Coryn’s parents expressed their satisfaction that she had given up her job in L.A. and decided to remain in Rockport.
“At least until after the first of the year,” she said cautiously not wanting to make any promise she couldn’t keep. “I have many things to figure out.”
They accepted that without comment whatever they secretly hoped she might decide to do.
“Oh, it will be marvelous having you here for Christmas,” her mother said. “I do think you should call Cindy and make some plans since you’re going to be here longer than you thought.”
So the first week of December, heeding her mother’s urging, Coryn finally called her childhood friend Cindy Barnes, now Cindy Lowell. There was no excuse for not letting people know she was back in Rockport. At least temporarily.
“Coryn, how great!” Cindy exclaimed when Coryn called to make a date for lunch. “Lora will be so excited. You can’t imagine how often we talk about you. About all the things the three of us used to do.”
“There’s a lot to catch up on,” Coryn answered, “Where shall we meet?”
“There’s a new restaurant in Old Town I’ve been dying to try, the Seafarer. Tuesday’s best for me. That’s Benjy’s day at nursery school. I’ll contact Lora so she can work on getting a sitter.”
Hearing this Coryn remembered with a shock that her two best friends were now mothers. Of course, she’d sent baby gifts. But she’d almost forgotten. The people she knew in L.A. were mostly single.
“Can’t wait to see you,” Cindy said gaily before she hung up.
Suddenly Coryn had mixed feelings about the upcoming reunion. She wasn’t sure if she really wanted to stroll down memory lane. Would she feel completely out of touch? Would the three of them, who once were so close, have much in common after all this time? Would it feel strange now that their lives were so different? Well, it was too late to worry about that.
Old Town had once been a run-down waterfront area, lined with derelict buildings, empty storefronts with broken windows, seedy bars and dilapidated Victorian houses in various degrees of decay. Most people had avoided walking along the grim streets even in broad daylight, afraid of being panhandled by disheveled drunks, or confronted by loudly arguing tavern patrons standing outside the dingy entrances.
About six years earlier, a group of civic-minded merchants, retailers, businessmen and city officials decided to clean up Old Town. They’d transformed it by turning what was already there into touristattractive places. They’d restored, renovated, repaired the buildings, leaving their unique architecture intact. The streets with brick walkways and old-fashioned lampposts established a nineteenth-century atmosphere. Boutiques, bookstores, toy shops, art galleries, restaurants, all conforming to the theme, gradually opened. Soon shoppers and tourists were flocking to Old Town.
During the pre-Christmas season, Old Town was a magic place. Uniquely trimmed Christmas trees stood in front of every shop and store. Swags of evergreen and twists of laurel leaves studded with bunches of bright red holly berries, draped from lamppost to lamppost. From the gazebo in the center of Old Town, a carillon played Christmas music, lifting spirits into the holiday mood and motivating shoppers to even more gift buying.
An old-fashioned horse and carriage with a driver dressed in appropriate garb provided an authentic Dickensian touch to the scene.
The Seafarer was one of the newer restaurants, decorated with nostalgic touches of the 1800s. On the walls were framed photographs of early woodsmen standing proudly on huge felled timber, and of the large cargo ships that used to sail into Rockport Bay when it was a thriving seaport of fishing boats, their nets bulging with their catch. Bentwood chairs were placed at round tables covered with redchecked cloths. Baskets of ferns hung at the windows, which offered scenic views of the wharf. This had become the favorite eatery for women shoppers and it was always busy.
Cindy and Lora were already seated when Coryn arrived after leaving her mother at the beauty salon. Both women greeted her warmly and rose to give her hugs, declaring she looked wonderful.
“It’s that Beverly Hills touch.” Lora sighed dramatically.
“Definitely,” Cindy agreed, laughing. “So tell us all about life in the fast track.”
“Hardly life in the fast track,” she said. “Fighting freeway traffic, work, frozen dinners…”
“Oh, come on! Surely there’s some glitter in all this!” Cindy looked skeptical. “A man?”
“No one special,” Coryn said, and knew it was now true. She was glad the waitress came to take their order.
Decisions were made with much ado about dieting and calorie counting, exchange of quotes from the health-food-nut instructor of the aerobics class they were taking.
Finally, the patient waitress left with their menus and the conversation immediately turned to reminiscing. Coryn felt herself drifting off from the conversation. She couldn’t remember half the things they were recalling. If she stayed in Rockport, would she fit in again? The only one of the trio, not married? Could she find a place here again, a life-style that would work?
