“Oh yes!” Bella squeals, and she starts tugging me by the hand. “Come on, let’s go.”
Bella’s room is on the second floor of the house. She leads me across the landing to a door with a handmade sign stuck to it, saying: ALIENS KEEP OUT! (AND PIGS.) “Noah made that for me,” Bella explains. “I don’t like aliens—or pigs—so that’ll stop them coming in.”
“Good idea,” I say, trying really hard not to smile.
Bella’s bedroom is possibly the greatest kid’s bedroom I have ever seen. The main wall is covered with a mural of famous fairy-tale characters, from Snow White and her dwarfs to Dumbo the elephant and Little Red Riding Hood.
“My daddy made that for me when I was born,” Bella says, noticing me staring at it. “But now my daddy’s in heaven.”
“I’m really sorry about that,” I say, crouching down in front of her.
“My mom is too,” Bella says matter-of-factly. “I think she might be an angel.”
“I’m sure she is,” I reply.
“This is my bed,” Bella says, turning and pointing at a set of bunk beds next to the opposite wall. The bottom bunk has a curtain going all the way around it.
“Cool bed,” I say, really meaning it. “I love the curtain.”
“Me too,” Bella says. “Sometimes I pretend it’s a tent. I like your voice.”
“Thank you.”
“You sound just like Princess Kate. I love Princess Kate.”
I take my case over to a space in the corner of the room and open it to get out a sweatshirt.
“Is that your doll?” Bella says, looking at the china doll lying in between my clothes.
“Yes, it is.”
“Cooool!” Bella runs over to her bed and dives through the curtains. She reappears clutching a beautiful rag doll. “This is Rosie,” she says, holding the doll up to mine. “Can they be friends?”
“Of course they can.” I pull the sweatshirt over my head.
“Hello, I’m Rosie,” says Bella, putting on a high-pitched doll voice. “What’s your doll’s name?” she says, turning to me.
“Oh. She hasn’t got a name.”
“She hasn’t got a name?” Bella looks at me wide-eyed, like I’ve committed the worst crime known to doll-kind.
“Why don’t you give her one?” I say, trying to redeem myself.
“OK then.” Bella frowns for a moment, then she picks up my doll. “I’m Princess Autumn,” she says in a grand voice. “Autumn’s Noah’s name for you,” she whispers to me. “Only I’m not supposed to tell you. Do you love Noah?” She tilts her head to one side.
“Oh, well, we’ve only just met each other so—”
“I think he loves you,” Bella interrupts. “He was writing a song about you last night. He never writes a song about any other girls. Grandma said he was acting all love-struck. ‘Love-struck’ means being hit in your heart by the emotion of love. That’s what Grandma told me.”
This time, I can’t prevent myself from laughing. And the more I laugh, the harder it gets to stop. I feel giddy with happiness. Noah has a pet name for me. He was writing a song about me! Sadie Lee called him love-struck!
Now Bella’s giggling too—so hard it’s making her ringlets bounce.
“All right, what’s going on in here?”
We both jump at the sound of Noah’s voice—and carry on laughing.
“Don’t tell him,” Bella whispers through her giggles.
“I won’t,” I whisper back.
“Are you guys gonna help me decorate this tree or what?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Bella cries, and she runs from the room.
“Well, you two sure seem to have bonded,” Noah says, looking at me quizzically.
I nod and go over to join him.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” he says.
“Me too,” I reply, and for a second I think he’s about to kiss me. But then Bella races back across the landing and grabs us both by the hand.
“Come on, slow coaches!”
And as Noah grins at me and shrugs apologetically, I feel hit in my heart by an emotion very close to love.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Christmas tree is as tall as the living room and almost as wide as the bay window it’s stood in. Its needles are thick and glossy and fill the room with a delicious piney scent. Mum and Dad head out for some emergency Christmas shopping, so Noah, Bella, and I set about decorating the tree from a battered old trunk full of the most beautiful glass baubles and ornaments I’ve ever seen.
It turns out that pretty much every decoration has its own story. As we hang them on the tree, Sadie Lee sits beside us in a rocking chair and recounts each tale. “My mamma bought me that Santa the year I turned sweet sixteen. That snowman belonged to your granddaddy—he called it Stanley. The reindeer was given to me at a church party back in Charlston.”
Finally, all of the baubles are on the tree.
“Don’t forget these,” Sadie Lee says, handing Bella a box.
“Candy canes!” Bella exclaims.
The box is full of green, red, and white striped canes. They’re shiny and bright and smell of peppermint. Carefully, we start hooking them over the branches of the tree.
“Yum!” Bella says, popping one in her mouth.
“Hey, Miss Piggy!” Noah says with a grin.
“I couldn’t help it,” Bella says. “It fell into my mouth.”
We all start to laugh and Noah offers me a candy cane. It tastes just like a stick of Brighton rock.
“Is it time for the angel?” Bella asks Sadie Lee.
“It sure is, honey.”
Noah takes a parcel wrapped in red tissue paper out of the trunk. Very carefully, he unwraps it to reveal a beautiful angel with wavy blond hair and a long ivory silk dress. Two wings made from golden gossamer fan out from her back. Noah climbs onto a chair and gently places the angel on top of the tree. Bella starts clapping her hands in excitement.
“Can I turn on the lights, Grandma, please?”
“Of course you can, honey.”
We all wait as Bella scrambles around the back of the tree. “Merry Christmas!” she cries, and the tree comes alive with golden twinkly lights. It’s so beautiful, I can’t even speak.