Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

"Oh, boy." Nora let out a long breath as she set the boxes that had come in the mail down on the coffee table in her living room, marveling at how much harder it was to carry literally anything at five months pregnant. Above her, the chandelier that was her pride and joy twinkled in the morning light spilling through the large bay window of the living room. She looked up at it, smiling at the memory of how everyone in the community had come together last Christmas to help her salvage her dream of the perfect centerpiece for her Victorian Christmas party.

Margo had looked decidedly unimpressed by the story. Nora knew her sister was probably reeling at the change in her especially. But Rhonda seemed sure that she'd come around, that she just needed a few days to adjust to being back home. Problem was, Nora thought, Margo seemed to plan on only being in town for a few days. She wasn't going to settle in, she was going to detonate, and then disappear again.

Letting out a breath, Nora opened the first box, smiling down at the neatly folded blankets in pastel pinks and greens made of a soft fabric. She reached in to touch one of them, still feeling slightly as if she was in a dream. She could still hardly believe that in a few months, she'd be a mother to a baby girl.

It didn't feel quite real. She wasn't sure it would feel real until she actually had her baby in her arms.

She set the box aside, nudging a few magazines to one side of the glossy dark-wood coffee table. The living room was her favorite spot in the house, and she'd taken special care decorating it, just as she had the rest of the old Victorian that she and Aiden had bought.

Everything here, from the coffee table with its curved antique legs, to the forest green velvet sofa and brocade throw pillows, and the thick tapestried rug in the middle of the floor, she'd picked out with an eye for playing up the historic features of the room. It had gorgeous windows and vaulted ceilings, and she couldn't wait to decorate for Christmas again. The nook in the window had stacks of old books artfully placed in it now, and she'd found the perfect old-fashioned lamps to set next to them and light up at night with votive candles.

Shaking her head, she pulled herself back to the moment, and went to carry the first box up to the nursery. Aiden would probably have something to say about it when he got home for lunch, but she didn't want to always have to ask him for help.

She'd always been capable of handling things like boxes and decorating around the house, and she knew she was going to need help with the decorations this year, which already needled at her. She couldn't wait for the end result of the pregnancy, but it was a bit of a struggle in the meantime. Especially since the excitement that she often felt about what was ahead of them changed to nervousness when she was alone, and could get in her head about what could possibly go wrong.

She focused on unpacking the boxes instead once she had them upstairs in the nursery, setting the folded blankets on the maple wood dresser and taking the swatches of wallpaper out of the envelope they'd been sent in. She had a handful of tacks, and started lining them up on one wall, pursing her lips as she considered which one she liked best. They'd already settled on blush pink and mint green for the nursery, so she thought a neutral color might be best?—

There was a light knock against the doorjamb, and Nora jumped a little, turning to see Aiden standing there. He was wearing jeans and a wool sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and she thought she saw a little bit of wood shavings caught in his hair. He looked as handsome as always, especially when he smiled at her.

"I knocked so I wouldn't startle you," he said with a laugh, walking in to stand behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much." Nora gestured at the wall. "Trying to decide on wallpaper. Or paint. Maybe just painting it would be better."

Aiden grinned. "Isn't wallpaper easier to swap out when you get a different decorating idea in six months?"

Nora swatted his arm, but she laughed. "You're right, wallpaper is probably the better idea."

Aiden rested his chin atop her head, looking at the boxes scattered around the room. "How did things go with your sister?"

Nora sighed, extricating herself from his arms and walking over to the pile of folded blankets, toying with one satin edge. "It's a little strange having her back," she admitted. "It's just a weird time. I already feel out of whack from the pregnancy, and the holidays are always a little chaotic. Having Margo here just adds another layer of stress. It wouldn't if I thought she was happy to be here, but she doesn't seem to be. It seems more like she just needed an inexpensive place to get her bearings and thought crashing at the inn was her best option."

"You weren't all that thrilled to be here at first when you came back," Aiden reminded her gently. "I think you had some pretty rough moments too, as I recall. Just be patient with her."

"I know. Mom said the same thing."

Aiden chuckled. "Far be it from me to disagree with your mother."

"At least I planned on staying for the holiday when I came home." Nora pursed her lips. "Margo said a few days, maybe. She's just planning to blow in and back out, I guess. She stays longer on location for work than she ever has at home."

"But she lost that job, right?" Aiden crossed his arms, considering. "It might take her a minute to get back on her feet. She might decide to do that here. And that would be a good thing, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe." Nora considered. "I don't want to be too hard on her. After all, I stayed away from home for a long time too. But I also don't want her to stress Mom out. You know how she is. She hasn't seen Margo in so long, and she's going to want to make everything okay."

"Maybe it will be." Aiden gave her a reassuring smile. "Anyway, you can't control what everyone does. Margo will go her own way, if what you've said is any indication, and nothing is going to change that. So just focus on what you can control."

