Oh, Susannah, a Daily Devotional

JANGLE BELLS

A Just for Fun Fiction for the Holidays

by Celia Jolley

Liam noticed the mistletoe in the dimly lit entry and wasn't one to let it go to waste.  So he peeked out the window until he saw his girlfriend Sarah drive up.  He waited, and then as soon as the door opened he swooped her up in his arms and kissed her good.  It was the sweetest kiss ever, but he soon realized hands were pushing him away.  He looked down into angry eyes sparking.  Brown eyes, not Sarah's blue ones.  It wasn't his girlfriend!  He had just kissed a complete stranger, a beautiful complete stranger, nevertheless.  He couldn't help but grin.

But then it registered: he realized he'd heard a giant gasp sucking all the air out of the room.  He looked up to find his girlfriend fuming.  In her fury, she slapped him but good after the stranger pulled away from his arms and slipped away.  

"Now what did you go and do that for, Sarah?  It was an honest mistake.  I thought she was you.  How was I to know that some stranger would beat you to the door.  She just walked into my lips."  He rubbed his cheek.  See the mistletoe?"  He pointed overhead.

"I'll tell you why!  I walked in and saw you in the arms of another woman.  You were kissing her, for goodness sake!  What am I supposed to think?  Who is she any way?"  Sarah was still seething.

"How do I know?  I've never seen her before in my life."  Liam looked over his shoulder to see the newcomer walking into the kitchen.  He really shouldn't be grinning.

Sarah strode into the house looking left and right for the interloper.  "Now, Sarah, don't be making a scene. "  He chased her hoping she wouldn't attack the pretty little thing.  "It was an innocent mistake, not her fault," he continued.

She began dragging Liam along with her.  Once she found her, she was as coy as a cold cod and snarkedly introduced herself saying, "I'm Sarah, and this is MY boyfriend Liam.  Who are you?"  Sarah latched onto his arm like duct tape and continued. "He intended to kiss me, not you, you know."

"Oh.  I'm Elise.  It's nice to meet you."  Her eyes were darting back in forth between them as she was wiping her mouth off with a tiny Christmas napkin evidently trying to get his cooties off her lips. The poor beauty was blushing furiously.  Just then someone swept in to hug her squealing.

"Elise!  I'm so glad to see you!"  It was Nicole.

"Come on, Sarah.  Let's get something to eat," he suggested because he was starving.

Sarah gave him the cold shoulder walking off, so he filled a plate, propped himself up against a wall and watched the newcomer while he ate.  As he studied her, he realized that yes, she was about the same height as Sarah, and they both had brown hair, but Sarah was a plain-Jane in comparison.  

Just as he stuffed his mouth with a pig in a blanket sausage, Nicole brought her over to him to introduce them.

"We've already met."  Elise blushed and refused to look him in the eyes.

His mouth was so full that all he could do was nod after nearly choking to death.

So he watched as Nicole took her away to meet others in their church's young adult group.

His best friend Joel walked up with a heaping plate and elbowed him making him spill a little bit of the red punch onto his plaid shirt.  "Watch what you're doing there, buddy!"

"Nice Christmas party, huh.  Good food.  But hey, did you see her?  Every buck here is drooling right now, but never mind.  I forget that you are already attached."

"Yeah, I kissed her."

"Excuse me, but I don't need details about you and your girlfriend," Joel grimaced and pretended to gag himself.

"Not Sarah, I meant her."  He stuffed a huge bite of spinach dip on a cracker into his mouth.

"What?  You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope."  As Liam explained what had happened, Joel's eyes bugged out.

"Oh so that's why you have Sarah's hand print on your face."

"Yeah, I didn't appreciate being slapped.  In fact I've realized that there's a whole lot of things she does that I don't much care for."

Joel was crossing his eyes and jerking his head to the side.  By the time he figured out that his friend wasn't having a fit or a seizure or something, Liam looked over his shoulder.  Oh boy, was he in trouble!

"Hi, Sarah."

"So, there's a whole lot of things you don't appreciate about me, huh?"

Liam realized she'd overheard a little too much.  "I think we should be having this conversation in a little more private of a setting, Sarah."

"So you are breaking up with me?  No, wait, I'm breaking up with you!"  By now Sarah's shrill voice could have broken light bulbs, pierced ear drums, and most assuredly had shocked the whole room into silence.  Her stomping away felt like the tremors of an earthquake.

