Free Changing Traditions, A Christmas Novella by Rachel Rittenhouse Page B

know.” Then she hurried in the house. Before she even
shut the door, Laura was standing before her, a sneaky smile on her
face.
    “ Why, sister, who exactly
was bringing you home?”
    Bethany forced a chipper
sound in her voice instead of the tears she wanted to shed. “Only
Jeremy. He saw me walking home and offered a ride because of the
snow.”
    “ How generous of him.”
Laura looped her arm through Bethany’s. “Come, Momma has made
cookies. Chocolate-strawberry mint. How does that
sound?”
    “ Umm…refreshing?”
    “ Exactly what I thought
when I came up with the recipe.”
    “ You created it?” A
warning bell sounded through Bethany’s head as she came to from
dwelling on Jeremy and Albert.
    “ Why of course! What is so
surprising about that?”
    “ You hate the
kitchen.”
    “ Not any more!” Laura
pulled Bethany by the arm and she had no choice but to follow her
sister. Thoughts of what Jeremy had said would just have to
wait.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER
TWO
     
    Thanksgiving was always a wonderful time for Bethany and her
family. Momma, Carolyn, and Heather made quite the selection of
wonderful food. So much so, a person hardly knew what to begin
eating first!
    After Poppa offered a
blessing, Bethany couldn’t help but look around the table at the
family she had been blessed with. Indeed, there was so much to be
thankful for especially this year. Poppa and Momma sat at one end
of the table, looking so happy. Next to them, Rosie sat trying to
convince Adam that he should try his green beans. Heather had gone
to gather something that was forgotten in the kitchen, while Jesse
and Scott were having quite the discussion about the food their
wives made. Carolyn was looking adoringly at her husband, though
Bethany noticed, she seemed a little more peeked than usual. Jake
was looking at the food that Momma was piling on his plate, while
Laura talked about her experiences at the doctor’s office with
her.
    Bethany suddenly came to
attention when she realized that Laura was looking at her
expectedly. “I’m sorry, dear. My mind had wandered. What did you
say?”
    Laura gave her a strange
look. “Busy thinking about Jeremy, are we Bethy?”
    “ Shh, Laura. Not now.
We’ll talk later, I promise.”
    Jake, though, had turned
his attention from his food. “What was that about Jeremy, Laura?
Something to do with our Bethy?”
    Laura looked like she was
about to say something, but Bethany beat her to it. “Only that
Laura saw Jeremy when she was in town. Isn’t that right?” Bethany
placed on a demur smile while her eyes appealed to Laura that she
better not say anything. There was no way she wanted Jeremy’s offer
discussed with her family. Yet.
    Laura appeared conflicted,
but in the end, she only agreed with what Bethany had
said.
    Poppa cleared his throat
and the conversation miraculously turned from Bethany. “As we are
now entering into the Christmas season, we should begin discussing
what we would like to do as far as gathering the tree and other
activities planned.”
    “ Christmas!” Adam clapped
his hands together and everyone burst out laughing. This would be
Adam’s first Christmas with all his family members. Bethany thought
that it would most likely be the best one they had ever
had.
    Carolyn’s voice broke
through the laughter echoing the very words Bethany had thought.
“It shall be one of the best, for we are all together again.” There
were tears in Carolyn’s eyes, but that was just because Carolyn
tended to be the most emotional of the siblings, and Bethany knew
that she was just truly happy. “We shall all go out and pick out a
Christmas tree and then decorate it. Of course, our St. Lucia
traditions. Perhaps we could all spend the night at Momma and
Poppa’s. Sister baking time to make pies and cookies
galore.”
    “ We should host a
Christmas ball as well. Oh we haven’t had any dancing since the war
began…” Heather piped up in Carolyn’s ramblings.
    “