Ultimate Nyssa Glass, H. Burke [cat reading book .TXT] 📗

going crazy over the decorations.” She placed four packages, three smallish ones and a big one, beneath the tree.

“Perfect. I have a gift for Mrs. H downstairs.” Ellis pulled himself back into his chair. “I bet Theo has been stashing presents around the house, too.”

The three-faced wall clock chimed six. “Miss Nyssa? Master Ellis?” Mrs. H called from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you hungry? I’ve made breakfast.”

“Good, I’m starved.” Ellis grinned.

“I could use some coffee.” Nyssa rubbed her eyes.

Ellis took her hand. “You should take a nap.”

“And miss a moment of our first Christmas together? Not a chance!”

In the kitchen, they found Theo sipping a mug of cocoa, his face streaked with cinnamon sugar from Mrs. H’s crumb muffins.

Mrs. H set a platter of bacon on the table then pinched Theo’s cheek. “I intercepted this little one coming out of the bedroom. He wanted to run up to check on his presents, but I convinced him to eat while everything was still hot. The presents will wait. These eggs, not so much.” She turned back to the stove and stirred the fluffy, yellow mixture in the pan.

A cup of steaming tea waited for Nyssa on the table. Not quite coffee, but good enough. She sipped it.

I think I’ll head back to Bianca’s coffee shop soon. Maybe I can take Ellis there sometime. We don’t go out together enough.

“So after breakfast can I see my present?” Theo asked.

“Of course.” Nyssa gazed at him from over the rim of her cup. “It’s waiting for you upstairs.”

“Bully! Oh, and I have presents for you guys, too, under my bed.”

“I took the liberty of getting a little something for all of you as well.” Mrs. H reached into a cupboard and pulled out three packages wrapped in red paper and brown twine. “Would you like them now?”

“No, you can bring them upstairs, and then we’ll all open our gifts together, as a family,” Ellis said.

Mrs. H’s cheeks flushed, but her eyes brightened. “With my David passed on and our daughter and her children living on the continent, you three are such a comfort for me in my old age. You … you’ll never know … Merry Christmas!” She bent down and kissed Ellis’s forehead, then turned away to dab at her eyes.

Nyssa dropped her gaze, her throat constricting.

After breakfast, Theo stampeded up the stairs and gave a whoop. “It’s got real lights? And a whistle! Wow!”

Nyssa laughed as she waited for the tracks to haul Ellis to the second story.

“Oh Miss Nyssa,” Mrs. H whispered. “That tree is spectacular.”

Nyssa flushed. “Thank you.” It looks like I finally did something right this Christmas.

She sat at the end of the couch so she could keep her hand in Ellis’s.

Theo crouched beside his train, messing with switches and picking up the individual cars to examine them. “Did you make all this?”

“I ordered most of the pieces from the hobby shop, but I improved on them, added the lights and the whistle, increased the speed and efficiency,” Ellis said. He tossed Mrs. H a bundle. “I believe this is for you.”

Their housekeeper untied the string and folded back the paper. White cloth shimmered beneath. “My, what a lovely wrap. Did you pick this out, Miss Nyssa?”

“Amara helped. She has much better taste than me where clothes are concerned.” A thought struck Nyssa. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

She went into her bedroom and unwrapped the package from Amara. Gold velvet poured out onto the bed. She ran her hand over the fabric. This is silly. I’m not a velvet sort of girl … but Ellis might like it.

Remembering that she had been wearing the same clothes since the previous morning, she turned on the boiler beneath her basin and cleaned up a bit, even doing her best to tame her wiry hair into submission. She eyed herself in the mirror. The golden cloth clung to her waist and hips before flaring in an elegant skirt. The neckline rested off her shoulders, stopping just before the rise of her bosom. Yes, Ellis might like this.

She strode back out into the sitting room.

“Why Miss Nyssa!” Mrs H grinned.

Ellis looked over his shoulder, and his mouth dropped open.

Nyssa blushed. “It’s from Amara. Do you like it?”

“You look … breathtaking.” He swallowed. Their eyes locked, and for a moment Nyssa felt every bit as beautiful as his expression said she was.

“Who’s this one for?” Theo burst out, breaking the spell. He pulled a larger package out from under the tree.

“Careful. That’s my gift for Mrs. H,” Ellis cautioned.

The housekeeper gently removed the paper revealing a Victrola. “Oh, Master Ellis, this is much too expensive.”

“The cone is downstairs in my bedroom. I couldn’t figure out how to wrap it.”

“I’ll get it!” Theo leapt up and hurried down the stairs.

Mrs. H fussed with the Victrola.

“There’s a drawer in the bottom of the turntable with a record in it,” Ellis said. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just got a classical album, waltzes, mostly.”

Nyssa bit her bottom lip at the mention of waltzes. She had so wanted for that to be part of Ellis’s Christmas. She moved to sit on the couch, but Ellis caught her by the wrist and coaxed her into his lap.

He touched her cheek. “I wish I could tell you how beautiful you are right now.”

Her whole being warmed. “I think you just did.”

Theo returned with the Victrola’s cone and attached it. Mrs. H placed a record on the turntable. The needle scratched at the celluloid then gentle, wavering music filled the room. Nyssa rested her forehead against Ellis’s and closed her eyes.

Mrs. H cleared her throat. “Come with me, Theo. Why don’t we get started making dinner?”

“Aw, I want to play with my train.”

“You can help me taste the desserts,” Mrs. H coaxed.

“Okay!”

Nyssa kept her eyes closed, focused completely on the smell of Ellis’s pine soap and the slight bristle of his unshaven cheek against hers. His fingers kneaded into her spine like