Tears rolled down Alice’s cheeks as she reached out to shake Mason’s hand. The boys toddled over to him, begging to be picked up. “It’s almost bath time, madam, do you wish to do the honors, or shall I?”
Alice looked like she was in shock. “I…really, Hank, I have a nanny until Ben gets home? Oh, God, you dear sweet man. How did you know that was what I wished for? Oh, it doesn’t matter.” She looked from Hank to Mason and said something Hank found strange. “If you don’t mind, Mason, tonight I need you to bathe the boys. I have to go up in the attic to find something. From here on in, I’ll do the bathing. I don’t want to overwork you.”
“Very well, madam.”
“Do you need any help, Alice?”
Supermom Alice would have said no, she had it under control. This new Alice said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” She bent over to kiss the boys again before she stepped over the gate. She literally ran up the stairs to the second floor, then up a third set of stairs to the attic. She whirled around at the top, and said, “The house looks so beautiful. Thank you, Hank. Perhaps someday I can make it up to you.”
Hank nodded. “What are we looking for, Alice?”
“It’s among the Christmas decorations. It’s a string of silver bells that Mr. Carpenter gave Ben a lifetime ago. You have no idea what that string of bells meant to him. Each time we moved—and there were so many moves—he always made sure that string of bells went with us. He said you and Mandy got one, too. The sound was so true, so pure. I have to find it, Hank. I didn’t leave anything on Albert’s porch. There are so many people out there, so many mementos: the cards, the letters, the keepsakes. It just blew me away.”
“There are several e-mails from Ben waiting for you,” Hank said quietly as he rummaged through neatly labeled boxes.
“Did you read them?” Alice asked.
“Absolutely not!” Hank lied with a straight face. “Now that I know what we’re looking for, I can search. Why don’t you go and check Ben’s e-mails.”
Alice whirled around. The expression on her face was so fierce, Hank stepped back. “You know what, Hank, Ben’s e-mails can wait. This is important.”
Hank didn’t know what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything. He kept rummaging in the ornament boxes, wondering what he’d done with his own set of bells. He vaguely remembered Albert giving them to him, but from there on it was a blur. Maybe he needed to say something light, or something meaningful. “I’m getting married, Alice. Mandy Leigh came back home for the holidays and we…we hooked up again. She helped me decorate the house for you.”
“Hmmm. That’s nice. Ben always said nice things about her.” Alice whirled around and said, “I didn’t mean it when I said I wished Ben had left me standing at the altar. Well, I meant it at the time I said it, but…you know what I’m saying, right?”
“Absolutely. You were just venting, and I understand that. Look, Alice, I could never do what you do every day, day in day out. I tried and couldn’t do it. Ben is a fool for thinking you’re some kind of wonder woman. And, I don’t blame you a bit. That’s why I had to hire Mason. He’s the wonder in wonderful, and the boys really like him. So do the dogs.”
“Hank.”
“Yeah.”
“Shut up. I have to take responsibility for my actions. I’m okay with that, and I appreciate all you did and for…for Mason. Please don’t think I’m ungrateful, but right now I have to find those bells. Oh, God! Here they are. Look! Look! Listen!” Alice shook the bells, and suddenly Hank shivered at the pure melodious sound. The silver bells themselves were tarnished, the red ribbon holding them together was tattered and faded.
“Do you mind telling me what it is with the bells, Alice?” he asked gently.
Alice sat down on an old trunk. “Three or four months ago Albert talked me out of filing for a divorce. I was packed and ready to leave. I had taken him for his chemo treatment that day, and he was so sick, Hank. I mean really sick, but he sat me down and read me the riot act. He told me stories about his own up-and-down marriage. He said you have to work at it to make it worthwhile. He told me other stories about you guys when you were kids. He told me how Mandy was suddenly gone from your lives. He never judged me, never told me not to leave. Somehow or other he convinced me to stay without saying the words. He kept me sane, Hank.”
“I see.” And he did indeed see what she was talking about.
“I’m going over to that porch at midnight and ringing these bells.”
“I wish I knew where I put mine.”
“They’re over there under the window in the box marked ‘Hank.’ Ben packed up your stuff after your parents…He said it was stuff you didn’t want anymore.”
Hank thought his heart was going to explode right out of his chest. He ran over to the box, popped the lid. He saw all kinds of junk he couldn’t ever remember owning. The string of silver bells was wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue. They were just as tarnished, the ribbon just as tattered as the one Alice was holding in her hand. He shook them gently. Tears blurred his vision at the pure tone.
If Mandy had her set, all would be right with his world now that he understood what Alice was talking about. If she didn’t, two out of three would be okay, too.
Down on the second floor, Mason was carrying the twins into their bedroom. They smelled like warm sunshine as Hank bent down to kiss each one of them. They reached out to Alice, who took them both into their room. She settled them in their beds, covered them, then sat down to read a story they didn’t even hear; they were sound asleep. He watched her as she kept reading till the end of the story. She looked so motherly, so suddenly at peace he suddenly felt the same way.
Later on, downstairs, the bells in her hand, Alice sat down in the kitchen. She looked at the slice of homemade blueberry pie and the glass of milk waiting for her. She looked over at Mason and smiled.
“While you’re eating, Mason and I will set up the gifts under the tree. This way you can enjoy the quiet evening. I’m going next door to see Mandy. If you need me, just call my cell phone.”
Alice nodded. “Thanks, Hank, for everything.”
Hank pointed to the laptop on the little desk. She nodded sweetly. “Just so you know, Hank, I love Ben with all my heart and soul.”
“I know that, Alice. I’ll see you later.”
When Amy opened the door, she was holding a string of bells in her hand. “Oh, Hank, you aren’t going to believe what I found. Look!” She held up a set of silver bells and shook them. Hank laughed and pulled his set of bells out of his pocket.
“Alice came home. She wants us to go over to Albert’s porch and ring the bells at midnight. You up for it?”
“Oh, yes. I never decorated my tree, and I didn’t set out any decorations,” Amy said, pointing to the huge evergreen sitting in her living room in the middle of the floor. “I’m not sure what I was trying to…to find, to recapture. That time in my life is gone. This is a new beginning for me. I think for all of us. That in itself is a miracle as far as I’m concerned.”
“I love you, Mandy Leigh. Always have and always will.”
“And I love you, Hank Anders. I always have and always will.”
When the clock struck midnight, three people stood on the Carpenter front porch. Silver bells rang,