Coryn looked at her two friends. The three of them had grown up together, sleeping over at one another’s homes nearly every weekend, sharing dates, proms, opinions. They had been secure in their friendship. One by one they had paired off, gone steady, fallen in love. The spring they had all graduated college she had been a bridesmaid in both weddings. That summer, she had gone to L.A.
Their seafood salads were served and they chatted about mutual friends and whatever-happened-to-soand-so. The waitress reappeared and rattled off the day’s list of delectable dessert possibilities. Reluctantly they passed on it.
“I feel so virtuous I think we should go shopping,” Cindy declared, laughing.
“Sure, why not?” Lora agreed as she got out her compact to freshen her lipstick. “I’ve got a sitter for the rest of the afternoon.”
Lora glanced at Coryn, “How about you? It’s not Rodeo Drive but they do have some new stores at the mall.”
Coryn checked her watch. She had more than an hour to spare before she was supposed to meet her mother. Yet, she didn’t want to extend the visit with her old girlfriends a minute longer. “I’m sorry, I can’t join you this time,” Coryn said. “I’m meeting Mom after her hair appointment. I promised I’d help her Christmas shop, she has a list a yard long.”
“She does?” Cindy looked surprised. “That’s funny, I ran into your mom in October. I remember because I was getting Halloween things for the kids. She joked about having nearly all her Christmas shopping done.”
“That’s another thing I always admired about your mother, Coryn,” Lora commented. “Besides being gorgeous. She was always so organized, on top of things.”
Coryn felt a small flutter in her stomach. That was the reputation her mother had. But since she’d been at home, there had been a series of incidents that troubled Coryn. Sometimes Clare seemed vague, forgetful, confused. Doing things like leaving the stove burners turned on, as her father had pointed out. And there had been other things. For a moment, she considered what Lora had just said. Something kept her from making the glib comments she might have given ordinarily.
Coryn left the Seafarer with a sense of relief. She said goodbye to the other two, making some noncommittal remarks about getting together again. As she walked in the direction of the beauty salon her mother patronized, she saw a man and a little girl coming toward her. As they got closer, she saw the man was Mark Emery. The child with him must be his daughter.
They saw each other almost at the same time. She looked as surprised as he was. Coryn Dodge was even prettier than he remembered. In sunlight her hair had mahogany lights, her blue eyes seemed bluer. She was dressed in a blazer, pants, a silk scarf patterned with vivid autumn leaves was knotted casually at her neck.
“Hello there,” he greeted her. “What a wonderful surprise.” The warm look in his eyes made her heart skip a beat.
Coryn smiled. “Good to see you again, Mark.”
He turned to the little girl beside him, “Coryn, I’d like you to meet Ginny. Ginny, this lady is Coryn Dodge. We came up on the same plane from San Francisco after I left you at Nana’s and Grampa’s.”
The child regarded Coryn with wide curious eyes. She had a spray of golden freckles across a small button nose and round, rosy cheeks.
Coryn held out her hand. “I’m happy to meet you, Ginny.”
Ginny smiled, shook Coryn’s hand. She was not at all shy, but she had a sweetness about her that suggested the security of being well-loved.
“Are you Christmas shopping?” Coryn asked.
“Sort of.” Ginny glanced at Mark, as if for confirmation. “We shopped for the Three Wise Men.”
Puzzled, Coryn looked first at Mark then back at Ginny.
“See, first we got the stable scene, where the Baby Jesus was born, and the angels. Last year, we got the shepherds and some of the sheep. So this year we get the Three Kings,” Ginny explained.
“Shari, Ginny’s mother, always wanted Ginny to understand Christmas wasn’t just presents and Santa Claus, so we started celebrating ‘little Christmas,’ too. January sixth commemorating the arrival of the Magi.”
“How lovely,” Coryn said, touched by this unique family custom. “So, did you find them?”
“Yes, they’re great! They’ve got crowns and goldtrimmed robes and all.” Ginny smiled happily. “Now we’re going for a carriage ride, aren’t we, Daddy?”
Mark nodded. “A promise is a promise.”
“That should be fun.”
The carriage was just turning the corner at the end of the street. It came to a stop a few yards from where they were standing. As the driver helped down the couple who had been riding, Mark raised his hand to signal that they wanted to hire the carriage next. Coryn walked over to the curb with them.
Ginny gave a little skip, swinging Mark’s hand, then she glanced up at Coryn. “Want to come with us?”
The driver stepped forward and said with a grin, “Same price, one or two adults with a child.”
“How about it?” Mark asked Coryn. “Would you like to?”
Riding in a carriage with Mark and Ginny would certainly beat waiting in a beauty salon for her mother, she thought. “Why not?” she replied with a smile. “How long will it take?”
