Sweet Treasures

by Debra Ullrick

  “Water sounds good. I’ve had enough coffee to float a ship today. I’m all coffeed out.”

  Grabbing a cold bottle of water out of the fridge and a warm one from underneath the counter, Anna handed the cold one to Nicholas and took the warm one for herself.

  Nicholas already had the Styrofoam containers sitting out on the table. Once she was seated, he lowered his tall frame onto the chair. They bowed their heads, and he prayed over their food.

  All it took was Amen for Anna to snatch up a homemade French fry and pop it into her mouth. “Thank you for bringing dinner.”

  “You’re welcome. My pleasure actually. I haven’t had a hamburger in years, and I must say this is the best I have ever eaten.”

  “I think so.” They ate for several minutes before Anna’s stomach couldn’t hold one more bite. “Oh, I wanted to tell you that you weren’t kidding about your aunt. She doesn’t do anything small.” Anna laughed, and so did Nicholas.

  “She sure doesn’t.” They gathered their containers and put them in the trash. Nicholas sat back and patted his stomach. “I’m stuffed. Would you like to go for a walk to work off some of this dinner? Or have you walked enough today?”

  Even though Anna had probably walked ten miles already, a walk after that heavy meal sounded great. “Sure, if you don’t mind waiting. I have to finish paying a couple more bills first.”

  “I have all evening. So go ahead.”

  Side-by-side they headed back to her office.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  While Anna worked at her desk, Nicholas walked over to the massive bookshelf that took up half of one office wall. The shelves were packed solid with books that ranged from cookbooks to Shakespeare to romance novels. Romance novels outnumbered even the cookbooks, which surprised him.

  “There. All done.”

  He turned in time to see her close her business checkbook and stand. She switched from her tennis shoes to winter boots, and Nicholas held her coat for her. As he put his warm winter jacket on, he was glad he had thought ahead just in case she said yes to a walk after dinner. His snow boots would keep his feet nice and warm this time too.

  Anna shut the lights off at the door, and they headed out of the shop and into the cold night air. Snowflakes the size of dimes floated down from above like light and fluffy soap flakes, touching their faces and melting the instant they did. The streets were lit up with tons of Christmas lights, and the huge light poles were decorated with LED bells and snowmen.

  Two blocks away from the shop was a huge park. With Anna’s arm looped through his, he led her toward it.

  “Don’t you just love Christmas?” Anna asked as they neared the park.

  Nicholas gazed down at her. Even here in the semi-darkness the sparkle in her eyes reflected just how much she loved Christmas. As if the numerous decorations in her home, yard, business, office and even the breakroom wasn’t indication enough of that fact.

  “It’s the best time of the year,” she continued without waiting for his answer. “I love all the people out and about, smiling and laughing. It’s so… so festive and so full of good cheer.”

  While Nicholas liked Christmas, he wasn’t a big fan of what the season had become. “Well, Christmas used to be like that before people got offended by even the very mention of the word Christmas. Now most of the time all people do is walk around with sour looks on their faces and paying outrageous prices for gifts they can’t afford and going into debt up to their ears in order for their children to have the latest new electronics or video games. A simple book or a doll are no longer acceptable. No one says Merry Christmas anymore. It’s Happy Holidays, and the smiles never quite reach their eyes.”

  Anna stopped, and with one tug, she stopped him. “Wow. That’s weird. People come into my shop all the time, smiling and wishing us a Merry Christmas.”

  “That’s because they know you’re a Christian, and they feel safe saying that.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Not every knows that. I think people respond to other people’s good cheer. Sure, the devil is doing his best to try and rob the Christmas spirit and the real meaning of Christmas from the world, but he’s losing. Look, I’ll show you.” She tugged him forward, and within minutes they were inside the park.

  Men and women of all ages walked around stopping every now and then at the vendors spread throughout the park.

  “Listen.”

  Nicholas had no idea what he was listening for but he tuned his ears anyway, listening to the sounds around him. Laughter and joy, and yes, even several Merry Christmases drifted on the night air.

  “So you hear the laughter?” she asked.

  He had to admit, he did, so he offered her a nod.

  Anna tugged him forward. “Now, watch their faces.”

  A young couple and an elderly couple strolled toward them from the opposite direction.

  “Merry Christmas,” Anna sing-songed as they neared.

  All four of them looked over at Anna and all four smiled. “Merry Christmas to you too,” they each said cheerfully, with smiles as bright as the Christmas light displays.

  “It’s a lovely night to be out shopping and enjoying the Christmas lights.” Anna held up her hand, palm side up, and she lifted her face toward the sky. Snowflakes landed on her rosy cheeks and onto her mitten. A second and her gaze came back to them.

  Again with the smiles. “It sure is,” the elderly woman said. “If you haven’t seen the Christmas tree in the center of the park yet, you should. They really outdid themselves this year.”

  “Oh. Thank you.” Anna smiled at her. “We’ll do that. You folks have a great evening.”

  “We are.” This time the younger woman spoke but her attention wasn’t on Anna and Nicholas, it was on the man whose arm she had. “I just got engaged.”

