I pulled her inside and out of the cold. “Oh, you know, sitting by the fire and all that!” She didn’t believe me, I could tell by the textbook squint of hers.
To distract her, I steered her toward the kitchen and asked, “Why does Cruz want more wine? We seriously have loads here.” It was a good thirty-minute round trip back to the lodge, and seemed like a lot of effort, especially when the roads were on the hazardous side.
She shrugged and unwound her scarf. “It’s probably some fancy wine that pairs with a certain type of dish. Don’t know why he keeps bothering with all that. I’ll just guzzle it anyway.”
I laughed, knowing it was true. Amory gave not one jot about the quality – even after taking wine-appreciation courses as part of our job. Whether she was hosting glamorous parties with fridges full of expensive champagne, or intimate gatherings with full-bodied reds that had been cellared for decades, she’d drink them down just the same as a bottle from the bargain bin and exclaim ‘not bad’.
Amory swept into the kitchen, greeting Mom as if she’d known her for ever, giving her a tight squeeze, which had Mom’s eyes widening, and said a cheery hello to Aunt Bessie, who squished her in return.
“That is a work of art, Aunt Bessie,” Amory exclaimed over the donut-tower Christmas tree. “Seriously, you have to start sharing these with the city crowd, they would love it!”
I laughed as Aunt Bessie donned her specs and snapped pictures of the edible diamond decorations, all the while filling Amory in on her newfound love for Instagram. “And you see, my friend…” She made the @sign with her fingertip. “… @Donuts4Life asked me for a close-up of the edible decorations on the tree. She’s thinking of placing an order for her daughter’s birthday. A candyfloss donut tower. Pink frosted donuts, pink candyfloss, and pink edible diamonds. Wouldn’t that be every ten-year-old’s dream?”
I sat there with my jaw hanging open. She’d embraced Instagram that quickly? I’d only just taught her what a hashtag was and here she was with followers and everything already! Calling them her friends? She seriously could charm anyone, this woman, and I loved her for it
“This all happened in the two hours you’ve been on Instagram?” I asked.
Aunt Bessie looked at me like I was dense. “Yes, Clio. @Donuts4Life lives in Oakville, so she’s going to visit after Christmas. I used the hashtags like you told me to, and she clicked on #Evergreen and found me. And so did thirty others, but so far we haven’t spoken. I will, though. I’ll introduce myself to them tomorrow, tell them a little bit about my artisan donuts and how much I love baking.”
“That sounds… great, Aunt Bessie.” I tried to keep my laughter in check. “It is called social media, so introducing yourself is part of it, I guess.” They wouldn’t know what hit them. Aunt Bessie could win anyone over with her affable personality and I bet they’d order donuts just because she wooed them with her zest for life.
We were still laughing about my techno-phobic aunt embracing Instagram when Amory clapped her hands and said, “Now, what’s the protocol here, is it too early for wine?”
“It’s actually a little late,” Aunt Bessie winked, reaching for some glasses. “We’ve got mulled wine steeping away on the stove, or take your pick with something else. Just make yourselves right at home, we’re all friends here.”
Amory poured everyone a glass of mulled wine, the scent of cloves, cinnamon and orange rind spicing the air, and I made a mental note to get the recipe. Surely I could throw a few ingredients into a vat of wine without ruining it?
Just when everyone had settled down again, a car pulled into the driveway and we all turned to look. Cruz couldn’t have got to the lodge and back in that amount of time. Amory’s eyes narrowed, and I sensed a ploy afoot too. Cruz had always been good at big romantic gestures. A Christmas gift, perhaps? He’d been so keen to get back into the kitchen at Cedarwood, I don’t think he’d even ventured into town since he arrived, so he wouldn’t have had time to buy a gift, unless he’d organized it by phone…
We peeked out of the window, Amory watching him intently as he opened the back door of the car and shuffled backwards with something in his arms.
Realizing it was something important, and definitely not wine by the looks of it, I ushered Amory away. “Let him surprise you,” I said.
While I was pushing Amory back into the dining room, Kai opened the door for Cruz.
“All right, all right,” Amory said when I shoved her a little harder. “There’s no need to manhandle me.”
“Oh, please,” I said, smiling. Mom and Aunt Bessie stopped what they were doing and waited for Cruz’s big entrance too. What was taking him so long? I was dying to see what Amory’s gift was.
“Close your eyes,” Cruz called out from the doorway as we all hovered in the living room expectantly.
Amory duly closed her eyes.
He tiptoed in, and we collectively put a hand to our mouths to stop awws spilling out. In his hands Cruz held a little fluffball of a pup, with black and tan fur and the most beautiful big blue eyes.
Putting a finger to his lips, Cruz sneaked in and placed the puppy onto Amory’s lap. She gasped, and opened her eyes. “Merry Christmas, Amory.”
We froze, not sure if this was meant to be a private moment or not, so we just stopped moving and pretended to be invisible. Dropping to his knees (both knees, thank God; no chance of a proposal fiasco again) in front of Amory, he said, “This little rescue pup needed a home for Christmas, a for ever home, where he’s safe, and loved, and well-fed. I told the shelter we’d show him what real love was and he’d have a happy life with us.”
“This little guy was going to spend Christmas alone?” Amory asked, her eyes glistening as she stroked his fur.
Cruz nodded solemnly. “But now we can give him the Christmas of every puppy’s dream.”
“He’s so beautiful!” she said, and for a split second or two her mask fell away and she looked really quite vulnerable. Her face softened and her eyes shone.
“Amory, I know we both had different visions about starting a family, and about marriage, but we got through that hurdle by being open and honest, and if we can get through that we can get through anything, together. So when I spotted this little guy, I just felt like he was right for us. The same way I knew, as soon as I saw you, that day in Manhattan when we first met, that you were the one for me. It was like my soul recognized you, and I had that same feeling with this fluffball. And I hope you do too.”
I cast my eyes to the floor, feeling like I was intruding, but my heart was beating fast for my friends. Their love was so strong, so evident in everything they did, that even huge dilemmas couldn’t force them apart. Cruz’s gift of a rescue pup was perfect.
“I love him already,” she said, holding back tears. “And I felt the very same way about you, but of course, I couldn’t tell you that. I’m a born and bred New Yorker, we don’t share our feelings so easily.” She tried to joke about it, but it was clear Amory was letting down the defenses she’d built in the past. “I love you, Cruz, I really, really do, and I don’t care who knows it,” she said as she reached for his hand and then looked down at the new addition to their family.
I
