A Very Mercy Christmas: A Witch Squad Holiday Special (A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Book 5)

by M. Z. Andrews

  “That has to be you, Sweets,” I told her excitedly. “You were so adorable!”

  Holly couldn’t believe it. “That’s you?”

  “Of course it’s me! And that’s Claudette and Ben playing cards. Oh! And Peach! Look at her. She’s so little!” Sweets clasped her hands together and grinned from ear to ear. The sight of her family all together made her so happy. I couldn’t help but be happy for her.

  Mr. Porter sat his beer on the kitchen counter and plucked a candy cane out of a small cup. He leaned over and poked Sweets gently in the rib cage with the end of the stick, making the little girl giggle with glee. “Daddy!” she squealed, then plucked it out of his hand merrily.

  Jax smiled enviously as she watched Mr. Porter teasing the little girl. “I’m so jealous of your family, Sweets. I’d have given anything to have a big family like this growing up!”

  Sweets smiled shyly. “We had our ups and downs.”

  Little Sweets ran to her big sister Claudette and with a tiny little cherubic voice begged, “Claudie, open this for me?”

  Claudette looked down at her little sister. “Daddy, tell Millie to stop playing over here. Ben and I are trying to play cards.”

  “Daddy, tell Claudette to let me play,” Peach cried out.

  Mr. Porter ignored his daughters and looked up at Arnold. “Who were you on the phone with, Son?”

  Arnold grabbed a handful of caramel popcorn from a bowl on the counter. “Sarah. Mom said I could invite her over. I haven’t seen her in months.”

  “Daddy!” Claudette hollered again, trying to block Sweets from climbing up on her lap. “Can you please tell Millie to stop it!”

  “Come here, Millie. Want some popcorn?” Arnold asked the young girl.

  Young Sweets’ eyes lit up, and she raced across the room to her big brother’s legs. He picked up the bowl and bent over to offer it to Sweets. Happily, she took two handfuls and shoved one in her mouth, making her cheeks poof out like a chipmunk’s.

  Arnold laughed heartily as he bent over to scoop Sweets up in his arms. “Oh! Millie! I’ve missed those cheeks!” he planted a kiss on Sweets’ cheek before setting her back down on the floor.

  Immediately Sweets raced over to the woman at the stove and threw her arms around her knees. The woman turned towards us, finally giving us a glimpse of her face. She looked down at Sweets with a happy, adoring grin. I sucked in a breath. It was Wilhelmina Porter!

  Grandma Porter looked a million years younger and way more loving than she did when she visited us as a ghost in her terry cloth robe and house slippers. “Oh child, you’re too precious,” she said before chucking Sweets under the chin affectionately.

  “Sweets! Your grandmother looks so different!” Jax commented. “She looks youthful.”

  Sweets nodded and brushed away a tear. “That’s how I remember her,” she admitted.

  Suddenly an altercation broke out at the table. Ben threw down his cards and turned towards his father. “Dad, Claude’s cheating!”

  “I wasn’t cheating; Ben was cheating. He had Peach look at my cards,” Claudette hollered back.

  “I didn’t ask her to. Peach looked on her own and told me. That’s not my fault,” Ben argued.

  Mr. Porter looked sternly at Peach. “Peach, did you look at your sister’s cards and tell your brother?”

  Peach looked around nervously, suddenly uncomfortable that she had been placed in the middle of the argument. “Yes, I did, Daddy. But Benny told me to.”

  Mr. Porter turned his angry gaze towards his middle son. “Ben. That’s not the right way to play a game.”

  Ben palmed his forehead and sighed, peering angrily at Peach out of the corner of his eyes. “Way to go Peach. I’m not going to let you play anymore.”

  “Me either,” Claudette agreed angrily.

  Peach threw her head back and let out a holler as the tears began to stream down her face.

  From across the room, little Sweets came charging over to her siblings. She stopped short of the table, cocked her hip to the side, put one hand on it, and wagged her other finger out in front of her. “Stop it!” she hollered. “No fighting on Christmas! Santa’s watching!”

