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“You think?” I asked with a chuckle.
“You know it’s hard for me to sort out the messages in my brain sometimes, and the one I’m getting is new to me.”
I leaned into his ear and whispered two words. “It’s pride.”
I noticed a smile tip his lips when I said it.
“I kind of thought that’s what it was too,” he said with a nod. “I always wondered what that would feel like. Now I know.”
“I’m so proud of you, Lance.”
“For not getting mad and storming out?” he asked jokingly, but I knew he wasn’t completely kidding around.
“For hearing them out, yes, but also for understanding that you got that promotion because of your hard work and life experience. Both of those things count far more than any degree ever could.”
“I was just doing what I do. I didn’t realize anyone else noticed. I’m glad they did. It makes me feel like what I do matters, you know?”
“It does matter, Lance. You matter. Look what you’ve done for Brittany. You’ve helped her along with her training to the point she’s now going to be working on the line.”
“Honestly, out of everything they told us today, that part made me the happiest. Brit deserves it. She’s got real talent as long as she feels confident in what she’s doing.”
“It was definitely an unexpected meeting, to say the least. Cameron and Ivy are certainly changing the face of this town for the better. Just wait until the new housing opens in January. I’m so excited to see it!”
He turned and grasped my shoulders, holding them a little too tightly. “You’re moving out?”
His tone was frantic and I shook my head before I could even get words out. “No, well, unless you ask me to.”
He pulled me into him for a hug, but remembered my arm before he crushed it. “Don’t scare me like that, please. I thought you were going to leave me too.”
I rubbed his back, his body and mind tired. I could tell by the way he hung over my shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere. Just think, if everything goes as planned, we’ll be working together again too.”
“So you’re staying in Bells Pass, and my home, for good?”
“I’m staying in Bells Pass for good, yes. My family is dead to me and even if they don’t put Brenda in jail, she’ll never show her face here again. As for your home, I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me, Lance Garland.”
He leaned down and kissed my cold lips. There was so much tenderness in it that I wanted to cry standing there on the sidewalk in the cold snow on Christmas Eve. He put his whole self into the kiss and that told me he wanted me there for a long time to come.
“I love you, Indigo Dickson,” he whispered when he ended the kiss.
“Not as much as I love you, Lance Garland,” I said on a wink. “I suppose we should get home before Santa comes, huh?”
He smiled and grabbed my hand again, walking down the block. “We should start seeing cars through the neighborhood too. Ours is always the last one for the lights parade.”
“Did you take the wrap off Mary before we left?” I asked, tugging on his hand as I tried to run. “I forgot!”
“Gumdrop, relax,” he said, holding me back. “I did it. Everything is set and the lights are on.”
I sighed with relief and we turned the corner to his block at a good clip, since we didn’t want to be outside when the cars started coming down the street. What I saw stopped me in my tracks. “Lance, what is going on?”
He tipped his head in surprise and then shook it. “I don’t know. Come on.”
We jogged the rest of the way to his house and stood in silence at what was before us. Mary was in the chair, holding baby Jesus. Joseph stood behind her and alongside the creche stood three wisewomen, all resplendent in their gowns they must have borrowed from the church. The Christmas star was lit and it shone down upon our friends like a golden beacon of joy from the woman who was watching this from afar, but was still our guiding light.
The last car drove away, nearly an hour after the first one had arrived. All my neighbors came over to applaud the living nativity that had made the neighborhood the hit of the light parade. They tried to bestow my light display as the winner for the year, but I refused. I was grateful, but in the end, that wasn’t why I put up the display. I’d put the display up to honor my mother, not to win an award. Since we were a late entry, it was against the rules to win, and I insisted they couldn’t break them on my account.
Honestly, I didn’t need an award to say I’d won. All I had to do was look at my friends to see that I had won the best award of all. The love of a good woman and the friendship of an entire community. They were holding me up with love when I needed it the most. The group gathered near the creche was evidence that my mother was still present in my life as well.
I walked over and motioned at the creche. “I can’t thank you all enough for this. Seriously,” I said, trying not to cry. “My mother would have loved what you did tonight. She would have stood right over there and cried silent tears to see her friends participating in something she held so dear. Thank you for giving me a little piece of my mother on a night when I so desperately needed it.”
