Christmas In Silver Bell Falls Read Free Page A

It was like a dense forest and for a minute, she didn’t think she was going to get through it.
    But then she did.
    The field opened up and off to the right was a house—not a cabin.  In her mind, Melanie pictured some sort of log cabin, but the structure she was looking at was more stone than log.  It was a one-story home with a wraparound porch and a red roof.  The yard was completely manicured and the place even looked like it had a fresh coat of paint.
    Since neither she nor her father had any contact with her grandmother, there was no way for them to know about the upkeep on the place.  She had tried to question the lawyer, but other than giving her the deed to the house and the keys, he had very little information for her. 
    A little beyond the house was a shed.  It looked like it was perched on a trailer and it certainly looked a lot newer than the house.  Maybe it had been a new addition.  Maybe her grandmother hadn’t known she was going to die and was doing some renovations on the property.
    Pulling up to the front of the house, Melanie sighed.  She was anxious to go and explore the space and silently prayed she wasn’t going to open the door to some sort of nightmare.  Climbing from the car, the first thing she did was stretch.  Looking around the property from where she stood, the only thing that was obvious to her was that she had no neighbors—she couldn’t even see another house!
    Pulling the key from her pocket, she closed the car door and carefully walked up the two steps to the front porch.  Stopping at the front door, she bounced on her feet and noticed that the floor was in pretty good shape—no creaking and a lot of the wood looked fairly new.
    Not a bad start , she thought and opened the front door.
    Stopping dead in her tracks, she could only stare.  It was dark and dusty and there was a smell that made her want to gag.  Not that she was surprised, but it did cause her to spring into action.  With a hand over her mouth, she quickly made her way around the house opening windows.  Next, she went out to her car and grabbed the box of cleaning supplies out of the trunk.  Melanie knew a certain amount of cleaning would be involved, but she hadn’t expected quite so much.
    For the next three hours she scrubbed and dusted and vacuumed and mopped.  It didn’t matter that it was thirty degrees outside, and currently pushing that temperature inside thanks to the open windows; she was sweating.  Once she was satisfied with the way things looked, she walked outside, grabbed the box of linens and went about making the bed.  Next came the groceries and finally her own personal belongings.
    It was dark outside and every inch of Melanie’s body hurt.  Slowly she made her way back around the house to close the windows and jacked up the heat.  Luckily the fireplace was gas, clearly a recent update. She flipped the switch and sighed with relief when it roared to life and the blower immediately began pushing out heat as well. 
    Guzzling down a bottle of water, she looked around with a sense of satisfaction.  The house was small, maybe only a thousand square feet, but it had potential.  Grabbing a banana from her cooler, she peeled and ate it while contemplating her next move.
    “Shower,” she finally said.  “A nice hot shower or maybe a bath.”  The latter sounded far more appealing.  Locking the front door, Melanie walked to the newly-cleaned bathroom and started the bath water.  It was a fairly decent-sized tub and for that she was grateful.  “Bath salts,” she murmured and padded to the master bedroom to search through her toiletry bag. 
    Within minutes, the bathroom was steamy and fragrant and Melanie could feel the tension starting to leave her body.  Her cell phone rang and she cursed when she realized she had forgotten to call her father when she’d arrived.
    “Hey, Dad!” she said quickly.  “Sorry!”
    He chuckled.  “Are you all right?”
    “I am.  The