A Trip Back to Snowy Pines (Book II in the Christmas Village Trilogy) (3 page)

“And Kendall, the boy?”

“He’s fine. He was shaken up, but fine. I’m
supposed to call him and let him know you’re okay. You are okay,
aren’t you?”

She finally managed to focus on him and she
immediately noticed the worried, tired lines around his eyes. But
after a few seconds she saw more than that… a charcoal gray wool
overcoat and mulberry colored cashmere scarf instead of his
battered black and royal water-resistant puffer coat. Underneath
she could see the evidence of a suit and tie, instead of a polo
collared knit or plaid button up and khakis that he normally wore.
And his hair, a little longer than it was just yesterday when she’d
seen him at her mother’s, was cut and styled as if he’d been to a
pricey salon instead of the Cut-n-Save.

“I… I think so? Where’s Ethan?”

“Who?” He asked, his face going totally
blank.

Just then the nurse bustled back in, a woman
who was probably well into her sixties, but still adorable with
candy cane covered scrubs and a sunny smile.

“Are you sure she’s okay nurse? She’s acting
very strange.” Chris said, looking at her with troubled eyes.

“She’s had quite an ordeal. And she was
nearly dehydrated. She’s probably got a little PTSD.” She
explained.

“Lola honey, do you know what day it is?”

“December 21st … no the 22nd by now.” She
corrected and then looked to Chris. “I thought you were going
skiing.”

“We were going skiing. I had to file a brief
and you had one more shift. We were going to leave after lunch
today.”

“You’re filing a brief?” She asked, feeling
confused.

“Who’s Ethan?” Chris pressed, when the nurse
was out of earshot.

“I don’t … know. I’m very confused. Where am
I?”

“They brought you to the nearest hospital…
actually it’s a clinic. I’ve never even heard of this place. It’s
called… Snowy Pines. It looks like something from the cover of a
Christmas card.”

“It’s… very familiar to me. I feel like I’ve
been here before.” She said, looking around and realizing that it
was very familiar. Even the nurse was very familiar… but older
somehow.

Chris looked at her again as if there was
something very wrong with her. Perhaps there was. As far as she
understood he was a loan officer, she was a struggling nurse and
they were separated with a five year old son and fifteen weeks into
an unplanned pregnancy. But from what she could tell now, he was a
well-dressed lawyer and they were happily married, childless but
about try, and the kind of people who took off for romantic ski
trips for Christmas.

“Lola, you’re not acting right. Are you sure
you’re okay?”

Everything in her screamed that she should
tell him that she was definitely not all right. That a few hours
ago she was pregnant and the mother of a son that she loved more
than life and now she had neither. But for some reason she couldn’t
make herself say it… it was like saying it would somehow hurt Chris
and she knew that so many of her decisions had hurt him. She
couldn’t do it again… not here. So instead she took his hand and
shook her head. “I was just so scared. And I had these crazy dreams
while I was out… you know I have babies on the brain lately.” She
said, hoping it was true. By the relieved look on his face she was
assumed that it was.

“Don’t ever do anything to scare me like that
again.” He said, kissing her forehead and squeezing her hands. “I’m
going to go and see how long you have to stay here.”

She nodded and smiled weakly until he was
gone and then she closed her eyes and pinched herself. She was
surely dreaming. There was no way that this was really happening…
unless she was dead. Maybe when that burglar grabbed her hair he
really shot her. But she remembered so much afterwards.

“It’s a dream.” She whispered. “It’s got to
be a dream.”

“Lola sweetie, are you hungry?” The cheerful
blonde nurse asked.

Lola thought about it for a moment before
saying, “Yes as a matter of fact, I’m starving.”

“Oh that’s good. A healthy appetite is the
first step to recovery. Have a Christmas cookie. They’re the best
ever!”

Lola bit into the cookie and moaned. “That’s…
the best cookie I’ve ever had.” She said as the realization that
this cookie was more than just familiar. This was a cookie she’d
tasted many times. “Who made this?”