Liam went back to eating.  He picked up a loaded toothpick and peeled off a piece of shaved ham wrapped around a pickle.  Then he licked the cream cheese off his lips.

"Aren't you going after her?" Joel looked liked he'd choked on a toothpick.

"Nah.  She just saved me a long, drawn out break-up scene.  That one was a dozy though!"

"Yeah, it will go down in the annals of church Christmas party break-ups, that's for sure.  But you two have been going out together for almost a year!"

"Nine months.  It takes that long to birth a child, but not necessarily a relationship.  She was pressuring me to put a ring on her finger, but I was beginning to see the handwriting on the wall.  Tonight cinched it."

Liam calmly used a toothpick to stab a barbecued little wiener.  "I think I'll go see if I can welcome our newcomer.  His grin was spreading.

He carefully sat down beside her on the couch just as he popped the last thing on his plate into his mouth, a stuffed mushroom. Ugh!  He hated mushrooms.  He thought it was a pecan encrusted cheese spread on a cracker.  His throat refused to swallow it and was doing some kind of automatic gag reflex while saliva in his mouth threatened to spill out in drool.  His face was turning red fighting it off.  His eyes were watering as he frantically looked around for a napkin to spit it out into.  But suddenly someone was hitting him hard on the back.  The offending mushroom shot out of his mouth to hit her shoe sliding down slowly onto the floor leaving a gooey trail."

He took the napkin she offered, wiped his mouth, then wiped the slime off her shoe, before cleaning up the glop off the rug.  "Sorry about that.  I don't guess I'm making a very good first impression, am I?"

"Between the unexpected kiss, the shockingly public break-up and the projectile mushroom, I guess not.  But I hope I didn't come between you and your girlfriend."  Elise had tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry.  It was inevitable.  I'm not sorry about how it all turned out, considering the kiss and all."  He winked at her.

She jumped up and made a quick exit, leaving the party before he could figure out what it was he'd said.

"Looks like you ran her off, Liam.  Way to go!"  Joel didn't look happy.  "Oh, well, I think your sister is just as cute."

After he shot daggers at his friend, Liam went to grab his jacket.  The life had gone out of the party any way.

That next Sunday, Sarah treated him like a pariah.  He sat in the back next to Joel and was craning his neck to see Elise where she sat by Nicole when his friend jabbed him in the ribs.  It's your turn to take the offering.  The pastor is waiting.

Liam finally realized the pastor's clearing his throat sound wasn't because he was getting a cold.  So he jumped up and strode quickly to the front almost tripping on Mrs. Tremble's cane that was sticking out into the aisle.  When he passed her the plate, she took awhile to dig out every last coin in her purse, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies.  He forgot about her cane.  His next step almost took him down. He recovered, but not before all the change jingle jangled out rolling all over the floor.  He went down on his hands and knees to try to retrieve it while kids swarmed in to help like it was an Easter egg hunt or something.  

One little boy belly crawled up to him to offer a penny in his hand and another embedded on his sucker that Liam had to peel off.  Well, he figured if a widow's mite pleased God, he better not let a penny get away.  Finally, he resumed passing the plate not daring to glance at Elise even once.

Joel poked him in the ribs when he sat back down.  "Way to go, buddy.  You just made local usher lore."  He hardly paid attention as he was still trying to see around Mr. Bumpus to glimpse Elise.

It was his turn to count the money, so he missed talking to her after the service.  He sighed even though it was a good offering.

The next evening he was sent on a mom-enforced mandatory trip to get a Christmas tree since he was the only one with a truck.  He strolled through the fire department's lot.  This one was too skinny, another was too fat. That one was too short while another was too tall.  Then it saw it.  It was a perfect Scotch pine.  He put on his leather gloves and grabbed it to haul it up to the cashier.  Just then it was pulled back upright.  What on earth?  He gave it another hefty tug.  Suddenly he was falling like a tree.  Nobody yelled "Timber," but somebody rode the tree down on top of him with a squeal.  He pushed the needles apart to see who he was in a tree war with.  It was her!

A fireman rushed over and helped her up brushing pine needles off her.  "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"I'm fine, but I'll take that tree."

