Christmas Sisters Read online

  Christmas Sisters

  Soul Sisters at Cedar Mountain Lodge

  Violet Howe

  Tammy L. Grace

  Ev Bishop

  Tess Thompson

  Judith Keim

  Copyright © 2020 by Violet Howe, Tammy L. Grace, Ev Bishop, Tess Thompson, and Judith Keim.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  1. Maddie Kirby

  2. Jo O’Malley

  3. Stevie Fox

  4. Alissa Mann

  5. Hailey Kirby

  Epilogue: Fifteen Years Later

  Continue The Story…

  About Violet Howe

  About Tammy L. Grace

  About Ev Bishop

  About Tess Thompson

  About Judith Keim

  Maddie Kirby

  Author Violet Howe

  “Even worse than Thanksgiving, think about Christmas! How on earth will she make it through Christmas?”

  Maddie had just reached for the knob on the bathroom door when she heard the ladies enter the teachers’ lounge, but she drew her hand back and clutched it to her chest when she realized they were discussing her.

  “I have no idea. I have a hard-enough time with my family all being back East. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose your husband and your only child at the same time and then face your first holidays without them.”

  “And the poor woman had already lost her father to a heart attack a few months before the car accident,” said Paula, the eighth-grade math teacher. “How much tragedy can one person take?”

  “I couldn’t believe she came back to school this year,” said Joyce, the seventh-grade history teacher. “I don’t think I could have.”

  “Maybe it’s easier, you know? Focusing on work and staying busy.”

  “Yeah, maybe. Lord knows being a guidance counselor keeps her busy, but you know while she’s listening to everyone else’s issues and problems all day, she has to be thinking that no one here—student or staff—has it as hard as she does.”

  Maddie held her breath as Paula’s voice came closer to the bathroom door. She wished there was another exit so she could escape without them knowing she had overheard them. The last thing she wanted was an awkward confrontation with embarrassed apologies.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the refrigerator door open and close, and then the microwave beeped and whirred into action as the ladies moved on to a discussion of Christmas shopping still to be done.

  Maddie leaned her hip against the sink and crossed her arms, determined to remain hidden until they’d gone. She didn’t begrudge their curiosity about her tragic circumstances; it was human nature to be fascinated with the pain of others. Maddie understood it was part concern and part fear. After all, she was the living embodiment of a life turned horribly wrong in the blink of an eye, and it must be hard for those around her not to worry the same level of unimaginable horror could befall them.

  With a quiet sigh, she listened as the two women bantered about the effects of holiday bingeing on their waistlines while they prepared their lunches, and she let her own thoughts of the holidays come to the forefront of her mind.

  The thought of the Christmas season had filled her with dread since the moment it had first crossed her thoughts after the accident.

  Contemplating any semblance of celebration in an empty house haunted by the echoes of laughter and love had seemed abhorrent to her.

  Maddie’s mother, Claire, had suggested they take a trip abroad to escape, but Christmas is a global phenomenon, and a change of scenery would do nothing to fill the void left by death.

  At the thought of her headstrong and resilient mother, Maddie silently thanked the heavens yet again for giving her such a solid rock to lean on. She couldn’t have survived the last eight months without Claire.

  Claire had always taught Maddie to focus on the needs of others to keep from being too absorbed with yourself, and although Maddie had seen her mother live that philosophy her entire life, it had never been more evident than when Claire had cast aside her own grief and loss to help Maddie survive in the difficult months following the accident.

  Following Claire’s example had inspired Maddie to return to work, where she could put the needs of her students ahead of her own and allow her work to consume her.

  The road was long and hard, and there were many times when Maddie had been certain it would be easier if she could give up and join her beloved husband and daughter in the ground. But day by day, minute by minute, she’d continued moving forward.

  Maddie knew she had to get on with her life, but she was determined to do something with it that would make Simon and Corrine proud. Something that would in any way justify her being alive with them both dead.

  It wasn’t enough to merely survive and force herself to get out of bed every day. She needed a reason to live, a purpose. Her students gave her that.

  She glanced in the restroom’s lone mirror and tilted her head to one side, surveying her reflection.

  The color was slowly returning to her cheeks, though they were still sunken from the weight she’d lost. The dark circles under her eyes had diminished slightly since she’d decided what to do about Christmas and finally found some measure of peace.

  The decision hadn’t been easy to make, but Maddie was certain it was the right one, and she reassured herself with a slight nod. No one at school knew about her plans yet, a deliberate choice to delay the inevitable questions and judgements.

  But in the long run, what did it matter what they thought?

  They had their own lives and their own families to concern them.

  Why should her house be empty and hauntingly silent for Christmas when she could fill it with love and laughter again?

  She wasn’t the only one hurting and in need of a family to call her own.

