Page 89 of Once Upon a Midnight Clear

He rose, taking both of her hands in his and squeezing them.

“Ella, will you return with me?” he asked.

She was nodding before he even finished the question. “Yes. Yes, I will.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Lillian moved to stand between them and the open door.

But Noella filled up that doorway with her hands on her hips. Her silver hair was twisted into elaborate curls on her head. A spring of holly perched over one ear. She had a fierce look on her face. A look that said not to mess with her or her son.

“She’s coming with us and you can’t stop her,” Noella said.

Lillian turned her face upward, looking down her nose at Noella with such scorn it made Ella’s skin crawl. “Andwhoareyou?”

But Noella was not to be intimidated as she stood her ground, peering at each of them with her own brand of condescension.

“The Queen of Rovenheim. The Spirit of Christmas. The one who brings joy and light to all those who deserve it.Noneof you deserve it.” She waved her pointed finger to each of them. “Come, darlings, let’s leave this place.”

Nicholas held her hand tight in his and headed for the door. But Ella remembered something. Something she was unable to leave behind.

“Wait, please. I forgot something.”

She tugged her hand out of his grasp and was up the stairs before anyone stopped her. She flung open the door to her bedroom, spotted the small star atop the tree, and hurried toward it. She removed it, holding it a moment, and then placed it in the pocket of her gown. Then she snatched the woolen cloak from the peg by the door, flung it around her shoulders, and left. She didn’t even give her room a backward glance.

Back down the stairs, Lillian and her daughters blocked the end of the staircase. Ella halted halfway down. She glanced at Nicholas, her heart ramming hard as she paused there, trying to decide what to do. Fury still pinched Noella’s face.

“Move aside,” Noella said, a warning tone in her voice.

“She’s not leaving here. She’s…she’s part of the family,” Lillian said. Both her daughters gave her shocked looks of disbelief.

“I am not,” Ella said. “I’m nothing but the housemaid to you, remember? Now, move aside.”

Lillian gave her a hateful glance. “Or what?”

“Or this.”

With a wave of her hand, Noella knocked them all out of the way. They crashed together against the wall, sliding to the floor. Ella hurried down the remaining steps, falling into Nicholas’s waiting arms. He hugged her tight, taking her hand once again and walking toward the door.

But in the doorway, Ella paused, turning to look once more at her wretch of a stepmother. She pinned her with her gaze.

“Stepmother,” she said, slowly and quietly. “I forgive you.”

And then, she walked out of the house forever with Nicholas at her side and Noella and Percy behind them.

He held open the door to the coach for her. She climbed in, scooting to the other side of the velvet bench. When he, Noella, and Percy were inside, they took off down the street with the horse’s hooves pounding along the cobblestone. Nicholas clutched her hand in his, then kissed it.

“How did you find me?” Ella asked.

“My dear, do you think magic doesn’t work here?” Noella said with a smile.

“Earlier today there was an old beggar who came to your kitchen door,” Nicholas said. Then he nodded to Percy. “Hewas the beggar.”

“Percy?” A laugh bubbled up her throat. “I gave you food!”

“And it was right kind of ye, miss,” he said in his beggar accent.

They all laughed.

“We visited the market and I talked with some of the people there. The grocer, Mr. Gibson, had quite a lot to say on your behalf, Ella,” Noella said.

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