Liam laid on the unforgiving cement waiting until the fireman tied it on top of her car, and she drove away.  A little boy with a sucker crouched down beside him.  "Are you okay, mister?  Want a lick of my sucker?"

"That's okay. Thanks any way."   He recognized the kid from church.  The candy had pine needles stuck to it as well as other unidentified grit.

Liam just grabbed a tree, paid for it and threw it in the back of his truck.  It wasn't until he got home that he realized he had chosen one of Paul Bunyan proportions.  He'd have to cut off almost a third of it to get it into the house.

"My goodness, Liam!  You must have paid a pretty penny for that giant thing," his mother said.

Liam suddenly realized how light his wallet now was.  He normally would have paid forty to sixty dollars or so, but he'd just laid out a hundred and thirty bucks.  Oh well.  It went to a good cause.  It seemed that every time his path crossed a certain stranger, disaster struck.

The Christmas parade was coming up the following weekend.  He got the sleigh out, cleaned it up and harnessed his Percheons to it for a trial run.  They'd behaved perfectly during the Fourth of July parade when they'd hauled a wagon load of kid for their church float.  He hardly remembered last year when he'd snuck a kiss or two with Sarah on a sleigh ride.  Rather, he was dreaming of tree tops glistening while Elise was listening to hear sleigh bells in the snow.

His sister Jenny found him singing "White Christmas" at the top of his lungs as he rubbed the team down back in the barn.

"Somebody's happy," she smiled a little too crookedly for his comfort.

"Is there a law against enjoying the season?"

"No, not even a law against meeting a certain young newcomer, either."  Jenny walked away laughing.

The day of the parade appeared cold but bright.  It seemed the mayor needed less and less stuffing for his Santa suit each year.  As he climbed in the sleigh, Liam couldn't help asking, "Are you going for a new record this year, mayor?"  The man was known for his arm back in the day.  He seemed to be a little too gleeful every time he beaned a kid with a tiny candy cane.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Liam boy."  The man in the red suit winked at him.  "I see you are using your draft horses to pull the sleigh this year.  They are beauts."

"Yeah, their names are Jingle and Belle."

Liam grinned, especially wide as he glimpsed Elise in the crowd.  He tipped his hat at her while she gave a little half-mast wave back.  But the next thing he knew there was a loud crack and the reigns were jerked out of his hands.  The horses were still going while the sleigh was left behind.  

Liam jumped out and chased down his team jumping up on their backs and riding them until he got a hold of the reigns and pulled them to a stop.  He must have looked like a slow-motion Ben Hur or Buffalo Bill's Not So Wild West Show because the crowd went wild clapping and cheering.  He took off his hat in a wave then helped his sister walk the team back their horse trailer.   

His dad trotted over followed by his panting mom.  "Good job, son.  That could have been a disaster.  I checked the sleigh over yesterday, but the tongue must have broken."

"Yep, that's what happened.  God watched over us all, that's for sure," Liam agreed.

The next morning his mom came in waving the paper over her head.  "You are a hero, Liam.  Look!  You made the headlines."

"Somehow, it doesn't feel so good to go down in town history," he muttered.  Liam grimaced at the glowing article which his mother had spread out on the table.  He sipped his coffee before rolling his eyes.  I can't believe someone got a picture of me standing on the horses.  I look ridiculous."

"Looks like a hero to me," Jenny teased.  "Maybe you did it to show off for a certain someone."

Liam almost spit out his coffee.  

His dad calmly said, "I heard down at Pete's garage that Sarah has moved on.  Glad to hear it.  I never was very fond of that gal, to tell the truth.  But do I know this Elise that everybody's talking about?"

"She's Hazel's granddaughter and is here to settle her grandmother's estate."  Jenny offered up.

"We'll miss that sweet lady.  I wonder what will happen to that cute little house she lived in," his mother mused.

"She's fixing it up to put on the market.  Then she'll probably go back to wherever she's from."  Jenny looked over and caught her brother's eyes and raised an eyebrow.  Even if he practiced in front of a mirror, he couldn't do that.  Where one eyebrow went, the other followed.

"By the way, son, I promised Nicole that you'd take over a few bales of hay for the outdoor Nativity they are setting up at the church."

He started to groan until Jenny piped up.  "I heard that she is getting Elise to help her."

