The Christmas Token

by Shanna Hatfield

  “I’ll get it,” Luke said, jumping up and carrying the cake to the table. Ginny and Dora cleared away the lunch dishes and made room for the dessert.

  After they finished the cake, Luke insisted Filly go to their room to rest for a while. When she refused, he swept her into his arms and carried her upstairs, ignoring her protests. Blake and Greg laughed at his fussing. They cleared the rest of the dishes from the table while Ginny and Dora washed them. The two men helped dry and by then Luke returned to the kitchen, looking a little battle weary.

  “It’s going to be hard to coddle someone so stubborn,” he said, eliciting another round of laughter from his family and friend.

  “Give her some room to breathe, son. You can’t smother her,” Greg cautioned, remembering how irritable Dora had been the entire nine months she was expecting Ginny.

  “I guess,” Luke said, noticing the kitchen was set to rights. “Thank you all for your help.”

  “You’re welcome,” Greg said, grabbing his coat and hat. “You and I were going to go visit my friend Douglas. Why don’t we let Ginny and Blake go on to prepare the church for the children and we can walk your mother down in a few minutes?”

  “That’s a fine plan,” Luke said, grinning as Blake helped Ginny on with her coat then slipped on his own and hurried her out the door.

  “See you soon,” Blake said, tipping his hat at Dora as he shut the door behind him.

  Ginny held his arm as they strolled down the walk to the street and followed the boardwalk into town.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say your mother no longer hates me,” Blake said, grinning down at Ginny. The scarf around her neck was the perfect color to set off her beautiful blue eyes. With rosy cheeks and her golden curls, he thought she could be some sort of winter sprite, especially with a smart little dark blue hat on top of her head.

  “Mother never hated you,” Ginny said, then looked at Blake and laughed. “Not more than she did anyone else here in Hardman.”

  He chuckled and continued their leisurely stroll toward the church. Stopping outside the door, they both stomped the snow from their boots before going inside.

  Blake helped Ginny remove her coat before taking off his own and setting them on a pew. He’d already brought in his surprise and set it up front, out of the way.

  Before the next practice, he’d have Luke and Greg help him bring in the props for the play and set them up so they’d be ready for the Christmas Eve service. He’d greatly enjoyed working with the children and spending the time with Ginny. He just hoped the youngsters had fun presenting the program.

  Recalling how nervous the programs made him as a child, it was no wonder he always volunteered to be a shepherd. One who stood in the back and didn’t have any lines. Although no one mentioned it, growing up he sometimes felt like an outsider with his British accent. He’d worked to rid himself of it over the years, but hints of it lingered and he sounded quite like the English viscount he really was when he got excited or lost his temper.

  “Remember the year you were an angel and your mother decided you needed to float above the stage and tried to get a couple of the boys to pull you up on a rope?” Blake asked, thinking how ethereal Ginny looked in the costume with a halo and wings and her flowing blond hair.

  Ginny laughed as she remembered the fiasco. “They used fishing line instead of rope and it broke before they even had me hoisted all the way up in the air. I fell on top of Chauncy. Wasn’t he the innkeeper that year?”

  “Yes, I believe he was,” Blake said, sitting on a pew and tugging Ginny down beside him. “He tried to keep his balance and ended up shoving two of the wise men into the manger. Good thing all we had was a doll in that thing instead of a baby. No wonder there aren’t any props left to use.”

  “Those were fun times, weren’t they?” Ginny asked, turning to look at Blake and suddenly realizing how close they were sitting when she could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek.

  “Fun times,” Blake muttered, reaching up to run his thumb across the delicate pink of her lower lip. So often, it stuck out in a pout, or tucked under the top one while she concentrated on something. Right now, it just begged for him to worry it with a kiss.

  Lowering his head, their lips barely touched when the door opened and the sounds of children’s voices filled the church.

  “Practice time,” he whispered, pulling back a respectable distance and turning to look at the children. Dora, Luke, and Greg followed the youngsters inside, smiling at the lively chatter.

