Christmas in Your Arms

Chapter One A Wedding Before Christmas December 1945 Mrs. Whitcomb arrived with a notebook large enough to plan three weddings and a harvest supper. Clara looked at Daniel across the kitchen table. “We were thinking of something small.” “Of course,” Mrs. Whit comb said. “How small?” “Our families. A few friends. Christmas Eve, if the minister is free.” The notebook closed halfway. “That is next week.” “We have already spent rather a long time waiting,” Daniel said. Mrs. Whit comb considered him, then turned to a clean page. “All right. No unnecessary fuss.” By noon she had borrowed candlesticks, found someone to play the church piano, and firmly forbidden herself to invite the whole town. Clara’s mother watched her go. “You know there will be fuss.” “Some,” Clara admitted. Daniel touched the little wooden house on the windowsill. He wanted a wedding. More than that, he wanted the ordinary days after it, and the chance to discover what they would build together