Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

“What do you think of your new sweater?” Nora held it up as she scooped Madison up with her other arm, swinging her back and forth as she plopped her onto the changing table and tugged the soft red sweater over her head. Madison looked adorable, in a pair of black leggings and the red sweater with a knitted reindeer on the front, complete with a little bobble attached to it for the nose. She had a headband for her too, in a red cable-knit pattern, and she slipped it into Madison’s dark hair as the little girl babbled and cooed.

She’d been looking forward to this morning. The wedding planning was coming down to the wire now, and it was time for all of the little finishing touches that were some of her favorite parts of all of this. She and Madison were headed to the Sugar Maple General Store to get some of the odds and ends that she needed for those finishing touches, and she couldn’t wait to pick them out.

Madison grabbed a handful of her sweater, a red Angora top that she’d paired with her favorite dark jeans to subtly match her daughter today. Nora gently pried herself loose, holding Madison’s small hands in hers as she swayed back and forth, cooing at her daughter in return.

She adored being a mother. At first, in the very early days, she could admit that she’d struggled at times. Madison had had trouble sleeping, leaving both her and Aiden chronically exhausted and wondering when they’d get another full night’s sleep.

But Aiden was such a wonderful father that in the end, it hadn’t been as hard as it might have been otherwise. Aiden had always been there for her through all of those early struggles, trading out with her when it was time to get up and feed Madison or check on her as she cried throughout the night, and finding whatever opportunities he could to take things off of her plate. Even though he worked more than full-time sometimes, running his carpentry business, he’d always stepped in and found ways to give her time to rest and recover.

Neither of them had had any experience with being parents before, and the whole experience of learning it together had brought them closer together, instead of pushing them apart. They’d both found peace during those difficult early days in knowing that they’d look back on those memories eventually, stronger together and more in love because of it, remembering how they’d started building their little family.

A knock at the door downstairs jolted her out of her reverie, and she swept Madison up off of the changing table, putting her on her hip as she headed downstairs. She’d decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and the banister of the stairs was wrapped in festive greenery, interspersed with small red velvet and red plaid bows. She’d put a red runner all the way down too, leading into the foyer that was bracketed with more greenery, and smelled wonderfully of the cinnamon-scented broom that was hung above the door.

Margo walked in a second later, dusting snow off of her boots. “It smells so good in here,” she remarked as she took her boots off and followed Nora into the main area of the house, as Nora gathered up the last things she needed for the trek into town. “And it’s so clean !” She put her hands on her hips, surveying both Nora and Madison as Nora tucked a few small packets of fruit snacks into Madison’s bag. “And the matching outfits—” She grinned. “You’re really rocking this whole mom thing.”

“Thanks,” Nora said with a laugh. “It took us some time to get here, honestly. Took some practice, but we’ve hit our stride. Haven’t we?” she cooed at Madison, tickling one palm as Madison tried to grab for the last packet of fruit snacks. “Things have become much more orderly in the Masters household recently,” she added. “It really is all going great. I’m really happy. We all are.”

“Good.” Margo grinned at her niece as Nora and Madison walked by, taking the baby for a minute as Nora handed her over so that Nora could get her coat and boots on. “Do you want to take your car or mine?”

“We can take mine,” Nora offered. “It’s newer, I know your old Subaru has held out all these years, but the car seat and stuff are already in mine too.”

She’d given in last year, when Madison was born, and bought something bigger than her Toyota that she’d driven back when she lived in Boston. The Stoker family swore by their Subarus, and she’d picked out a newer Outback, complete with heated leather seats that she was in love with. Margo and Caroline both had older, more rustic models, but she’d gotten one in a gorgeous red color, with sleek beige seats inside, as glamorous as a car designed to trek through snow and ice could possibly be.

The whole family had agreed that it suited her. Nora had left a good bit of her designer habits behind after moving back to Evergreen Hollow, but she still liked dressing up and having a bit of glam in her life, something that she’d gotten from her mother. Caroline took more after their father, and Margo fell somewhere in the middle.

“My seat heaters gave out last winter and I still haven’t gotten them fixed,” Margo said with a sigh. “With all the wedding craziness, I haven’t had time to go to the shop, and when I do have time, I keep forgetting. So yeah, that’s actually better.”

