Upon the Midnight Clear by Tasha Alexander

Author:Tasha Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

* * *

As we made our way back to Park Lane, we debated whether to allow the boys to have the crackers, concluding that as the original three they’d received contained nothing sinister, we would give them to their intended recipients. We summoned the boys to the library as soon as we reached home.

“More crackers!” Henry cheered, holding his new sword above his head. “Can we open them?”

“Who are they from?” Tom asked. “I should like to know to whom we owe thanks.”

“Your manners commend you,” I said. “Unfortunately, though, we don’t know who sent them.”

“Was it Father Christmas again?” Richard asked.

“It wasn’t the same man we saw before,” Colin replied.

“These were delivered to us by a boy,” I said.

Henry lowered his sword. “Did he bear any identifying characteristics?”

“He was approximately ten years old, slim, dark-haired, and more or less clean,” Colin said. I raised an eyebrow and stared at my husband. “An ordinary delivery boy.”

“You’re quite certain he wasn’t an elf?” Richard asked. “They’re short, you know, so one might mistake him for a child.”

Now Colin raised an eyebrow at me. “I am certain beyond doubt that it was not an elf.”

Tom chewed on his lower lip. “I don’t believe Father Christmas has children, but I suppose he might hire some—”

“Why don’t we open them and see what’s inside?” I placed a hand on Richard’s shoulder and guided him over to his father’s desk, where Colin had laid out the crackers. “You pick one first.” They were covered in silver foil instead of gold like the original set. Richard stood before them, taking quite a while to choose.

“Come on now, hurry up!” Henry’s patience was only slightly worse than mine. Richard ignored his brother—and I suspect took even longer as a result of Henry’s interference—but at last selected the cracker tied with red ribbon. I helped him pull it. Inside, just as with the crackers from the previous day, were three sweets, a paper crown, and a motto.

Richard read aloud. “…if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. I suspect this was meant for Henry.” Henry shot him an icy glare.

“You go next, Tom,” I said, not wanting to reward Henry’s bad manners.

“I know Henry likes gold, so I’ll leave that for him,” Tom said, reaching for the cracker tied with green ribbon. We pulled it apart, and this time I read the motto.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

“May I open mine now, Mama?” Henry asked. “I’m sorry I was dreadful to Richard.”

I handed him the remaining cracker. He pulled it with his father, who read the motto while Henry put the paper crown on his head.

“Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.”

“It’s almost as if the mottos are for us, not them,” I said.

“They’re quite uninteresting,” Henry said. “A disappointment, I’d say.”

“These are Bible verses, Henry. I won’t have you speaking in such a manner about them.

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