  “Mother, would you like to play the piano? I’ve been trying to play and lead the singing at the same time, but if you could play, it would be such a big help,” Ginny said, knowing her mother would be more interested in helping if she had a specific job to do.

  “Of course I’ll play, dear,” Dora said, removing her hideous hat and setting it on the pew with Ginny and Blake’s coats. Dropping her voice to a whisper, Dora leaned closer to Blake. “Do the children get their surprise before or after practice?”

  “Both,” Blake said, grinning broadly as he opened a box filled with peppermint sticks. “They can have one now, and one on their way out the door. Would you like one, Mrs. Granger?”

  “Maybe later,” Dora said, smiling at him and going to the piano where she looked through the sheet music.

  After a successful practice followed by a group of children anxious to have another peppermint, Dora and Ginny each took a piece of candy and sucked on their sticks as Blake walked them next door to the parsonage so Dora could visit Erin.

  Tapping on the door, they waited just a moment before Abby opened it. As soon as Erin saw Blake, she ran to him. “Unca Bake! Me ride horsey?”

  “Not today, sweetheart, but I brought you a treat,” Blake said, handing Erin a peppermint stick.

  “Tank you,” Erin said, accepting the candy then leaning over for Ginny to take her.

  “Do you remember my mama, Erin?” Ginny asked as the child shyly gazed at Dora.

  Erin shook her head while sucking on her candy.

  “Well, I remember you, sweet girl,” Dora said, turning to Abby and smiling. “My gracious, she’s grown so big and I can’t believe she’s talking so much.”

  “Oh, yes. She talks and talks and talks,” Abby said, smiling at Ginny and Blake then turning to Dora. “Can you stay a while?”

  “Yes, a few minutes,” Dora said, removing her coat and hat. “Are you staying, Ginny?”

  “I think I’ll run home and see if Filly needs any help,” Ginny said, handing Erin back to her mother. “Goodbye, Erin.”

  “Bye, Aunt Ginny,” Erin said, waving the hand holding her sticky peppermint treat. “Bye, Unca Bake.”

  “Be good, sweetheart.” Blake waved at her then tipped his hat at Abby and Dora before escorting Ginny out the door.

  “Your mother seems to be quite fond of Erin,” Blake said as Ginny held his arm and they walked toward Granger House.

  “She is. For reasons none of us understand, she adores babies. As fussy as she can be, you’d think she wouldn’t want a thing to do with them,” Ginny said, waving to Mrs. Kellogg as she bustled out of the mercantile.

  “Then she’ll probably be beside herself when Luke and Filly’s child arrives,” Blake said, chuckling as he thought of Luke’s behavior earlier in the day. “Although I’m not sure your brother will be willing to share.”

  “He did appear to be quite excited by the news, didn’t he?” Ginny grinned as she thought of her unflappable brother being so distraught and disheveled. “I’m happy for them. I don’t know when I’ve seen a couple so in love and devoted to each other. If I didn’t love them both so much, I’d find it all quite sickening.”

  “That doesn’t sound a bit romantic, not at all.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t think it was so romantic if you had to watch your brother acting like a lovesick fool over the dinner table every night.”

  Blake laughed, steering Ginny around to the back door of Granger Hou
se where Bart sat wagging his tail, eager for attention. Blake obliged by thumping his sides, rubbing his head, and throwing a stick for him a few times before returning his attention to Ginny.

  “Thank you, Ginny,” he said, reaching out and taking her gloved hand in his.

  “For what?” she asked, looking at him confused. He stood a few steps below her, which put her on eye and lip level with him. It was hard to concentrate on anything except how much she ached to kiss him.

  “For including me today. It seemed a lot like old times, except now your mother doesn’t appear to despise my very existence,” Blake said with a teasing grin.

  “You forget she’s changed considerably since Luke married Filly. She really is a different person now, at least most of the time,” Ginny said, glad her mother had changed for the better. In fact, Ginny thought both the Granger women were seeing things from a different perspective these days.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at church,” Blake said, realizing he needed to leave before he did something irrational, like drop the remainder of the peppermint sticks in the snow and wrap Ginny in his arms.

