Last Christmas Card by Briggs Laura

Author:Briggs, Laura
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian romance, holiday romance, christmas romance, romance ebook, holiday novella, winter romance
Publisher: Laura Briggs

*****

Samantha dumped the last handful of torn newspapers, sticks, and leaves into a plastic garbage bag–the remains of a squirrel's nest constructed in the eaves of the attic. Her exploration had uncovered it when she moved aside a stack of empty cardboard boxes abandoned by the previous resident.

Tying it shut, she took one last glance around her at the attic, as if a secret might suddenly be visible despite her previous searches. Nothing. Only the glint of tinsel protruding from an ornament box, a pile of yarn poking up from an old workbasket of rug patterns.

Hauling the sack into the back courtyard, she stuffed it into a garbage can used by the workers renovating the basement. A pile of old plaster surround the back patio, along with a tangle of dead roses pulled from along the walls.

An old woman shuffled from an open door in the house behind the brownstone. In her hand, a broom as she made her way towards a little stone area lined with potted plants.

She was a complete stranger to Samantha, who had assumed the silent house behind her own was empty until this moment. She watched the red kerchief bob above a worn silk blouse and linen slacks.

"Is that your garden?" Samantha called. The woman hesitated for a moment, then looked in her direction.

"It is," she answered, her voice frail with age. "All I can keep up with at my age. But once this whole back lot was a garden, when I was a girl. Then I grew a Victory Garden–do you know what that is?"

A shiver ran down Samantha's spine. She released her hold on the trashcan lid and crossed the yard towards the woman sweeping leaves from around the clay pots.

"Did you live here when you were a girl?" she asked. The woman nodded without looking up.

"This was my Papa's house," she answered. "He used to be a big banker in this city. Bought me my first car as a graduation present. Quite a deal back then, not like it is for every teenager these days." She scattered the leaves towards the bare lawn beyond the stones.

"Did you know the family who used to live here?" asked Samantha. "The Larsens. They lived here during the war." She held her breath as the woman straightened up, one hand resting on her back.

"The Larsens?" she repeated. "Oh, yes, I remember them. They had two children, one was a boy about my age and one was a girl, almost grown when I remember her."

"Was her name Bette?" Samantha's excitement grew, creeping into her voice.

"Bette? Maybe so; we called her Bets when we were kids." The woman propped her broom against the wall. "Did you know them, too?" she asked.

"No," said Samantha. "But I live in their old house right now and I found something that belonged to Bette–Bets, I mean. I was curious what happened to her."

"She got married after the war, I think. Moved away. So did the rest of the family, when their boy got older.

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