Page 49 of Holly and Ivar
“What about the sister?Doesn’t she own the land?”Liv asked.
“She does, and for the time being she’s going along with it.”
“So, what’s the plan?”Marty asked.
Ivar moved behind Holly and placed his hands on her shoulders.“Holly and I want them to fall in love with Winterwood,” Ivar announced.“By giving them something they’ve never had—a real hometown.Somewhere they belong.”He anticipated that the room would fall silent in disbelief.It did.
“That’s not much of a plan,” Emma finally said.
“Yes.And I thought Miss Kringle wanted to buy the land.How can we be certain that this isn’t a ploy for us to sabotage the land sale so she can buy it and develop it herself?”Marty asked.
“A fair question,” Holly answered.“Yes, my family wants to buy the land, but our goal is to preserve and protect the forest.Not exploit it.”
“How do we know we can trust her, Ivar?”Tess asked.
“Because I trust her, and you know how much the forest means to me,” Ivar replied.The room fell silent once again.
“That’s good enough for me,” Liv said.
“Then that’s good enough for us too,” Tess said with only a hint of reluctance.“Perhaps if we had more details.”
“The Hales think they are going to get resistance from the town,” Ivar began.“So, let’s do the opposite.Let’s be kind and welcoming.Starting with the Christmas Carnival.We’ll make them grand marshals.”
“Aren’t grand marshals for parades?”Marty asked.
“You know what I mean.”
“By being involved, they become part of the town,” Holly said.“We’ll have them judge some of the events, so that they’re not observers; they’reparticipants.The town will begin to mean something to them, and they’ll care about what happens to it.”
Liv looked thoughtful.“That’s clever.They’d have to mingle, talk to people, get to know us.”
“And,” Holly said, “it’s public enough to make them feel honored, especially Chad.He struck me as the kind of person who would enjoy that.”
Ivar added, “Neither child had a hometown growing up.If theyfeellike they belong here–”
“—they might want to protect it,” Holly finished, their eyes meeting briefly.
There was a beat of silence, then Liv nodded.“I’ll draft the official invite.Emma, can you bake something that says ‘Welcome to Winterwood’—but with sprinkles?”
Emma beamed.“Sprinkles are my love language.”
“Done,” Liv said.“Let’s turn this Christmas Carnival into a charm offensive.”
CHRISTMAS EVE COUNTDOWN
DAYS
27
secret santa connection
Holly
Allthattalkabouthome at the meeting the night before had left Holly curious about Betty Hale’s house.Maybe seeing it would help them understand the Hales better, or even give them a clue about what might make the siblings feel more welcome.
So, the next morning, she called Chad to ask if she could stop by.If he was surprised about her interest in the main property, he didn’t show it, too eager to secure her investment to question her motives.
And now, as the truck wheels crunched through the snow of the uncleared driveway, Holly found herself both excited and uneasy about what they might find.
