Shadows on a Maine Christmas (Antique Print Mystery Series Book 7) by Lea Wait Page B

well…”
    “If the business doesn’t do well, I’ll have to deal with the lack of bathrooms and closets,” Will agreed. “But for now, adding shelves to meet the needs of specific dealers should be all that’s necessary. Supply houses will rent display counters and cases.”
    “I assume you’ll leave that up to the dealers you rent space to.”
    “Unless they pay me a premium to handle it.” Will grinned.
    He’d thought this out. On the third floor, Maggie went straight to the little staircase and climbed up to the crow’s nest room high above Waymouth. Will followed her.
    The falling snow blurred the view, making them feel as though they were inside a snow globe. Maggie turned slowly, seeing the harbor and town below her. She ended her turn in Will’s arms. “I give up being practical. Buy this place if you can, Will. It’s wonderful. Magical. It will be an incredible amount of work. It will eat up your time and your money. But it’s a great project, and, I hope, will eventually bring in a good return. For whatever reason you want my approval, you have it.”
    He pulled her to him and kissed her. Softly, and deeply.
    “I shall, of course, expect email and telephone updates, complete with pictures, as the work progresses,” she added, as she moved out of his arms and took one last look down at the transformed town. Seen from this height, the snow cover was complete. It could have been the model for a large-folio Currier and Ives New England Winter Scene if it weren’t for the lone lobster boat on the river strung with Christmas lights and a few cars moving on Main Street. And Currier and Ives would have added a skating pond, of course.
    Waymouth, Maine. How could anything bad ever happen in a place as beautiful, as perfect, as this one?

9
    Christmas Post. Black-and-white wood engraving by Thomas Nast (1840–1902) for cover of Harper’s Weekly , January 4, 1879 showing a young boy with his dog in a snowstorm, putting an envelope addressed to “St. Claus, North Pole” into a United States post box. A toy store with a Christmas tree in front of it is in the background. Thomas Nast, often called “the man who invented Santa Claus,” produced Christmas drawings for Harper’s regularly from the 1860s until 1886. Although he based his “Santa” on Clement Moore’s poem, he added details such as Santa’s living at the North Pole and having a toy workshop, and children writing letters to Santa. Nast also popularized the Democratic donkey and created the Republican elephant, and his political cartoons helped take down Tammany Hall in New York City. 10 x 15 inches, including Harper’s Weekly: Journal of Civilization masthead. Price: $225.
    Despite the snow , the U.S. postal carrier had made his or her appointed rounds. Aunt Nettie was opening mail at the kitchen table as Maggie and Will stomped back into the house, scattering clods of snow as they shook off their jackets and took off their boots.
    “Glad you’re home,” she said, looking up from a pile of Christmas cards and letters. “I was beginning to worry about you two. It’s really coming down out there.”
    “We noticed,” said Will, giving Maggie a fast hug. “We were inside the house most of the time, though. I see we got a lot of cards today.” He peeked over his aunt’s shoulder at her collection of Christmas trees and angels and photographs of families posed with family dogs, cats, dead moose, and in one case, a newly purchased home in San Diego.
    “From family, mostly,” she said. “Quite a few were addressed to both of us. Do you want to look at those? I’ve separated them. I put your mail on the counter.”
    “I’ll look at mine first. You go ahead and put the cards on the mantel. I’ll look at them later.”
    “Do you need any help, Aunt Nettie?” Maggie asked.
    “I’ll be just fine, dear. Thank you.” Aunt Nettie stood up and slowly walked with her cane toward the living room carrying a stack of cards, while Will