We Wish You a HappilyEver After (Ever After, #5) - Elena Aitken Page 0,4

meant nothing. Not really. And worse, there was the whole matter of her grandfather, Roy. He couldn’t imagine Bella would be very happy to hear that they were on the verge of calling social services in. Everyone was worried about the man’s welfare, and it wouldn’t be long before they were pushing to have the old man moved into a nursing home facility, where he would no longer be a danger to himself.

Jeremy couldn’t imagine that Bella would be happy to hear that. No granddaughter would.

Which was why he needed to be the one to talk to her. It would be easier to hear coming from a friend. Old or otherwise.

He shoveled the last load of snow onto the now towering pile and turned around to examine his work. With the snow still coming down in large, fluffy flakes, the drive was already covered in a thin layer. No doubt, he’d be out there clearing it again a few more times before the day was done. Jeremy made a mental note to look into the department’s budget to see about a snowblower.

Ed Walker always said it was an unnecessary expense, but maybe if Jeremy was going to be in charge soon, he could finally make a case for it. He straightened his shoulders, excited the way he always was, at the prospect of being appointed fire chief. Even in a small town like Glacier Falls, it was a big deal and a much bigger job than he probably realized yet. But Jeremy was up to the task and more than ready. He’d worked hard, and he loved his hometown. He’d happily serve as chief, taking the good with the bad.

First things first. Jeremy tucked the shovel inside the garage and shook the snow from his parka.

He needed to go find Bella.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like—ow!”

The box Bella was pulling off the shelf shifted and slammed into her shoulder. She jostled and only barely stopped herself from falling off the step stool as she regained her balance.

“What was that, Bella? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Papa. Just getting the Christmas decorations down like you asked.”

When Bella agreed to the task, she hadn’t realized the boxes were kept on the very top shelf of the storage room and were heavier than…well, pretty much anything she’d ever lifted, ever. After dragging the second box down and lugging it up the basement stairs into the living room, Bella was completely out of breath. She dropped into the easy chair next to her grandfather, who’d already started digging through the first box she’d brought up.

“Were you singing down there, baby girl?”

Without opening her eyes, she nodded in response.

“I thought so. It was beautiful.”

Bella opened one eye then and looked at him. But he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he gazed at the snow globe he held in his hands. She knew the one. Inside the glass was a tiny house with two carolers standing in front of it. Bella knew if you wound it up, it would play “Silver Bells,” her grandfather’s favorite Christmas song.

“Remember when you used to sing to me, Bella?”

She nodded, but when he still didn’t look away from the globe, she spoke. “I do. Every Christmas when you came to visit, I’d sing you all the carols in front of the tree.”

It was a fond memory. The only time Bella’s parents could convince him to come and visit them in the city was during the holidays. Otherwise, they had to go to him, or as was more often the case as Bella got older, only she would visit, her parents too busy working in the city to take any time off. Or, more likely, not wanting to use up any vacation time on a trip to the mountains, when it could be used for a sunny beach down south instead.

“And in the summer, I’d sing them all to you again,” she added and he laughed.

“Just a silly old man wanting to hear Christmas songs in the heat of the summer.”

He turned to her and she couldn’t help but notice the shine in his eyes. Had she ever seen Papa cry?

“But your voice was like an angel, and they were the only songs that we both knew all the words to.”

Bella pushed up from the easy chair and sat next to him on the couch. She carefully lifted the snow globe from his hands and cranked the toggle until the sweet melody of “Silver Bells” played and she began to sing.

The