Christmas at Blue Hydrangeas by Marianne Sciucco

Author:Marianne Sciucco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christmas, Holidays, Family, Blizzard, Cape Cod, Short Fiction, Clean Reads, Quick Reads, Winter, Santa Claus, bed and breakfast
Publisher: Marianne Sciucco
Published: 2018-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

David led the children into the kitchen for hot chocolate and cookies, their sweet voices still chattering about the train.

"Did I hear the phone ring?" he asked his mother between bites of a snowflake-shaped cookie iced with white frosting.

"Yes," she said. "Your father called. The bridges are closed, and he's stuck in Buzzards Bay."

He shook his head. "Where's he riding out the storm?"

"At some all-night diner crowded with travelers unable to cross the bridge. He'll head home as soon as the roads are clear and the bridge resumes travel."

"The storm's that bad?" Ellie asked.

"I'm afraid so," Sara said.

"What about Santa?" inquired a troubled Danny. "How will he bring our presents?"

Sara met Ellie's worried eyes. Before his mother could answer, she said, "Don't you worry about Santa, Danny. No storm is too big for him. He'll get here, but remember: Not until you're sound asleep."

Ellie tousled his light brown hair, badly in need of a trim. "It's almost bedtime," she said. "Finish your snack and we'll go up to bed."

"Miss Anne promised to read us a story," Julia reminded her.

"And I will," Anne said. "After you finish your cookies and cocoa, I'll tuck you into bed, and read a few stories from the pile of Christmas books."

Julia smiled and slurped up the rest of her hot chocolate. "I'm finished."

"Do you mind?" Anne asked Ellie.

She shook her head. "Of course not. I'll visit with Sara a little longer."

"You can help prepare our Christmas Eve dinner," said Sara.

Once Anne and the children disappeared upstairs with a short stack of Christmas stories, Sara, David, and Ellie went to work preparing the seafood stew. Sara had done all the prep work earlier, so it was just a matter of assembling the ingredients. They talked about life on Cape Cod, past Christmases, and family off-Cape.

Ellie came from a rather large clan, most of whom, including her parents, had emigrated from the Cape over the years for work. She'd stayed behind and married Danny, also a lifelong Cape Codder. His parents had moved to Florida long ago, and his only sibling, an older brother, had relocated to New Bedford. It was just the two of them and their children, left behind in Eastham. Ellie had little to no family support easily available. A neighbor watched the children while she worked, but that was it.

"Perhaps it's time I move off-Cape too," she mused as she helped Sara fill the pot with the ingredients for the seafood stew. "My sister knows someone with an available apartment a block away from her house, and someone else who hires nurses at the hospital. But it would break my heart to move away from the Cape's natural beauty and raise my children in the city."

"I understand," said Sara. She dropped a handful of succulent scallops into the pot. "Jack and I came here on our honeymoon and made sure to return every year for at least two weeks. When we got to the time in our lives when we could permanently relocate we built this house, and plan to stay here forever.

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