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CHAPTERONE
Colette Hillis stood in the middle of the large house, surrounded by boxes and her own bittersweet memories. She swallowed past a lump in her throat as she took in the empty walls, and rooms that had been stripped of their personality. A stray piece of blonde hair fell from the bun she had secured on the top of her head, and she paused for a moment to tuck it back into place.
The house had once belonged to an incredible, inscrutable, and until a few weeks ago, seemingly indestructible woman named Emma Cleaver. Emma had changed Colette’s life. She had moved into Emma’s guest house many years ago, when she’d taken up the role of housekeeper and caretaker for the aging woman.
It had been awkward at first, but Emma’s tenacious and caring demeanor had worked its magic on Colette. Eventually, she had become closer to Emma than she had been to her own mother, with the old woman slowly becoming a maternal stand in for her. When Emma had passed away three weeks ago, it was uncovered that she had left the property, and everything on it, to Colette. No one had been surprised—no one besides Colette, that was.
With a sigh, Colette took a few additional steps across the room to an open box. As she took a peek in through the open flaps, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. It was filled with photograph after photograph of a smiling, beautiful Emma throughout varying stages of her life. Her eyes roved over all of them until one in particular caught her attention.
Colette’s hands shook slightly as she reached into the box and plucked the picture off the top of the pile. She remembered the precise moment that picture had been taken, since Colette herself had been the one to take it. Emma sat on a white couch, clad in a beautiful red dress with a shawl thrown over her narrow shoulders. Her white hair twisted into a chic chignon, and her cane propped against the arm rest. Her lips were pressed to those of a man her age, dressed in a sharp, black tux, while mistletoe and twinkling, white Christmas lights hung above them.
Colette wished that she could go back in time and talk to the two people who looked so in love in the photograph she now held in her hands. She thought of that love, of how, even though Nicholas and Emma had not gotten together until very late in their lives, their love had been sweet, and beautiful, and pure. Colette hoped that she would find a love like that someday, although she didn’t want to wait quite as long as they did.
Running her fingers over the picture, it made her think of another Christmas party, one that would be coming up in just a few weeks. After Nicholas had passed away, he had left his mansion to his estranged granddaughter, Lacy. When Lacy had arrived in Snowy Pine Ridge, all she had had was misguided information about her grandfather. In fact, it had been Emma herself who had assisted the young woman in tracking down the money that Nicholas had left her, and it had been Colette’s own cousin, Derek, and the amazing people of the town, that had helped Lacy learn the truth about the incredible and generous man her grandfather had been.
Lacy still owned the house and had spent quite a while renovating it to its former glamour. Even going as far as to take over hosting the Christmas parties that her grandfather had loved so much. And with Christmas lingering just on the horizon, it wouldn’t be very long when everyone from town would be packing themselves into St. Nick’s Place and enjoying a night of holiday festivities.
For a moment, Colette considered putting the photograph back in the box with the others. But for some reason, she could not bring herself to part with this particular one. There were so many memories tied to that one, small, square piece of paper. And she didn’t want for it to sit in a box to be forgotten.
“Maybe Lacy will want it,” Colette said to herself as she walked to the other side of the room and placed it atop the wooden mantel. “And if not, I’ll just add it to the album.”
The sound of a car door slamming in the direction of the driveway grabbed Colette’s attention, and she walked over to the large bay window at the front of the house and peered out into the snowy landscape beyond.
A bundled-up form trudged through the tall snow drifts carrying a white paper bag and a Styrofoam cup. The bag swayed as the figure swung its arms in time with their steps, and Colette caught a glimpse of a red, curling logo on the front. Her face immediately broke out in a wide, excited smile as she realized who was making their way to her front door.
She rushed through the maze of boxes, careful not to tip anything over, and pulled open the door right as Louise Thomas raised her fist to knock.
“Oh,” Louise gasped loudly, her voice muffled against the fabric of her scarf.
The hood of Louise’s winter coat was pulled up, hiding her brown hair. She had a scarf wrapped around her neck and the bottom half of her face, so only her eyes were visible. But Colette could see the shock written clearly in them, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hey there! Come on in,” Colette greeted her, taking a step back to allow the short statured woman to trudge past her.
Louise waddled through the threshold, stopping momentarily to kick the snow from her boots.
“Hold this for a moment, dear.” Louise commanded in her firm but kind demeanor as she thrust the bag and the cup in Colette’s direction.
Colette did as she was asked, stepping forward to grab the items in Louise’s hands as the woman unwound her scarf and took off her coat, hanging them on the hooks directly by the front door. Colette waited as the woman unlaced her snow boots and kicked them off, pushing them into the corner so she wouldn’t track any of the water from the now melting snow across the hardwood floors of the house.
“That’s for you,” the woman said, nodding to the bag and cup in Colette’s hands.
“Oh.” Colette’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Thank you! Here, let’s take these to the kitchen and I’ll put on a pot of tea for you.”
“That works.” Louise agreed with a brisk nod.
They didn’t say much as Colette set the bag on the table and began filling the kettle with water before putting it on the stove. Louise pulled out a chair and plopped down into it, watching Colette as she moved. When Colette finally joined her at the table, Louise studied her wearily and Colette had to fight not to squirm under the scrutiny of the other woman’s gaze.
“How are you holding up?” Louise finally asked, not bothering to sugar coat the delivery.
When Colette had first moved to Snowy Pine Ridge right out of high school, she had found the woman terrifying. Louise was the owner of Frosty’s Shack, one of the best restaurants in town. When Colette had first gone there, she had fallen in love with their house burger and fries and was all but living off of them for her first few months. One day, she ended up meeting Louise, and her brusque manner and blunt way of speaking had made Colette want to run for the hills. But after spending a little more time around her, she learned that while Louise may have a bit of a sharp exterior, she also cared immensely about her customers and her fellow townsfolk. And now, years later, Colette couldn’t help but appreciate Louise and her tough love.
“Better than I was a few weeks ago, that’s for sure,” Colette said honestly.
The other woman just nodded, then, spying the untouched bag of food and cup, she reached across the table and pushed it toward Colette.
“Eat up, girly. You’re looking thin.”
Colette laughed, but the heavenly smell coming from the contents made her stomach rumble loudly, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten all day. She opened the bag, and a heavenly scent tickled her nose, and she took a moment to breathe it in before glancing inside.
