Charming Christmas (34 page)

Meredith nodded, her throat thick with emotion as the woman moved on down the line and bent down to lend an ear to a small girl.

Yes,
Meredith thought,
the new Mrs. Claus is perfect.

 

 

“Oh, look!” A thin woman with long, red curls squeezed into the rail next to Meredith. “They do have a Mrs. Claus, and she looks so real.” Olivia pressed her lips together to stave off the tears—happy tears—but tears that would worry Woody nonetheless. The year she'd played Mrs. Claus was a pivotal time in her life, and sometimes, thinking back, she realized she was so close to dancing her life away on a chorus line in a strange city. “I loved that suit,” she said hoarsely.

“No, you didn't,” Woody said. “You wanted to be a Rockette that year, but you broke your ankle.”

She shook her head. “You're only remembering part of it, hon. Okay, maybe I didn't love the idea of the job at first, but I grew to like it. I'm telling you, there's something lucky about that suit.”

 

 

Cassie couldn't believe she was hearing this. Another Mrs. Claus, right here at Rossman's?

She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear and stepped up to the redhead. “Hey, sorry to cut in, but I caught part of your conversation. Did you really play Mrs. Claus?”

The redhead nodded, her curls bobbing. “At the Baltimore Rossman's.”

“I was Mrs. Claus in San Francisco, two years ago.”

The redhead squealed, and suddenly they were hugging like old college roommates. After the woman introduced herself and her husband Woody, Cassie added, “And to make things even weirder, that's my mother out there this year.”

Olivia sighed. “She's perfect for the role. Probably better than I was. I don't have kids, so I was fumbling all around, scaring the stuffing out of some of them until I figured it out.”

“Ah, but you figured it out,” Cassie said. “That's the power of the suit.”

“Do you think it's lucky?” Olivia asked her as Woody waved an emphatic “No!” behind her.

“I think the Mrs. Claus role helped me find the magic of Christmas,” Cassie said thoughtfully. “And it helped me see what really mattered in my life. My son.” She took a deep breath, thinking of the ways Tyler had grown in the light of Buchman's subtle influence. “Luck sounds so fickle, but love, that's solid, a tangible. And where there's love, there's magic.”

 

 

Listening in, Meredith caught the dialogue about the magic of Christmas. That was one to save for Nick at dinner tonight. She still argued about the existence of magic in the world, but at this time of year, with the tree lit in their library, Meredith knew she wasn't making a convincing argument. In the golden glow of their Christmas tree Meredith heard the rising voices of ghosts from the past and children from the future, and most remarkably, it all blended into the harmonies of her favorite Christmas carol.

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Copyright © 2005 by Carly Alexander
Cover art © 2015 Crown Media

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Previously published as
The Secret Life of Mrs. Claus

ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-0651-5
ISBN-10: 1-4967-0651-X

ISBN: 978-1-4967-0651-5