Finally!  Now I just need to make sure I STAY caught up!

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“I thought I was going to die,” Molly admitted, as she set gumdrops into the frosted wreath in front of her. The island was stacked high with mini gingerbread leaves – she’d decided she was bored with gingerbread men, and she didn’t have any more houses that she could make at the moment. So she was experimenting with wreaths and gumdrops. “I honestly thought he was either going to holler at her, or walk away completely.”

“As if anyone could holler at Lily,” Sue said, stealing a gumdrop from the bowl. “She’s too adorable.”

“Oh, she’s been hollered at a few times,” Molly said, admiring the effect of the red gumdrops. “But not this time, luckily. He was really good to her.” She picked up her piping bag and began to create a red bow on the bottom left-hand part of the wreath. “So, what did you find out?”

Sue had dropped by on her lunch break to bring Molly the information on Old Man Winter she’d found. The folder wasn’t very thick.

“Not a lot,” Sue said. “There’s a couple of old diary entries I made copies of for you – one is from Captain Carter’s journal, so Old Man Winter has been here before. Not recently, though. I think the newest reference to him I found was in the 1800s.”

“So it’s been a while.” Molly finished the bow and laid the wreath aside to let the icing set. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, there was a neat treatise that one of the managers of the Gate Station did in the early 1920s about Old Man Winter and where he might have come from.” Sue pulled out the papers in question and handed them to Molly. “He seems to have been a bit of a theoretical anthropologist, and he did some traveling, interviewing various people about what he called the ‘Old Man Winter myth’ – he apparently never met him in person, and was dubious about whether he existed.”

“Really?”

Sue nodded. “You can read it – it’s pretty interesting. He ended up concluding that if Old Man Winter did exist, he was somehow related to the Snow Queen.”

“Huh.” Molly flipped through the pages. “Interesting.”

“Yep.” Sue put the folder down in a clear spot, and then snagged one of the unfrosted gingerbread leaves. “And now, I need to go grab my Chinese takeout for lunch, and head back to the mines. I’ll let you know if I find out anything else!”

“Thanks,” Molly said, already sinking onto her stool and reading. “See you.”

She didn’t move much over the next hour, except to reach for her tea cup occasionally. The stories about Old Man Winter were varied, and to her surprise, there were as many about his kindness and help as there were about his wolves and his vengeance. After she finished, Molly stared off into space for a bit, wondering what she could do with this information. She’d hoped it would help her understand the man a bit more, but all it did was raise more questions.

In the end, it was the growling of her stomach that moved her. She had barely heard Sue’s last comment, but the idea of Chinese food was a wonderful one. Molly grabbed her coat and her wallet and went out into the tea room, where Schrodinger was asleep beside the wood stove.

“Hey, Schrodinger, Chinese food?” she asked, kneeling down next to him.

One eyelid cracked open. Do I have to move? I’m warm. And comfy.

Molly laughed at the plaintive question. “Not if you aren’t hungry. Want me to bring you some beef and broccoli?”

Sounds wonderful. His eye closed again and Schrodinger heaved a great sigh of comfort.

She stopped at the front desk to see if her aunt or the other cashier wanted anything – they both said no, so Molly stepped out into the chill air and headed for the Lucky Garden Chinese food restaurant, enjoying being on her own for once.

Not for long, however. As she was striding along, Father Christopher fell in beside her. “I thought it was a Wednesday,” he said. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Late lunch break,” Molly said, grinning at him. “I had a hankering for Peking ravioli. You?”

“Stretching my legs,” he said. “But now that you mention it, I believe there may be an egg drop soup calling my name.”

Molly noted the bag over his shoulder but didn’t ask. Before long, they were ensconced in a little booth in Carter Cove’s only Chinese food restaurant, with steaming cups of green tea in front of them.

“I hear you’ve been busy,” Father Christopher said, sipping his tea.

“You mean Old Man Winter.” Molly decided to cut to the chase. “I’m not going to sit around and wait for Drew to come home, Father. You know me better than that.”

“I do.” He nodded. “But you know I have to caution you. Old Man Winter isn’t your normal customer.”

“No, he’s not. He’s an old man with a lot of power and a lot of bitterness.” Molly took a deep breath. “And I think I have a chance to help Drew change his mind.”

“Maybe. Just be careful, Molly.” Father Christopher held up his hand to stop her saying anything. “And yes, I know, you’re always careful. But you’re not. And this time, you may have bitten off more than you can deal with.” Then he smiled at her. “Speaking of Drew…”

“Oh, my goodness!” Molly said, as she accepted the gold and red stocking he handed her. “Where did he find this?”

“I have no idea,” Father Christopher said. “I do know that he’s been planning this December for a while, and that he’s doing an amazing job of making you smile. We haven’t seen you smile this much in a long time.”

Molly peeked inside the soft velvet stocking and saw several things, which she pulled out: a CD with the words “Molly’s Christmas Melodies” written on it, a gold and red ornament and a red envelope. “Just wait until Christmas, and Santa and I will fill this to overflowing,” she read, and then sniffled.

“He misses you,” Father Christopher said quietly.

“I miss him,” Molly said, putting the card, ornament and CD back into the stocking. “I’m hoping that if I can make enough of an impression on Old Man Winter, maybe I can get him back soon.”

Father Christopher put a hand on hers. “If anyone can convince Old Man Winter to let him go, it will be you, and Schrodinger.”

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Drew was in the stable talking to Ember when Old Man Winter came in, dragging a sled behind him. He didn’t say anything but he nodded to both of them in greeting and then headed to the end of the stalls, leaving the sled in the center of the room.

“Can I help you?” Drew asked, as the old man came back, carrying a large sealed barrel.

Old Man Winter paused and looked at him. “Why?”

“Because I can carry just as well as you can, and it’s polite,” Drew responded evenly. “Besides, then I have an excuse to ask you how your date with my girlfriend went.”

To his utter surprise, Old Man Winter’s face creased into an unexpected smile. It looked odd on the old man’s face. “She’s a spirited one, boy. You’re lucky.”

“I think so,” Drew said, after a moment.

“Come with me.”

They loaded the sled with the barrels (Drew had no idea what was in them, and Old Man Winter didn’t offer), and then Old Man Winter picked up the sled’s lead. “Do you need more help?” Drew asked.

“Nope. I’ll be fine.” Old Man Winter stopped at the door and looked back at him. “She took me to the ballet.”

“The Nutcracker?” Drew blinked. “Really?”

“Yep.”

“Did you enjoy it?” Drew asked, since the old man was still looking at him.

“Yep.” And with that, Old Man Winter left the stable, pulling the sled behind him.

Well, well, well, Ember said from behind him, as Drew watched him go. I need to meet this Molly, I think. That’s the happiest he’s looked in a very long time. As Drew turned to look at her, the dragon cocked her head at him, and he swore she was laughing. You might want to make sure he doesn’t run off with her.

Drew found that a horrifying concept.