Spoonful of Christmas

by Darlene Panzera

  Kim thought of the boy alone on the streets and leaned forward. “And Max?”

  “Still missing,” Jake replied. “But he isn’t the Grinch.”

  Jake unfolded the newspaper in his hand and showed them the front page of the Astoria Sun.

  They all leaned their heads in, and Kim read, “FOUND! THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS!”

  “The cops caught Max’s foster father, Garth Gilmore, with Rachel and Mike’s wedding cards and gifts late last night,” Jake explained. “The guy they arrested in Ilwaco told them where to find him.”

  “Why would he do something like this?” Rachel demanded.

  “Garth tried to sell the gifts to last-minute shoppers,” Jake told them. “He had some of the gifts he stole from the Cupcake Mobile, too.”

  Andi frowned. “How did he know they were in there?”

  “My fault,” Jake admitted. “During the interview, I told Garth we were collecting gifts for foster children. I asked if we could put Max’s name on the list. When Garth came to steal from the shop, he must have looked in the truck and seen the presents under the blanket. Then he saw the Grinch painted on our window and decided to steal the name.”

  Rachel looked puzzled. “Who painted the Grinch on the window?”

  “Max,” Kim answered. “I met him at the school touching up the murals. His mother used to waitress here when this place was still Zeke’s Tavern.”

  Jake nodded. “Then when Garth stole the gifts out of the Cupcake Mobile, he saw all the Christmas decorations and the gifts we had for each other inside the shop and decided to come back and steal them, too.”

  “And he saw the details for my wedding cake in the Cupcake Diary!” Rachel exclaimed. “He knew the wedding’s location, date, and time.”

  “Your perfect wedding was too perfect for him to pass up,” Kim added.

  Andi raised her eyebrows. “Then what was Max doing there?”

  “Trying to stop him.” Jake shook his head. “I wish I knew where he was.”

  Rachel sighed. “I wish I knew where Mike was.”

  The connecting door to the back party room opened, and Mike appeared. “I’m right here.”

  For a moment no one moved. Then Kim looked at Rachel and found Andi and Jake did the same.

  Rachel rose from the table. “I’m sorry, Mike. I went overboard on the wedding when I promised you I wouldn’t, and—”

  “I never should have expected you to continue the wedding after everything that happened.” Mike crossed the room. “I think I’m the Grinch. How could I not understand how you must have felt at that moment? Or how you felt about moving?”

  “Do you know how I feel now?” Rachel asked, a smile spreading across her face.

  “You want to reschedule the wedding?” Mike asked, his expression hopeful.

  “Yes,” Rachel said. “I do. Will you marry me now?”

  Kim couldn’t help but laugh at Mike’s expression.

  “Now?” Mike repeated. “What about your ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, crystal chandeliers, and fancy dress?”

  “You were right,” Rachel told him. “I don’t need any of those things. All I need is you.”

  Oh, no! Kim didn’t think she was going to be able to hold it together, not after Andi and Jake’s happy reunion, and now theirs, too.

  Rachel ran into Mike’s arms, and Kim had to turn away as they kissed. She couldn’t stop the envy from cutting deep into her heart. But as she looked out the front window, she saw a boy watching them, his face up against the glass.

  She pointed. “There he is!”

  Everyone turned toward the window and chorused, “Who? Who?”

  The boy must have seen their reactions because he sprang back.

  “Max!” Kim ran to the window. “He ran off again. Where would he go?”

  “To the bus station?” Rachel suggested.

  Andi glanced at Jake. “Or the train station?”

  “He must have run because I said he was mean, but I didn’t know he wasn’t the Grinch,” Mia said, all in one breath.

  “Mia,” Andi said, kneeling down to her daughter’s level. “Do you know where Max might go?”

  “Maybe Hawaii. His mom gave him a picture of Hawaii.”

  Jake snapped his fingers. “The marina. He plans to stow away on a boat. I’m going after him.”

  Andi nodded. “Me, too. Rachel and Mike, can you watch the girls?”

  “Me three,” Kim said. “I want to help search.”

  She turned toward the door and ran smack into a tall figure she didn’t realize had been standing there. Nathaniel.