  I couldn’t help myself as a little giggle escaped my lips. Sweets was just too darn cute as a little girl. I glanced at the faces of the rest of the Witch Squad. They must have thought so too because everyone had a smile on their face.

  Claudette scoffed at her youngest sister while Peach continued to scream. “Oh, be quiet, Millie. You’re not the boss.”

  Benjamin frowned at her too. “Yeah, we don’t have to listen to you.”

  Sweets frowned. This time she put both hands on her hips and stomped her little four-year-old foot down on the ground. “Peach! No yelling!” she hollered at the second youngest of the family.

  Peach stopped yelling and looked down at her little sister while wiping away her tears.

  Little Sweets nodded politely. “Thank you, Peach,” she said sweetly, causing her mother to giggle while cutting her vegetables.

  “Claudie and Benny, be nice to Peach, no more fighting!”

  With gleeful eyes, Mrs. Porter stopped chopping vegetables to look down at her youngest child. “Well now, listen to that! You heard your sister. No more fighting.”

  “But Mom! She’s four. She can’t boss us around. We’re teenagers, and she’s just a baby.”

  Mrs. Porter wiped her hands on her dish towel and walked towards the table. “Well then explain to me why a baby has more sense than a pair of teenagers?” She leaned over and kissed her youngest daughter’s cheek. “Good girl,” she said and then promptly rewarded her with a small peanut butter kiss cookie from a tin on the counter.

  “No more fighting, you heard your mother,” Mr. Porter said pointedly at the siblings.

  Sweets looked back at the rest of us that were watching her family with interest. “I guess I’ve always been the peacemaker, haven’t I?” she said with a half-smile.

  “I guess so,” agreed Jax. “I guess you’ve always been the sweet one. Even though they didn’t know it yet. They weren’t even calling you Sweets yet.”

  “I didn’t earn that nickname until I was in elementary school,” she admitted.

  Morgan touched Sweets’ shoulder kindly. “Say your goodbyes, Sweets,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. “It’s time to move on.”

  Sweets turned her attention back to her family. “Do we have to go? I want to stay!”

  Morgan shook her head. “It’s time.”

  Sweets moved towards her grandmother and tried to hug her one last time, but her arms went right through her. “Goodbye, Grandma. I love you! Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Maybe I’ll see you after this storm blows over,” she said sadly and blew her mother a kiss goodbye. “Bye Arnold, bye Benny, bye Claudie, bye Peach. Merry Christmas! I love you all!”

  “Here we go,” Morgan said as the house fell from under our feet and left us hanging in an empty navy blue sky. The house dissolved as we watched and each tiny piece became a bright star in the sky until the house was gone and the sky was full of bright twinkling stars.

  As easily as the house had turned into stars, a skyline began to form beneath our feet. Skyscrapers lined the horizon, and street lights illuminated the sky, as we hovered over a city. Neighborhoods of houses dotted by trees formed squares and cars zoomed around between them and up and down freeways.

  Holly’s eyes lit up. “This is where I live!” She clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh, yay! I do get to go home for Christmas! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  14

  Morgan turned her gaze to the city before us. “This way,” she said, motioning us forward, towards a brightly lit area. Our bodies moved forward as if our waists were chained to hers. Together, we hovered above a downtown area. Palm trees covered an outdoor patio area. Holly looked down with confusion. “Wait, this isn’t my house, Morgan!”

  Morgan ignored Holly’s words and continued to drag us behind her tow
ards an oversized mansion with a brightly lit backyard area. As we got closer, I could clearly see what looked like a party going on behind the large house, but strangely there were lights set up and people with filming equipment were scattered about the property.

  “What is this place, Holly?” I asked curiously.

  Holly looked around. With her eyebrows furrowed together, she shook her head. “I have no idea where we are. This isn’t my house or my backyard.”

  “It looks like a movie set,” Sweets said, looking around.

  “Yes, it does,” Holly agreed. “And my mother is an actress, but I don’t remember this place.”

  Morgan extended her arm and pointed towards a little girl sitting alone on a lounge chair next to a pool house. Her face rested unhappily on her fist.

  From a distance, Holly had to squint to look at her. “Surely that’s not me!”

