An Island Christmas Read Free Page A

is a nightmare.”
    “Not if you let me take care of it. I can plan it all from soup to nuts. I already know what size you wear. Mom and I can plan the decorations for the house and the menus. I’m sure she’ll want to invite a few of her own friends and some of the friends you went to school with.”
    “No, it wouldn’t be fair to Archie if I had my friends there and he didn’t have any. It’s sad enough that his father’s dead and he’s an only child. Let’s keep it simple. Please. I want a calm, quiet, brief ceremony.”
    “Fine, then. But will you let me be in charge of the details?”
    Felicia felt totally itchy. She idolized her older sister while at the same time she couldn’t stand being aroundLauren for more than a few days. Lauren, like their mother, was a perfectionist. Felicia had thought that when Lauren had her two children she would loosen up and that had sort of happened. But Lauren still didn’t comprehend the way Felicia thought. If Lauren was an A, Felicia was a Z. If Felicia and Archie had their way, they’d be married outdoors in the sunshine, standing beneath Delicate Arch. They would be wearing hiking clothes and if Felicia carried flowers, they would be Indian paintbrush and Arizona daisies.
    But Felicia loved her mother and knew how important this occasion was for her.
    “I surrender. This is very nice of you, Lauren, and I know you’ll make Mom happy. Are you sure you’ll have time to make the arrangements and take care of your own Christmas, too?”
    “Absolutely! This is the sort of project that invigorates me. Oh, Felicia, it’s going to be so much fun.”
    “I certainly hope so,” Felicia said doubtfully.
    The moment she clicked off her cell, Felicia stuck it in her khaki shorts pocket, opened the apartment door, and thundered down the stairs to the street. She had to go out in the sunshine and walk. She had known this wedding business would drive her mad.
    The crazy thing was that Felicia cherished Christmas on Nantucket. She always had. She loved the small town atmosphere, the security of nearby neighbors as the dark winter drew nearer. When she was younger, her parentsfirst bought their home on the island. She’d enjoyed being an angel in the Christmas pageant the year their next-door neighbors played Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. That was probably the only time in her life Felicia was considered an angel. The Christmas parties back then were noisy, giddy fun, and her mother’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals were gastronomical delights, not to mention the adorable Christmas cookies Felicia and Lauren always baked, giggling and eating the icing as they worked.
    Archie had never been to the island, and that was another reason Felicia wanted to have their wedding there, so she could show him the landscape she knew so well. But the main reason was to make her mother happy. She adored her mother and realized her tomboyishness disappointed Jilly. This was the best present she could think of. Her dad would like it, too, although he was much more mellow about everything.
    Maybe her dad could convince her mother that once Felicia was married, she would have her own life with Archie, and she should be free to live it as she wanted.

3
 
    A week later, George trudged up the stairs with a wicker basket of fresh laundry in his arms. He found Jilly in the guest bedroom. “Here you go, Lady Gordon, one clean set of snowman-covered sheets and a reindeer-patterned duvet.”
    “Help me make the bed, will you please, George?” Jilly asked. “My back is starting to ache.”
    “I’m not surprised,” George said as he flapped out the bottom sheet and helped Jilly spread it on the mattress. “You’ve been working like a crazy woman on the house.”
    “We’ll never have another Christmas like this one. I want it to be perfect,” said Jilly. “Anyway, I have most of it done. Lauren and Porter will be in Lauren’s old bedroom with air mattresses on the floor for Portia and