  “I’ll save you a seat,” she said, learning forward slightly, her eyes keenly focused on Blake’s lips. They were moving but she didn’t listen to a word he spoke.

  “Did you hear what I said, Ginny?” Blake asked, watching her eyes start to slide closed while her tongue moistened her lips. If she’d come right out and demand he kiss her, the invitation couldn’t have been any more obvious.

  “No,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Oh,” Blake said, ignoring the voice telling him to step away. Instead, he pulled Ginny closer and plundered her mouth with his. She pressed closer against him and goodness only knew what would have happened if Luke hadn’t slapped him on the back.

  Ginny jumped away from him and would have fallen over Bart if Blake hadn’t grabbed onto her arm.

  “You better not let Mother see you out here doing that,” Luke teased, tipping his head back toward town. Dora’s hat was visible bobbing along beside Greg as they strolled down the boardwalk.

  “It’s definitely time for me to leave,” Blake said, grinning first at Luke, then Ginny. “Until later, Genevieve.”

  Blushing, Ginny quickly nodded her head at Blake then rushed in the kitchen, Luke right behind her.

  Removing her gloves, hat, and coat, she turned to Luke with a furious look. “Don’t you dare say a word, big brother. Not. One. Word.”

  Holding his hands in front of him in an innocent gesture, he took a step away from her. “Me? Say something? Never.”

  “Very well,” Ginny said, running a hand up to her hair to tuck in a few escaped curls.

  “Just so you know, Ginny Lou, we all like Blake and think he’s a really nice fellow.”

  “I appreciate that, Luke,” Ginny said, patting his arm as they heard Dora and Greg approaching the back door. “Have you locked your wife in her room or can she come out now?”

  “I’ll go get her,” Luke said, hurrying to remove his coat while Ginny lifted a spoon and stirred the soup cooking on the stove. “She was taking a nap when I checked on her a little while ago, or at least she was pretending to be asleep. Either way, she’ll want to make dinner and I’m inclined to let her since you and Mother haven’t quite mastered the fine arts of the kitchen.”

  “Oh, get out of here,” Ginny said, turning around and shaking the spoon threateningly Luke’s direction. “Don’t you have a wife to harass?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Ginny, darling, may I speak with you please?” Dora asked after the family spent an evening in the parlor, chatting and playing a few games. Ginny volunteered to take the dessert tray back to the kitchen and Dora followed behind with the tea tray.

  “What is it, Mother?” Ginny asked, putting the leftover pie in the icebox and washing the few dirty dishes.

  “Will you come to my room?” Dora asked nervously while drying the dishes Ginny handed her.

  “Certainly, Mother. Whatever is the matter?” Ginny asked, wiping her hands on a dishtowel and linking her arm with Dora’s as they walked down the hall.

  Entering the large blue and burgundy room, Dora sat on the side of the bed and patted the spot next to her. Ginny sat beside her, wrapping her arm around her mother.

  Glancing across the room in the mirror, she noticed how much they looked alike. Both petite and short, they shared the same golden hair, although Ginny’s had the tendency to curl with wild abandon, and blue eyes, as well as the shape of their mouth and chin. Luke, on the other hand, bore a striking resemblance to their father, except for his light colored hair and icy blue eyes.

  “Blake’s right, you know, Mother,” Ginny said, pointing to the mirror. “You don’t look old enough to have two grown children and especially not to be a grandmother.”

  “Thank you, darling. Isn’t it so exciting Luke and Filly will finally welcome a baby here at Granger House?” Dora all but bounced on the bed, thinking about becoming a grandmother. She and Greg would have to plan an extended trip to visit when the baby arrived.

  “It’s not like they’ve been trying for ages, Mother. They’ve barely been married for two years,” Ginny said, shaking her head at her mother.

  “I know that, but I want a grandbaby to play with,” Dora said, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout that Ginny knew well. She’d seen it in the mirror in her own reflection many times.

