The Mandie Collection (10 page)

“I'd better get the lamp from the hallway down there,” Joe said, turning to go back down.

Hilda rushed past him and ran downstairs.

Joe frowned in confusion but brought the lamp back up and lit it.

“That's better,” Mandie said, looking around.

“It seems like we've been through all this stuff up here so many times,” Joe remarked as they searched through the furniture.

“And every time we find something we hadn't found before,” Mandie replied, stooping to inspect a huge wooden box. “I wonder what this is. I don't remember seeing it before.”

“I wouldn't open that if I were you,” Joe advised. “You see that lettering on the side?” He pointed to the crude letters. “It says, Pryvit Propity of Abraham.”

“Private property of Abraham?” Mandie questioned, examining the box. “I wonder what it is.” She tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy. “Why do you suppose Abraham put some of his private property up here in Uncle John's attic when he has his own house in the yard out there?”

“Maybe it's something for Jenny for Christmas,” Joe replied, lifting the box. “Or it could be some things he didn't have room for in his house now that Jenny has come back to live with him again.”

“Probably. I hope Jenny stays with her husband this time,” Mandie said, continuing her search for the missing presents. “That sure hasn't been a happy marriage.”

“That's because they didn't trust each other for all those years. But now, maybe that's all cleared up,” Joe remarked. “When we get old enough to get married, I think ours will be a happy marriage.”

Mandie stopped examining a drawer in a chest and straightened up. “I'm not certain that we'll ever get married, Joe. I wish you'd remember that. When we are older we might meet someone else or change our minds,” she reminded him.

“I know you talk like that, Mandie, but I think we will grow up and get married, especially after I get your father's house back for you like I promised.” He sat down on top of an old trunk.

“I know I promised I'd marry you someday if you'd get my father's house back for me when we grow up, but you can't hold me to that promise always,” Mandie protested. “Like I said, we may both change our minds.”

“I picked some mistletoe and some holly with bright red berries and put it on your father's grave before we came,” Joe told her.

“Oh, Joe, I appreciate that so much.” Mandie's blue eyes filled with tears. “Last Christmas I was with my father back there in Charley Gap. Now this Christmas I'll be with my mother here. I just wish we could have all been together for a little while.”

“The Lord knows best, Mandie,” Joe said softly. He patted her small white hand. “Just be thankful for the years you did have with your father.”

Mandie pulled her hand free to brush away her tears. “Well . . .” She turned to a nearby wardrobe and flung open the door. “We've just got to find those presents!”

“We will,” Joe assured her as he began looking into some of the trunks around him.

“Or we'll have to dig a path to the stores downtown so I can buy more,” Mandie told him.

Snowball sniffed around the attic awhile; then Mandie saw him run back down the stairs.

“At least Snowball went downstairs now, so we don't have to look for him in all this mess,” she said. “I wonder where Hilda went.”

As it turned out, no one seemed to know where Hilda had gone. When Joe and Mandie found no presents in the attic, they went back downstairs and discovered that Hilda was missing again. Although they looked all over the house, they couldn't find her or Snowball.

“I think Hilda has learned to play games with us,” Joe said. “She has found some way to hide where we can't find her.”

“And she must have taken Snowball with her,” Mandie added.

After giving up on finding the girl, they joined the others in the parlor. Mrs. Taft had finished wrapping her presents for the time being, and she was sitting near the fireplace with Mr. Bond and the Burnses.

“Maybe if we'd just stop looking for her every time she disappears, she'd quit hiding from us,” Jason Bond suggested.

“That would be hard to do since we don't know if she has gone outside or not,” Mandie said. “Then, too, Snowball must be with her.”

“If she had gone outside, we'd find her footprints in the snow,” Joe reasoned.

As the grandfather clock in the hall struck twelve noon, Mrs. Taft stood up. “It's time for dinner now,” she said. “And Hilda's not here to eat.”

At that moment Liza appeared in the doorway. “Dinner be put on de table,” she announced, “and dat Hilda girl be sittin' at de table, waitin'.”

