'Tis the Season Read online

  For BH and LH

  Contents

  Title Page

  Map

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 Nikki’s News

  Chapter 2 Christmas Is Coming

  Chapter 3 Camden Falls Elementary

  Chapter 4 A Peek in the Windows

  Chapter 5 Snow Day

  Chapter 6 Olivia’s News

  Chapter 7 Buttons and Beads

  Chapter 8 Sheltering Arms

  Chapter 9 Three Oaks

  Chapter 10 Wassail, Wassail!

  Chapter 11 Aunt Allie

  Chapter 12 School’s Out

  Chapter 13 Mary’s Christmas

  Chapter 14 Secrets

  Chapter 15 Jolly Old St. Nick

  Chapter 16 Jingle Bells

  Chapter 17 The Night Before Christmas

  Chapter 18 Merry Christmas!

  Chapter 19 Mrs. Grindle’s News

  Chapter 20 The End of the Year

  Chapter 21 January

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “All of a sudden it’s Christmas!” exclaimed Flora.

  Flora and Ruby Northrop had turned left at the end of their block on Aiken Avenue, walked for one block along Dodds Lane, and turned right on Main Street. Even though this was something the girls did many times each week, Flora now came to a halt and stared straight ahead in wonder.

  Ruby, two years younger than Flora, let out a squeak of excitement. “It is Christmas!” she said.

  Main Street in Camden Falls, Massachusetts, was always an interesting place. Picturesque, too. That was what the tourists said. In spring, the forsythia bushes bloomed yellow and the crab apple trees bloomed pink, making Main Street look, Ruby once said, like a bowl of sherbet. In summer, the trees that lined the street were heavy with green leaves and seed-pods. In autumn, the maple trees glowed red and orange and gold. Later, when they lost their finery, the stores made up for it. Their owners decorated the doors and windows with lights and pumpkins and sheaves of corn and wreaths of dried flowers.

  But this — this was something different.

  “It’s like a Christmas village. Like one of those little towns you see in magazines,” said Flora.

  “Why didn’t Min tell us this would happen?” asked Ruby.

  Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving Flora and Ruby had spent in Camden Falls, was just two days behind them, and in that short space of time, Main Street had been transformed.

  “Maybe she wanted to surprise us,” replied Flora. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. Look, Ruby. Look at everything.”

  As Flora and Ruby walked past Dutch Haus and Verbeyst’s on their way to Needle and Thread, they gazed up and down the street. Rarely had they seen so much activity. Mr. Freedly, who worked in the new grocery store outside of town, was busy hanging a redribboned wreath on each lamppost. Flora could see that he was making his way from the south end of town to the north. Already, eight wreaths had been hung.

  “Hi, Mr. Freedly!” called Ruby.

  Mr. Freedly looked down from the top of his ladder.

  “Hello there, Ruby. Hi, Flora.”

  “Do you do this every year?” asked Ruby.

  “What’s that?”

  “Do you hang these wreaths every single year?”

  “Been doing it for more than sixty years now,” said Mr. Freedly. “Not me personally,” he added. “We all take turns. It’s a Camden Falls tradition.” He paused, fumbling with nails and a loop of wire. “This is your first Christmas here, isn’t it, girls?”

  “Everything here will be our firsts until June,” replied Flora. “Then we’ll begin our seconds.”

  “And nothing will be new anymore,” added Ruby.

  “Well, I hope that’s not true,” said Mr. Freedly. “There are always new things.”

  Flora and Ruby continued their way down Main Street.

  “Let’s look around a little more before we go to Needle and Thread,” said Flora. “Min won’t mind. She just said to come before lunchtime.”

  The girls gawked outside of Frank’s Beans, where Frank himself was outlining the windows of his coffee shop with tiny gold lights. Flora could see that the windows of the used bookstore next door had already been outlined. And next door to the bookstore, even the window of Dr. Malone’s dental office was strung with lights.

  “My stars,” said Flora, in exactly the same tone of voice that her grandmother Min used.

  Frank poked his head out the door and smiled at her. “What do you think?” he asked.

  “Main Street looks … I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Wait until everyone decorates their windows,” said Frank. “This is just the beginning. What are your grandmother and Mrs. Walter going to do at Needle and Thread?”