"Okay, then.  I'm off to the Nativity scene."

His sister followed him out to the barn.  "Be careful, big brother.  It might not be good to get your heart too attached.  She's probably not staying in town for long.  By the way, Joel told me what happened, you know, at the party."  She snickered.

"I hope he hasn't spread it around, cause if he did..."  He grunted throwing the bales into the back of his truck.

"Nah.  He knows better than to embarrass her that way, even if it is a good story,"  Jenny added with a grin.  "I'll finish the chores in here while you go on into town."

"Thanks, sis."

Liam smiled widely when he saw Elise looking pretty in her red wool coat.  "Hey."

"H-a-y or h-e-y?"

"Both." he laughed.   Then he asked Nicole, "Is Mr. Brewster bringing his donkey and his sheep again this year?"

"Yep.  A couple goats too.  He's nice like that.  But it's my dream to have a camel some year."

"I heard there's an Amish farmer in the next county over who has one.  He got it because he read somewhere that camel milk is good for kids with Autism.  But those creatures can be pesky and only attach themselves to one handler and can be mean as all get out to everyone else.  Nope.  I don't think we need a camel."

"Spoil sport," Nicole sighed.  "Remember, Liam, you promised to be Joseph in the Nativity scene."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, now that Sarah and I broke up.  I wouldn't be comfortable with her playing Mary and all."

"She's already quit," Nicole went on.  "Fortunately, Elise has promised to step in for us."

Liam's grin spread across his face until his eyes twinkled.  "Well, that's a different story.  I'll put this beard I've started growing to good use after all ."  He winked at the chosen Mary.

Elise blushed.

The night of the Nativity scene, Liam hadn't realized what a production it had become.  It would begin when he led a very pregnant Mary in on a donkey.  Then the spotlight would go off until they were settled around the manger, with Mary minus the baby stuffing.  But suddenly as soon as the lights went out, somebody handed him a baby, a real live baby.

"Where's the doll they usually use," he protested in a hoarse whisper. 

"The Smith's needed a night out, so I offered to take their baby.  He's perfect for the Nativity scene!" Nicole answered.

"Let me hold him," Elise dressed as Mary answered.  He gladly handed the squirming thing over.

Just then the children's choir of little angels entered singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
One little angel with a halo slipping plopped himself down on the bale of hay beside Mary.  Liam recognized him by his sucker.  It had bits of straw stuck to it along with unidentifiable grit.  

Suddenly Mary handed back the baby to Joseph as one of the angels behind her screamed, "Help!"  A goat had gotten ahold of one of her angel wings.  Elise joined the tug of war to free the little girl.

Just then, there was a rumbling in the baby's diaper area, and Joseph held the infant straight out in front of him with his nose curled.

"You're goin' to have to change him now, mister." the sucker boy said matter of factly.

"How?" Joseph asked.  "I've never changed a baby's diaper before and certainly not Jesus'!"

"Here's the wipes and here's the diaper.  Just lay him in the manger and change him.  That's what my mom does to my baby brother, except she uses a changing table."

"Okay then, I'm going in."  Liam laid the squirming baby on a blanket in the hay.  He had to keep one hand on the child's belly as it kept twisting and turning trying to roll over while he wiped the offending matter up.  "Give me a stall to clean any day over this," he muttered.

"Here baby," the sucker boy said.  Before Joseph could do anything to stop him, the angel held the sucker up for baby Jesus to lick.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," he started to say, but at least it made it easier to finish changing the baby in the manger.  By the time Mary turned around, Joseph proudly held a clean baby bouncing on his knee, albeit, one with a sucker in his mouth.

Just as the shepherds came in with the choir singing, "Silent Night," the donkey decided to begin braying exciting the sheep to begin baaing and the goats bleating.  It was quite a ruckus.   

Liam couldn't hold back a belly laugh.  Even the baby Jesus chortled.  He thought it was a good time to take away the sucker.  However, the "holy child" put up an unholy howl causing him to quickly give it back.

Mary reached down behind her to where the bottle warmer was plugged in and switched the child to a bottle.  Liam couldn't help but think he'd never seen a prettier sight than Elise as Mary in pink and blue feeding a baby as the choir sang, "Away in a Manger."  Truly, no sound did the little Lord Jesus make.  