“My daughter-in-law. She’s a caterer and she
ships these all over the place. She always ships up a batch early
because we can’t wait till she gets here with them.”

“Your daughter-in-law? These cookies taste
like…” She stopped realizing the only way to finish that sentence
is to say these cookies taste just like my cookies that I learned
how to make once upon a time from the blonde lady in my dreams. She
stopped and took another look around the very familiar clinic. “Umm
like mine, but they’re better. Will your daughter-in-law be
here?”

“Yes… tomorrow. Oh she loves it here. She
says this is the place she dreamed about before she ever came
here.”

Lola nodded. “I think… I think she and I have
a lot in common.”

“Well you have to meet her. My only
grand-daughter is actually named Lola. I don’t think it was Josh’s
first choice, but Kellany would have nothing else… her daughter was
Lola.”

“Kellany.” Lola said with tears in her eyes.
“Josh and Kellany. They fell in love here right?”

“Uh no... Actually.” She said, looking a
little bewildered. “Kellany had a car wreck and woke up at Johns
Hopkins where my son’s a doctor. My mom introduced them and it was
love at first sight. A week later he brought her home to Snowy
Pines to spend Christmas with us. They were married that
summer.”

Lola was confused because she remembered it…
remembered watching them on the Ferris wheel and hoping someday
she’d fall in love like that. She wanted to ask more questions but
realized she sounded like a stalker so instead she changed the
subject.

“So my husband is finding out how long I have
to stay, but I’m assuming I should be fine to go. I mean I’m a
little shaken up clearly, but I’m okay.” She said before thinking
to herself, “Other than being trapped in a dream I’m unable to wake
up from.”

“Excited to get going on that ski trip?” She
said with a smile. “Your husband is very handsome and he’s a
lawyer? He says you live in Inner Harbor.”

Lola coughed to hide her surprise. She and
Chris could barely afford to drive through Inner Harbor, much less
live there. “Chris is a catch.” She said truthfully.

“You really thought you were pregnant, didn’t
you?”

Lola nodded, not knowing what else to do.

“Honey we’ve all been there. When you’ve got
babies on the brain every headache, every unappetizing bite of
food, every time you’re tired you think it’s a baby. But you’re not
even trying yet. It’ll all work out.” She said, patting her hand
reassuringly. “I’m Stephanie Callahan by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Lola said, just as
she recalled a vivid memory of sitting with a younger Stephanie and
watching Little Women.

Chris appeared at the doorway. “Okay so I
talked to Dr. Murphy and she says she’s going to come in and check
you out, but we should be able to go as soon as she’s done.”

“Great… are we going to the ski resort?” Lola
asked, afraid to name a specific place.

“Um I’m afraid we’re not going anywhere for a
few days.”

Stephanie turned to him and said, “Oh… I was
hoping this storm wasn’t as bad as they were thinking.”

“Storm?” Lola asked confused.

“Three inches of ice, and four inches snow
and still coming down. We’re here to stay for a while.”

“Snow and ice? When I went in that gas
station it was hot and drizzling. There was lightening in the
distance.”

Stephanie laughed. “That’s when weather is at
its worst. But don’t you worry. We might not have ski slopes, but
you two couldn’t ask for a better holiday get away than here.”

“Did you call my mom?”

Chris looked at her with another look as if
she’d lost her mind. “No. Why would I?”

“Oh… well it is Christmas.” She said,
thinking to herself, “Apparently mama didn’t make it into our new
and improved lifestyle.”

Dr. Murphy came in and gave her a final
check-up before giving her the go ahead to leave.

Once they started out to Chris’s car Lola
realized that he had her coat… or a coat that must be hers here
though it was a brand she’d only ever looked at in the store.
“Wait, do I have clothes?”

“The suitcases were already in my car so we
could leave as soon as I got off work.”

“What happened to my car? And my handbag and
my phone?” Lola said as panic seized her.

“It’s fine. As soon as you were found I
logged in to the OnStar for your car and reported it stolen. The
guys have been arrested and your stuff is all safe and sound at the
police station.”

