The Christmas Carriage Read Online Free PDF

memories with me as well.”
    The clerks clapped and whistled, Frederick sprang to his feet, and Mr. North appeared on the office steps. “I gather there’s good news all around. Well, come in and introduce your lady to the fellows who’ll be working for you. The missus sent over a bowl of wassail so we might toast Bickerman on his way, but this makes the occasion doubly fine.”
    “I haven’t spoken to the lady’s father, sir,” Frederick said.
    “A detail, from the looks of things. In fact, I’m sure of it.”
    North winked at Frederick, and as it turned out, the fellow was right. Lizzie’s father accepted his new son-in-law graciously, if gruffly. When the first grandchild came along the next Christmas, a wee dark-haired girl named Anna, the doting grandparents made a gift of a modest horse and carriage to the happy couple.
    As Frederick drove his equipage to and from work, even when he was a dignified old fellow superintending several busy offices, he always kept a lookout for a lean, young fellow with no gloves, one who might need a kind word, or a short respite from the elements in the cozy confines of the Christmas carriage.
    **
    Author’s Note
    My parents separated at one point in their dating, and lost track of each other, thinking their problems insurmountable. Absence, however, worked its magic on them both.
    When my dad called for my mom at her parents’ house, she never answered the phone, and he was always told she wasn’t there. He’d almost given up when he took a holiday job at the post office, and saw a letter go by addressed to his lady love at the nurses’ training program where she was studying. Over Christmas, Mom’s little sister told her that her long lost swain had been calling and calling….
    Dad wrote to her at her school, a letter of such contrition and charm that they got back together, and within six months were married. Their little holiday miracle still makes them smile, sixty-five years and seven children later.
    Hoping all your days are filled with smiles and miracles…
    —Grace Burrowes