After she was done, she handed him a burp rag and told him to put it on his shoulder.  Before he knew it, he was patting the baby just like she said.  A loud burp was fortunately covered up by "Joy to the World."  But it was soon followed by a not so joyful damp oozing down his back, baby spit-up.  

Still by the time the Nativity scene was over, he held a sleeping baby Jesus in the crook of his arm and an errant angel licking a sucker on his knee.  Elise thought she couldn't view anything sweeter.

Pretty soon the parents came up to claim their children, and Liam grinned down at Elise.  "We did it!  We weren't too bad, you think?"

"Yes," she blushed.  "You were amazing!"

"Really?"  Liam's chest puffed up with her praise.  "Want to grab a cup of coffee?  It was rather cold out here."

"That sounds great," she smiled,  "or maybe some hot chocolate."

They went to Sally's Sweet Snack Shop and had pie and hot chocolate.  There must have been nearly a bag of marshmallows between their two cups.  They stayed until 11pm closing time.  Then they sat in his truck with the engine going to keep the heat on steaming up the windows until he practically ran out of gas.  

"That was a lot of fun," Elise said.  "And it is nice to get to know you better, Liam."

"How about dinner tomorrow?"

"I'd like that."

"I'll pick you up and six o'clock then."  Liam wanted to kiss her, but the whole thing being Mary and Joseph hadn't quite worn off, and he felt a little funny kissing the mother of God.

At dinner the next night she broke it to him.  "Liam, I have to tell you that I got an offer on my grandmother's house.  It's over the asking price, so I have to take it.  As soon as I get a few of my grandma's things in storage and sign the papers, I'll be going back to Denver, if I still have my job, that is."

"Why, are they firing you for being here? Are businesses allowed to do that even?  Aren't you on some sort of bereavement leave?"

"I'm just a long-time sub in an elementary school.  So there are no promises that I'll get that job back."

"Have you applied to work here?  I heard Susie Griffith is expecting and will be taking maternity leave in January."

"Really?  I'll have to look into that.  But then I wouldn't have anywhere to live once my grandmother's house sells."

"I'm sure Nicole wouldn't mind letting you stay with her for awhile."

"She's got her hands full with three kids under five.  It's a no room in the inn kind of thing going on there."

"Well, my folks would love to have you stay with them, I'm sure.  You and Jenny get a long great and..."

"That's nice of you, but..."

He reached over and placed his hand over hers.  "I don't want you to leave, Elise.  You know that, right?  I mean, I know we've just met, but I feel like I know you better than I knew Sarah after nine months, better than Joseph knew Mary..."

She slipped her hand out to hold the menu.  "What do you recommend."

"That you stay," he said under his breath.  Her eyes darting at him told him that she had heard him. 

"The steaks are good.  That's what I'm having any way."  But he was so nervous, that he knocked over the candle on the table and caught his menu on fire.  So he threw it on the ground stomped it to ashes then threw his water on it for good measure.

Elise calmly used her menu to wave the smoke away before they set off the fire alarms.

"So, if it's just you and no other family, what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Nicole invited me to spend Christmas Eve with them.  That's when they do their family celebration."

"That's perfect because we do ours on Christmas morning.  I'll come bright and early to pick you up for Christmas breakfast, then you can stay for dinner."

"Thank you.  I'd like that."

"Me too," he winked.  His stomach was doing some bucking worse than breaking a bronc as he pondered what to do when he let her out.  Somehow, he determined to be bold and kiss her.  It was sweeter than their first kiss which must have broken some mistletoe record somewhere.

When he got home, his sister knocked on his door and said, "Mom and Dad want to talk to us at breakfast.  It sounds like it's important."

"Any idea what it's about?"

"Nope.  But mom's making homemade sweet rolls so it must be big news.  She hasn't done that since dad got home from the hospital after his heart attack."

Liam remembered that time clearly.  He'd been a senior in college when he'd gotten the call.  Dad had keeled over in the barn.  Fortunately Jenny had found him in time and called 911.  She said it seemed to take forever for the ambulance to get there.  That's when Liam decided to drop out and come home to run the ranch for him.  His dad had found enough to do giving farmers advice through the university's agricultural extension office in town.  It meant he no longer had to ride herd on their cattle, fix fence, plant hay, or any of the other innumerable other chores any more.  Liam loved ranching, and it was no sacrifice at all for him to come home.

