Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy) (11 page)

Nora greeted Jeremy at the door the next afternoon excited to get her plan underway.

“
I see you are happy to see me.” He said, pleased to see her smiling.

“
Come right in,” she said giving a sweeping motion with her arm. “Mom has cooked chili and cornbread.”

“
Wonderful,” Jeremy complimented Laura, “Something to warm us up on this cold December day.”

“
Yes, let’s eat,” Laura returned.

After the meal Nora turned to Jeremy, “
About that project I spoke about at the hospital, last night we pulled all our old Christmas decorations out of the attic. I was hoping you could go through them and help me decorate the house. Would you be willing to help me?”

“
Are you going to put up a tree?”

“
Well, I wanted one but I’ll have to wait on that until we can go out in the country to find a cedar.” Then Nora and Laura both glanced at her dad and realized for the first time he wouldn’t be able to chop it down this year.

John
looked down at the floor.

Danny stepped up and said, “
Nora, I’ll help you get us a Christmas tree.”

“
Danny, how about you go with me to get a tree?” Jeremy asked.

“
Serious?” Danny turned to see if Jeremy meant it. “You mean, right now?”

Jeremy nodded, “
If it’s okay with your parents.”

Danny looked imploringly at his parents.

The both nodded their permission.

“
Come on, Danny,” Jeremy motioned. “We have work to do.”

“
I’ll get my coat.”

Jeremy drove to his house to get
the company pickup and tools.

Danny looked out the window of the car with his mouth open. “
You live here,” he said in awe.

Christmas lights decorated all the bushes near the house. There were lights lining the house in all colors. A large decorated Chris
tmas tree stood in the large window at the front of the house. Danny had never known anyone who decorated like this.

Next,
Jeremy went in to discuss his plans with his mother and get her permission. After explaining the dismal worn out decorations he had seen at the Ray house, he knew that Samantha had boxes of discarded Christmas decorations in their attic just sitting in the way. He hoped not to embarrass Nora’s family or step on their pride.

“
I have just what you need,” Samantha said happy to help someone in need.

When the pickup was loaded with the boxes of decorations, Samantha told Jeremy,
“Please, do not to return them. I haven’t used them in years.”

“
Thank you, Mom,” Jeremy said giving her a hug. “I knew you would help out.”

Jeremy thought a moment t
o help Danny to come to terms with the fact that just because his family had more money, it didn’t make them any different than Danny’s family. “You see all those lights?”

Danny looked up to him, “
Yes, sir.”

“
That is just a lot of work.” Jeremy placed his hand on Danny’s shoulder, “After Christmas, it is a lot more work to take it down. My Mom loves to have all this lit up for Christmas, so we put it all up for her, just like we are going to decorate your folk’s house.”

Jeremy and Danny got into the pickup.
“The only difference is your house is smaller so there won’t be quite as much work, but we’ll make it just as pretty. You’ll see.”

“
Now we are going to the nursery to get a Christmas tree.”He explained when he didn’t turn toward the Danny’s house.

“
Wow! We will get our tree up today, won’t we?” Danny said excitedly.

“
I think we will, Partner, we have a lot of work to do.”

When they arrived at the Ray household, they had all they needed to decorate in style.

As Danny and Jeremy carried the fir into the living room, Jeremy tried to ward off their objections with, “When I went by the house to get the pickup, my Mom told me to go to the nursery and get this tree. She said she couldn’t sell it because of this broken limb.”

“
See right here?” he twisted the tree so they all could see. “It fell or something when it was being unloaded. I thought if the broken limb was placed in the back, maybe you wouldn’t mind too much if I brought it over.” He gave them an imploring look like they would do him a favor if they took the tree off their hands.

John looked the tree over,
“Well, rather than you throwing it away, we’d be obliged to have it.”

“
Great,” Jeremy nodded to Danny. “Let’s get that stand over there and set this tree up.”

After that task was completed, Jeremy
turned to John and Laura to get their approval again. “My Mom sent some old decorations over to see if there is anything in them you might want to use. If you don’t want them, it is fine but she made me promise not to return them. She hasn’t used them in years.”

While they stood in stunned silence, Jeremy again enlisted Danny
’s help. “Come on, Danny. I need your help to get those boxes from the pickup.”

When the boxes were placed in the living room floor,
Jeremy said, “If you guys want to go through these, Danny and I have some stuff to do.”

Jeremy knew which box contained the items he needed. He knew if he didn
’t hurry, he couldn’t get the lights installed outside before dark.

Inside Laura and Nora were having a blast going through the boxes and exclaiming
over the discarded decorations that Jeremy had brought over. Soon inspiration hit, and they started decorating the tree. John sat in his chair while he enjoyed watching his women as they worked on the tree.

Jeremy and Danny soon were finished with the out
side decorations and came in to see how the inside decorations were coming along. Jeremy stood back and watched them feeling such a sense of joy and satisfaction that his contribution made them so happy.

Danny looked so happy bouncing around exclaiming ove
r the bulbs and making his contributions.

Jeremy walked over to John and knelt down beside him.

John said softly, “They are all so happy. How can I ever return this favor?”

“
You know that there is no payback for joy. I have already received my due just by watching them,” Jeremy stated wiping his eyes. “I should thank you for allowing me to participate in your family’s celebration of Christmas.”

