Izzy had just started flouring the rolling pin when the doorbell rang. "Of course," she muttered.

"I'll get it," Muriel called from the front room.

"Thank you," Izzy called back, brushing hair from her forehead with the back of her wrist and then continuing to add flour to the rolling pin so it wouldn't stick to the pie crust. Who could possibly be at the door this early on Christmas morning?

She heard the door open, heard Muriel gasp, heard someone greet her.... Her heart leapt into her throat and she grabbed the edge of the table for support.

The voices were moving rapidly closer. "My, my, you gave me a turn," said Muriel.

"Sorry to drop in like this, but I wanted to surprise..."

She looked up as he finished.

"...Izzy."

Everything seemed very far away and distinct. There he stood, in his uniform, with scrapes on his face and his right arm bandaged and in a sling, but otherwise looking—whole.

"Felix," she managed.

"Not even a hug?" he asked when she didn't move.

She opened her mouth to explain, calmly, that her hands were all floury and that she didn't want to get it all over his clean uniform.

"Give her a second," Muriel said before she could speak. "You were listed as missing in action, after all."

Alarm flashed into his eyes. "I was what?"

Izzy started brushing flour onto her apron. Some of it seemed to be getting sticky, as though it were wet, which is how she realized she was crying. Felix crossed to her in two quick steps and gathered her into his arms.

"The flour," she muttered weakly, but he ignored her, pressing a kiss to her hair as Muriel discreetly backed out of the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he whispered repeatedly. "I didn't know."

"You should have called," said Izzy, amazed again at the inane level of her conversation. "We would have been more ready for you."

He pulled back, now as dusty as she was. "Ridiculous. I like you every way I've ever seen you. Although," he added hesitantly, "I don't know that finding you in the middle of making a pie wouldn't have been something I'd have dreamed about if I'd thought of it."

"It really is you," she laughed, hugging him again. "Nobody else could make such a sorry joke at a time like this." A sudden thought occurred to her, and she pushed him away.

"What?"

"Your mother...your family! They've been worried sick! You have to call them!"

"Right!" he said, energized, and the two of them hurried to the telephone in the hall, where Felix attempted to place a call to King Farm only to find that the Avonlea switchboard was down.

Felix looked to Izzy, crestfallen. "I have to go. Right now."

"Of course you do," she urged.

"Come with me?"

She considered it, then shook her head. "It's a family time."

"You're as close to being family as...."

"But I'm not," she insisted, taking his free hand before he could start on a topic she didn't want to discuss in a rush. "Thank you, but they need to see you alone." He nodded, and she squeezed his hand tighter. "Hurry back."

"Like the wind." He picked his hat off the stand by the door. "Give my regards to your father and Muriel. Oh, and Gus, if he's still in town."

"He is."

"Good. Well, give him my regards, too." He opened the door and swept out, leaving Izzy wondering if it had all been a dream before he swept back in.

"Everything's so confused, I almost forgot," he apologized, and kissed her quickly. "More on that when I get back," he said, and disappeared again.

Izzy wanted to dance and yell and sing all at once, but she decided she would rather prepare for his return. As soon as she had telephoned Gus, she headed back to the kitchen. She was going to make the best set of pies anyone in Halifax had ever tasted.