Page 62 of A Ferry Merry Christmas
Kellie brought out four small shot glasses and set them on the coffee table. Reed opened the bottle and poured each of them two knuckles. He distributed the glasses and then raised his in a toast.
“To Grams.”
“To Grams,” Avery repeated.
Kellie and Harrison echoed the toast and raised their glasses.
They each took a small taste.
“Not bad,” Harrison said, arching his brows. “This is one Christmas tradition I wouldn’t mind continuing. I imagine you miss her,” he said, looking at Avery.
“Nothing feels the same. I dreaded this first Christmas without her, unsure how Reed and I would get through it. I was afraid there would be this giant hole with her gone. For the last several years it’s only been the three of us.”
“How do you feel now?” Reed asked, catching her eye.
“Today, you mean?” Avery asked after a thoughtful moment. “It feels different and at the same time perfect. What about you?” she asked her brother.
He stared down at the glass in his hand. “This might sound a little silly, but I’m going to say it anyway. I think Grams might have been behind the four of us meeting the way we did. I’m convinced she meant for us to share this day together.”
“I think you’re right,” Avery agreed, then sipped her drink in Grams’s honor. “That would be just like her.” Deep down, Avery knew their grandmother would know how terribly they would miss her this Christmas and would work from heaven to make this day special.
“It’s too much of a coincidence that the four of us would meet up the way we did,” Reed added. “I mean, what are the oddsthat Harrison and Avery would find each other on the ferry with literally hundreds of passengers on board.”
“And that the two of us would happen upon each other,” Kellie added. She reached for Reed’s hand.
“Normally I would have been on the East Coast, spending Christmas with my parents,” Harrison said.
“Our parents, who decided to take a cruise this year instead,” Kellie inserted.
“That’s a fair amount of finagling,” Harrison said, sounding skeptical.
Reed and Avery laughed in unison.
“I wish I had known your Grams,” Kellie said, her fingers entwined with Reed’s. “Having met the two of you, I suspect she must have been a special woman.”
“She was,” Avery agreed. Looking toward the heavens, she raised her glass to Grams, her heart filled with love.
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
“Welcome, welcome.” Lilly Jordan opened the door for Avery and Harrison.
“Sorry we’re late,” Avery apologized. They’d gotten caught up in a snarled traffic jam on their way to celebrate Noelle Rose’s first birthday.
“Noelle is just about to eat her cake,” James called from the kitchen. “We’re waiting to sing first.”
Noelle sat in her high chair in the dining room. A spoon was in her hand, which she banged against the tray, excited with all the company and the fuss. A buffet table held several beautifully wrapped birthday gifts. Avery added her and Harrison’s contribution to the collection.
“Your timing is perfect,” Lilly assured them.
The first person Avery recognized was Virginia.
“Virginia,” she greeted her, and was about to give her a hug when the woman said, “I’m Veronica. Virginia is getting the paper plates.”
“You’re not Virginia?” Harrison asked when it was clear this was an identical twin.
“No one has ever been able to tell us apart,” Virginia called out from the other room.