“That’s definitely better.” Nora scooped Madison back out of Margo’s arms, and carried her out to the car, buckling her in the back as it warmed up. In no time at all, they were on the road, cruising to Main Street where they could stop for coffee before going to Sugar Maple.

Once upon a time, Nora had thought she’d never be able to live outside of Boston again, with its endless options, myriad stores, and dozens of restaurants. But she’d found that once she adjusted, there was something comforting and warm about the idea that she could go to the same place, and pick out her favorite coffee in the morning, and always feel like it was another place to come home to. It didn’t hurt, of course, that The Mellow Mug was also run by her best friend since they were children, Melanie.

“Doing some wedding planning?” Melanie asked as Nora and Margo walked in, and Margo nodded.

“Picking up some last-minute items. We’re really getting into the planning weeds now, but Nora loves it.”

“I do,” Nora confirmed, peering at the pastries through their glass case. “I definitely think I want a piece of that pumpkin loaf to go. And a cinnamon latte. Extra hot.”

“Coming right up. You want a maple pumpkin latte?” Melanie looked at Margo with a grin, and Margo pursed her lips.

“I think I’ll do a white chocolate peppermint mocha, actually.” Margo said. “And a chocolate croissant?”

“Delicious.” Melanie took Nora’s card as she handed it over, waving off Margo’s attempts to pay.

“You’re not even letting me pay you for planning my wedding,” Margo complained. “You could at least let me buy you coffee.”

“Nope.” Nora shook her head. “Not a chance. This is fun for me. I wouldn’t let you pay me no matter how hard you tried. Anyway, I planned Caroline’s too. This is my wedding gift to you.”

“Fine,” Margo conceded with a grin. “And it’s the best possible gift you could have given me.”

A few minutes later, coffee in hand, the two women walked down the street to the Sugar Maple General Store. Nora set Madison in the rocking chair next to the counter with her stuffed reindeer toy, while she and Margo browsed the shelves looking for the perfect wedding favors for the guests.

“What about these?” Nora held up two tiny jars of homemade jelly, wrapped in a tiny ribbon around each. “These are adorable.”

“Oh, they are .” Margo looked closer. “We could do the apple jelly and pumpkin butter. And this.” She pointed to a display that had small candles wrapped in burlap. “There’s fir, and there’s also this one. Honey bourbon. It smells so good.” She bent down, breathing them in. “One of each, maybe?”

“I can’t think of a wedding favor I would rather get than jam and candles,” Nora said with a laugh. “Much better than those little bags of almonds. Oh! And this.”

She pointed out a basket that had handmade goat’s milk soap, infused with various herbs. One had small bits of chamomile flower, and another had sprigs of rosemary, peeking out of the creamy surface.

“Pretty soap is definitely a winner!” she declared. “I would never use it, it’s too pretty. But I’d definitely look at it in my bathroom.”

“I’d use it,” Margo declared, picking up the rosemary bar and sniffing it. “Oh, this is perfect too. Okay, so how are we going to arrange them?”

“These.” Nora led Margo over to a shelf at the back of the shop, where there was a display of small wooden boxes that Aiden had made over the winter last year, and that Leon had stocked at the shop on consignment. “Aiden carved these. A little personal touch. We’ll put two jams, a soap, and two candles in each little box, and put it at each guest’s place setting.”

“And I’ll give you a discount for buying in bulk!” Leon called out from across the shop, making Margo laugh.

“I love it,” she said firmly. “That’s the best idea, Nora. It’s just right for the kind of wedding we’re having.”

“That’s why they used to pay me the big bucks.” Nora grinned, getting a basket to start carrying the items to the counter for Leon to ring up and package.

“Bethany was just saying to me the other day how perfect these little jars would be for some kind of favor.” Leon held up one of the small jars of pumpkin butter between his fingers. “She’s going to get a real kick out of this.”

“Yeah, I think so too,” Nora agreed.

“Say,” he added, as he began to wrap the more delicate items in paper and slip them into bags, “who did you end up getting to photograph the wedding? I know you’ve always been real into photography and such.”

“I—” Margo stopped, cocking her head slightly, as if she’d been completely caught off guard.