  Flora and Ruby looked at each other. “I don’t know,” said Flora.

  “Maybe we should go see,” said Ruby.

  The girls crossed the street, then ran to Needle and Thread. They burst through the door.

  “Min! You didn’t tell us what town would look like!” cried Ruby, just as Flora said, “Can we help you decorate the window?”

  Min was showing a customer the book of smocking patterns. She held up a finger to the girls, then said to the customer, “Picture patterns are in the front of the book, geometric patterns in the back.”

  Flora and Ruby flopped onto the couches at the front of the store, the couches on which Camden Falls shoppers sat when they dropped by for a chat-and-stitch. Flora remembered the day last June (was it really just five months ago?) when she and Ruby had come to Needle and Thread for the first time since moving to Camden Falls. Flora was ten then, and Ruby was eight, and everything had seemed foreign and somehow distant, even the store, which of course they had visited before. Now Needle and Thread was as familiar as any room in their house.

  “Flora?” said Ruby from her spot on the couch. She fingered a button she’d found on the coffee table. “Are you sorry we came to Camden Falls?”

  Flora sighed. Why did Ruby have to ask questions that were so complicated? Flora was certainly sorry about the reason they had moved to Camden Falls. If there were a way, some magical way, in which she could reverse time and travel back to that snowy January night, she would surely try to do something to prevent the accident that had taken the lives of their parents. But the accident had happened, and a lot of other things had happened after that. Their energetic grandmother Min (short not for Mindy, which was her name, but for “In a minute,” which Min used to say all the time) had temporarily left her quiet life in Camden Falls to move in with Flora and Ruby, to take care of them and comfort them. Then Min had sold the house in which Flora and Ruby had grown up and moved them back to Camden Falls — to the house in which their own mother had grown up. The girls had settled in at their new school and some things were very, very good. Their new friends Olivia and Nikki, for instance. And Needle and Thread. Flora loved to sew, and spending so much time in a sewing store was a dream come true. Ruby, who planned on becoming a star of some sort, was a member of the Camden Falls Children’s Chorus. And she took dance lessons. And she had the lead in the school play. If Flora and Ruby had to become orphans, this wasn’t a bad way to do it.

  So, no, Flora wasn’t exactly sorry she had come to Camden Falls. But was she sorry about the accident, and did she miss her parents and her old friends and her old life? Of course.

  Flora turned to Ruby to try to explain all this and saw that Ruby had already lost interest and was talking to Gigi, behind the counter. Gigi, whose real name was Mrs. Evelyn Walter, was Min’s friend and business partner. Min and Gigi had owned and run Needle and Thread for years. Gigi’s granddaughter Olivia lived next door to Min and Flora and R
uby in the Row Houses, and Olivia, one year younger than Flora but in her sixth-grade class because she was smart and had skipped a grade, had become one of Flora and Ruby’s best friends. That was another nice thing about Camden Falls: having a best friend right next door.

  “Flora!” Ruby called then. “Gigi said we can decorate the window. She did! And she said Olivia’s on her way over, so she can help us.”

  Flora’s heart skipped a little. There was nothing she liked better than starting a new project, especially a creative one. And dressing the store window sounded rather important and grown-up.

  “Can we do whatever we want?” asked Flora, joining Ruby and Gigi behind the checkout counter.

  “Well,” said Gigi, “Min and I decided we want a winter scene for the window. We have some blue fabric for sky, a lot of cotton batting for snow, and some cardboard and sparkles for making snowflakes. But you can make whatever kind of winter scene you want.”

  Gigi helped Flora and Ruby carry the box of supplies to the window. The last time Flora had seen the window, the backdrop was of falling autumn leaves. In the front, gourds and pumpkins tumbled across a bed of straw. And to one side stood a scarecrow that Flora, Ruby, Olivia, and Nikki had made and dressed in old clothes. Now the window was bare.

  “It’s all yours,” said Gigi, setting down an armload of tiny electric lights and a box of glittery yellow stars.

  Gigi retreated into the store, followed by Ruby. Flora sat down in the center of the empty window and looked out at Main Street. Shoppers hurried by just inches from her nose, separated only by the pane of glass. Some of them paid her no notice, but a few glanced over their shoulders in surprise when they realized that a live girl was sitting in the window of the sewing store.

