Page 35 of Christmas in Chestnut Ridge
“Paul Grandstaff has generously offered to let us turn the chapel on the hill here on his property into a sanctuary for the family. Sheila and I are going to turn this place into a wonderful temporary home for them.”
“They are going to be so relieved.” Doris sounded genuinely appreciative. “Please thank Mr. Grandstaff. Not knowing where they’ll be sleeping is a huge weight on their shoulders right now. They are so thankful to have a roof over their heads, but theyfeel like they are in the way here. It’s definitely only a temporary solution. They need a place they can consider their home for a spell, and this will do the trick. I’m so grateful.”
“That family captured my heart that night. You hear about things like this, but seeing it, being there, I wanted to help. I’ve been missing that sense of purpose in my life.” Sheila remembered the moment she looked into Diane’s worried eyes. She’d cleared her schedule for the holidays, but now she had a real purpose. Something she could do that could make a difference. “They are going to be okay. We’ll all make sure of it.”
“I can’t wait for Paul to meet them,” said Natalie. “Can you house them at the fire station just through the weekend to give us time to get the place ready? We’re going to get bunk beds for the kids and put this place together so they can settle in and feel like they are home through the holidays, or however long it takes.”
“We can definitely do that. Thank you, Natalie. This is so generous. I’ve got a dresser in my garage. It’s old, but it’ll work. I’ll put together a drawerful of necessities for each of the kids. I have them finger-painting little name tags now. I’ll use those for them to mark each drawer. It’s a mess up here, but they are having fun and the parents are resting.”
“A dresser will be great,” Sheila leaned in and said into the phone. “If you’re taking care of gathering the necessities for the kids, we’ll take care of the linens and everything for the bedding for the family while we’re putting the place together.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m marking those off my master list. This will put their minds at ease, although I don’t even think the full brunt of what they’re facing has really hit them yet.”
“I’m sure. I can’t even begin to imagine starting over like that.”
“I can’t thank you enough for jumping into action like this. I just got off the phone with the food pantry. I’ll let them know we’ll be ready for food on Monday.” Doris sniffled between her words, and that made Sheila and Natalie both raise their hands to their hearts.
“Thank you, ladies,” Doris said.
“Our pleasure.” The joy in Sheila’s heart was like nothing she’d experienced before. Giving of yourself, your time, seemed so small, but was so rewarding.
Chapter Twelve
Sheila sat in the passenger seat of Natalie’s truck trying not to watch as Natalie tiptoed at the window of Randy’s vehicle, kissing him goodbye again. Hopefully, this third kiss would be the last. She was ready to shop.
The weather had warmed up to the forties, so it wasn’t nearly as bitter cold as it had been. She closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her face through the windshield, wishing she’d hurry up.
Finally, Natalie hopped into the driver’s seat. “Let’s do this.”
“I’m ready. I was just thinking about what else we might need to get.” Sheila picked up a pen from the console and added pillows and a boot tray for next to the door to the list.
And they were off. Thank goodness, at each stop, they were able to strike off something else on the list. At the Habitat Restore they were able to get a huge area rug to create a family living space, and a couch and fun coffee table too. Even a set of nightstands and small lamps for the sleeping area.
As the guys loaded the pickup with the furniture, the owner overheard Natalie talking about the Jacob family’s loss and walked over.
“Sounds like you two ladies are doing the work of elves and angels today.”
“Labor of love. A generous neighbor donated a building, so we’re trying to get it all set up.”
“Well, just so happens someone brought in one of those electric fireplaces today. The kind that looks like a mantel. What do you think about me donating that to you? It would make for a homey Christmas with someplace to hang the stockings. My treat.”
“You’re kidding!” Natalie could barely contain her excitement. “That would be amazing.”
“And if they find they don’t need it, just bring it on back. No harm, but it sure seems like a fun addition with little ones around, so Santa has a fireplace to come down. Unless you think it might scare those toddlers after seeing their house burn down.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. Let’s see how it goes. I think it’s a grand idea. At least through Christmas.” Natalie threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you!”
He instructed the guys to load up the fireplace too.
While they waited, Sheila sketched out another floor plan on how they might arrange the furniture, only this time instead of putting the bunk beds in the front corner she put the full-size bed with the nightstands on each side on one wall, and then set up the bunks as sort of a faux wall. It truly would separate the living area from the sleeping quarters.
“That’s a great idea,” Natalie said, “and it will give them some privacy after the kids go to sleep.”
“I’ll buy two matching lightweight bedspreads to nail to the back side of the bunk bed frames. What color do you think? Blue maybe?”
“Sure. Everything is pretty much white or wood in the chapel, so anything with a little color would warm it up and make it more inviting. Blue would go nice with the rug and the couch we picked out.”
“The truck is full, but if we can stop somewhere on the way back, I can fit that stuff under my feet.”
