Excerpt of Everything But A Christmas Eve by Holly Jacobs

Prologue
“Silver Bells”

Vancy Bashalde Salo was bored and the entire Salo family knew it. Which is why they’d all practically thrown her out of the house today, insisting she go to lunch with her two oldest friends, affectionately known in the family as The Silver Bells, mainly because they were long since grey and were named Annabelle and Isabel.

Vancy hoped her friends would be more sympathetic than her family. She knew she was driving them all–from her husband Bela, straight down to her grandchildren-crazy, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. For years, she’d fretted and worried about the Salo Family Wedding Curse. Whenever she’d thought about it, it had always been in all capital letters, because cursing your own family to bad weddings... well, that was the sort of action that deserved all capitals, even if it had been an accidental curse.

She looked across the table at her oldest and dearest friends and told them about the curse, not for the first time. “...and so there I was, Vancy Bashalde, the prettiest girl in Erdely, Hungary–”

Isabel Henning interrupted and filled in, “And you planned the most elaborate, fancy wedding the town had ever seen.”

Annabelle Conner picked up. “But your Bela didn’t show up and you thought he’d deserted you, so you said something like, If I don’t get my beautiful wedding, I hope he never gets one. Him or any of his descendants, or something to that effect.” Annabelle paused. “I think that last part, tacking on his kids and such, was sort of mean spirited, Vancy. I mean, you never met the kids he hadn’t had yet, and they didn’t leave you waiting at the altar.”

“But Bela hadn’t been there because he’d had an accident,” Isabel supplied. “And when he showed up you married him right away, without bothering with another fancy wedding. You’d realized all you wanted was him.”

Vancy realized she had probably mentioned the curse story once or twice...maybe more, but they were friends so they should listen again. “And then when my children–”

This time Annabelle interrupted her. “–got married and had disaster after disaster, and none of them got their fancy weddings, you remembered what you said and because you’re Hungarian–”

Isabel picked up, “–you knew words had meaning, and you realized that you’d cursed your own family. And you tried to break the curse with your grandchildren’s weddings.”

“But they didn’t cooperate.” Vancy spoke rapidly so her friends would interrupt and ruin her story. “First my namesake, Vancy, was stood up at the altar, then met the love of her life and didn’t wait for me to plan a wedding, then my grandson, Noah got stood up at his stag party and found out he was in love with an old friend...and didn’t let me plan the wedding.

“But then there was Dori, who didn’t let you plan her wedding either,” Isabel started.

Vancy broke in. “And Bill, my granddaughter Dori’s new husband, figured it out. There’d never been a curse because Bela and I broke it when we married without waiting to plan another wedding. That’s the part you two forgot, the fact that I tried to soften the curse by adding that when someone in Bela’s family cared more about the marriage than the wedding, the curse would be over. And Bela and I broke the curse ourselves.”

Yes, dear, we know.” Isabel heaved a huge sigh, as if listening to the story again was a trial.

“You’ve told us this story a few times over the years.” Annabelle patted her hand, and shot a look at Isabel that Vancy didn’t miss.

“And even if you hadn’t,” Annabelle continued, “that reporter boy that made your granddaughter Vancy’s life miserable when he wrote that wedding curse story gave the details. All the gory details. And Vancy, dear, there were a lot of gory details.”

“So, Vancy, if you don’t mind me saying–” Isabel started. “Us saying,” Annabelle corrected.

“Us saying. Annabelle and I don’t understand this malaise. You should be celebrating the fact that thanks in part to you, all three of your grandchildren are happily married, and the curse is broken. Your great-grandchildren...how many are there now?”

“Vancy and Matt have Chris and Ricky, and their little girl who won’t answer to anything but Fred.”

“They named their daughter Fred?” Isabel sounded aghast, and Annabelle nodded her aghastment agreement.

“No, the boys were upset she was a girl and started calling her Fred...and it stuck. So, Fred she is. And both Dori and Callie are pregnant. They’re both due any day now–two new babies before the end of the year. I swear they’re racing to see who can get to the finish line first. They’re giving Bill and Noah fits, because they’re both such tomboys and won’t let something like a little pregnancy slow them down.”

“Vancy, it sounds like there’s a lot going on to keep you busy...” Annabelle said.

“Yes, I know, but I can’t help it, I’m bored. I loved setting up the kids, and planning their weddings. Even when the weddings all fell through, it was fun to plan. Now, there’s nothing. Rick and Chris are way too young to even think about matchmaking for.”

“So, why wait for them? There are plenty of single people in the world,” Annabelle said. “Maybe you could help one of them–”

“Match-make for someone else? Someone other than family?” Vancy rolled the idea over and over in her mind. She didn’t see a downside to it. “I’m so very good at what I do, and there are so many single people in the world.”

“I would be like shooting fish in a barrel,” Annabelle chirruped gleefully. “You always say you have abilities because you’re Hungarian. So, pick someone at random. Someone single. I mean, you wouldn’t want to use your skills on someone already married.”

Vancy tried to think of someone single. Suddenly, she remembered her Bela talking about someone just yesterday. “Why, Bela just hired a new girl at the office. She’s going to be more than a secretary, sort of an office manager. He said she was tall and blond, but I shouldn’t be jealous, because he was rather fond of short and grey.” She smiled at the thought. Her Bela was so sweet.

“And this girl, she tsked him during the interview and told him that he wouldn’t know a pie-chart from a spreadsheet even if one of them bit him in the butt.”

“And he hired her anyway?” Isabel asked, once again aghast. Vancy loved her friend, but Isabel spent a great portion of her life aghast at one thing or the other.

“He hired her because of it. Bela likes someone who isn’t afraid of putting him in his place.”

“Which explains why he married you,” Isabel muttered. Vancy heard her friend, but ignored her. Her mind was too filled with matchmaking ideas and she felt more excitement than she had in months and months. “Annabelle, you are a good friend. I think this may work.”

“Oh, Annabelle, what have you done?” Isabel whispered. Vancy ignored that as well. She was too excited about her new project.

There was no more Salo Family Wedding Curse, but there were plenty of single people in need of her help. And she was going to start with Eve Allen, Salo Construction’s new office manager.

Maybe by Christmas Eve, she’d have helped Eve find her soulmate.

No maybe about it.

When Vancy Bashalde Salo set her mind to something, she always achieved it.

Knowing words had power, Nancy Vancy Salo whispered as her friends were talking, “Eve Allen will be head-over-heels in love by Christmas Eve.”