Page 21 of Mistletoe & Mischief

“You can feel the key to the mansion,” Thaddeus said. “The address to the old place is listed in the letter. Although I’m sure Brad could have shown you the way.” He smiled knowingly.

Maya opened the envelope, kept the iron key inside, and tugged out the letter and an old photograph. The photograph was clearly Veronica, dressed in an elegant velvet gown with a tiara atop her head.

“She couldn’t be more than twenty-five here,” Maya breathed.

“See that necklace?” Thaddeus nodded at the jewelry around young Veronica’s neck. It looked extraordinarily heavy, strung with emeralds. “When your Grandmother Diane left England as a young woman, she brought the necklace with her. It was in your family for centuries.”

Maya furrowed her brow. Back in New York, she’d hardly dreamed of having an aunt in the world; now, suddenly, she learned of a grandmother— with a past and family across the ocean. “My grandmother…” She trailed off, hardly able to imagine such a thing.

Growing up, her adopted siblings had a grandmother named Barb. Maya had been invited to go to Barb’s house, where they’d eaten cookies and played on a rusted swing set in the yard. But Barb had never treated Maya like her own granddaughter. She’d never bought her birthday presents or hung her photographs on the wall with the other grandchildren. Grandmotherly love was something other people were allowed to have— not Maya.

Yet here it was, in the form of a family heirloom. How bizarre.

“Your Aunt Veronica always loved that necklace,” Thaddeus went on. “But through the years, she misplaced it somewhere in that big mansion. Your next task is to go through her belongings and find it.”

Maya frowned. “That’s it?” Compared to planning a Christmas festival, this felt like nothing. She imagined herself digging through a few jewelry boxes and finding it in the span of twenty-five minutes.

But something in Thaddeus’ eyes gave her pause. “Veronica has turned into a loner in her old age,” he explained. “I don’t know the state of the old place, but I imagine she’s boxed off most of her belongings and separated them all into the numerous rooms in the mansion. I can’t imagine it will be easy to find.”

“Sounds like a scavenger hunt,” Brad said, rubbing his palms together. It was clear he wanted to lift Maya’s spirits.

But Maya didn’t need her spirits to be lifted. She had the key to her gorgeous new home— a mansion on the outskirts of an adorable town in upstate New York. All of her problems were miles away.

“I look forward to it, Mr. DeWitt,” she announced, returning the letter and the photograph to the envelope.

“Please,” Thaddeus begged, “call me Thaddeus.”

Maya smiled and laced her fingers back through Brad’s. As Thaddeus changed the subject, asking Brad if he’d tried the local taco stand a few stalls away, Olivia and Rainey passed by them, their dark eyes flickering. They looked at Maya as though she were fresh meat. Maya snuck the envelope deep into her pocket and reminded herself they couldn’t hurt her. Rainey just had a silly crush on Brad— but Rainey was also a grown woman. She would find a way through that disappointment. Wouldn’t she?

ChapterNine

It was the end of the school day, and Brad was on bus duty, like always. He bent to say goodbye to each of the students individually, wishing them a safe journey back home, reminding them to study their spelling lists and finish their arithmetic. As they were only eight years old, he didn’t like to expect too much of them; he didn’t want them to feel he was disappointed in them when they forgot to complete their assignments. But some of them had parents who didn’t care if they ever learned a thing— and he wanted to give them that extra reminder that he cared about their futures.

After the buses were filled and on the road, Brad headed back to his classroom. They’d done a messy art activity at the end of the day, one that involved clay and paint, and he laughingly cursed himself as he cleaned up with numerous sponges and towels. As he worked, he thought back to the festival the past few days, remembering how happy Maya had looked as she’d taken stock of all the work she’d done. She’d been the most gorgeous woman at the festival. And she’d taken his hand as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

As the desks dried, Brad grabbed his phone and swiped through the photographs he’d taken from the past few days. In one, Maya ate a big slice of greasy pizza, her lips shining. In another, she waved to the marching band director as though they’d been friends for decades. In another, Thaddeus, Maya, and Brad tilted their heads for a selfie, with Maya holding up the big iron key that matched the door of Veronica’s Victorian mansion.

It had been years since Brad had taken photographs of anyone besides his students. It felt remarkable, wanting to record his own memories rather than let them float away.

There was a knock at the door. Brad jumped around to find Rainey leaning in the doorframe, gazing at him.

“Oh. Hello, Ms. Michaels.” Brad pocketed his phone.

“The kids aren’t here, Brad. You can call me Rainey again.”

Brad swallowed the lump in his throat. He hated it when Rainey popped in like this. It always felt as though she wanted something from him.

“How was your Monday, Rainey?” Brad forced himself to ask.

Rainey stepped into his classroom slowly, moving like a cat. “I’d rather talk about the festival. Wouldn’t you?” She stopped a few feet from where he was. “You and Maya looked happy.”

“It was an amazing weekend,” Brad said, his voice wavering. “Did you and Olivia have a good time?”

Rainey’s smile widened. “We really did. What did you think of Olivia?”

Truthfully? Brad had thought Olivia seemed just as manipulative and gossipy as Rainey.

Instead, he said, “She seems nice! How do you know her?”

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