My Kind of Christmas

of physical labor. Picking apples is hard work.”
    “So is being broke,” she said with a smile. “I bet Adie would
love a little babysitting money to add to her budget. She barely squeaks by. And
she’s so wonderful with the girls.” Adie Clemens was Nora’s neighbor and friend.
Although Adie was elderly, she managed the girls very well because two-year-old
Berry was so well behaved and Fay didn’t get around much yet. Fay had just
started crawling. Adie loved taking care of them, even though she couldn’t take
them on full-time.
    “What about your job at the clinic?” Noah asked.
    “I think Mel gave me that job more out of kindness than
necessity, but of course I’ll talk to her. Noah, there isn’t that much work
available. I have to try anything that comes along. Are you going to tell me how
to get there?”
    “I’m going to drive you,” he said. “We’re going to log the
miles and get an accurate distance reading. I’m not sure this is a good
idea.”
    “How long has that notice been up?” Nora asked.
    “Tom Cavanaugh put it up this morning.”
    “Good! That means not too many people have seen it.”
    “Nora, think of the little girls,” he said. “You don’t want to
be too tired to take care of them.”
    “Oh, Noah. It’s nice of you to be concerned. I’ll go ask Adie
if she can watch them for a little while so I can go to the orchard to apply.
She always says yes, she loves them so much. I’ll be back in ten minutes. If
you’re sure you don’t mind giving me a lift… I don’t want to take
advantage.”
    He just shook his head and chuckled. “Bound and determined,
aren’t you? You remind me of someone….”
    “Oh?”
    “Someone just as unstoppable as you. I fell in love with her
on the spot, I think.”
    “Ellie?” she asked. “Mrs. Kincaid?”
    “Yes, Mrs. Kincaid,” he said with a laugh. “You have no idea
how much you two have in common. But we’ll save that for another time. Hurry up
and check in with Adie and I’ll take you to the Cavanaugh orchard.”
    “Thanks!” she said with a wide smile, dashing out of the
church and down the street as quickly as she could.
    It would never occur to Nora that she had anything in common
with the pastor’s wife. Ellie Kincaid was so beautiful, so confident and the
kindest person she’d ever known. And by the way Noah looked at his wife, he
adored her. It was kind of fun to see the preacher was a regular man; he gazed
at his wife with hunger in his eyes, as if he couldn’t wait to get her alone.
They weren’t just a handsome couple, but also obviously a man and woman very
deeply in love.
    Nora went straight to Adie Clemens’s door.
    “Just bring me some diapers and formula,” Adie said. “And good
luck.”
    “If I get the job and have to work full-time, do you think you
can help me out a little bit?”
    “I’ll do whatever I can,” Adie said. “Maybe between me, Martha
Hutchkins and other neighbors, we can get you covered.”
    “I hate to ask everyone around here to take care of me….”
But, hate it or not, she didn’t have many choices. She’d landed here with the
girls and hardly any belongings right before last Christmas—just one old couch,
a mattress that sat on the floor and the clothes on their backs. It was Adie who
alerted Reverend Kincaid that Nora and her family were in need, and the first
gesture of help came in the form of a Christmas food basket. Through the
generosity of her neighbors and the town, a few necessary items had been added
to their household—an old refrigerator, a rug for the floor, sheets and towels,
clothes for the children. The church had regular rummage sales and Mrs. Kincaid
skimmed the used clothing to help dress Nora, as well. Her neighbor three doors
down, Leslie, invited Nora to use her washer and dryer while she was at work and
Martha offered her laundry, as well. She’d never be able to repay all these
kindnesses, but at least she could work to make her own way.
    Picking apples? Well, as she’d told Noah, she’d do just about
anything.
    Noah drove a beat-up old pickup truck that Nora thought might
be older than she was, and it definitely didn’t have much in the way of shocks.
As they bounced along the road out to highway 36, Nora had the thought that
walking probably wouldn’t be as hard on her spine. But as they trundled along,
she became increasingly intimidated by the distance, farther than she expected.
She wasn’t sure how long it might take to walk it.