Everyone looked at each other. Mandie started into the dining room with the others. Where had Hilda been? And how did she know it was time to eat?

Mandie caught up with Liza on the way to the dining room. “Where did Hilda come from? Which direction?” she asked.

“I don't rightly know, Missy,” Liza replied. “Me and Jenny and Aunt Lou was dishin' up de food in de kitchen, and in she walks with dat white cat of yours.”

“Where is Snowball now?” Mandie asked.

“He havin' his dinner in de kitchen,” Liza told her, dancing on ahead to help serve.

As they all sat around the huge dining room table, everyone tried to ask Hilda questions, but she only smiled and did not answer.

Joe spoke softly to Mandie so no one else could hear. “Well, I suppose we can go ahead and decorate with the holly and mistletoe this afternoon,” he said.

Mandie took a long drink of water from the glass by her plate. “If we can hurry and get that done, then we can look some more for my presents,” she whispered back.

“Look where?” Joe asked quietly. “We've looked the whole house over.”

They continued talking in whispers because they didn't want anyone to know that they had missed the presents. But Mandie noticed that Hilda was watching them closely, and she wondered if the girl could read lips.

“We're being eavesdropped on,” Mandie said softly, glancing at Hilda.

Joe nodded and fell silent.

Mr. Bond looked out the tall French windows at the high snowdrifts outside. “That snow just keeps on out there,” he said. “I don't believe I've ever seen it snow this much for so long without letting up for a while.”

“Me neither,” Jake Burns agreed.

“I do wish it'd clear up enough for Elizabeth and the others to get home,” Mrs. Taft remarked. “At the rate it's going, they may not be able to make it home in time for Christmas Day.”

Mandie dropped her fork onto her plate. “Mother not here for Christmas?” she exclaimed. “She's got to get here for Christmas!”

“I'm sure she'll do her best to get back by then, but you might as well be prepared in case she doesn't,” Grandmother Taft warned. “Don't
get your hopes up too much. That weather is bad out there, and it could be a lot worse over at Tellico, where they are.”

As Mandie thought about Christmas without her mother, she couldn't eat another bite. “Celia Hamilton and her mother are supposed to come in time for News Year's Day,” Mandie reminded her grandmother. “Do you think they might not make it either?”

“I just don't know,” Mrs. Taft said. “They'll be coming by train. Your mother and the others went in the rig.”

“At least there's one I can always count on,” Mandie said. “Uncle Ned will be here no matter what kind of weather we have.”

Joe sat forward. “You said he didn't tell you what day, though,” he said.

“No, but that's all right. He'll be here sooner or later,” Mandie replied. “He promised my father he would watch over me, and he always does.” Her voice trembled.

Grandmother Taft took a sip of coffee. “If you young people are finished, you may be excused,” she said.

Mandie and Joe hurried out to the back porch, which was partially enclosed. Hilda trailed along behind them, stopping in the doorway. There were piles of holly with bright red berries and bunches of mistletoe. Some were covered with a little snow where it had blown in.

“Brr! It's cold out here!” Mandie exclaimed, shivering in the cold air.

Joe gathered up some of the limbs. “We should have put on our coats,” he agreed.

“Move back, Hilda,” Mandie said, grabbing an armload of branches. “We're going to bring this inside.”

Hilda stepped aside as Mandie and Joe carried the greenery into the hallway and divided it up, taking some of it into the parlor. Without saying a word Hilda watched and tried to help. They made wreaths out of some of it and hung them in the windows. And they placed a huge wreath on the outside of the front door.

As Hilda played with the berries from the holly, she kept saying, “Red, green, red, green.”

Mandie stopped working a moment. “Hilda, why do you keep saying that?”

“Do you know what happened to all the presents wrapped in red paper that were under the Christmas tree?” Joe asked.

Hilda grinned mischievously and started humming to herself.

“Are you sure it couldn't have been her?” Joe questioned Mandie.

“I'm sure,” Mandie answered. “I do have some other ideas about it, though.”

“Like who else could have taken them?”