John clasped Jeremy
’s hand, “Thank you.”

Soon they com
pleted decorating the Christmas tree and the lights were turned on. They turned the lights outside on and went out to enjoy them.

After standing outside for a few minutes in the cold to enjoy the lights, Laura said, “
Let’s go inside and warm up the apple cider.”

The Christmas party was
scheduled on Monday evening before Christmas. The volunteers working the desk exclaimed about how many gifts were donated for the patients. For the first time they weren’t hustling to make sure that there were enough gifts. They remarked that different organizations brought in gifts wrapped and already marked as children, adult women, or adult men. Also, a rumor spread that a new Santa had been obtained to distribute the gifts.

Nora didn
’t have much time to worry about Santa coming. Her job was to make sure the patients were comfortable and clean when Santa came into the rooms to hand out gifts.

Soon she heard the familiar “
Ho, Ho, Ho” coming down the hall where she worked. She backed up to the nursing station to give the Santa entourage room to pass by. Obviously the Santa was a slim person with a pillow stuffed in place. The white beard didn’t fit well and he adjusted it every little bit to keep it in place.  Along with Santa were four elves decked out to the hilt in funny elf costumes, all of them toting bags of gifts.

Nora pointed them out to Jamie, “
I’ve never seen a Santa group having more fun.”

“
The patients seem to enjoy their attention, too,” Jamie commented.

After
distributing the gifts, Santa and his crew made a special effort to wish each of the staff a Merry Christmas. When Santa approached Nora and told her Merry Christmas, she thanked him and felt that something seemed familiar. Quickly Santa and his elves left before she really figured out what her hunch was.
Oh, well
she thought
it probably was nothing
.

Chapter Ten

After the Christmas break
, Jeremy told Nora sitting at lunch one day that he felt pressured by his dad to make a decision about which University he would attend.

“
Did you make the suggestion about making your major in business?”

“
Yes, I did,” Jeremy commented looking dismal. “He would have none of it.”

“
I’m sorry,” she rubbed his hand trying to comfort him.

“
Since I’m his oldest son, he wants to make sure I don’t make a mistake. After all, Littlefield’s are attorneys. He tells me.”

“
I’m sure he wants what he feels is best for you.”

“
The only universities that he will consider are the ones that produce the most reputable lawyers,” he complained taking another bite of his sandwich.

“
I’m sure this isn’t much comfort to you at this time, but if you didn’t have the opportunity to go to the university, how happy you might be to have that opportunity,” Nora stated finishing up her drink.

“
Right, and how many other young men that would give anything to have their father willing to pay their tuition and board. I’ve heard it all in the last few days.”

“
It is something to think about but if your heart isn’t in it, it’s hard to get excited about,” she acknowledged as they got up to go back to class.

That evening while she sat at the kitchen table
working on her homework, she realized it was time for her to make a decision about college also. She had been so busy with school, working, and then Christmas that she hadn’t seriously thought about where she needed to go in the fall. Tomorrow she would visit with Mrs. Jenkins about what she needed to do.

Danny sat across the table from her working on his model airplane that he got for Christmas.

Nora watched him for a while. She wondered which area of study would interest him enough that he might want to study it. He puckered his mouth with such concentration as he worked to place the tiny pieces with such precision.
He could be a mechanical engineer designing airplanes
she thought.
Yeah, or a dozen other things. I just hope by the time he makes that decision that I am financially able to help him fulfill his dream.

She approached Mrs. Jenkins office during her study period. Nora hoped that she would have a few minutes to speak with her. She could see through t
he window in the door that Mrs. Jenkins was alone so she knocked on the door and cautiously opened it.

“
Nora!” Mrs. Jenkins came around the desk to greet her, “How are you? I’m so happy to see you. I’ve missed having you in my class this year.”

“
It’s good to see you again, too. I’m well, thank you.”

“
How is your father?” Mrs. Jenkins inquired. “It’s been so long since I’ve had the opportunity to speak to you, I haven’t heard about him or your little nephew Jordan, either. Come, sit down, and we’ll have a little chat.”

After both of them got settled, Nora told her that both seemed to be holding their own. Jordan had some setbacks but was doing well now.

“By the way,” Mrs. Jenkins said, pulling some papers from a desk drawer, “I was going to call you, but now that you’re here, I’ll give this to you now.”

Handing the papers to Nora, she said, “
These are application papers to OU Medical College in Oklahoma City. Also, there are scholarship applications that could provide you with money to help pay your way. If you have any questions, please feel free to come by and I will see if I can assist you. Don’t be shy about filling out scholarship applications. Fill out everyone you come across. Sometimes you can receive more than one.”

“
Mrs. Jenkins, thank you so much,” Nora stood to receive the papers. “You must be a mind reader, this is exactly the information I needed to get started. Thank you, so much.”

“
You’re welcome. When you have them completed, come back by my office,” she told Nora. “I should have some letters of recommendation for you by then.”

“
I don’t know how to thank you enough for what you have done for me and my family,” Nora replied humbly.

Mrs. Jenkins put her arm around Nora
’s shoulder and said, “Speaking as a teacher, we don’t see very many with as much promise as you, and I know you won’t let us down.”