  He gave her a hesitant look. “Can I come with you?”

  MAX DIDN’T STOP running until he got to the waterfront. Christmas Day, the place was empty. There was no trolley, there were no cannery workers, no one to see him climb aboard a boat. He’d hide under the deck in the cabin, maybe lie under a tarp or crawl into a cabinet when the fishermen came the next day to sail out to sea.

  Maybe he could convince them to let him join the crew until he turned eighteen. Or maybe he’d jump ship and get off at another port and make his way . . . North? South? Where would his mother have gone?

  Didn’t matter. She didn’t want him. He kind of figured she wasn’t coming back, but to hear Jake say it made him so mad. How could she lie to him? How could she leave him?

  He couldn’t spend another six years in foster care. The people his social worker placed him with were like the sea lions, known as “Astoria’s losers.” They lay around, ate, and barked complaints all day. They smelled bad, too.

  Worse, the big sea lions were protected by the fish and wildlife organization even though they ate the salmon—which were also supposed to be protected.

  Yup, a whole lot like foster care.

  He thought of Mia as he ran down the dock. He wished he’d kept the magician’s cape she had given him. The air outside was cold. Sharp. Ice crystals fell on his head, making his ears sting. He covered them with his hands.

  After a quick scan of the boats, he chose the one on the end, the one with the most cover. He climbed over the side and dropped in. Then his stomach growled, and the image in his mind of the hot, juicy hunk of meat he’d pulled away from Garth at the Liberty Theater made him hungrier.

  He’d suspected Garth was the gift-stealing Grinch Mia told him about when the guy came home with the Santa suit and Grinch mask. Garth had already stolen the gift his social worker had given him and sold it to a vendor on the street corner. Why wouldn’t he steal the gifts for the other children?

  When Garth went out that night, Max followed him to the Liberty Theater. He’d hidden behind a curtain and watched as Garth messed with the switches in the metal box on the wall. Then the lights had gone out, and he couldn’t see much until someone had turned on a flashlight. That’s when he saw Garth steal the wedding gifts, the rolls off the serving table, and the slab of turkey. When Garth had made a grab for the roast beef, Max lunged forward and pulled it out of his reach.

  He didn’t know Mia’s family was at the wedding, or that he’d get caught holding the roast, until the overhead lights came back on. The police must be looking for him. They probably thought he was the thief.

  Jake and Mia did.

  Chapter Ten

  * * *

  Wouldn’t life be worth the living,

  Wouldn’t dreams be coming true,

  If we kept the Christmas spirit,

  All the whole year through?

  —Author unknown

  ANDI SQUINTED THROUGH the snow as she scanned the boats docked along the waterfront. The problem with Astoria was that it was surrounded by water on three sides, with hundreds of boats Max could be hiding in.

  Kim and Nathaniel split off to search the West Mooring Basin Marina on the other end of town, while she and Jake stayed here on the east end.

  “Max!” Jake called.

  No answer.

  “I think I understand how he feels,” Andi said as they s
earched another dock. “There were many times when I wanted to run away from my father.”

  “At least you had people to call family, and despite your differences, you knew they would be there. Some kids, like Max, have no one.”

  A shuffle rattled the boat to Andi’s left. “Jake, listen!”

  Together they drew toward one of the pilot boats used by the Coast Guard to lead cargo ships through the trouble spots of the Columbia River.

  Jake swung one leg over the side and looked around. “Max! We’re here to help. We know it wasn’t you who took the gifts.”

  Andi pointed toward the cabin, where she heard another shuffle. Jake nodded and moving forward, pulled a blue tarp off the deck. Still nothing.

  “The police arrested Garth,” Jake said, raising his voice. “If you come with us, we’ll give you a place to stay, warm clothes, food—”

  “Stay—with you?” asked a small voice.

  Jake pulled a pile of ropes apart, and the boy Andi had seen at the wedding sat shivering beneath. Jake took off his coat and wrapped it around his shoulders.

  “Thank God you’re okay,” Jake told him. “Do you know how long I’ve been out here looking for you? We have to get you back to the shop where I can give you your present.”

