Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,57
behind the counter. It seemed like old times, poking around back here where she’d spent so many years as a kid. “Oh, gosh. Some of this stuff has to be decades old.”
“Wait. Do we think glitter goes bad?” Elliott asked.
“Ha-ha. No.” She dug around a little more, kneeling on the floor to get a better look into the back of the cabinet. She popped up from behind the counter. “Here it is.” She carried a vintage canning jar with a bail lid over to him. “My mom used to store everything in these jars.”
“When I took over the place, I definitely kept a lot of the supplies. It’s kind of fun to think that this glitter that we’re getting ready to use, you might have used years ago on some project.”
“I know. Right?” It was so sweet how he cared about her history with the Tinker Shop. Almost to the point of embarrassing that he seemed to think he needed to keep that tie. It was his shop now. He could do what he wanted. She also knew Elliott well enough to know that he’d make it a success in his way. “It’s kind of crazy. My mom used to use the glitter for snow on the Christmas Village. Every year she’d add a new building. It was really quite elaborate. I have no idea whatever happened to all of that.” Hannah opened the jar and dipped her fingers into the glitter. She sprinkled a little into the globe.
“Yeah. That looks good.” Elliott took the wooden end of a paint brush and gave it a swirl.
“Right. We want it to look like a real storm, not a light dusting. It’s so peaceful to watch.”
“Nice. I think just a little bit more. Don’t you?”
“I do.” Hannah reached into the jar again, but her fingers hit a clump. Assuming something wet had once gotten into the container, she twisted it between her fingers but realized it wasn’t just glitter. “Elliot?” She pulled her hand out of the jar and tipped her fingers up slowly. “Whoa. Look.” Between her fingers and thumb, a ring covered in shiny glitter sparkled. She blew the glitter from the gem with a hefty puff.
“We just found my mother’s wedding ring. It must have been lost in this jar all those years ago! Oh my gosh, oh wow, I can’t believe it!” She clutched the ring with both hands. “We just found my mother’s wedding ring. I can’t believe it!”
Swept up at the moment, she threw herself into Elliott’s arms, hugging him close and feeling closer to her mother at this moment than she had in so long. She squealed and held him tight.
He wrapped his arms around her.
“I have to go tell my brother about this. I—” She hugged him again, this time his arms drawing comfort, and she took a breath and relaxed into the safety, the feeling of him so close. Not wanting it to end, her hands softly grazed his shoulders as she came off tiptoes to a stand in front of him. Her forehead tipped toward his, her lashes lowered, and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. Their faces were just inches apart, but he didn’t move.
As if in slow motion, she pulled her hands back, looking into his face. “Well, I…” Unsure of all the feelings rushing through her…was it the ring? Or was it Elliott? “I’ve got to go.” She shook her head, not really wanting to, but so wrapped up, swept away by the excitement of finding the long-lost treasure.
He wrapped his arms around her, pressing his chin to the nape of her neck.
“I…” Then, Hannah quickly looked at her watch. “I’ve got to go lead the caroling.”
“What?”
“The caroling. I’m late. You should come with me.”
“No. Oh, you don’t want to hear me sing.”
“Please come.” But she did want to hear him sing, to feel him close. “That’s all right. It’s just for fun and Christmas, and all this time I’ve spent with you again, I’ve—”
Elliott hesitated only a moment. “I’ll come.”
“Good!” She danced in place. “Come on. Get your coat.” She pulled hers on. “It’ll be fun.”
“Wait a second. Let me see the ring.”
She opened her hand, still full of glitter.
He took the ring to his workbench, sprayed it with canned air and swept the remaining resistant pieces of glitter from the white gold, then shined it with a soft cloth. “Here.” He handed it back to her.