Merry's Christmas: A Love Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

fading ember
of hope burst back into flame.
    Arthur shooed Merry away. “Yeah, she told
me you might call.”
    Arthur’s look said it all. It was the
call Merry had been waiting for all day.
    “She’s a good girl,” Arthur continued.
“Hate to give her up, but...Couldn’t do better if you ask me...Well, hang on.
Lemme check.” Arthur put the phone on hold and turned to Merry. “Mr. Moneybags
wants to know if I can spare you, as soon as tomorrow.”
    Merry silently pleaded.
    “How am I supposed to say no to you?”
Arthur groused.
    True to her name, Merry hopped up and
down. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!”
    “All right, already,” he bellowed. “So,
pick up the phone, before I come to my senses.”

    There were times in Merry’s life when she
could hardly imagine that she was awake, that a turn life had taken really was
happening. That’s how it was for Merry the next morning. She looked around,
wanting to drink in every detail of it.
    The early December air was crisp; the sky
was a brilliant blue. It offset stately elms lining an affluent street Merry
had never even dreamed to explore. Iron fences led to tony brownstones, each
with its own stairway, leading up to individual doorways. Here I am , she
thought, marveling that it was true. She glanced heavenward with a smile,
knowing it was the answer to her prayer.
    As she passed each residence, Merry
checked addresses against a slip of paper in her hand. Finding the matching
house number, she stopped and looked up, dwarfed by a four-story townhouse.
    Merry took hold of the rail and climbed
the stairs. She reached for a brass knocker just as the over-sized door flew
open and nine year-old Ollie Bell blew by her, then bounded down the stairs and
sprinted for the arriving school bus.
    “Hi!” Merry called after him.
    Ollie glanced back with a wave, “Hi, bye,
whoever you are!”
    Next out the door was Ollie’s older
sister, Tara. One of the two, Merry surmised. Tara glided out, put together
more like a model from a fashion magazine than a teenager headed for school.
    “Pardon moi,” she said, scooting by
Merry.
    “Gotta be Tara,” Merry intuited, just as
her sister, Hayden ambled out in grungy contrast, zipping her laptop into her
pack.
    “Yeah, so how’d you tell the difference?”
Hayden asked.
    “Uh... The computer?”
    Apparently, Hayden didn’t buy it. “What,
not my chichi fashion sense?”
    Tara called back to her twin impatiently,
“Will you shake it, Hayden?”
    Hayden tromped down the steps, calling to
Tara sardonically. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to miss a second of walking in your
shadow.”
    Merry grinned, happy to think that the
adventure of this job was already starting. She spun around to the door,
inadvertently crashing into Daniel. Again. The proximity was a bit awkward, but
she was at least glad that she didn’t have coffee to spill on him this time.
    “Good morning, Merry,” he said.
    “Oh! Hi. I met the kids. Sort of.”
    Daniel headed down the steps. “I’m off,
too, but stop by the bank before lunch and I’ll get you set with the Christmas
account. Mom is in the kitchen, she’ll show you around.”
    Merry watched Daniel as he opened the
door of his Range Rover, parked out front.
    “Thank you!” she called. “You won’t be
sorry you gave me this chance.”
    “Certainly hope not,” Daniel smiled as he
climbed into the car. The door closed with the solid ca-thunk of a posh family
vehicle, worlds apart from Merry’s repossessed Bug. In fact, Merry noticed that
the whole street was lined with shiny, new luxury cars. It made Merry realize
the advantage of having had to walk a few blocks from the El’s stop, since her
faded, forty year-old car would have seemed so completely incongruous.
    Turning, Merry stepped into the handsome
residence and closed the door. Knowing there was only one first time for
everything, she savored each step of the experience. Taking it all in, she
wandered through the foyer and into the tastefully