One Snowy Night (Sweet Home, Alaska #1) - Patience Griffin Page 0,97
fabric is all pressed and ready at the mat.” Ella didn’t go to the cutting table, but stayed beside Hope as she pulled back the lid on the box. “Oh.”
“What is it, Mom?”
“Some ornaments we made when we were kids.” She pulled out something that looked like a teddy bear made from dough.
“I remember Elsie nearly buying me out of flour that year,” Piney said. “She said you and Donovan wanted to make one for everyone in town.”
“I think after we made a treefull for the lodge, we lost interest, but it certainly brings back memories.”
Ella took out another ornament. “What’s this one, Mom? It looks like a Hot Wheels car.”
“It was my brother Beau’s,” Donovan said from the doorway. Hope’s stomach did an excited flip-flop.
He walked farther into the room. “Your uncle Beau loved cars more than anything else in the world, Ella. Hot Wheels, when he was a kid, and real-life Camaros when he got old enough to dream of driving. He always said it would be the first car he would buy when he had enough money.”
The whole room had gone quiet. No one expected to hear Donovan say Beau’s name ever again, but even more surprising was that he’d publicly acknowledged that Ella was his daughter. And it made Hope beyond happy.
Piney headed toward Donovan, making shooing gestures with her arms. “You, Hope, and Ella take the box into the living room and go through it together. That way Ella can hear all the shenanigans you hellions got up to as kids.”
“But the quilts have to get—”
Piney cut Hope off. “We can handle it for a few minutes, buttercup. Besides, the Highland Coos fabric looks wrinkly to me. I’ll give it another press while the three of you visit. And bond.”
Hope was a little embarrassed by the last remark, but Donovan didn’t correct her, so he must have been okay with it. He grabbed the box and left for the living room.
Hope took Ella’s arm and followed. He set the box on the couch. She and Ella sidled up beside him.
“Did Uncle Beau really hang the Hot Wheels on the tree?” Ella asked timidly.
“You bet. Even when he no longer played with cars.” Donovan cleared his throat. “His last Christmas, when he hung the car on the tree, he said that by the next Christmas he’d have his own.”
Donovan gave Ella a sad smile, then leaned over the box. “He was sixteen.”
Hope laid a hand on Donovan’s back with the hope of comforting him. He didn’t pull away.
Ella moved closer, too. “What else is in there?” Which was the perfect thing to say.
Donovan pulled out a small quilted patchwork ornament. “Nan made one of these for each of us.” He turned it over. “She stitched our names on the back.” He looked at it and then passed it to Hope. “This one is yours.”
She took it and ran her finger over the embroidered name. “Yours was a quilted wolf block, wasn’t it?”
He pulled out three more and spread them out on the couch. “Yes. And Beau’s was a fox. Grandpa had a bear.”
It was always so sweet that Elsie included her in the family. Which made Hope wonder if she could’ve foreseen the future.
Ella reached in the box this time and retrieved a porcelain cardinal. “What’s special about this?”
Hope and Donovan shared a look while he carefully took the ornament from Ella. Hope let him explain.
“That was Nan’s. Her grandfather gave her that bird ornament when she was a girl. It was her prize possession. It was always the first ornament to go on the tree.” He stared at the ornament, cradling it. Then he turned to Ella, holding it out to her. “I think it should be yours now. Nan would’ve wanted her great-granddaughter to have it.”
It was a moment of reverence as the heirloom was passed from father to daughter. Hope discreetly swiped at a tear. But when she glanced up Donovan was staring at her. His look should’ve held hate or blame. But he was gazing at her with what might have been acceptance in his eyes.
Chapter 18
DONOVAN WOKE UP early Thanksgiving morning. He wanted to get to the hardware store to prep and paint the break room while everyone was off. It hadn’t been easy to turn down Piney’s Briny Tofu Turkey invitation—well actually, the non-turkey was easy to turn down—but it would’ve been nice to be with people he cared about today.