  We moved closer until the six of us stood nearly on top of the little girl who couldn’t see a single one of us. She had stick straight blonde hair, cerulean blue eyes, and fair skin. The little girl let out a sigh of boredom and cranked her body back to look towards the party going on behind her.

  “It is me!” said Holly with astonishment. “But, I don’t remember this party. Did this really happen?”

  Morgan nodded. “This is you. This really happened. Watch,” she whispered.

  We watched as young Holly continued to fidget about in her seat, trying to get comfortable. Out of nowhere, a beautiful blonde woman appeared. She had the skin of a porcelain doll, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Holly. The impeccably slim woman wore a salmon colored pencil skirt with a sheer white blouse and a thick strand of pearls at her neck. Her heels clicked on the concrete as she approached Holly with a concerned look on her face.

  “Oh, Holly. I’m so sorry darling. I’m sure I’m just ruining your Christmas Eve. This scene has run over. I thought we’d be done by now, I really did. I called your father hours ago to come and pick you up. I don’t know what’s taking him so long!”

  Young Holly’s bottom lip plumped out. “I’m hungry, Mommy. Can’t we just go home?”

  “Sweetheart we’ll go soon, I promise. I only have one more scene to do, ok?”

  A woman poked her head out of the pool house. “Angela, let’s get you touched up before the next scene.”

  “Yes, I’ll be right there,” Holly’s mother said brightly to the woman. Then she turned to her daughter. “I need to go, darling, I’ll do my best so that I can finish up and we can go home and put cookies out for Santa!”

  “I want Daddy to come and get me,” Holly said unhappily.

  Angela looked at the thin gold watch on her wrist. “He should have been here hours ago sweetheart. I really don’t know what’s taking him so long. I’ll call him again,” Angela turned to her makeup artist who was already primping her hair as Angela stood in the doorway to the pool house. She took a few steps inside where there was a vanity and lights set up for the cast.

  Holly followed her mother and just inside the doorway rested her head against the frame.

  Angela leaned in to peer into the mirror closely, turning her head from side to side. “Barbara, can we do something about this line right here? It almost looks like a wrinkle!”

  Barbara wordlessly set about putting makeup on the line that I couldn’t even see with my glasses on. “Better?” she asked Holly’s mother.

  Angela nodded. “Much. Yes, I think I’m alright now,” she said, watching her slim reflection in the mirror as she turned side to side. Then she pulled her blouse tighter around her chest, swiveling on her toes from right to left. “What do you think, Barbara? I’m thinking about going up a size or two. My husband said he’d get me them me for a Christmas gift if I wanted.”

  Barbara took a step back, regarding Angela carefully from multiple angles. “I guess it depends on the types of roles you’re going after,” she said. “If he’s willing to pay for the surgery, I think I’d take him up on it. I really don’t think it can hurt your career.”

  Angela smoothed the material across her breasts as young Holly watched her mother intently. “I hate to go through surgery, though. The thought just scares me, but I just wasn’t blessed in that department.”

  Barbara smiled at Angela. “Well, you were certainly blessed in the beauty department. So be thankful for that.”

  “Oh! Thank you, Barbara, you’re very kind. I am very thankful!” Angela gave her a small smile and then chased her little girl out of the pool house. “Ok, now Holly. Be a good girl and wait right here for Mommy. Just a little bit longer.”

  Holly dropped herself onto the pool chair one more time. “Are you going to call Daddy?”

  “Yes, I’ll call your fath…” Angela’s words trailed off as she spotted a tall, handsome man in a charcoal colored suit with silver hair at his temples coming towards them.

  We all watched as young Holly’s gaze turned towards the man coming their way. “Daddy!”

  The Holly standing next to me sucked in a deep breath. “Daddy!” she whispered at the same time as her counterpart.

  “Oh, Holly,” Jax said with a smile. “Your father is so handsome!”

  With wide eyes, Holly nodded, wiping away a tear. “Now I remember this day,” she whispered, her voice breaking up. “I didn’t think I did, but I do.” She turned away from her father with a choked cry. “I can’t watch.”

  “But Holly,” Sweets said, looking down at our friend, who was bent over at the waist, trying to catch her breath. “Don’t you want to see your father?”

