Love and War: Short Story Collection

A Christmas Cora - Elsa Green

A Christmas Cora - Elsa Green

Events in this story take place about 4 years after the epilogue of Haunted Love.

—

“Cora, no!”

Cora’s mommy grabbed at her hand just as the girl’s pudgy fingers made contact with the icing in the large tub at the end of the table.

Being told no did not necessarily bother Cora. She was used to ‘no.’ She was also used to ‘stop that’ and ‘don’t’ and ‘knock it off.’ So the no did not bother her.

But when Mommy reached across the table for a paper towel, Cora was very bothered.

“No, Mommy!”

Too late. Mommy squeezed Cora’s hand so she couldn’t pull away before the paper towel scraped the icing off of her fingers.

“You don’t need to be eating all of that sugar, Little Miss,” said Mommy, and her lips pressed into a fine line, which told Cora that Mommy was frustrated. “Look at this! Cora, your fingers are all sticky now!”

Mommy dabbed the paper towel in her water glass and tried wiping Cora’s fingers again.

“At least no one can say that she isn’t your kid.” That was Aunt Ellie, and as sharp as her voice was, Cora was pretty sure that Aunt Ellie was amused.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Daniella?” Mommy’s voice was high and pinchy as she asked. “You’re the one who was always in trouble for touching stuff.”

“Yeah, but you were always the one in trouble for eating it.” Aunt Ellie winked at Cora as Mommy said something boring.

“No more touching the icing, Cora,” Mommy said again, which was also boring, but she let go of Cora’s hand.

Cora sighed. “Ooookay,” she rubbed her hands on her dress and stood on her toes to look at the arrayment of gingerbread house pieces that had yet to be put together. “Why’s it broke?”

“Because Auntie Ivy baked all the pieces separately and brought them over so that we can put them together as a Christmas decoration,” Mommy explained. “You were supposed to have one all your own, but you ate the roof instead of eating lunch, remember?”

“She ate the people who lived in the house, too,” Aunt Ivy snickered.

Cora did remember. She remembered that the cookie had been delicious, even without the icing on it. “I can eat this one now, too, right?”

“Absolutely not.”

She jutted her jaw forward. “But it’s cookie.”

“Right now it’s decoration. When Christmas Day comes, you can eat the cookie as a snack.”

Cora thought about this. She tried to remember what day it was and how many days there actually were to Christmas. The problem was that days were often long and boring, and Cora had a hard time keeping track of which days were what days.

“How long is that?”

“Three days, Cora-Chaos.” Aunt Ellie patted her leg. “Come here, kiddo, you can help Aunt Ellie make her house.”

Something told Cora that if she helped make the house, she would at least be able to steal some more of the icing. So Cora made the executive decision to climb up on her Aunt’s lap to look at the gingerbread cookies that were scattered on the table.

Mommy’s pieces looked like they were decorated with the usual house things of windows and doors. The lines of the icing were kind of globby and lopsided, but Cora that they were very pretty with all the edible glitter on top. Across the table from Aunt Ellie, her Aunt Ivy was making little loop-de-loops on two pieces that had already been stuck together to make a roof. Her lines were much better than Mommy’s, but that didn’t surprise Cora, because Aunt Ivy made cookies as her job, so she should at least be able to put icing on cookies better than the average person.

Aunt Ellie had four sheets of cookie stacked in front of her, and only one of them had icing.

“That’s for no fire,” Cora poked a the sigil that Aunt Ellie drew in her icing.

“Yep. Because we don’t want the gingerbread house to go up in flames.” Aunt Ellie braced her arms on either side of Cora, and she pointed at the other sigils with her very long nails. “Do you remember what that one is?”

“Daniella Lanoue, you are not hexing the stuffing out of our gingerbread village!” Aunt Ivy’s voice did the same pinchy thing that Mommy’s voice did as she looked up from her roof pieces. “Oh, come on, Elle, you’re supposed to be drawing windows! Literally, that’s your one job!”

“I did! On the other side. Then I let the icing harden and now I’m making sure that the house doesn’t burn down, fall down, get robbed or go stale!”

Mommy rolled her eyes. “It’s a frickin’ gingerbread house, Daniella, it’s not like we’re applying for home owner’s insurance.”

And Aunt Ivy said, “Which preservation spell are you using?”

“The one that I use on craft ingredients.”

Cora wanted to know which sigil was the one they were talking about, but Aunt Ellie was holding her wall out to Aunt Ivy, and Cora couldn’t see any of the sigils now as the three adults made more boring conversation.

Cora sighed, scooted further forward on Aunt Ellie’s knee, and reached for the icing at Mommy’s elbow again.

“Cora! No!”

Frustrated with all of this No-Nonsense, Cora became boneless and dripped out of Aunt Ellie’s lap. “You’re. No. Fun. Mommy!”

“And you have clearly been dipping into the crazy sauce, Miss Cora! Come out from under the table and go find something else to do for a bit, okay? Let mommy and your aunties finish up here.”

Cora puffed her cheeks as she looked between Mommy’s jeans and bare feet, Aunt Ivy’s thick leggings and reindeer socks, and Aunt Ellie’s sheer stocking feet. But since no one at the table was actually looking at Cora, no one could see her pouting.

Feeling very put out and borderline ignored, she crawled out from under the table. “Mommy, you’re no fun and I’m going to play with Daddy and Uncles now. So there.”

“Okay, Cora, You go play with Daddy.”

“Hey, not that I’m complaining about family together time while sober, but didn’t you promise us all wine, Thalia? Wasn’t that the deal? Wine for help decorating? I’m calling in the debt. Who else wants wine?”

Aunt Ellie was pushing herself away from the dining room table and heading toward the kitchen.

Cora followed her, tottering through the door that Aunt Ellie left open, behind the breakfast bar while Aunt Ellie paused at the cupboards for glasses, and Cora left through the other kitchen door to the foyer.

Daddy, she knew, was beyond the open front door, where he and Uncle Robin were trying to hang Christmas lights on the front of the house. Uncle Nic was also out there, but as far as Cora could tell, Uncle Nic was doing the Smart Thing of standing back and offering Helpful Commentary about what Daddy and Uncle Robin were doing wrong.

She stood in the doorway for a very long time, hoping that Daddy or Uncle Nic or even Uncle Robin would notice that she was there. But they didn’t, and that made them boring. So Cora didn’t join her Daddy and her uncles. Instead, she turned on her heel and strode with definitive purpose toward the library door.