  It had started with a student named Stevie. More than any other, this young girl had pulled at Maddie’s heartstrings. Maddie had sensed something wasn’t right at home, but it took a while to earn Stevie’s trust enough for the girl to confide the truth—her mother had abandoned her, and she’d been living alone.

  Maddie couldn’t conceive how any mother could leave her child that way, especially when Maddie would have given anything to hold Corinne once again.

  She acted quickly to get Stevie help, but the system hadn’t proven much of a rescue. Stevie had been bounced around a number of group homes, and Maddie felt helpless as the light faded from the young girl’s eyes and her bright, talkative personality became more sullen and withdrawn.

  Stevie’s fate began to consume Maddie’s thoughts, and the more she deliberated, the more certain she was that she had to do something. Stevie was a daughter in need of mothering, and Maddie was a mother whose empty arms ached. In addition to that painful connection, the two of them were genuinely fond of each other, and they’d formed a strong bond, the likes of which Maddie had never had with a student.

  Of course, when the idea of adopting Stevie had first come to her, Maddie had dismissed it as disloyal to Corinne’s memory.

  “Nonsense!” Claire had exclaimed when Maddie finally confided her thoughts one evening over dinner. “You living a life alone and devoid of love won’t bring our sweet girl back, and I know that’s not what Corinne or Simon would want for you.”

  Maddie had held her breath as she blinked back tears.

  “So, you think it’s a good idea, then? You think I should adopt Stevie?”

  Claire had s
at back in her chair and folded her napkin to lay it on the table.

  “I suppose there are some who will say it’s too soon. They’ll say you may be making impulsive decisions based in grief, and that you may not be in your right mind to make choices with such long-lasting effects on both you and this young girl.”

  Claire paused, and Maddie leaned forward, anxious to hear her mother’s opinion.

  “But what do you say, Mom?”

  “I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t seriously consider this if you hadn’t thought it through, and you wouldn’t be telling me if you hadn’t already come to the conclusion that it’s a good idea.”

  It wasn’t enough. Maddie needed to know she would have Claire’s support. She couldn’t pursue such a large undertaking without it.

  “But you agree that it’s a good idea, right?”

  Claire’s gaze was steady as she looked at her daughter and took the time to choose her words with care.

  “Love is rarely a bad idea, Madeline. But let’s not sugarcoat or minimize the weight of this decision. You’re still a young woman, you know. At thirty-four, you have many years ahead of you, God willing, and I pray you’ve already been dealt all the tragedy you’ll face. I don’t need to tell you what a big commitment this is, what a big step it will be for both of you. You are promising this girl you will be there for her from this point forth, come what may. You are taking on the responsibility, emotionally and financially, for someone else’s child.”

  “I know,” Maddie said. “I understand. But I have the means to support her financially. I have the training and the background to help her emotionally. And I realize people will think I’m doing this to somehow replace—” Her voice fell away, and she couldn’t bring herself to say her daughter’s name attached to such a thought.

  Claire’s eyes filled with tears as she reached across the table to take Maddie’s hand.

  “No one will ever replace Corinne. No one ever could. Nor will anyone ever fill her space in your heart. But the heart has many chambers, and its capacity for love knows no bounds.”

  Memories of Corinne flashed through Maddie’s mind, and she closed her eyes against the pain they brought. Nothing would bring her daughter back. She couldn’t be the mother she’d wanted to be for Corinne. That had been ripped away in one single devastating moment. But she could be a mother again. She could make someone else’s life better.

  She opened her eyes and gave Claire’s hand a squeeze.

  “I want to give Stevie a home. I want to give her love and stability, like you’ve given me. I want to encourage her and support her and help her achieve her dreams. I want her to wake up every day knowing someone believes in her and is there for her.”

  “You want to be a mother again.”

  The tears streamed down Maddie’s cheeks as she nodded. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  “Then bring her home, and we’ll love her like she was our own.”

  Maddie knew she’d need to get the ball rolling quickly if she hoped to bring Stevie home before Christmas. She didn’t know what might be involved in the approval process, but luckily, she had contacts within the system who could answer her questions and help her navigate the mounds of paperwork and red tape.

  She learned that despite the fact that Stevie’s mother had vanished, the parental rights had not been legally terminated, so Maddie couldn’t move to adopt Stevie outright. Instead, she’d have to foster toward adoption, knowing that could only take place if something happened to terminate the mother’s rights.

  The adoption agency was very upfront with Maddie in conveying that the ultimate goal was for Stevie to be reunited with a healthier version of her mother if she turned back up. Maddie found it hard to hope for that outcome. She couldn’t imagine that a parent who had willingly abandoned her child and left her to fend on her own would return a changed woman, but she’d take Stevie however she could get her and hope for the best for them both.

  “I don’t suppose you’d have room for two?” asked Natalie, the agency worker assigned to Maddie, as they talked one day.