  “And so you’ll have one next summer,” Ginny said, patting Dora’s hand where it held hers on her lap. “Now, why did you wish to speak with me? I know it isn’t about babies.”

  “No, Ginny, it isn’t,” Dora took a deep breath then slowly let it out. “Darling, I need to confess something to you. Something terrible I did years ago. I thought it was in your best interest at the time, but now, after seeing you with Blake, I’m not so sure it was the right thing to do at all.”

  “What is it, Mother? What did you do?” Ginny asked with an overwhelming sense of dread.

  “Truthfully, there are two parts to this confession. The first is that I knew Blake loved you and you loved him before we moved back to New York. You were so, so young. You both were. I wanted you to experience life before you settled down. I didn’t want you to find yourself trapped here in Hardman with the first boy you loved.”

  “But, Mother…” Ginny began to protest.

  Dora held up a hand and silenced Ginny. “Let me finish, please. I also thought Blake wasn’t worthy of you. You were so smart, Ginny, so talented and full of life, waiting for adventure. Blake’s parents seemed hard-pressed at times to keep food on the table, living in that little house, trying without much success to farm. If it wasn’t for the horses they raised, I think they would have been entirely destitute.”

  “They were never destitute, Mother,” Ginny said, censure and irritation filling her voice.

  “I realize that now, but back then I envisioned you living in squalor in some primitive one-room cabin with half a dozen children hanging off your tattered skirts.”

  Ginny couldn’t help laughing at the picture that created. “My stars! You can be so dramatic.”

  “Regardless, I was sure that is what your future would hold if you didn’t distance yourself from Blake. I finally convinced your father no good could come from staying in Hardman. I wasn’t all that fond of living out here at the gateway to nowhere and I certainly wouldn’t allow your opportunity for a happy future to be destroyed by what you thought was love.”

  “But I did love him, Mother. I loved him with my whole heart.” Ginny brushed at a tear that rolled down her cheek. She knew their abrupt departure from town had something to do with her love for Blake. Something inside her always knew the truth even if her mind refused to accept it.

  “I know you did, darling. It’s quite obvious you still do,” Dora said, furiously wiping at her own tears. “I’m sorry, Ginny. I had no idea the love you felt for Blake was so strong, so true. I’d like to think if I’d r
ealized it then, we would have done things differently, but we both know I wasn’t the same person I am now.”

  “I know, Mother.” Ginny released a sad sigh. Looking back on what could have been wouldn’t do anything but cause more hurt and pain.

  “Which brings me to my second, and perhaps more painful confession,” Dora said, getting to her feet and walking across the room. Opening a dresser drawer, she pulled out a box.

  Rubbing her hand across the lid, she looked at Ginny with a plea for forgiveness written across her face. Setting the box on Ginny’s lap, Dora removed the lid.

  Staring down at a bundle of letters written in her own hand, Ginny sucked in a gulp of air. Lifting one out, she realized the box contained all the letters she wrote to Blake. Glancing at her mother with a look of hurt and confusion, she didn’t know what to think.

  “Mother?”

  “Oh, Ginny, I know it was so wrong of me, but I couldn’t bear the thought of you wanting to return to Hardman to marry that boy. I made sure not a single letter you wrote him made it out our front door. Likewise, I intercepted all the letters he wrote you. When they finally stopped coming, I bundled them all together and sent them back to him, unopened.”

  “How could you do such a thing?” Ginny asked, glaring at Dora. “I cried myself to sleep for months. Months, Mother! I thought he forgot about me. That he didn’t care. Why just a few weeks ago, I accused him…”

  Setting the box on the bed beside her, Ginny covered her face with her hands and wept. Dora wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close as they both cried.

  “I’m so sorry, darling. So terribly, terribly sorry. I don’t know what to do to make this better,” Dora said, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket and mopping at her face while Ginny wiped away her tears and stared at her mother with a look of anger and distrust.

  Taking her daughter’s hand in hers, Dora squeezed gently. “Blake has grown into a fine man, a good man. One we’d be proud to have as part of our family, even if he does seem to live a humble life.”