"Ashley! Ashley, can't you hear the timer ringing?!"

"Timer?! What time...", I asked absently, and then everything inside me froze. "The COOKIES!", I shouted.

I rushed to the oven and abruptly opened it.

"Oh no oh no oh no oh no", I muttered, frantically searching for the oven mitts, but there was no time. No time at all! I grabbed the hand towel, from the counter to the sink, folded it and reached into the hot oven to remove the burnt cookies.

"Auch! HOT! Hothothothothothothot!!!!"

Relieved, I set the tray (rather dropped it) on the kitchen island, then immediately put the next batch in the oven, closed it, and reduced the heat just a little 'cause it was already too hot.

"Ash, darling, be careful! Please! Why didn't you hear the timer? I was in the other room, but it's very clear..." .

The cookies were still hot, but I didn't want to say anything, so I grabbed one and took a bite. It didn't scald my tongue... much. But it wasn't as tasty as it can be when is perfectly baked. Well, that happens when you miss them even a little bit - they lose part of their taste and great aroma. These cookies are very capricious, no wonder it took me a while to figure out the right temperature, and the perfect degree of readiness - golden at the bottom and slightly on the edges, and they are just... Chef's kiss good.

"You were thinking about Holly again, weren't you?"

I nodded and picked up another cookie, waved it in the air to let it cool down a little, and bit off the cookie man's head.

I made the Christmas orange cookies in three forms - a Christmas tree, a cookie man, and a Christmas stocking. These were the easiest festive shapes to cut, and since we had so many orders to fulfill that the time was barely enough, they were the perfect choice - easy to make and Christmassy.

After finishing my fourth cookie, I finally honored Betty with an answer.

"Yes. Yes, I was. I still am. But after yesterday's scene... it just doesn't come out of my mind. It was..."

"I know, darling, I know", Betty said, coming up to me and hugging me. "Miss Scrooge apparently is used to crushing people. And especially you."

Betty had seen my sister Holly live twice, but that was enough to nickname her 'Miss Scrooge.' It hurts me to admit it, but... it kind of... suits her.

"Don't call her that, she's not...", but I couldn't finish the sentence.

I couldn't say "My sister is not like that", I couldn't defend her, to justify her or say anything, because the truth was... I didn't know my sister anymore. The woman who she was now had nothing to do with the girl I grew up with.

We were used to swap our clothes, to braid each other's hair, to play together - we had tea parties for our dolls, and the stuffed animals, and I prepared cookies from plasticine, and so on. But we were not only playmates, most of all we were best friends. There was nothing I wouldn't share with her, and I never ever had been afraid that any of my secrets will be spilled out of her, and vice versa. We really trusted each other. We were there for each other. She was the one person I truly believed will be by my side no matter what. But... (There always is one 'but', isn't?)

But everything ended when we lost our mother.

After we lost Mom, everything changed. We began to grow apart. And Holly gradually enlarged the distance between us. The days when I didn't hear from her became weeks, and the weeks months. Only on holidays we kept some kind of contact, but soon enough, unfortunately, this ended too. Now, I get emails from her secretary, assistant or whatever she calls the poor boy who does all of her work, and yeah...  Now, talking to her sister has become one more thing on Holly's 'to do' list.

But the worst was that no matter how much I loved her, talking to her has become something that I was not looking forward too, because nine times out of ten she finded a way to insult me and make me doubt in myself, and in every decision I ever made, and I hated that. I hated how I felt after our short and rare conversations.

Sadly, from the only person I shared with, she became someone I'm more or less reluctant to speak with, and that... That hurted. A lot!

"Ash?! Earth to Ashley! Did you hear anything I just said?!", Betty laughed.

"What? I... I'm sorry!", I replied slowly coming back to reality. After Holly's visit yesterday, I was awfully consumed by my thoughts.

"I know, darling, I know", Betty stroke my back as mothers do.

"Thank you", I replied, though these words could not express the overall feeling I felt at that moment, nor how grateful I was for her understanding.

I shook my head to drive away the thoughts that were bothering me and took a deep breath. Exhaling, I flinched. "Wait a second!" A small light flashed in my mind, reminding me of something I had forgotten. 

And no, it wasn't the cookies this time.

"Betty!", I gasped.

"Yes, darling, what's up?", she asked.

"I didn't ask you, did I?"

She nodded and replied, "No, but it's not a problem."

"On the contrary! How are you? What did the doctor say?"

Betty smiled as if everything was okay. But then she stepped away from me, opened one of the drawers to our kitchen island, and pulled out the oven mitts. She came back to me but she didn't hand them to me, instead her fingers started twisting them nervously. Probably seconds later, Betty noticed that I was looking at her hands and quickly handed them to me.

"Here, to get the cookies out, they'll be ready in a little while", she said, and smiled weakly.

"Betty, is everything okay?", I insisted.

"I don't know." She sighed, her shoulders droopped a bit. "Nothing is known yet. The doctor said the tests would come out today and he would call me. Maybe in the afternoon."

"But why only today?"

"Lucky me!", she exclaimed sarcastically, "I got dizzy and fainted on Friday, and the lab didn't work over the weekend, so we had to wait until today", her voice trembled, and this time, I reached for her and hugged her.

"Everything will be fine, you'll see", I whispered soothingly, stroking her back, as she does when I'm upset.

"You can't know that!" She sobbed, her shoulders started shaking.

"You're healthy and everything will be fine. I don't know it, but I believe in it, you should believe it too!", I was not sure why but I really felt like everything was going to be okay.

"I'm worried", she confessed. "If there is any problem... They might take Emma away from us", Betty said through her sobs, "Ashley, I can't live without her! I can't imagine a life without Emma in it! I just...caan't."

So that was it! She wasn't worried about her health. She was worried that if something happened to her it would reflect on Emma.

"Oh, Betty! No one, with some sense, would separate Emma from you. You both love her so much. The poor child has a real home for the first time, although according to documents you and George are only her foster parents."

"For now", Betty corrected me.

I stepped back and looked her in the eyes for confirmation that I had heard it right. She nodded. A wide smile stretched my lips and all the negative feelings from a while ago was pushed by this ray of hope.

"You're going to adopt her!", I exclaimed. "Oh, Betty, I'm so happy for you", I said excitedly and hugged her again, tight and happily.

"Me too, but we have to let her know, and the process will not be quick and easy. They do everything with too much bureaucracy", she said, and again I sensed a dose of despair creeping into her voice.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine! As you always tell me, 'Only believe!', right?!", I encouraged her.

"Thank you, but those words are not mine, Jesus said it, you know that!", she said, glancing at me, and I saw the spark in her eyes. Yeah, the hope was prevailing once more.

The timer rang again.

I quickly released Betty, took the thick oven mitts from the counter, where I dropped them seconds ago, and put them on my hands. I raised my covered fingers and waved at Betty, forming 'See! Save' with my lips, to which she laughed.

I stepped to the oven, opened it, took out the ready batch of cookies and put in the next one.

"Yes, these are definitely game-changers", I told Betty, nodding to the oven mitts.

She laughed again, and replied, "Told ya!"

And the doorbell of the bakery announced the arrival of our first customer for the day.