Nora laughed. "You're right. Wallpaper swatches are much easier to deal with than Margo."

As if on cue, her phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket, half-expecting it to be a client with last-minute holiday requests, but she saw her mother's name on the screen. She quickly answered it, mouthing just a second to Aiden.

"Mom?"

"Nora. Can you come over? Caroline said she would be here in a minute, but I need help. There's a huge leak in the ceiling of the inn, and after that snow we just had, I'm a little worried."

"Oh no! Yeah, of course, I'll be right there. Give me a few minutes."

Nora hung up the phone, feeling her stomach sink as she looked at Aiden. It was the worst possible timing, of course. Right in the middle of the holiday season, and with Margo home on top of it.

When it rains, it pours.

She let out a sigh, looking at her husband. "Can you drive me over to the inn? There's an emergency."

Margo stared up at the spreading stain on the roof, forcing herself to bite back a sharp sigh of frustration.

She'd planned to already be out of the inn and on the ski slopes. It was impossible to get up earlier than her mother, but she'd hoped she could use the guests' breakfast hour as a distraction, grab a pumpkin cream cheese muffin and coffee to-go, and get out of the inn as quickly as possible. But, of course, that hadn't worked out the way she'd hoped.

First, she'd gotten a call about a mix-up with her apartment. It happened more often than she liked since she was home so rarely. A leasing agent would think it was one available to show, or the maintenance guy would get the wrong door number, or they would need to do a walkthrough and get her permission since she wasn't home. She'd gotten used to it as just one of the slight annoyances of a job that kept her on the go, but now it was both one more thing she didn't want to deal with, and also a reminder that she no longer had the excuse of work to be away.

Now, it was just that she didn't want to be there.

She'd only just gotten that ironed out and managed to jump in and out of the shower and get dressed when she'd gotten a second phone call, this one from her bank. She'd lost a credit card while she was in Egypt, and since the card had been lost out of the country, there were more hoops to jump through than just the usual rigmarole of getting it canceled and a new one sent out. Then, once she'd straightened out the issues of the lost card, she'd had to give them the inn's address to send the new card to—before remembering that she'd only planned to stay here for a few days, and the card would probably show up after she'd left.

It's fine, she'd decided frustratedly after hanging up the phone. I'll just ask Mom to forward it to me if that happens. I have other cards. She only had one other card though, now that her company one was gone, and her debit. She was okay on money for now, but it wouldn't last her long. Skiing was probably an unnecessary expense, but she decided she was chalking it up to her mental health. If only her insurance would cover it?—

That was a reminder that she wouldn't have that in a month either. The stresses of the morning had felt like they were piling in on her until she wanted to scream, but she'd hung up the phone and told herself that it was fine, that she was going to grab breakfast and coffee, and head out.

And then the inn's roof sprang a leak, and there was no quietly escaping the house. Especially since Rhonda had needed input from the entire family about what to do, and now both Margo's sisters and their respective husbands were crowded around, along with Rhonda and Donovan, looking at the roof as if it would give them an answer.

"Well, I can probably do something about it," Aiden said, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "Wouldn't be the first roof I worked on in Evergreen Hollow." He chuckled, and Margo saw a faint smile cross Nora's face. It stung a little, because there was clearly an inside joke there that she didn't understand, a reference to some past moment that she hadn't been a part of. She had to remind herself that she'd willingly excluded herself from all of that, that it had been her choice to pursue a career that kept her away. But it still hurt, and she bit her lip, feeling a twinge of regret.

"You have all those other jobs though," Rhonda protested. "I don't want to keep you away from the people who have already contracted you."

"Winter isn't all that busy when there's not a rogue storm blowing through. Besides, who else is going to do it? Leon?" Aiden chuckled. "He's getting a bit old to be climbing on roofs."

"Not to mention, we all know what happened when he hooked up Caroline's fireplace," Rhett chimed in, and Caroline laughed. It startled Margo. She couldn't remember the last time she'd heard her older sister laugh like that. In whatever way meeting this firefighter had changed her, it had clearly made her happier. Margo looked at him curiously. He was handsome, for sure. She was curious about what had happened, because that one comment had Caroline giving him a look of such happy adoration that Margo couldn't believe it was her sister looking at a man like that.

There would be time to find out all of those things, if you stayed for longer. She shook her head, stepping away from the others, who were still discussing how much of Aiden's time it would take up to repair the leak. Rhonda was insisting he should invoice the inn, and Aiden was arguing that as her son-in-law, he should just do it.

Margo rubbed her temples, glancing at the front door. If she snuck out now, she could probably escape. But just as she started to move further away from the group, toward the front door and her freedom on the ski slopes, her phone started buzzing again.

She dug it out of her pocket, looking at the name on the screen. It was the bank, probably calling with more issues involving her lost card.

She sighed, answering it. So much for skiing.