“Oh my gosh, you haven’t thought about it, have you?” Nora asked, her eyes widening. “And I didn’t think about asking you yet. I should have had that checked off weeks ago.”

“Even being a photographer, I didn’t think about it,” Margo said, laughing. “That’s such a huge thing, I can’t believe I let that slip. But I think I might have an idea.”

“What?” Nora scooped Madison up out of the rocking chair, setting her on her hip as Leon finished packaging up the last of the favors. “Because it’s going to be hard to find anyone who still has that weekend open so close to the date.”

“What if we put a disposable camera on each person’s seat?” Margo suggested. “The truth is, I think I was putting off finding a photographer for so long that I forgot about it, because it’s the most stressful pick for me. I’m a photographer myself, so anyone who does it professionally, I’m going to nitpick their work to death. But if I’m not getting professional photos, if they’re just all the candid photos that the people Spencer and I love have gotten of us all day, then all I’ll see is how much they care about us, and what parts of our day they thought were important to document. It won’t matter if they’re technically ‘good’ or not, because that’s not the point of them.”

“That’s a really great idea,” Nora said, a smile spreading across her face. “I honestly don’t know why we didn’t think of that sooner.”

“That sounds like a good way to make some wonderful memories,” Leon agreed. “You’ll really treasure those.”

“I know Mom would love to help you turn them into a scrapbook after the wedding too,” Nora added. “Let’s grab some disposable cameras, then, and we’ll add them to the haul for today.”

They had just finished adding the disposable cameras to the small pile of things that Leon needed to ring up, when the door that separated the general store from the grooming salon next door—which Leon’s wife, Bethany, owned—swung open. A small, barking cloud of fur came barreling out down the aisle next to where Nora and Margo were standing.

“Oh look at you !” Margo cried out, kneeling down as the small dog came running toward them. But the tiny animal ran straight for Madison instead, who was sitting in the rocking chair once again while Nora and Margo looked for the cameras.

She let out a squeal, lunging forward before either Nora or Margo could grab her, reaching for two big handfuls of the puppy’s floppy ears. Nora gasped, looking up as Bethany came running down the aisle as well, slightly out of breath.

“That’s a very friendly puppy,” Nora remarked as she leaned down and scooped Madison up away from the puppy, relieved that it hadn’t bitten her when she’d grabbed it. “Its owners must really give it a lot of affection. It looks like it can’t wait to see them again.”

Bethany sighed, reaching down to scoop the dog up. At eye-level, wriggling in Bethany’s arms, Nora could see that it looked like a mixture of a King Charles Spaniel, and maybe something slightly fluffier. The puppy was adorable, with white fur speckled in brown, and long floppy ears that were mostly brown, along with a happily wagging tail that was the same.

“I actually found her in the alley outside,” Bethany explained, scratching the puppy behind her ears. “She was all by herself. I brought her in and cleaned her up. She’s been super friendly the whole time, one of the easiest dogs I’ve ever groomed. Usually they can be difficult, especially with as many tangles as this one had, but she was sweet all through it.”

“Aww.” Margo leaned forward and scratched the puppy behind her ears, and Madison craned to get out of Nora’s arms, reaching for the dog again.

“That’s not our puppy,” Nora told her daughter, bouncing her in her arms as she reached for the bags that Leon had waiting. “I hope you find her owners soon,” she added, looking sympathetically at the small dog and then at Bethany. “She’s too cute to be on her own.”

“I agree,” Bethany said. “I’m sure someone will turn up soon.”

“I hope so. Margo, are you ready?” Nora glanced over at Margo, who reluctantly gave up petting the dog as they both headed back out to the car with their shopping haul.

“I can’t believe anyone would abandon a dog so cute,” Margo lamented as they walked out. “She must have owners somewhere.”

“I’m sure she does,” Nora said firmly, sliding into the driver’s seat. “And Bethany will figure it out. Meanwhile, we have a wedding to finish planning.” She handed Margo a magazine that she’d tabbed a few pages in, hoping for some input, and Margo flipped through it as they drove back to the inn.

By the time they got back, where Rhonda had a lunch of cranberry turkey and gravy sandwiches waiting for them, Nora had forgotten all about the puppy.