The next morning after they were all seated sipping their coffee and relishing the cinnamon sweet rolls, his parents proceeded to shock them.

"We bought Hazel's house, Elise's grandmother's place."

"What!  What about the ranch?" Liam stood up so fast that he knocked his chair backwards.

"Sit down, son, and listen," his dad said chuckling.  "No, we are not selling the ranch.  We are giving it to you, splitting it between you."

"Ever since your dad had his heart attack," their mother wiped a tear away, "I've been afraid that we are too far out here to get him help soon enough if he has another one.  Besides, this place will be a lot for me to take care of once Jenny goes off to college and won't be here to help.  I want, we both want, to slow down.  Plus, I've always loved Hazel's little house with its gingerbread trim on the porch."

"What your mother and I decided is that we think it is time we turn over another chapter of our lives to leave you room to live your own.  It's up to you, Jenny whether you want to move in town with us, or stay here on the ranch a little longer.  I know your brother won't mind, especially if you are doing the cooking," he winked.

"You don't care if I stay, do you Liam?"

"Of course not, Jenny.  Stay as long as you like.  This will always be your home too.  But this is a lot to take in..."

"We hope you find a nice Christian girl to settle down and raise a family with here on the ranch, passing it on to another generation.  You're the third, and your future kids will be the fourth generation on this land."

"He might have his eye on somebody, I'd say," his sister quipped grinning.

Suddenly Liam raised his head looking a little dazed.  His smile spread all over his face like hot butter. "That's it!  That's the answer I've been praying about, a way to keep Elise here instead of going back to Denver.  Does she know that you are the ones who made the offer on her house?"

"I doubt she'd realize that we are the Swanson family who made the offer since there are at least twenty or so other such families in the area in the phone book."

"Can I tell her?" Liam jumped up again.

"Sure, son, go ahead," his father chuckled.  "Think you can be married by the New Year?  That's when our escrow closes."

"Lars Swanson, I can't believe you just said that," his mother chided his dad, but he saw the twinkle in her eye.  Everyone knew that their parents had had a whirlwind courtship as soon as he got out of the army."

His sister only hooted.

"I'll do my best!" and he was out the door.

But the closer he got to town, the slower he drove trying to figure out the best way to make this all happen.

When he knocked on her door, he saw the curtain part before she unlocked her door.  "You are up early," she said surprised.

"Something's come up that I need to talk to you about," he said nervously running his fingers over the brim of his Stetson.  

"Have a seat.  Want coffee?"

"Yes, please."

Once she was seated in front of him, he was tongue tied.  Finally, he took too big a gulp of coffee before he realized how hot it was. He couldn't help but spew it out all over her grandmother's doilies on the coffee table.   "I'm so sorry, Elise.  Are these washable?"

"Don't worry about it.  They aren't really my style."

After a deep breath, he took a stab at it.  "My parents are the ones buying this house, Elise."

"What?  You're kidding!  Is it for a rental investment?"

He explained about the way they thought it was time to pass the ranch on down to him and his sister and their reasons for wanting to move to town.  

"That's quite an honor, Liam.  They must really trust you."

"Yeah, well I've been taking care of it for a few years now mostly by myself.  Dad's office is here in town, and Jenny will be leaving for college next fall.  Besides, mom has always loved this little house."

"I see."

"I'm not sure if you do see it quite the way I see it, Elise."  He moved over to sit beside her on the couch and grasped her hands.  His thumb gently rubbed the backs of them.  "I really don't want you to go back to Denver, Elise.  I want you to stay here, and I want you to...to take a sleigh ride with me."

"Oh? I thought it was broken."

"I got it repaired.  It's good to go."

"Right now?"

"Yes," he said grinning.  Maybe he could do this, he thought.

But he couldn't get the words out during the sleigh ride, especially when they came across a calf newly born, very out of season.  If he didn't get it back to the barn to warm up, it wouldn't make it. Elise seemed to care about the poor thing, and jumped in to help him save it.

When he thought about saying it later during the sledding party, he never could seem to get her off by herself.   Besides, seeing Joel holding his sister Jenny's hand was enough to make the steam come out of his ears.  If Elise hadn't been there, he would have probably decked the guy.  As it was, all he could do was throw some pretty hard snowballs at his "friend."  It remained to be seen if Joel could behave himself before it broke  their twenty-year friendship.  He did manage to get the man off by himself so he could threaten him.