  “Oh-h.” Anna clasped her hands together. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations!”

  Nicholas watched the interaction and the joy on everyone’s faces. A few seconds later and they said their Merry Christmases again and walked on.

  Every person Anna encountered, she greeted with a cheery Merry Christmas. Each one responded with a smile and a ‘Merry Christmas’ back.

  The two of them walked up to a booth with a huge array of Christmas decorations, but Anna went straight to the snow globes. “Oh, I love this one.” Leaning over, she peered intently into the illuminated snowglobe. “This is the Françoi Leondre Victorian Village snowglobe.” She spoke those words as if he should know what they meant.

  Nicholas had no clue whatsoever. He only knew that if Anna liked it, he was going to get it for her.

  Behind the display counter, the sales lady watched Anna with interest and a smile. Again with the smiles. Why had he not noticed them before? Was it because he wasn’t really looking and only paid attention to the ones who weren’t smiling? Was it because all he had heard other people talking about for the last few years was how no one smiled anymore? When the sales lady’s gaze came up to him, he pointed to the globe. “We’ll take that one.”

  Anna jerked upward, her eyes darted up to his and widened. “No, that’s okay.” Her eyes flitted between him and the sales lady. She ducked her head to him and whispered, “It’s too expensive.”

  “We’ll take it,” he said again to the lady as he dug out his wallet.

  Anna tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. “No, Nicholas. It’s almost a hundred dollars.” The gasp in her voice was audible.

  He spoke in to her ear. “And your point is?”

  She blinked up at him. “That’s too much.”

  “That will be,” the sales lady quoted the price, including tax.

  Nicholas removed his glove and pulled the bills out.

  Anna’s hand cupped over his. “Nicholas, really, I can’t let you do that.”

  He looked at her seriously. “You like it don’t you?”

  “Yes. I love it. I do. I love anything Françoi Leondre. He has such a way with light and is so incredibly talented. But
…”

  Nicholas laid his finger over her lips. “But nothing. It’s yours. And no arguing with me.” He handed the lady several bills. “Keep the change.”

  The woman counted the money. Her eyes flew up to his. “But, this is…”

  “Yours. Merry Christmas.” He smiled at her.

  It took her another couple minutes to get the globe in a shopping bag, and even then tears pooled in the woman’s eyes as she handed it to him. “Merry Christmas to you too,” she choked the words out.

  Nicholas took the bag from her, touched by how sincerely overwhelmed she seemed to be. As they turned to step away, he heard the woman tell the other gal who worked there at the booth what had happened and how now she wouldn’t lose her car.

  With that, the Christmas spirit surged on him, and Nicholas stopped. “Hang on, Anna.”

  “What?” Anna asked in concern, but he was already headed back to the booth, grabbing several more bills out of his wallet.

  He stepped back up to the counter. “Excuse me, Miss.”

  She hurried over to him. “Yes. Is something wrong?” Concern flooded her glistening eyes.

  Holding the bills in his fist, he reached over the display. “Would you take this for me, please?”

  “Uh. Sure,” she said, her voice edged with uncertainty.

  Carefully, he released the bills into her hands.

  She took them and when she opened her hand, she gasped. “Wait!” She whirled around. “This isn’t trash, it’s… it’s...”

  But Nicholas had already rejoined Anna on the walk. “Yes it is. You have a very Merry Christmas.” Without waiting to see anymore of her reaction, he turned and led Anna away.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Anna’s heart swelled with love. What a kind generous man Nicholas was. A man after her own heart. A man who helped others who were down on their luck and struggling. As they walked away, she tucked closer to his side and gazed up to him. “That was very sweet of you.”

  Nicholas looked down at her as they continued to walk. “What?”

  “Back there. I heard what the woman said and you blessed her with even more. And…” She raised his hand that held the shopping bag with the snowglobe inside. “This. Just because I loved it, you bought it for me. Thank you.” She tugged him to a stop, reached up on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek.

  “You’re welcome.” He pulled her to him, and there under the canopy of twinkling lights strung throughout the tree, he kissed her, long and sweet. The thought of him leaving was no longer just a naggingly bad thought, it had come to the point that it was starting to break her heart. Melting further into his embrace, she relished the sweet kiss and put to memory the feel of his chest, strong arms, warm heart, and sweet kisses. Soon she would have to say goodbye to him. That day, she dreaded more than any other. How would her heart handle his absence?

  Chapter Six

  The next several days went by in a blur. Since that evening in the park, Anna hadn’t seen or talked to Nicholas. He told her he wouldn’t be able to come by for a few nights, and he wasn’t sure what would happen on Sunday. Something about being in court helping his uncle solve a multi-million dollar case.

  Though she was tired, that didn’t stop her from missing him. And since she hadn’t heard from him about going to church or anything, she decided to sleep in on Sunday and go to the late service. Falling into bed at 1:00 am made that decision an easy one.

  The next morning, Anna glanced at the clock on her nightstand: 9:18. Yawning wide and long, after a good stretch, she tossed the covers off and padded her way to the bathroom hoping a good shower would help her wake up.

