Free Kissing Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn

company. That is, if you didn’t have plans already with anyone else.”
    “I don’t have any plans.” I gave Ellie an unflinching smile, hoping it would curtail her from doing any more fishing to try to catch details about Peter. “I’d love to help her.”
    “All right, then. I can give you a ride over to Rose Cottage in a few minutes. Julia and I were about to do our shopping.”
    “Great. I’ll grab my things.” The main item I wanted to take with me was the purple notebook from Harrods. I had a very important Christmas gift that needed immediate attention. I loaded up my large shoulder bag with all my art supplies and grabbed my coat and scarf.
    By the time I’d returned downstairs, Ellie had efficiently packed up the finished cookies, put away the washed cookie sheets, and had Julia bundled up and ready to go.
    “I certainly wasn’t much help this morning,” I said on our short drive to Miranda and Ian’s.
    Ellie brushed off my sort-of apology. “You’ll have plenty to do in helping Miranda.”
    Their quaint little cottage had belonged to Sir James and was tucked away in an idyllic setting. I had begun a sketch of Rose Cottage on the morning after Ian and Miranda’s wedding but hadn’t finished it. That was the morning when I saw Peter riding his bike with Molly. She was riding in her special wagon-like seat that he’d affixed on the front. I remembered being touched by the way he treated her with such patience and kindness.
    I waved good-bye to Julia and sauntered up the path to the front door. It was decorated with a beautiful wreath that appeared to be crafted from fresh greenery and dried wildflowers. I knocked and heard Miranda call out, “Come in!”
    I stepped inside and all my artistic senses were filled with a rush of Christmas beauty and joy. Amber flames danced in the fireplace. A thick garland of greens dotted with red berries lined the mantel. The inviting fragrance of gingerbread mixed with the scent of the fresh greenery caused me to stop where I was and draw in a deep breath. Christmas carols played in the background. The windowsills were decorated with ivory candles and in the center of the small dining table was a beautiful, old-world style nativity scene.
    The tree was lit with white twinkling lights and the branches were adorned with deep red roses along with a simple collection of ornaments. Crowning the top of the tree was the delicate angel Miranda had purchased yesterday at Harrods. The angel figurine’s silver-white wings were spread in a protective pose over the tree and, it seemed, over this blessed cottage.
    “Miranda!”
    She stood in the tiny kitchen space that was open to the rest of the living area. She had oven mitts on both hands and was wearing a cute red-and-white Christmas apron covering her jeans and T-shirt. Her smile was contagious. “Merry Christmas! I’m so glad you came over.”
    I motioned to the stunning décor all around me. “Miranda, this is adorable. No, not adorable. It’s extraordinary! Gorgeous! Wow! I feel like I just walked into a magazine picture of Christmas perfection.”
    “I love Christmas. I never had any of this while I was growing up, so all of this is new to me and I can’t stop myself. You’ll have to see what I did in the bathroom. Ian started calling me a ‘Christmas-crazed American.’”
    I put down my shoulder bag brimming with art supplies and took off my coat. “I’m going to check out the bathroom right now.”
    She pointed the way. I peeked inside and saw that Miranda had added a string of white twinkle lights to the rim of the oval mirror. The white bath towels hanging on pegs on the wall were tied with wide red ribbons with sprigs of green holly berries tucked in the bows.
    Miranda joined me. “Like I said, Ian is tolerating my fancy touches. He likes the living room a lot but decorating the ‘loo,’ as he calls it, seems excessive to him. I love it, though, and he says if it makes me happy, he can navigate his