“Fifteen minutes is the ride, miss.” The driver tipped his stovepipe hat, opened the carriage door.
Coryn looked at Mark, Ginny and the carriage. It did look like fun. “Okay, I’d love to.”
The next thing she knew, she was being helped up into the carriage. With a flick of the driver’s whip, they started off. Coryn glanced at Mark. He looked different this afternoon. Younger, handsomer, his hair was tousled by the brisk wind off the bay. He was wearing a creamy Irish-knit sweater, corduroy pants. He was obviously more relaxed and enjoyed being with his child.
The horses’ hooves clip-clopped on the brick streets as they rolled through Old Town. People walking along the sidewalks looked at them, smiled and waved. Ginny giggled.
“Let’s wave back like the English royals I’ve seen on TV!” Coryn suggested. She fluttered her hand in the famous back-hand wave Queen Elizabeth gave while riding in her carriage.
“Yes! Let’s!” said Ginny as she bounced’happily and followed suit.
Mark looked a little embarrassed, but grinned indulgently at both of them.
The wind was strong, cold. Coryn pulled her silk scarf from around her neck and tied it under her chin to keep her hair from blowing into her face.
Coryn enjoyed the ride thoroughly. Seeing Rockport from the vantage of a carriage was like being transported back in time. She glanced at Mark, smiling. “This is really fun!”
He grinned back. Coryn was having a good time. Her eyes were sparkling, and her smile-why, she looked really beautiful.
They went up Viewmont Hill to its crest, where Highland Inn stood, then back, and circled the little park in the center of Old Town. The driver shouted “Whoa!” to his compliant horse, and pulled to a stop.
Ginny looked disappointed.
“It was too short, wasn’t it?” Coryn said understandingly.
“Well, maybe we’ll do it again,” Mark said, getting out, then turned back to lift Ginny down. “But now we’re going for our treat, remember?”
“Oh, yes! We’re going to have a frozen-yogurt cone,” Ginny told Coryn. “Pumpkin flavor. It’s my favorite.”
“For the time being, right?” Mark laughed. “Would you like to come with us?”
Coryn again glanced at her watch and hesitated. She still had a half hour before she had arranged to meet her mother. She would like to stretch this time with Mark Emery and his little girl longer. She made up her mind quickly, “Okay, I will. A frozen-yogurt cone sounds just great!”
With perfect naturalness, Ginny took Coryn’s hand and the three of them walked down the street together to Old Town’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor. On the way Ginny chattered happily. The pinkand-white-striped awnings outside the shop matched the ruffled aprons and headbands on the girls behind the counter. Inside, the decor was so deliberately nostalgic, with curlicued metal chairs and faux-marbletop round tables that Coryn and Mark exchanged an amused look. But it was also charming and since Ginny was enjoying herself completely, their amusement remained shared but unspoken.
Ginny had a little trouble with the generous double-dip serving. The creamy substance melted away faster than her small tongue could lick it up. Ginny fretted a bit as it started to drip down the side of the cone and onto her hands, but Coryn quickly came to the rescue. She took some packaged handi-wipes from her purse and she deftly cleaned Ginny’s chin and sticky fingers.
“You must have been a Girl Scout. Always prepared.” Mark commented, his eyes amused. Coryn smiled.
“I’m going to be a Brownie. Next year when I’m seven,” announced Ginny.
Coryn saw the look of tenderness on Mark’s face and was touched. It was clear he adored his little girl.
Coryn checked her watch again and said, “Sorry, but I have to hurry. I really do need to meet up with my mother.” She got up to leave, “Thanks for inviting me to your party. I really enjoyed myself.”
Their gazes met. Mark smiled and she caught her breath.
“We enjoyed having you along,” Mark told her.
“It was fun waving in the carriage,” Ginny added.
They said goodbye and Coryn hurried away in the opposite direction. She felt happy and lighthearted. Meeting up with Mark and his child had been a most pleasant surprise. She liked what she’d seen. He was a real hands-on Daddy.
As Mark and Ginny came out of the ice-cream parlor and were walking back down the street, they were hailed by the driver who was standing by his mount and carriage waiting for customers.
“Sir! The lady forgot her scarf,” the carriage driver said, handing Mark the length of silk. Mark took it, held it for a second, breathing in the scent that clung to it. He recognized it. It was the same distinctive perfume he had noticed the night he had driven her home from the airport
“It’s pretty, isn’t it, Daddy?” Ginny asked, fingering the edge of the scarf. “Like Coryn. She’s pretty, too, isn’t she?”
“Yes, very,” Mark answered, folding the scarf and putting it in his jacket pocket “She’ll be sorry she lost it. We’ll have to return it to her, won’t we?”