  “You got me a present?” Max asked wide-eyed.

  “Mia made you one, too,” Andi said with a smile, “but you’ll have to come with us to see what it is.”

  Max looked as if he weren’t sure he could trust her. “I was the one who painted the Grinch on your window. Garth sold the gift my social worker gave me for a carton of cigarettes, and . . . I was mad.”

  “I would have been mad, too,” Andi told him. “But I wouldn’t have deflated Frosty, taken away anyone’s Christmas lights, or painted over anyone’s decorations.”

  Max nodded. “I’m sorry. I tried to put it all back.”

  “I know.” Andi smiled. “We forgive you.”

  “But . . . I stole from you,” he spat out. “Just like Garth. What I did was wrong.”

  “We all mess up,” she said as he and Jake climbed out of the boat and back onto the dock. “Every single one of us. But Christmas is about giving and forgiving, and the chance to make relationships right. We’d like to give you that chance, Max. Will you celebrate Christmas with us?”

  The boy glanced between her and Jake, then nodded. “If Mia made me a present, she’d be disappointed if I didn’t come.”

  “We’d be disappointed, too, Max,” Jake told him. He put his arm around Max’s shoulders as they left the boat behind.

  WHEN THEY ARRIVED back at the shop, Rachel’s mother, cousin, and church pastor were there, along with Mike’s parents and Guy Armstrong. Kim and Nathaniel had already returned, and everyone greeted Max with enthusiasm.

  “Max,” Kim said, giving him a hug. “I’m so glad they found you!”

  The boy looked embarrassed by all the attention.

  “I know you aren’t a Grinch,” Mia told him. “The real Grinch could steal gifts out of our shop without a key. I think he shrunk himself like an ant and crawled through the keyhole.”

  “No,” Max said, as he looked around at all their faces. “He came up through the trapdoor in the party room.”

  “Trapdoor?” Andi asked, sucking in her breath. “Where? Can you show us?”

  Max led them to the back room that had once been Guy’s tattoo parlor and pried up a loose square section of floorboard. “The room below has a tunnel that leads out toward the river. In the old days the pirates and sea captains would kidnap people from the tavern, bring them through here, and force them to join their crew.”

  Andi nodded. “They were shanghaied, just like the people at the Captain’s Port.”

  “They’re the only two buildings in Astoria that still have passages,” Max informed them. “There was one more up the hill from the bridge, but the tunnel is all closed in now.”

  “In all the years I worked in this room, I never knew the trapdoor was there,” Guy said, his eyes glued to the gaping hole.

  “How did Garth know it was here?” Jake asked.

  “My social worker told him I used to play under there while my mom worked. She was a waitress when this place was Zeke’s Tavern, and one of the sailors told her about the trapdoor.” Max made a sour face and shrugged. “She didn’t have money for a babysitter. When her boss found out about me, she was fired and . . . that’s when she went away.”

  Beside her, Andi overheard Rachel whisper, “Do you think I’ll make a good mom?”

  “Someday, when we do have kids,” Mike assured her, “you’ll be stupendous.”

  “The cops never found the gifts stolen from our shop,” Jake said, moving toward the open passage. “Do you think they could still be down here?”

  “Yes!” Kim said, peering into the hole. “I see them! Garth probably planned to sell them at a later date.”

  While Max went with Rachel and Mike in the Cupcake Mobile to help deliver the packages to all the local foster kids, Andi and Kim stayed behind to decorate the shop.

  “Lucky for Rachel the pastor could celebrate with us today,” Andi said, mixing the batter for a new wedding cake. “He said he would marry them as soon as they get back.”

  “Do you think they’ll get married in the Santa and Mrs. Claus costumes they’re wearing?” Kim teased.

  Andi laughed. “No. Rachel’s mom cleaned and pressed Rachel’s Cinderella dress and Mike’s tuxedo, but it’s a surprise.”

  Two hours later, the lemon chiffon pudding cupcakes iced with creamy white vanilla frosting and sprinkled with clear sugar crystals were stacked into the shape of a beautiful white Christmas tree.

  Andi placed her mother’s handmade bakery mouse ornament back on their real tree with the macaroni angels, cranberry garlands, and fresh popcorn strings.

