Page 35 of Meet Me at Christmas
“Not a chance. If the ship was, in fact, real and went down, it had nothing to do with a diamond necklace.”
“I do think our Christmas Diamond is probably just an old piece of costume jewelry, but it does make me wonder. I haven’t had great luck since finding it,” Stella said. “My car went into a ditch and my sister isn’t here when she should be.”
“Even if it was some rare jewel, why would a necklace have anything to do with those things?” Henry said.
“Because it wasn’t given in love?” Stella chuckled at the ridiculousness of her statement.
Henry laughed for the first time since their reacquaintance, and she relished the familiar sound.
“And that matters?” He rolled his eyes.
“One of the articles said that if the Christmas Diamond isn’t given in love, it casts a spell on the one who has it, cursing them with bad luck,” Mama said.
“Anyone can find any reason to believe something, but that doesn’t make it true.” Henry picked up the necklace again. “If it’s even genuine at all, this is nothing more than a fancy rock. It has no power over anyone.”
Mama reached over and inspected the pendant as it swung from the chain in Henry’s fingers. “It does look real… Has the airport called?”
“Nope. If it is legit, I can’t get it to its rightful owner. Yet even worse luck.” She eyed Henry playfully.
He shook his head disbelievingly and set the necklace back on the table.
“You’re right. It probably doesn’t have any power at all. But just in case itisbad luck, I’d sure like to give it back to whomever it belongs.” Stella slid it away from her.
“And what happens if it’s given in love?” Henry asked, a derisive grin on his lips signifying that he was only playing along. “Do you getgoodluck?”
“I don’t know,” Stella replied. “Maybe someone will call after the holiday, and we’ll never need to find out.”
Henry laughed again, lifting her spirits.
“Should we start baking?” Mama asked, rising from her chair.
“Yes!” Stella stood alongside her mother.
“All right,” Henry said, following suit. “But be careful with that thing in here.” He waggled a finger at the necklace. “You might burn the cookies.”
“Oh, you think you’re funny now.” Stella grinned at him.
What she didn’t want to admit to herself was the fondness that bubbled up at the joke, reminding her very much of the boy she’d known.
Twelve
After they’d eaten their weight in warm snickerdoodles, right off the baking sheet, Mama shooed them out of the room and hung back in the kitchen, insisting Stella and Henry relax while she cleaned up the mess from baking.
Henry sat on the sofa next to Stella. “I don’t think I can fit another bite in my stomach.”
A log popped in the fireplace, embers dancing up the chimney. Stella scooted over to put a slight distance between them.
“You mentioned that it’s just you and your mom here,” he said, the orange light from the fire dancing in his blue eyes. “What about your dad?”
“He passed away in January.”
“I’m so sorry.”
His sympathy brought her emotions to the surface. She shoved them down to that special place inside her, where she’d gotten good at keeping them. “I worry about my mom,” she said, her voice low so it wouldn’t carry. “She’s here all alone… He was her high school sweetheart.” When she said the words, she had to look away from Henry, the parallel hitting too close to home. While hers and her mother’s love affairs had started the same way, they’d had very different endings.
“High school sweethearts, huh?” Henry asked, as if the same thought had somehow crossed his mind. “I do remember having a crush on you.”
Her heart pattered. “You do?”
