Melanie loved Christmas. But who didn't? It was a time of joy and reflection and warmth and caring. It just made her heart swell. Unfortunately, she was still in Jenna's cramped little apartment so it couldn't swell too much. She had hoped to be in her own place by now but she couldn't pull that trigger and do it. So, merrily, she decorated as best she could. The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted thru the apartment. A small tree sat in front of the one window that faced the street.

Will had come over a few nights before and helped her and Jenna decorate it. That was one of the traditions she missed most after she moved to Cleveland. Melanie smiled looking at all of the old handmade ornaments that she and the kids had made throughout the years. She touched a small cutout of a mama bear and 2 cubs. As much as she didn't want to believe it, her kids were grown up and they didn't need her as much as she thought. In fact, she could see that the living arrangement with Jenna was starting to cause her daughter to be stressed and not lead the life she wanted. A small pain shot thru Melanie's heart as the tears welled up in her eyes.

A loud beep interrupted her thoughts. The Jingle Bell tone indicated a new text message had come thru. Melanie picked up her phone and saw that it was from Elka. Oh No! I haven't called Elka in so long. Bad Melanie! She thought to herself.

Melanie, it's Elka. I'm dying. Nice knowin ya. Bye.

"What?" Melanie shrieked. She tried to call Elka's cell phone but there was no answer.

Neither was there an answer on the house phone. What was going on? Elka couldn't send a message like that and not send details. Melanie's knees grew weak as she sank to the couch.

It was 7pm in New York City. The always crowded streets were even more tightly packed with last minute holiday shoppers. The snow on the ground wasn't like how people who have never been to New York pictured it. This snow was hard as a rock and dirty grey or yellow. It was not the powdery white like shown on tv and movies.

Victoria was standing outside of Bloomingdale's trying to hail a cab amidst the shopping chaos. But she wasn't having much luck. A short, rotund lady in an ugly foxy fur coat stepped in front of her and wedged herself into the cab that had just pulled up. Furious, Victoria tried to pull the woman from the open door.

"Do you know who I am?" Victoria yelled.

"Honey, I don't care if you were the Queen of England." The lady sneered and slammed the yellow door in Victoria's face.

Victoria stood stunned for several moments. She really did hate New York City. The cell phone in her pocket vibrated. You couldn't hear a ring in this city if you wanted to. Victoria raised her arm to hail another cab as she pulled out her phone. Damn, a text message. She'd have to put on her glasses. Another cab finally pulled up and after she'd gotten situated in the seat she put on her purple spectacles and looked at her phone.

"Where to, lady?" The foreign cab driver asked in his best accented English.

"Just a minute please." Victoria had a new fancy phone and was still getting used to it. Finally she managed to get the most recent message to come up.

Victoria, it's Elka. I'm dying. Nice knowin ya. Bye.

Victoria blinked several times. She re-read the message.

She immediately tried calling Melanie. Was this some kind of joke? Elka was known for her practical jokes but would she go this far? Victoria, for once in her life, was speechless. She didn't know what to do when Melanie didn't answer.

"Lady?" The cab driver asked again.

"Oh um…" What else could she do? "JFK."

Elka was like a mother to her. Victoria couldn't let her go through whatever it was she was going through alone. She tried calling Melanie and Elka several times between Manhattan and the airport but neither answered. Finally she sent a text to Joy for her to call her first thing in the morning when she woke up.

The Cleveland airport was small comparable to JFK and LAX. With no luggage it was even easier to navigate. Victoria practically ran thru the terminals until she reached the taxi station.

Just as she was about to order a taxi from the nice looking older woman behind a dreadful grey counter, someone jumped in front of her.

"Oh no. Not this again!" Victoria pushed the person out of the way. No one was going to cut off Victoria Chase twice in one day and get away with it. "I was here first!"

The lady she had just shoved spun around. "Victoria?"

"Melanie?"

"Oh Victoria!" The hugged each other tightly. "I didn't know what to do. I got Elka's text. She wouldn't answer. Did you get it? I just can't…I don't…What do we do?" Melanie was talking so fast Victoria almost couldn't understand her. She was nearly in hysterics.

"Hey, can you two take your reunion somewhere else?" A nasty little, troll of a man behind them in line asked.

"No!" Victoria turned to the lady at the counter. "We need a cab right away please."

The taxi attendant gave Victoria the information and told her where to go. Victoria led Melanie out the door for some fresh air while they waited for their cab. Melanie was still on the brink. This was going to have to be Victoria's time to shine. She could handle crisis. Afterall she defused a hostage situation in the Lifetime Original Movie, Crisis Interruptus.

"Melanie, everything is going to be okay. Elka is a strong old bat." She was trying to convince herself as much as she was Melanie.

"I just hope we've gotten here in time." Melanie said through gulps of breath. She wiped the freezing tears from her face as they got into the cab.

