Page 12 of Postmarked December

“I said I’m not interested.” Heather ended the call and dropped the phone into her handbag.

Marion tipped up her paper coffee cup and drank the last sip, then tossed it into a nearby trash can. “What would Toby say about all this attention?”

“Maybe that’s why he suggested I get another bottle of wine,” Heather teased. “Let’s go inside.”

The unique scents of oak, cedar, cinnamon, and cherry contrasted with the herbal fragrances of rosemary and thyme in The Bottle and Barrel. The whole place had a celebratory feel, with the floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with dark bottles and Christmas greenery. It was like stepping back into her memory, and she swallowed the small lump in her throat. If she closed her eyes, she was sure she’d feel Toby beside her. Was this his way of being close to her? Had he made good on his promise?

“May I help you?”

A woman with fashionably gray hair and a silk scarf dangling loosely around her neck walked toward them.

“I’m not sure,” Heather answered, looking to Marion for what to do next, but Marion just stared at her, so she addressed the woman again. “My name is Heather Hart. I was told to come here.” She fumbled around in her handbag and pulled out the envelope.

“Oh! How lovely.” The woman gestured for them to follow, and she led them to the long dark-wood counter where she went around to the other side and retrieved a bottle of Tennessee blackberry wine. Around the neck was a red velvet ribbon and hanging off it another red-and-white envelope with a green wax seal. She held out the bottle. “This is for you.”

Her heart pattering, Heather took it and inspected the label. It was the bottle of wine—the same brand she’d had that night with Toby.

“You’re giving me this?”

“A young man has already paid. He asked if I’d tie the note to it.”

“Did he tell you his name?” She could barely get the words out through her rising emotion.

The woman shook her head. “He didn’t. When he bought it, he said it’s a Christmas gift, and he specifically wanted this bottle. It had something to do with a special time you’d remember.”

“Thank you,” Heather said in almost a whisper.

“Of course. What a delightful idea for a Christmas surprise. He must love you very much.”

Heather’s breathing became shallow. It couldn’t be…

“Merry Christmas.”

Another customer asked the woman a question, pulling her away, leaving Heather and Marion standing in the middle of the shop, and Heather feeling as if she’d seen a ghost. She looked back down at the bottle, blinking away tears, absolutely confounded.

Marion linked arms with her, as if she could hold her up if she crumpled to the floor. “Let’s open the envelope in the car, shall we?”

Heather was glad for Marion’s hold on her. Her knees were knocking as she hugged the bottle, wishing with all her heart that it could actually be from Toby. While she knew there was no way, she hoped that, somehow, he’d been able to reach her. Who else would’ve known about this?

Once they got back to the car, Marion started the engine to get the heat going.

“What will be in this envelope?” Heather wondered aloud.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

With trembling hands, Heather untied the bow, the ribbon falling loose in her lap. She slid her finger under the wax seal of the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. Tears swelled. She blinked them away to read the message.

Who needs a perfect Christmas movie moment when we have a lopsided tree, a muddy hill, and each other? I’ve left you something there. You know the place.

“Okay, this is getting freaky,” she said through the lump in her throat, her heart pounding.

Marion wrinkled her nose. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s another memory that no one knows. When we went to get our first Christmas tree, I said I wanted the kind of experience that we could only have in the movies.” Her voice broke and she cleared her throat. “So we drove to a tree farm way out in the country, near the most adorable town, and went tree hunting. But everything went wrong.”

She slipped into the memory as she told Marion the story.

“We’re going up there.” Toby slung the saw over his shoulder and pointed to the hill lined with spruce trees. They’d paid the entrance fee, and any tree they wanted was theirs.