  I rubbed a hand on her back. “It’s ok, Holl. Look, you jumped into his arms. He’s going to take you home!” I told her as I continued to rub her back while she gasped for air. “Now your mom is kissing his cheek! What’s the matter?”

  Suddenly the angry sound of Angela’s voice carried over mine. “Perfume? Why do you smell like perfume Grant?”

  Holly’s father’s face inadvertently flushed red. “I – I don’t smell like perfume,” he assured her weakly.

  Angela’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her husband more closely. “You do smell like perfume. Where have you been Grant? I called you to come and pick up Holly hours ago.”

  Grant swallowed hard and looked at the little girl in his arms. Then he tried to put a smile on his face. “Oh, darn. You’ve caught me. I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Now you’ve ruined the surprise. I was trying out new perfumes for you; I must have gotten some on my shirt.”

  Angela shook her head as she looked him up and down more carefully. Her eyes zeroed in on a speck of pink on the collar of his white shirt. “What’s this?” she said, pulling him closer so she could examine it better. Her jaw dropped. “Is this lipstick?”

  Grant let out a sigh of frustration. He sat Holly down on the pavement. “Sweetheart, give Mommy and me a minute? Can you go sit over there for me?”

  Young Holly groaned. “But Daddy! It’s Christmas Eve. I want to go home! We need to put cookies out for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer!”

  “We will Holly. Soon. Please, sit for Daddy?”

  Holly followed his orders but was obviously not happy about it. While she glumly took a seat on the lounge chair, my friend Holly was having a panic attack behind me. Surprisingly, Alba stooped over and looked in her face.

  “You’re going to be alright Cosmo. You already lived this. You already know the ending. What happened between your parents doesn’t define you. Be strong,” Alba instructed her. There was empathy in her voice.

  Holly shook her head as she tried to force herself to breathe. “I can’t watch it again. I want to go. Can we go?”

  I looked at Morgan. She shook her head sadly.

  I turned my attention back to Angela and Grant. Angela’s face conveyed bitterness and anger. “You’re having an affair?”

  Grant hung his head. “I’m so sorry, Angie. I was going to tell you after the holidays.”

  Her blue eyes widened. “You were goin
g to tell me you were having an affair after the holidays?”

  Sorrowfully he shook his head. “No. I was going to tell you that I’m moving out,” he said softly, trying not to let Holly overhear him.

  Angela sucked in her breath as a hand went to her stomach. “You’re moving out? You’re leaving us?”

  “I’m leaving you,” he said patiently. “Of course I’m not leaving Holly.”

  Angela shook her head angrily. “No! We’re a packaged deal. You can’t have one without the other.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, Angie. I’m not abandoning my daughter.”

  “But you’re abandoning me?” she demanded, as tears filled her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Angie. I really am,” he said, keeping a close eye on Holly in the lounge chair.

  “Who is she?”

  “You don’t need to know,” he said firmly, his jaw setting tightly.

  “I do need to know. Who is she?”

  “Angie – I’m not...” He shook his head.

  “Are you moving in with her?”

  He paused for a moment. “Yes.”

  Angela bent at the waist. “Oh, my god.”

  “Angie – I’m so…”

  She cut him off. “If you’re moving in with her, then I’m going to find out who it is sooner or later. Who is it, Grant?”

  He sighed, looking defeated. “It’s Vanessa,” he admitted. His face flushed red again.

  Angela’s eyes widened. “Vanessa from work?! She’s like half your age! Are you kidding me? How long has this been going on?”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Do we have to get into this now?” he asked, glancing at Holly.

  “Yes, we have to get into this now! Your daughter should know exactly why her father is leaving his family!” Angela hollered.

  “This isn’t about Holly!” he hollered louder than he had expected and he immediately glanced at her again. She looked up at her father.

  “Then what is it about?” Angela demanded. “Tell me, Grant. Explain to me what makes a man leave his wife and daughter for a woman half his age?”

  He shook his head angrily as Holly watched the two of them argue. “I’m not getting into this now. I’ll go home and pack my things. I’d hoped to wait and give Holly a good Christmas.”