The short drive to the house was quiet. Both looking out the windows and remembering all of the crazy times they had with Elka. Like the time Elka ran off to the Amish country and they had to find her. Or when Elka dyed her hair bright red like…how did Joy put it…like Elmo. Victoria laughed out loud remembering Elka in prison. Orange really wasn't her color.

"Oh Victoria. Look. It's snowing." The flakes began to fall faster and thicker as they drove through the quiet streets. Melanie loved the snow in Cleveland. It was so pristine and peaceful. With snow covered yards, their quaint little neighborhood could have been something out of It's a Wonderful Life.

They finally reached the house but all of the lights were off except for a huge lighted, decorated Christmas tree in the front bay window.

"Melanie, it's Christmas Eve!" With the last minute travel and news about Elka, Victoria had forgotten that it was actually the day before Christmas.

"Oh my gosh. It hadn't even occurred to me." They hurried to the porch so not to get soaked by the falling snow.

Victoria knocked on the door and tried to peek through the windows but it was so dark she couldn't see anything. She knocked again.

Melanie laid down on the porch and wiggled under the long porch bench on her back.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked.

"I bet the key is still hidden under the swing. If I could just…Here it is!" Melanie scrambled off the floor and unlocked the door. They pushed their way in and…

"Elka?" Melanie whispered.

Elka was sitting on the couch with a fire blazing in the fireplace behind her. Drinking Eggnog out of a glass mug in the shape of a moose's head, Elka didn't turn her head when they entered or called her name.

Victoria and Melanie sat down slowly on either side of Elka.

Victoria laid a hand softly on Elka's knee. "We're here now, Elka. You can die in peace." Sad very solemnly but dramatically.

Elka sat her moose cup on the in front of them. "I'm not dying you nimrods!"

"But…but you sent us a text message." Melanie was stunned.

Elka stood up and walked over to get more eggnog. "How else did you think I would be able to get you drama mamas here for Christmas?" Victoria and Melanie's mouths hung open in shock. It was all a joke? "Now, who wants eggnog?"

The front door silently, slowly opened. "Did someone say eggnog?"

"Joy?" Victoria and Melanie said at the same time. They jumped up to give her a hug. Neither had seen her since the week they came to rescue her in the summer.

Elka stood back smiling behind her mug. It was all starting to come together. Now it was up to the three of them.

"Elka, you look like a horse." Joy claimed as she set her bags down by the staircase.

"Healthy as a horse?" Melanie offered.

"Yeah that too." Joy walked up to Elka and squinted her eyes. "What's ailing you?"

Elka gave one of her patented Elka looks with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Turns out it was all a big joke." Melanie said with hands on hips.

Joy turned with her mouth agape. "You've got to be kidding me? I flew 3000 miles for nothing."

Victoria cocked her head to one side. "By the way, how were you allowed back in? I thought you were on some kind of restricted access."

Elka handed each a moose glass with eggnog. She sat down in the arm chair and waited for Joy to tell her story. She finally felt a sense of home with all of them around again. Of course she'd never admit that out loud. She was betting on her little trick working and it did. Elka knew that Melanie, Victoria and Joy were happiest in Cleveland even if they didn't know it or admit it to themselves.

"Well it turns out that some ex-senator or governor or someone pulled some strings with the immigration department and got me a permanent resident status."

"Are you serious?" Victoria couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all that fighting and antics Joy had to go through to stay in the country, it took one person to sign something and that was it?

"Yep. I guess I need to send him a thank you card or box of chocolates. What do you send someone who gave you a new life?" Joy hid her tears of happiness.

"Oh so you know who it was?" Melanie sipped her eggnog. "Wow, Elka. This is really good."

"The consulate said his name was Charlie Armstrong."

Victoria raised her glass. "Well thanks to good ol' Charlie." The other three followed suit.

"Salute!"

It was well after midnight when they finally quit talking. Elka had fallen asleep in that chair hours ago. But the other three sat around talking and catching up. They'd been gone from Cleveland almost a year and yet it felt like they had never left.

"I can't believe after all that we've been through separately this year, we're finally at home together for Christmas. It's like a Christmas miracle." Melanie was always the sentimental one.

Joy smiled. "You said home."

"Yeah, I guess I did." Melanie's heart melted.

The three of them hugged again and lumbered off to their bedrooms. Elka hadn't changed a thing since they'd left.

All three stopped in their doorways and turned back at the same time. They were all smiling and looked, for the first time in months, content.

"Merry Christmas, Melanie." Joy was the first to speak.

"Merry Christmas, Joy." Melanie smiled bigger. "Merry Christmas, Victoria."

"Merry Christmas, Melanie." Victoria leaned on her door frame.

"Merry Christmas, Victoria." Joy's voice cracked.

"Merry Christmas, Joy." Victoria winked at her best friend. It was good seeing Joy finally happy.

"Hey this isn't frickin Walton mountain. Go to Bed!" Elka yelled up the stairs.

They all laughed before going into their respective bedrooms.

[One more chapter after this to maybe kickstart a new story.]