  Flora saw old Mrs. Grindle leave Stuff ’n’ Nonsense across the street and hurry down the block, probably to Frank’s Beans for a cup of coffee. Flora tried hard to like Mrs. Grindle, but Mrs. Grindle was crabby and had once been very mean to Nikki. Flora just couldn’t get over it.

  Flora looked to her right and there was Sonny Sutphin edging along the sidewalk in his wheelchair, as he did nearly every day. Flora wondered what Sonny did when snow was on the ground, which was bound to be the case soon. Min said Camden Falls got a lot of snow in the winter.

  Flora checked her watch and calculated the hours until Mary Woolsey would arrive. She had realized the most amazing thing on Thanksgiving night just as she was falling asleep, and now she couldn’t wait until Mary came to work so she could tell her the news.

  Flora was still sitting in the window, lost in thought, when Olivia bounced by. Olivia, it seemed, was always in motion. She grinned when she caught sight of Flora in the window, and Flora grinned back. Moments later, Flora, Ruby, and Olivia were examining the decorations.

  “I know what we could do!” exclaimed Flora. “We could use the batting for snow, like Gigi said, and in the center of it we could make a frozen pond.”

  “A frozen pond? Out of what?” asked Ruby.

  “A mirror!” said Flora triumphantly.

  “Oh, excellent,” said Olivia. “And you know what? We could get some china animals from Stuff ’n’ Nonsense and put them in the snow and around the pond. It could be a winter woodland scene.”

  “We could make fir trees,” said Ruby.

  “And we’ll use the blue fabric for the evening sky and hang the stars on it.”

  “Gigi wanted big snowflakes, I think,” said Ruby.

  “We could stick them all along the edges of the window,” said Olivia. “That would look nice with the lights around the window on the outside. Very glittery and twinkly.”

  The girls set to work at the table in the front of the store. They began to make the snowflakes first. Nobody wanted to go across the street to buy the animals from Mrs. Grindle.

  “Ruby,” said Olivia. “Your china animal collection. Could —”

  “No way!” cried Ruby. “My animals are special. You can’t take them out of their family groupings.”

  “Well, then, will you be the one to go to Mrs. Grindle’s?”

  “No.”

  “My mother started working there yesterday,” said Olivia.

  “At Stuff ’n’ Nonsense?” said Flora, surprised.

  “Yup. She’s going to be there part-time during the holidays, when the store is extra busy. She needs the work.” Olivia’s parents had been out of work for several months.

  The girls bent over the coffee table, busy with their scissors and cardboard and glue and glitter, until they heard someone say, “Hey, what are you making?”

  “Nikki!” said Flora. “I didn’t even hear you come in.”

  Olivia and Ruby and Flora told Nikki their idea for the window, while Nikki settled herself on the couch, saying nothing and staring out the window.

  “Don’t you want to help us?” Olivia asked her.

  “Sorry,” Nikki said. “I was just thinking. You guys won’t believe what happened last night.”

  Flora set down her snowflake. “What?” she said.

  “Well …” Nikki drew the word out, and Flora couldn’t tell whether she looked happy or upset. “Well, my father said he’s going away for a while. We were all sitting in the kitchen, having supper, and he told us he’s taken this construction job somewhere down south where it’s warmer, and that he’s going to be gone for several months.”

  “Even for Christmas?” said Ruby, eyes wide.

  Nikki nodded. “He said he’ll be sending money home while he’s away, but that he won’t be back until the spring.”

  “Wow,” said Olivia, and she set down her snowflake, too. “Are you …” She hesitated. “Are you worried?”

  Olivia was careful not to ask whether Nikki was sad, since the girls knew how Nikki felt about her father. Mr. Sherman had an unfortunate reputation in Camden Falls and an even worse one where his family was concerned. All the Shermans — Nikki, Mrs. Sherman, Tobias (Nikki’s older brother), and Mae (her little sister) — were afraid of him. Although recently Tobias had begun to stand up to his father, which Flora knew Nikki found almost as frightening as her father.

