Under the mistletoe

Chapter Seven: A Little Girl's Christmas Wish

"How are you feeling, dear?" Mrs. Daniels asked the next day as she walked inside Lizzie's room followed by a very harassed looking Mr. Daniels. But the frown and stress on his face quickly disappeared when he saw Lizzie.

"How's my girl?" he asked sitting down beside Lizzie.

"Not all's well in my world," Lizzie replied pouting. "I'm having a splintering headache," she added with a grimace. "Plus the fact that anytime now I can play Rudolf, the Red-Nosed reindeer." She pointed her finger to her nose which she knew was very red because of the many times she blew her nose in the past twenty-four hours.

"Then we won't have to put much decorations," Mrs. Daniels joked, picking up some tissues on the floor. She disappeared behind Lizzie's bathroom. There was the sound of the faucet being turned on.

"So, dad how's your world?" Lizzie asked remembering how much he looked stressed.

"Well something's the problem with the church. There seems to be some sort of party or celebration on the 20th. I can't seem to fix it even it happens to be my church," he explained. Then he sighed. "Well, it was my church just eight years ago," he said almost wistfully.

Lizzie nodded. Her father was the church minister of the town but when they moved out, eight years ago, he also had to quit his job as church minister. So now, after eight years, Sally wanted the wedding to be in her hometown. Spencer didn't hesitate to agree.

Just then, Sally walked in holding the cordless phone in her hand. "It's from the church," she whispered, her brow furrowed.

Mr. Daniels sighed deeply as he took the phone. "Hello?" he said getting up from the bed. He rubbed his temples as he left Lizzie's room with a worried looking Sally behind him.

"Oh, poor Nelson," Lizzie's mom said drying her hands in a towel.

"I know, poor dad," she agreed. "He's having such a hard time," she added. She and her dad weren't that much close but she could see how tired he was. When she was a kid, she remembered she had vowed that she wanted everyone in her family to be happy. She wondered now how she was going to help her dad.

Just then Nora walked in, carrying another cordless phone. "Miss, it's a Mr. Lin from work," she said.

"Oh, thank goodness," Mrs. Daniels said taking the phone from Nora. She smiled at Lizzie before leaving the room.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Nora asked.

"Not good. I have a terrible cold, a headache that makes my head want to explode and I haven't taken a bath for twenty-four hours. Yuck. Plus, I think it's that time of the month," Lizzie replied scowling. "My tummy aches too," she moaned her face pressed against her pillow.

Nora cluck-clucked her tongue. "That is not good," she said picking up a towel on the floor and folding it neatly. "Do you want some breakfast?" she called from the bathroom.

"Yeah. Can I even stand up?" Lizzie ran a hand through her hair. "I mean can I walk around, to the kitchen?"

"I wouldn't know. Didn't John say anything?" she asked.

"No," Lizzie replied hesitantly. "Oh, whatever. I'm hungry and no one can stop me," she muttered getting up from her bed. She didn't hear what Nora had to say about this. Instead, she threw the blankets off her and marched out of her room.

"Ah, looks who's alive," Matt exclaimed as he saw Lizzie. "The proud survivor of the Daniels' Ice Escapades."

Lizzie laughed and walked past him. "Your survivor is nearly dying of hunger."

Matt guffawed. "All that soup didn't help?"

"Nope," Lizzie replied shaking her head as she walked down the stairs. "I need hard solid food right now. No more chicken soup for this survivor," she muttered although Matt heard it, and she could hear the echoes of his laughter as she headed straight to the kitchen. She grabbed the first food she saw, French toast and stuffed it into her mouth.