Page 66 of Mistletoe and Mischief

“Grandma, listen!” Tyler shouted. He pounded on his drum, making an excruciating racket.

Grace covered her ears. “Gently, Tyler, gently.”

Tyler frowned as he looked up at her. “I was playing my best for you.”

“Remember the song about the little drummer boy?” Olivia asked him.

Tyler nodded eagerly. “It’s my favorite.”

“It says in the song that he went pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, right?”

Tyler nodded again.

“It doesn’t say he beat the drum like crazy until baby Jesus’s mother put her hands over her ears and asked him to go next door and play.”

Tyler laughed. “No.”

“Okay, try it more slowly now,” Grace said.

Tyler did, tapping on the drum in a soft rhythm that was pleasing to the ear.

“Lovely,” Grace told her grandson.

“Can I play for the ox and the lamb?” he asked.

“In the song they kept time, remember?”

Grinning, Tyler raced away to show his cousins what he’d learned and to serenade the animals.

“Come in for a cup of coffee,” Cliff suggested to Olivia and Jack.

“We should head home,” Jack said. His arm rested protectively on Olivia’s shoulders.

“I just wanted to make sure everything turned out well,” Olivia explained. “Do you think I could see Mary Jo and the baby for a few minutes?”

“I don’t see why not,” Grace said with a smile.

The two women left the men outside to chat while Grace led the way up to the small apartment. Brandon Hutton sat on the top step with his medical equipment, filling out paperwork. He shifted aside and they skirted around him.

“Mary Jo?” Grace asked, standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “Would it be okay if Olivia came in to see the baby?”

“Of course. That would be fine,” Mary Jo said.

When they walked into the bedroom, they found Mary Jo sitting up, holding her baby in her arms.

“Oh, my,” Olivia whispered as she reached the bed. “She’s so tiny.”

“She didn’t feel so tiny a little while ago.” Mary Jo looked up with a comical expression. “I felt like I was giving birth to an elephant.”

“It was worth it, though,” Olivia said and tenderly ran her finger over the baby’s head. “She’s just gorgeous.”

“I never would’ve believed how much you can love such a tiny baby.” Mary Jo’s voice was filled with wonder. “I thought my heart would burst with love when Mack put her in my arms.”

“Do you have a name for her?” Grace asked.

“Not yet. I had one picked out, but now I’m not sure.”

“She’s a special baby born on a special night.”

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