Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

deepened the purple in the bruises. She was in good spirits but weak and stil had a headache.
    Matt and Kate left the hospital in the evening to meet the Granites at the Grange, where most of the townspeople were bringing their children for photos with Santa and a smal party.
    The Grange hal was packed with parents and children. “Jingle Bel s” blared through the building, mistletoe was hung in every conceivable place, and hol y decorated the tables laden with cookies and punch. A fake mantel went along the entire length of one wal with hol y, candles, and tiny sleighs fil ed with candy canes adorning the top. Rows of stockings hung on gleaming hooks. The silver-tipped fir tree nearly reached the ceiling and was covered in lights, ornaments, and a multitude of white angels with silver wings.
    “The ladies at the arts and crafts shop have been busy,” Matt whispered.
    Kate shushed him, but her eyes were laughing. Several elves hurried past them, bel s tinkling from their hats and ankles. Kate and Matt fol owed the elves through the crowd to the back of the building, where Santa Claus sat in a high-backed chair surrounded by more elves and a reindeer that looked suspiciously like a dog with plastic antlers attached to his head. The line to visit Santa was long, smal children clutching parents’ hands and staring with large round eyes at the jol y old man. The Santa suit fit perfectly, and the white beard and mustache seemed natural, both bushy enough to hide the face successful y. Matt tried to get close enough to get a good look at the Santa. Several preteenagers rushed past him laughing loudly, tossing popcorn at each other.
    “Do you think it’s Old Man Mars?” Matt whispered.
    “How could it be?” Kate asked. “He hates Christmas.”
    “Right height. I could tel if he were talking loud or maybe even by the way he walks.” Matt weaved his way through the smal children.
    “Hey!” A young boy with red hair protested. “No cutting in.”
    “I just wanted to ask Santa if he’d give me Kate for Christmas,” Matt explained.
    Unimpressed, the boy wrinkled his nose, and al of his friends made faces. “Wel , you got to stand in line like everyone else.”
    Kate laughed and dragged Matt away from Santa Claus. He spotted Inez and pul ed Kate toward her. “If anyone knows who Santa Claus is, it’l be Inez. She knows everything.”
    “Doesn’t that come under the heading of gossip?”
    “News, Katie. How can you even use the word gossip?” Matt stopped moving abruptly and brought her up short, staring out the window. He bit out a string of curses. “The damned fog is rol ing in, Kate. It’s coming right this way.”
    Kate looked at him, then looked around at the children. “I don’t want people to panic and run for their cars to get away from here. No one would be able to drive in the fog. I’l find a way to distract the kids.” She hurried toward Santa Claus, whispering softly to the children so that the throng parted like the Red Sea to give her access to the jol y old man sitting with a child on his lap. She leaned in and spoke to him.
    From a distance, Matt watched Santa stiffen, listen some more, and nod. Kate straightened up and directed the children into a large circle. Santa gave out candy canes, patting heads and laughing as he did so. Several mothers began distributing cookies and punch while Kate started an enthral ing Christmas story. Matt had never seen anyone hold an entire room in her hand, but there was no sound other than the faint background of Christmas music and Kate’s spel binding voice. He found himself caught up in the sheer beauty of the magical tone, even when the fog began to seep through the cracks of the doors and windows.
    There was no way to keep the fog out. It was only the magic of Kate’s voice, the anonymous Santa Claus’s cheerful punctuation of ho, ho, ho woven cleverly into the storyline, and the Granite reputation in the community that kept panic from spreading as the gray-white vapor fil ed the room, bringing with it the scent and feel of the sea. Kate smoothly incorporated the fog into the storyline, having the children hold hands and interact with Santa’s ho, ho, ho. The children did so with enthusiasm, laughing wildly at the antics of Kate’s characters in the fog. Matt realized she was creating the il usion that the fog was deliberate, a part of the story she was tel ing, used for effect. He could see parents relaxing, thinking Kate had found a