Songs of Christmas by Thomas Kinkade

Author:Thomas Kinkade
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-09-25T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

THE POWER HAD GONE OFF SHORTLY AFTER LILLIAN AND EZRA HAD turned on the TV and watched a few minutes of news about the storm.

Lillian had almost been relieved when the screen suddenly went black and all the lights went out. The reports and pictures were very disturbing.

Emily had promised she would come as soon as she could. She was at the Village Hall and couldn’t leave at a moment’s notice to help them. She was the mayor, after all. She had to stay and do her job, tonight of all nights. People were evacuating their homes and going into emergency centers, and the police and fire departments were racing around, answering calls about power lines and fallen trees and other disasters.

Jessica had called and offered to send her husband Sam over to see what he could do for them. But Lillian had put her off. Emily, at least, would have use of the town’s emergency vehicles. Lillian didn’t want Sam driving around in that pickup truck of his. Pickups just weren’t stable in weather like this.

“We’re fine so far,” Lillian had told her. “Don’t make him drive around in this weather. It’s not safe.”

Now they were just sitting in the dark, in Ezra’s room, the three of them—Estrella, Ezra, and herself. It wasn’t dark entirely. Estrella had brought in the silver candlesticks, and there were flashlights. Jessica had brought them a battery-powered radio, but you could only hear the same news repeated over and over. Lillian was happy to have it shut off.

Ezra was dozing. Lillian was trying to do her cross-stitch, but it was almost impossible to see. Estrella was reading a book with the flashlight. Her cell phone rang and she jumped up to answer it, then walked into the hallway to talk. It had to be her family again. She talked to them in a torrent of rapid Spanish.

The phone had roused Ezra, and he looked over a Lillian. “Was that her family?”

Lillian shrugged. “I suppose so. She didn’t say.”

They had called before the lights went out. Estrella had made the conversation short, glancing from time to time at Lillian.

“Is everything all right?” Ezra asked with concern as Estrella ended the call.

“Sí, Dr. Ezra. The children are home from school. My mother just wanted me to know,” she reported.

“You need to go home to them,” Ezra said. Lillian looked at him. He had clearly paid her objections to that idea no mind.

But Estrella answered before she could jump into the conversation. “They are well, Dr. Ezra. I’m staying here, with you and Mrs. Elliot. I cannot leave you alone in the storm.”

Lillian was relieved to hear that. Well, she was paid a nice sum to watch over them, and her job was fairly easy. She should stay here; there was no question in Lillian’s mind. Estrella’s mother could watch over her children. She did it all the time, didn’t she?

If only the wind would let up. That was the worst part, Lillian thought. It was getting on her nerves and sounded even worse in the dark.

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