“Oh good.” Lola said, wondering what kind of
car she had. Her real car certainly didn’t have OnStar. But in her
real life Chris definitely didn’t drive a shiny black brand new
Ranger Rover so who knows?

“Where are we going?”

“Well, they tell me Appleby’s B&B is
straight out of a Hallmark card.” He said stopping and pulling her
close to him. “Don’t ever do anything like this again. There was a
split second between them telling me ‘your wife had been in a
robbery’ and ‘she’s unconscious but she appears to be fine.’ In
that split second my whole world stopped turning.”

He kissed her hungrily, and she sighed,
feeling some part of her that had been missing shift back into
place. “God I’ve missed kissing you.” She whispered.

He laughed and opened her car door. “It’s
only been about ten hours since we kissed.”

“Ten hours too long.”

“
Remember the night we broke the windows
in this old house? This is what I wished for.”… Mary Hatch
Bailey

Lola looked inside of a large gingerbread
house, expecting to find a family of gingerbread people at the
kitchen table… and she wasn’t disappointed.

It was on the tip of her tongue to remark on
how much Ethan would love that, but she caught herself. She’d
awaken that morning in a panic trying to figure out where she was
and what had happened to Ethan and the baby, but after closely
inspecting the four poster bed and fire place in the bedroom she
remembered that she was lost in some sort of elaborate dream. And
then Chris woke her up in a way he hadn’t woken her up in a very
long time and she decided she might just embrace this dream for a
little while. After a pancake and sausage breakfast like she’d
never had in her life, they’d dressed in their warmest clothes and
set out to explore the picturesque town of Snowy Pines. Every
storefront and display window brought back another memory and left
her more convinced that she’d been here before.

“Mrs. Appleby said we had to go to the
chocolatier. They have those giant chocolate covered strawberries
that I love.” Chris said, swinging her hand as they walked down the
street. Lola couldn’t remember the last time they’d walked down a
street, any street, holding hands.

“Don’t talk about chocolate covered
strawberries. They give me flashbacks to the ones at our wedding
reception. That poor old woman, whose fence backed up to your
grandmother’s lawn, who knew you loved them; said she could make
the ones that looked like they were wearing tuxedoes. They were
tragic!”

“They were delicious. Who cares what they
looked like?” Chris reasoned.

“They looked like muddy-bloody-blobs. No one
knows what they tasted like but you because no one else was brave
enough to taste them.” She teased. “Of course our wedding was a bit
of a DIY disaster.”

“I don’t remember it that way at all.” He
argued.

“Come on, paper runner, folding chairs, taped
music and a cake from the supermarket. Not to mention that everyone
figured we were pregnant.”

“Shows what they knew.” He said, tightening
his hand possessively.

“Yes we got married because we wanted to do
the stuff that could get us pregnant.” Lola said sarcastically,
though as it happened in real life it didn’t matter. Even though
they’d been married right at a year when Ethan was born, no one
could remember exactly how long they’d been married so when a baby
appeared soon after they all clucked and pointed in
disappointment.

“That’s not the only reason we got married.”
Chris said, sulkily.

Lola shook her head. “Not by a long
shot.”

He swung her around behind a Christmas tree
on the sidewalk and kissed her before saying, “I loved everything
about our wedding… even the muddy-bloody-blobs.”

They walked on and found their way into the
chocolatier and Lola had to admit it was more than impressive.
There were over a dozen aisles of glass display cases featuring
elaborately tempered chocolate curls and ribbons and twists and
twirls adorning apples as big as soccer balls, and marshmallows
that were shaped like reindeer and rice-crispy treats shaped like
trees and dipped in green-white chocolate decorated with red-white
chocolate and white chocolate bits and bows and ribbons and stars.
There were peanut-butter cups as big as saucers, and nut clusters
in three difference shades of chocolate and every other variety of
chocolate candy that Lola could or couldn’t have imagined. And
strawberries… in every size, shape and design including perfectly
tailored tuxedoes.