday-themed baked good this Christmas was made by James Everley, Daisy Everley, and Annabelle Harrison! Come up here and collect your prize, guys!”
Once again, Belle gave James a confused look. “Prize? What prize? Why do we have to go on the stage?” But James didn’t say anything; he just took Annabelle’s hand and lead her up to the bandstand as she tried to understand what was happening. When they got up to the Christmas tree, the mayor and the rest of the judges stepped aside, leaving James and Belle alone on the stage.
“James, what’s going on?” Belle whispered in James’ ear. He answered by getting down on one knee; she gasped so loudly next to the microphone that everyone in the town center heard her and laughed. James just smiled and took her hand.
“Annabelle Harrison, this last year with you has been one of the most special of my life. Getting to know you again has been a gift that I never thought I deserved, but seeing how amazing you are with Daisy, and how much you love Meg… I know that my life now is meant to be spent with you. Annabelle Louise Harrison, will you marry me?”
James reached into his pocket and pulled out a perfect diamond ring; as he handed it to Belle, the lights of the Christmas tree twinkled off of it, and for a second, it and James were all she could see.
“What do you say?” James whispered, snapping her back from her thoughts.
“Yes, of course, yes!”
The whole crowd cheered as James leapt to his feet and wrapped Belle up in a hug, spinning her in a circle as they both laughed. Daisy and Meg came rushing on to the stage to celebrate with them and as Belle looked down at the beautiful ring on her finger and her amazing family all around her, she couldn’t help but think…
Christmas, and the baking competition, really had worked their magic on her after all.
Recipes from Wintervale - Belle’s Pink Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Belle’s Pink Peppermint Sugar Cookies
* * *
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
¾ c butter (softened)
1 c granulated sugar
½ c powdered sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp peppermint extract
2 & ¾ c flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
* * *
Frosting:
1/3 c butter (softened)
4 & ½ c powdered sugar
½ c milk (almond milk works too)
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint flavoring
Red food coloring
Candy canes (crushed)
* * *
Directions:
In a large bowl or mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, egg, sugar, and extracts until you achieve a fluffy consistency
In a smaller bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix dry ingredients with creamed ingredients until dough forms.
Pre
-heat oven to 375°F.
Carefully handling the dough with a light touch, roll it out (thick for soft cookies, thin for crunchy) and cut into your favorite holiday shapes.
Grease a baking sheet and place cookies, then bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.
For frosting: Mix all frosting ingredients together with a handheld mixer. More milk can be added if the frosting is too thick. Add drops of red food coloring until the frosting becomes a pale shade of pink. Once cookies are cooled, add the frosting and the crushed candy canes.
* * *
Perfect for your next holiday party or a Christmas baking competition!
Recipes from Wintervale - The Middle Road Inn Maple Pumpkin Pie
The Middle Road Inn Maple Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients:
1 & ¼ cups pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp sea salt
¼ tbsp cinnamon
¼ tbsp cardamom
¼ tbsp nutmeg
¼ tbsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp crushed cloves
1 prepared 9-inch pie crust (do not pre-bake, keep chilled until baking)
Whipped cream for garnish
* * *
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs and cream until well-blended.
Whisk in pumpkin puree and maple syrup
With a wooden spoon, stir in vanilla, salt, and spices to combine
Remove pie crust from fridge and fill carefully
Place pie in the middle rack of the oven to bake
After 30 minutes, rotate to ensure even baking
After approximately one hour, check to ensure pie is mostly firm and the center has risen slightly. Remove from oven
A Sugar Cookie Christmas: A Sweet Holiday Romance (Wintervale Promises Book 1) Page 19
