She is badly needed here.

It’s showtime.

With everything that’s happened, Ava expects the party to be a disaster—but it’s as much fun as ever, if not more. Would it be awful for Ava to say that’s because Mitzi and George aren’t attending? Is it possible that their absence, instead of ruining the party, has made it better? Because Mitzi is gone, Ava is the hostess. The black velvet dress looks even nicer on her tonight than it did in the dressing room at Hepburn. Ava’s skin glows pearlescent, and her dark-red hair and green eyes pop. She probably looks this good once every five years. When Scott sees her in the dress, his eyes get very big and round, and he lets a whistle escape. Ava twirls. She feels pretty, she feels sexy—and stupid, stinky Nathaniel is missing it!

Scott says, “Ava, you look enchanting.” He’s speaking in a British accent; “enchanting” is “enchohnting.” The British accent is probably also the result of the tequila, but people love it. Mrs. Gabler takes one look at Scott and says, “Oh, thank heavens, a younger Santa!” Scott then tells Mrs. Gabler how captivating she looks. His accent is thick and plummy, perfectly executed, and Ava sees Scott in a slightly different light. He has a new energy; he’s dynamic and charming and extroverted and very un-Scott-like. He calls himself Father Christmas, delighting the children and the ladies. Kevin is plying Scott with tequila shots, which he does discreetly in the alcove under the stairs, but Ava has seen Scott drunk many times before, and she knows his new confidence isn’t solely due to the alcohol.

Isabelle looks adorable in Mitzi’s Mrs. Claus dress! Her hair is in long braids, the way Ava likes it best, and she’s wearing black-satin kitten heels instead of the dominatrix boots that Mitzi favored. She looks like a character plucked right from Tolstoy, a Russian princess.

Ava pulls Isabelle over to meet Scott. “Mrs. Claus,” she says, “meet your Mr. Claus, otherwise known as Scott Skyler.”

“Oh!” Isabelle says. “Bon soir!” She curtseys and offers Scott her hand.

“Santa, Isabelle will be playing the part of your lovely wife tonight. Isabelle works with us here at the inn.”

“Charmed,” Scott says in his British accent. He kisses Isabelle’s hand.

Excellent! Ava thinks. Scott and Isabelle gaze at each other for an extended moment, or so it seems to Ava. Her plan is working.

Then—surprise! surprise!—a cheer goes up in the room. Kelley has made an appearance! He’s wearing his red-and-green wool tartan trousers, just as he does every year, and he’s holding aloft a magnum of Perrier-Jouët. He moves through the crowd to place the magnum in the large brass ice bucket near the front door. Later, he will saber the top off into the front yard, a feat he only performs on even-numbered years.

Ava thought her father might have abandoned the champagne-sabering tradition, given the circumstances, but Kelley looks proud and happy; he transports the champagne like he’s carrying a baby. Then he takes Ava by the arm. “You look beautiful, sweetheart. You remind me so much of your mother.”

Ava’s heart swells. The ultimate compliment. “Thank you, Daddy. What happened to George?”

“He left out the back door,” Kelley says. “But I think he wanted to stay.”

“I’m sure he did,” Ava says. She knows that somewhere on this island, Mitzi is wishing she were here. The party is in full swing: the room is crowded with familiar faces, there is talking and laughing, Kevin is flipping bottles and mixing his drinks from great height. He stops to juggle lemons and limes, and people applaud. Kevin is the King of Fascinating Bar Tricks. Scott takes his seat in the wingback armchair, with Isabelle at his side. She lines up the children—almost all of them students at the elementary school. If they know Father Christmas is Assistant Principal Skyler, no one lets on.

Ava grabs a glass of white wine from Kevin at the bar. “What do you think about Isabelle in Mitzi’s dress?” she asks.

“I was never a particular fan of that dress,” he says. “But she looks fine, I guess.”

“I’m trying to set her up with Scott,” Ava says.

Kevin, who is as nimble a bartender as one will ever meet, nearly drops a highball glass and the bottle of Jack Daniel’s he’s holding. “What?” he says.

“I think they’d be cute together, don’t you?”

“No,” Kevin says, with what sounds like genuine anger. “I do not think they would be cute together. What is wrong with you, Ava?”

Ava is speechless. Kevin never gets angry with her. Kevin is her prime ally in this family. Ava wanders away, wondering if he’s right to be mad. Maybe it is terribly manipulative to try to fix up Scott with someone else just because she doesn’t want him.

Well, her intentions were pure. She won’t let Kevin ruin her good mood or her fun time.

Ava has a few minutes yet before she has to sit down at the piano and start the carols. She hits the food table; she’s been so busy getting ready for the party that she hasn’t had anything to eat all day. She fixes herself a plate of cocktail ribs and Swedish meatballs, which are disappearing fast—there is beef at the Winter Street Inn Christmas Eve party for the first time ever! On top of everything else, Isabelle is a phenomenal cook! Ava must mention this to Scott—who cares what Kevin says! She takes two dates stuffed with peanut butter and some scallop seviche and a mini crab cake. She even drags a cracker through the salted-almond pinecone and eats it right away. Delicious!

She makes a plate for Scott and then a plate for Kevin, as a peace offering—both heavy on the meatballs—adding deviled eggs, spanakopita triangles, and cherry tomatoes stuffed with guacamole. It’s nice to be able to load up her own plate. When Mitzi was in charge, there was strict adherence to Family Hold Back. Mitzi was always worried they were going to run out of food; she once took a celery stick out of Ava’s hand and set it back down on the crudité platter.

This party does not miss Mitzi. Ava does not miss Mitzi.

Fun, fun, fun, chitchat, happy holidays! Everyone who is anyone is there, and people keep streaming through the door—all five Nantucket selectmen; the police chief, Ed Kapenash, and his wife, Andrea; Gene Mahon, aka “Mahon about Town”; Jordan Randolph, the editor of the paper, and his son, Jake, who is a junior at Penn; the real-estate agent Eddie Pancik and his wife, Grace; and many of Ava’s fellow teachers from school, including her friend Shelby. Shelby grabs Ava by the arm and says, “Is that Scott in the Santa suit? Because he looks good. He looks, I don’t know, kinda hot, don’t you think?”