  Kim and Nathaniel hadn’t actually made up, but it looked like they’d formed a temporary truce as they decorated the shop together. Nathaniel brought in wreaths, poinsettias, and a large bouquet of white roses for Rachel’s bridal bouquet. Kim rehung the stockings, tied ribbons and bows to all of the chairs, and placed jingle bells around candy cane favors.

  “Hot guy alert!” Kim announced as she passed by.

  Andi looked up. “Where?”

  “Under the mistletoe kissing Rachel’s cousin.”

  The young man was one of Mike’s relatives who flew in for the wedding.

  Guy Armstrong narrowed his gaze and pressed his lips together. “Okay, I’m going to see once and for all if this thing really works.”

  He waited until Stacey and her man moved off to a corner, then took their place under the mistletoe that Nathaniel had hung near the entrance of the front door.

  After a few minutes he scowled. “See? Doesn’t work.”

  Andi and Kim exchanged a big smile as Sarah came through the door carrying Rachel’s and Mike’s wedding clothes. She set the garment bags on a hook, then tiptoed up behind Guy and placed her hands over his eyes. “Guess who?”

  “Someone who will give me a kiss?” he asked.

  Sarah didn’t answer but turned him around with a smile and gave in to his request.

  When Guy opened his eyes, he looked at her and grinned. “Okay, maybe mistletoe has some magic in it after all.”

  A short while later Rachel, Mike, and Max returned, their faces aglow.

  “The kids were so excited,” Max reported.

  “Yes, they were,” Rachel agreed. “Almost as excited as I am to finally get married!”

  Sarah presented her with her dress, and they hugged. Then when Rachel and Mike saw all the preparations, they hugged each other and vowed to race to the makeshift dressing room in the kitchen pantry.

  RACHEL AND MIKE stood by the Christmas tree, gazed into each other’s eyes, and pledged their lives to each other in the simplicity of their Creative Cupcakes shop. Andi had never been part of anything so beautiful, except for her own wedding.

  Beside her, Kim squeezed her b
ouquet of mistletoe tight, even tighter during the ring exchange. She and Nathaniel were still circling each other like wary strangers, which made it all the more awkward when Rachel tossed her bouquet, and Kim caught it.

  Andi could almost feel the dread emanating from Kim’s expression, and her heart went out to her. The trepidation multiplied ten times more when Mike threw the garter, the other men stepped out of the way, and Nathaniel was the only man left standing.

  Folktales stated that the single girl and single guy who caught the bridal ware would be the next in line to marry. But Andi knew Kim believed that—in this case, they couldn’t have gotten it more wrong.

  “Do I really have to go through with this?” Kim whispered.

  Andi squeezed her hand. “Oh, Kim! I’m so sorry!”

  Kim’s cheeks turned red. As was tradition, she was going to have to face Nathaniel, allow him to slide the garter up her leg, and pretend she was fine.

  Kim sat in the chair Mike had brought to the center of the room, and Nathaniel stepped forward, garter in hand. Then Nathaniel took a deep breath, and Andi got the impression he was as nervous as her sister.

  He kneeled, lifted the floor-length hem of Kim’s holly green Christmas skirt, and slipped the garter over her toe, up her calf, and over her knee.

  “Kim,” Nathaniel said, “open your eyes.”

  Andi could tell her sister hadn’t wanted to look, but when she did, Kim let out a scream.

  What happened? Andi craned her neck to see and almost screamed herself when she spotted the glittering diamond ring tied around the blue lace garter.

  “That was fast!” Rachel exclaimed, an even bigger smile spreading over her already smiling face.

  “Kimberly Nicole Burke,” Nathaniel said, taking the ring off the garter and transferring it to her hand, “I love you. The greatest adventure I could ever have would be to share my life with you. I want a home, family, and kids, all of it.”

  “You do?” Kim didn’t look like she believed him.

  “Why do you think I committed to buying the garden nursery? I’ve traveled enough to know that this is where I’d like to establish a permanent residence. But then I met you and I was afraid that you were the one who would want as many stamps as you could fit in your passport.”