"If you ever break Jenny's heart..."

Joel wadded his snow hat in his mittens.  "I know, I know, but when I've watched her grow up, it has been with an entirely different appreciation than you have for your sister, if you know what I mean.  Now that she's eighteen, I know she's planning to go off to college, but I'd rather have her go to the junior college here.  I don't want to lose her to some stranger way off in Denver.  Look at it this way, buddy, if she marries me, she'll be living right here in the same town where she was born, the place where she grew up surrounded by friends and family."

"Marriage, huh?"

"Well, we're not at that point, but..."

"Okay, just treat her right or else."

Joel heaved a sigh of relief.  "I was dreading having this discussion with you, you know.  Thanks."

Liam trudged back to where Elise sat with Jenny by the bonfire.

When he woke up the next morning, he realized he was running out of time.  He had already gone to the jewelry store.  If he couldn't say what he wanted to say, maybe he could show her.  Except, by the time he got home and did the chores, he couldn't find it anywhere.  He lost it.  He was sure he had put the little box in his corduroy coat with the wool collar, but it wasn't there.  Next he looked through his truck, in every pair of jeans he'd worn in the last week, in every coat he'd worn since second grade, but it just had plain disappeared.  It was time to call out all the forces.

The morning of Christmas Eve, he told his family what he had lost.  His mom and sister turned pale, while his dad got that perturbed look like when he'd lost his only set of truck keys the night  he went on his first date.  Even Joel joined the search when he came over to see Jenny.  By lunchtime it was obvious, he was a goner.  He'd truly lost it.

He hung his head, but his dad said,  "Okay, son, tell me again what all you did after you went to the jewelry store."

"Well, I met Elise's in town for lunch after she had done some Christmas shopping.  We ate lunch at the Busy Burger--and no they didn't find it.  Then we went and sat in the truck and just watched skaters on Miller's pond.  Then we went out to supper at the Nordic Dinner House.  I called, and they haven't seen it either.  Then I took her home and helped her take her packages in...Wait a minute!  Do you think it could have gotten mixed up with her bags?"  He panicked.  "What if she found it already!"

"Only one way to find out," his mother smirked.

Liam hopped in his truck and drove into town as fast as he dared.  His friend the CHP officer let him off with a warning when he pulled him over for speeding.  

When she opened the door, he saw that Elise had been crying.  "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I think I've done something terribly bad.  When I went to wrap my presents, I found this little box from the jeweler's in with my things.  Oh, Liam, I looked, and it's a diamond ring, a very beautiful one.  Someone must be frantic looking for it.  If only I'd found it earlier!  But I called the jewelers and they didn't really sound too concerned.  I guess no one reported it missing.  Then I called every store I went to that day, and nobody had inquired about a missing ring."  Suddenly she was sobbing.  "I feel so bad.  Someone's Christmas is ruined!"

First he coughed, then he snorted, then he choked, then he chortled, then he belly laughed until he too was crying.  "Oh, darling.  Let me see the ring and maybe I can figure something out."

"I can't believe you are laughing at me, Liam!  This is a serious matter!"

He cleared his throat and managed to keep his voice even.  "Okay, but can you get it for me?"

"Sure, just a minute."  Then she brought it out of her bedroom looking dreamily at it.  "Look at it.  Isn't it just stunning?"

Liam took it from her hand and fell to one knee.  "Elise, would you take this ring from the klutz who lost it?  Would you in fact marry me?"

He watched her eyes grow as large and dark as the chocolate kisses in her candy dish.  She swallowed once, then twice, then whispered, "You?  You lost it?"

Liam grinned like the fool he was, so besotted that he could hardly put two words together.  Well, maybe he would try three, "I love you."  Then, since he was on a roll, he tried for three more words, "Please say, yes!"

"Yes!" 

He slipped the ring on her finger and pulled the mistletoe from his back pocket, held it over her head and kissed her good.  It was the sweetest kiss ever.

It was the merriest Christmas ever and a happily married New Year!

"Where were you...when the morning stars sang together 

And all the sons of men shouted for joy?"

(Job 38:7, 12)