  Mr. Sherman drank too much. He had a horrible temper. He threw things and he broke things. He was loud and unpredictable. He was never able to hold down a job for more than a week or two. So was Nikki sorry he would be leaving for a few months? No, she was not. But was she worried?

  Nikki chose her words carefully. At last she said, “I’m worried that he won’t actually send us any money.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Ruby.

  “I mean … this all just sounds so, I don’t know, so old-fashioned. Like something that would happen in a story about the nineteen thirties. You know The Journey of Natty Gann? When Natty’s father has to find work during the Depression, and he leaves Natty behind while he looks for a job in a different city? It sounds like that. Romantic, but not quite real. ‘Good-bye, kids. I’ve found work in the South. I’ll send you money when I get my first paycheck.’ Come on. We don’t even know exactly where he’s going. You have to admit it’s a little strange.”

  Olivia nodded. “My parents have been out of work for a while now, but they’re just looking for jobs here. They’re sure something will turn up.”

  “What about the money?” asked Ruby again.

  “Oh,” said Nikki. “Well, you know my father. I mean, you know about him.” (Flora, Ruby, and Olivia had never actually met Mr. Sherman.) “Would you trust him to send money? I don’t think so. So I don’t think we’re going to see a penny. I also don’t think he’s leaving because he found a job.”

  Three heads swiveled in Nikki’s direction, and Flora raised her eyebrows. “What’s he doing, then?”

  Nikki shrugged. “He probably just wants to leave us. Go off on his own. Start over without a family. Just have himself to worry about.” She paused. “I don’t care.”

  “Nikki, we’re your friends,” said Olivia. “You can say what you really feel.”

  “That’s
what I really feel. I don’t care if he wants to get away from us. I’ll just be relieved when he’s gone.” She leaned forward. “Okay. Show me what we’re doing here. Do you want me to work on snowflakes?”

  Flora and Olivia glanced at each other. Then Olivia took charge. “Sure. Okay. You work on snowflakes. Flora, you can help me hang the fabric for the sky and put the stars on it. Ruby, you run across the street to Mrs. Grindle’s.”

  “Nice try,” said Ruby.

  “Oh, all right. I’ll go,” said Olivia. “I’m sure it will be okay. What could happen to me when Mom is there?”

  “You never know,” said Ruby darkly.

  The first time Flora had heard of Mary Woolsey was the day after Flora and Ruby had moved to Camden Falls. King Comma, their cat, had escaped, and Olivia had helped Flora search through half the town before King was discovered in Mr. Pennington’s garage. Among the places they had seen as they hunted and called was a tiny, tidy house surrounded by gardens that, to Flora’s surprise, Olivia had said was owned by a crazy old lady known as Scary Mary. Olivia had added that Mary was a recluse and that there were all sorts of horrifying stories about her. Just when Flora was thoroughly frightened, Olivia had stunned her by informing her that Scary Mary worked at Needle and Thread. Mary knew Min and Gigi, and they had offered her a job at the store, doing mending and altering and special sewing for N&T customers.

  That was way back in June when everything about Camden Falls had been new to Flora. Now when she thought about the tales Olivia had told her she almost laughed. Olivia still believed them, but not Flora. Flora had come to know Mary, and in a way that was most surprising. She had found a photo of her mother at age four posing with a woman who, Flora eventually realized, was a much younger Mary Woolsey. That photo had led to a friendship between Flora and Mary — and to a mystery. Mary told Flora that the photo had been taken years and years earlier when she had visited Min’s house looking for Lyman Davis, Min’s father (Flora’s great-grandfather). She believed he had been the benefactor who had sent her anonymous gifts of money since she was a little girl. On one of the cozy afternoons she and Flora had spent in the little house this fall, Mary had revealed that decades earlier, Lyman Davis had inadvertently been responsible for Mary’s parents’ losing all their money, which in turn had led to her father’s taking a job in a factory that burned down. At the end of that awful, memorable day, Mary’s father was one of the factory workers who didn’t return home. (It was a complicated story.) Not long after that, the gifts of money started to arrive, but it wasn’t until Mary was a grown woman looking through old family papers that it suddenly occurred to her who her benefactor must be. The gifts of money, which had allowed Mary to live a reasonably comfortable life, continued to arrive throughout the years until 1966, when Mary was thirty-six years old.