Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,34

upcycles all the scraps from the trees so others can make wreaths.” He set down the wooden box of scraps, similar to the one Carol had been carrying earlier.

“Oh, I see.” She followed him over to where Carol and David were crafting a couple of door-sized wreaths out of the pieces. Across the way, others gathered, wrapping bows, live holly sprigs with berries and ribbons into their wreaths. “This just never stops.”

“Why does mine always turn out lopsided?” Carol lifted her egg-shaped wreath for them to see. “That’s why Allie always hangs mine up at the vet’s office.”

“The cats don’t seem to mind,” David teased.

Carol laughed. “So cute. Thank you, David.”

Katie found the whole thing quite charming. Her eye caught something off to the side: a sleigh. “Wow. Would you look at this?” She wandered closer. “That sleigh is beautiful.”

Henry followed her with a nostalgic twinkle in his eye. “It’s been years, but we used to hitch up a horse or two and take this sleigh right through the town square.”

Carol joined them. “I used to love that. You know, all these years looking at the sleigh in the snow globe, I always sort of wondered if it was based on this one,” she admitted.

“You should see if this one has a key under it like the one in the snow globe,” Katie said, half joking.

“What key?” A puzzled look crossed Carol’s expression, and Henry seemed none the wiser, either.

“Oh, well, when we took the broken snow globe over to the tinker shop, Elliott discovered underneath the miniature sleigh in the snow globe, there’s a key.” Katie ran her hands over the blue velvet seat of the sleigh.

David jogged over. “I heard you talking about the key. Yeah, there’s a tiny golden key engraved underneath the sleigh from the snow globe. If there’s one there, maybe… Do you think I could…” He pointed to the sleigh, dying to take a peek.

“Go for it,” Carol said.

David didn’t waste a moment. He scrambled beneath the sleigh, searching the undercarriage. “I don’t see a…” He pressed on something, his feet kicking out as he tried to get a better angle. “Wait! Hold on.” A clunk and a clang followed and something hit the floor.

David grabbed the key, and Henry gave him a hand from underneath the sleigh.

Astounded, Henry said, “I can’t believe it. After all these years.”

“No way.” Katie reached out and took the key from David. “What?”

Carol spoke up. “It’s sort of like the key that David was searching all around town to find a lock for last year.”

David eyed the key. “No. This key looks different than the one we found last year.”

“The one that got the church bells ringing again?” Ben asked.

“But what does this one go to?” David asked.

Katie shrugged. Henry, Carol, David and Ben surveyed one another. The energy from their imaginations going into overdrive clicked in the air around them.

“And why would someone hide it so well? Were we meant to ever find it?”

Old keys won’t open new doors.

It had been fun spending the day with Ben and being a part of finding that key. She was going back and forth with herself about just how real and spontaneous all of this was. They knew she had that article to write. Was she only part of this one big, scripted act to trick her into believing all this Evergreen stuff? And if so, why would they go to all this trouble? That just seemed crazy.

Later that evening, Katie had gone over to the library to work. She was sitting at Nan’s desk with books and papers all around her. She scribbled another note on the pad next to her laptop, then began typing like a fiend.

Footsteps caught her attention. When she looked up, Ben was standing in the doorway. “Calvin Coolidge.”

Okay. That was the last thing she’d expected to hear. Where had that come from? She tried to make a connection. “Was from Evergreen?”

“No. He was actually born in Plymouth, Vermont. But he was also the first American President to light the National Christmas tree in 1923. He ordered a Balsam fir—”

“I don’t believe for one second that Henry is that old.”

“No, you’re right. Henry isn’t that old, but Calvin Coolidge did buy a tree not too far from here. Just a fun little fact.”

Katie reached over to a piece of paper and wrote it down. “Calvin Coolidge. Super into Christmas trees. Got it.”

“Is that your article?”

“Yeah.”

He reached for it, lifting the red folder sitting in front