Mandie nodded as she tied a red bow on a wreath they had made.

“Who?” Joe asked softly.

“We can't talk right now,” Mandie cautioned.

After all the wreaths were hung, they looked around the first floor of the house, trying to decide where to hang the mistletoe.

“Definitely one piece over the front door,” Joe said, laughing. “That'll catch anyone who comes through.”

“People won't look up and see it. Are you going to stand here and tell them it's there?” Mandie asked, laughing with him.

“We'll hang it low enough so they can't miss it,” Joe answered. “I'll go find a tack and the hammer.”

Mandie tied red bows on some of the mistletoe and stuck it around in various places. Then Joe came back with a stepladder and climbed up to fasten the mistletoe over the doorway.

“Let's do the back door, too,” Mandie said excitedly.

“All right,” Joe agreed.

After they decorated the back door, Joe reached out and opened the door to see if it cleared the mistletoe. And suddenly he came face-to-face with a stranger on the porch, who was stomping snow from his feet.

“This John Shaw's house?” the stranger asked, brushing snow from his clothes.

Mandie came and stood beside Joe. “Yes, it is,” she said. “Who are you?”

“I wasn't sure this was the right house. I'm kinda new in town,” the man said. “I have a message here that came over the telegraph this morning.” He fumbled in his pocket.

“A message? Who is it for?” Joe asked.

“Joe, we need to invite the man inside,” Mandie said, stepping back into the hallway.

“Of course, come on inside,” Joe said. “In fact, come into the kitchen, and we'll find you something hot to drink.” He led the way through the doorway into the kitchen.

“Thank you very kindly,” the man said.

The warmth from the huge iron cookstove felt good as they slipped through the doorway. All the servants were having their meal at the table by the big fireplace at one end.

Aunt Lou looked up as they came in. “And who dat what be crazy 'nuff to come out in dis snow?” she teased.

“Aunt Lou, he has a message from the telegraph for us,” Mandie explained as the stranger continued to fumble in his many pockets. “Could somebody please give him a hot drink so he can warm up before he has to go back out in this weather?”

Mandie turned back to the man, who finally found the piece of paper. He handed it to Mandie.

“Why, this is addressed to me!” she exclaimed, examining the paper.

Joe crowded close to read over her shoulder, but Mandie was so excited she was moving around too much for him to be able to read anything. Hilda stood nearby, looking confused.

“It's from my mother!” Mandie gasped. “Imagine hearing from my mother by the telegraph!”

“Well, stand still and read it,” Joe said impatiently. “What does it say?”

“ ‘Darling daughter,' ” Mandie read, “ ‘Mr. Wright, our dear friend, has passed on. We will stay until everything is taken care of, but we will all be home in time for Christmas, no matter what the weather. I love you. Mother.' ”

Mandie stood there speechless as she squeezed the piece of paper in her hand. Then she started jumping up and down. “I knew it! I knew she would get home in time for Christmas! Oh, I've got to tell Grandmother.”

Joe and Hilda followed as she raced through the hallway, calling loudly for her grandmother.

She found all the adults in the parlor. “Grandmother! They'll all be here for Christmas!” she cried, thrusting the piece of paper into the woman's hand.

Mrs. Taft, alarmed at the excitement, took the paper and read it aloud while the others listened.

“That means my parents will be back in time for Christmas, too,” Joe said with a big grin.

Mandie quickly turned to Joe. “Oh, forgive me for thinking only of
my
mother, Joe,” she said. “Of course you were anxious for your parents to get back, too. I'm so glad.” She reached for Joe's hand and gave it a little squeeze.

Mr. Bond looked concerned. “I don't want to ruin your happiness,” he said, “but please remember, this snow has got to stop before anyone can get through from Tellico.”

“I know, but I figure God will turn it all off tonight so my mother can come home in time to celebrate Jesus' birthday with me,” Mandie said with tears of joy sparkling in her blue eyes.

Ludie Burns sat forward. “Bless you, child. I hope so,” she said.

“I hope so, too,” her husband added, “so we can be gittin' on home ourselves.”