  “Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Maddie answered, but as Natalie began to describe Alissa, a ten-year-old who had lost both parents in a car accident, Maddie quickly reconsidered.

  The girl was the same age Corinne had been when she died, and Alissa’s parents had both worked at the university with Maddie’s late husband, Simon. She and Alissa had both been robbed of their family without warning and thrust into a new life completely foreign to the one they’d known before.

  How could she say no? She had plenty of room in the big old house, and as someone who’d always wanted a sister when she was growing up, Maddie thought perhaps Alissa and Stevie would be good for each other.

  Because Alissa had no known family with ties to her, Maddie would be able to adopt her after a period of fostering.

  Eager to make the transition as smooth as possible for the girls, she arranged for them both to arrive on the day after school let out for the Christmas break. That would give Maddie two weeks with them, time to adjust and bond before they all went back to the daily routine of school and work.

  For the first time since the accident, hope blossomed in Maddie’s heart. She smiled more readily, and she even laughed a few times without feeling guilty. She’d gone from dreading the upcoming holidays to readying the house for the girls’ arrival.

  Her newfound joy even gave her the courage to face a task she’d known was necessary but hadn’t yet been able to face—going into Corinne’s room to pack her things.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Claire asked as they stood outside the bedroom door. “We could easily convert that room by Simon’s study into a nice bedroom for Alissa, and you could have Stevie downstairs in the room off the kitchen like you’d planned.”

  Maddie shook her head as her hand wavered above the knob. “No. I don’t want Alissa up here alone. I want her and Stevie on the same floor together, so they have each other. I have to do this eventually, and I want it done before the girls get here. It’s not healthy to keep everything preserved in here like it’s some sort of tomb or mausoleum in the house.”

  She threw the door open and took in a deep breath against the assault of emotions that hit her every time she entered her daughter’s room.

  “I know it’s the right decision, but God, it hurts,” she whispered. “It’s like saying goodbye all over again and facing the fact that my baby girl isn’t coming home. It makes it seem even more final.”

  Claire swallowed against the lump in her throat as she nodded. “We have to remember these are only physical reminders. Corinne lives in our hearts and in our memories, not in these material things.”

  At first, the two women worked in silence as they folded Corinne’s clothes and stacked them into boxes. The memories were a constant barrage, and a random shirt or jacket could easily bring forth quiet sobs, but as they moved through the books, toys, and mementos from Corinne’s short life, they found moments of laughter as well, and a bittersweet release in letting go.

  “This house will be filled with love,” Claire said when they’d finished the project that had seemed insurmountable before it began. “This room will provide a sanctuary to a young soul who desperately needs it, and I like to think that would make our Corinne very happy.”

  Maddie had expected to feel empowered by finishing Corinne’s room, but as she considered decorating the house for Christmas, she discovered that it was much too difficult to think about using the items she and Simon had gathered and shared over the course of their marriage and Corinne’s childhood. Just the thought of going into the attic to pull it all down was daunting, and the idea of seeing those reminders every day of the holiday season was too much to bear.

  “I’ve decided to get new decorations for the house,” Maddie announced to Claire over dinner one night. “Everything I have now is tied to Simon and Corinne. I will always have my memories of past Christmases, and I know Alissa and Stevie will hav
e their own memories, too. But if the three of us are going to make a fresh start, there needs to be a clean slate. New decorations. New traditions. New memories.”

  Claire didn’t answer.

  “Mom, are you listening to me?”

  “Yes, dear,” Claire replied without so much as even a glance in Maddie’s direction.

  “Okay, so I guess you’d be totally okay with my renting live reindeer to prance around my living room on Christmas morning. I mean, we can shovel the poop into the fireplace for fuel, right?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “Mom!” Maddie shrieked. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said. I just told you I’m going to shovel reindeer poop in my living room, and you were fine with it. What’s up with you? You’ve been preoccupied since I got here, giving me one-word answers and an occasional nod here and there. What’s going on?”

  Claire pressed her lips together in a frown. “I don’t think I should mention it.”

  “Mention what? What’s wrong?”

  Maddie leaned forward to rest her hand on her mother’s arm, and Claire put her hand over Maddie’s and squeezed.

  “Nothing’s wrong. Oh, Madeline. Do you remember Maeve, the sweet lady who was the town librarian for years upon years? I had lunch with Marjorie today. She’s working at the high school now as the office secretary. Well, she told me sad news about Maeve’s granddaughter, Josephine. Marjorie says she’s a real sweet girl. A good student and a hard worker. But she’s had the roughest luck. As you know, both of her parents died when she was younger, so Maeve was raising her. I assumed when Maeve passed away that someone else in the family had taken the girl in. But it turns out there was no one in the family to claim her. She was placed in foster care, and Marjorie says Josephine’s in a terrible situation. She’s certain they’re using the poor girl as free labor, and she suspects they might be abusive.”