  Just as she lathered her hair, she heard her cell phone ringing. Whoever it was would have to wait. She just hoped that someone wasn’t Nicholas.

  When she finished showering and drying off, she grabbed her cellphone, and while she made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, she checked to see who had called. Whoever it was had left a message, so she punched in her security code and looked to see who it was. Nicholas. Her heart skipped just seeing his name.

  She listened as his message played.

  “Anna, this is Nicholas. Sorry, I haven’t been able to call. I’ve been so busy. In fact, I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it to church today, but I was able to at the last minute. I was hoping you would be there. Hope everything’s okay. Give me a call when you get this, okay? I’d love to see you today, if that’s at all possible.”

  Her insides pranced and fluttered. Of course it was possible. More than possible. As fast as her fingers would move, she called him back. Two rings later, and his wonderfully masculine voice came over the airwaves. “Hey, Anna. I’m so glad you called. Did you get my message? Is everything okay?”

  “Yes. I got your message, and yes everything’s fine.” More than fine because I’m talking to you. “It’s been such a long week, I decided to sleep in and go to the late service.” She tucked her phone to her ear and held it firmly in place with her shoulder while she fixed herself a cup of expresso. This morning, she wouldn’t have her usual hot chocolate. No. A triple dose of caffeine was in order to help wake her up. She stifled another yawn.

  “Listen, I can hear how tired you are. So if you’re too tired to something today, I understand.”

  “No, it’s fine.” She grabbed her phone and tucked it close to her other ear. “I’d really like to see you. I’ve missed you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she cringed, wondering what he would read into that. Was it too hopeful? Too desperate? Too forward? Too late now. She’d said it.

  “I missed you too.” His voice had a husky tone to it, warming her insides clear through, and annihilating any concerns she had from the moment before.

  She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Did you want to come out to my place for lunch? And maybe afterward do some ice skating. It snowed last night, but the pond is frozen over and already cleared.” Anna had a snow removal company that kept her driveway, walkways and pond plowed. “That is, if you can ice skate.”

  “Ice skating’s in my blood. Growing up, my brothers and I used to play ice hockey all the time. Only problem is, I don’t have my skates here with me.”

  Probably because he didn’t plan on staying in Colorado. Anna kicked that depressing thought right of her mind. “What size do you wear?”

  “Eleven. Eleven and a half. Depending on the skates.”

  “Well, I have a couple pair of my dad’s and some of my brother-in-law’s skates here. They left them because they didn’t figure they would need them out in ‘sunny California.’ I think they were just hoping they wouldn’t need them.” She chuckled. “We’ll have to see if any of them will fit you.”

  “Sounds good. What time?”

  “Church lets out about 12:30. I should be home a little after one.”

  “Can I bring anything?”

  “Yourself.”

  “I think I can manage that.”

  “Good. See you later then. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Hanging up, she grabbed a bag of the cornmeal biscuits and the leftover chili she had made a couple of weeks before from the freezer. She dumped the chili into her crock pot and turned it on high. By the time she got home, the spicy soup would be ready, and the biscuits would be thawed.

  Later, when the church service ended, Anna drove home, barely able to contain her excitement about seeing Nicholas again. His car was already parked in the driveway when she arrived.

  As soon as she pulled her car in the garage, he was there, at her door, opening it for her. “Hey there.” Her heart fluttered just seeing him.

  He offered her a hand.

  Though she didn’t need the help, she wouldn’t miss an opportunity to connect with him. She climbed out, and he kissed her before she had a chance to turn around and grab her purse. She didn’t mind one little bit. Her purse could rot in there for all she cared. Falling into his kiss, she relished the feel of his lips covering hers. They
were both warm and cold. Cold from the weather, warm to her heart.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Nicholas ended the kiss even though he wanted to keep kissing her. She grabbed her purse and punched the remote to close the outside garage door. Side-by-side they went through the garage and into the kitchen.

  Something spicy and delicious-smelling greeted him. “Something sure smells good.”

  Anna looked back at him. “I hope you like leftover chili.”

  “Leftover. Fresh. Any way it’s served. Hot chili is always good on a cold day.”

  “I agree.” Anna’s smile melted his heart faster than the snow melting off of his boots and onto the throw rug. He was falling for her, and now he knew for sure there was nothing he could do to stop it. So far every solution he had thought of to make them work fell short. A few times he thought he’d come up with something that would work for both of them, but the logistics of his plans just didn’t quite come together. Her business and ministry was here, and his practice was in New York. It seemed like no matter how many times he had spoken to God about it, God had remained silent on the matter. And now, it was only a matter of time before he had to say goodbye to her. One thing was for certain, when he left Colorado to go back home to New York, his heart would not be going with him. It would be staying behind here. With Anna.

  Today, before they did anything, he needed to tell her that he was leaving in a few days. He knew his Aunt Savia had told Anna that he was only here helping his uncle out and would be returning to New York. He wondered if it would be as hard for her as it would be for him. Right now, he didn’t want to think about leaving. He only wanted to be with her and enjoy what little time they had together. But was that really fair to her even though she knew he would be leaving?