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CHAPTER 5: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

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The house was eerily quiet a few minutes before six as Maeve glided down the stairs to meet Tom at the front door.

“Wow!” Tom’s eyes grew wide when he caught sight of her, then pulled her close. He kissed Maeve on the hand, obviously stunned by her appearance. “Honey, you are just as beautiful as the day I married you.”

“Oh, Tom, you spoil me.” Maeve felt her cheeks grow warm. “Where is everyone? Are they all over at the barn?”

“Yes.” Tom pulled her hand through the crook of his elbow. “All ready and waiting for us.”

“Well, this family never ceases to amaze me,” she said as she let Tom lead her out the door.

“True. Don’t think I have ever witnessed them all being able to be on time”—He paused to ponder—“Ever!” Turning back to Maeve, he asked, “You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be, my Marine,” Maeve proclaimed.

As they left the front porch, Maeve noticed the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. She snuggled closer to Tom and focused on the barn once more. Something was different. The barn had more lights on, and no one was lingering outside. Were they already all in the barn? Even Rufus?

They continued their walk, holding tight to one another without saying a word. Maeve felt Tom shiver and wondered if he was feeling a chill as they approached the double barn doors. She felt herself getting a little weak in the knees and hoped it was because of the night’s excitement and not her blood sugar dropping.

Instead of opening the doors, Tom knocked, and they began to open.

Before Maeve could ask what he was doing, she glimpsed the glorious sight before her. Soft white lights hung everywhere in-between panels of white linen banners. The tables were adorned with crystal drinkware and gold plates with enormous white and red flower arrangements and white candles. Strings of crystals had been draped from the rafters, and the light reflected rainbows across the white linen tablecloths. Around each table, chairs covered in white with large bows and red roses in the back awaited their guests. The buffet table was decorated in the same flowers and candles, but there was an area to the right with a large white curtain hanging from the ceiling, just at the edge of the parquet dance floor. A small string ensemble was playing classical music beside it.

As Tom and Maeve entered, everyone clapped and cheered. Maeve felt like a princess, and Tom was her knight in shining armor. Maeve then realized everyone was dressed in white except Tom. Then she noticed two large gold-toned chairs and a table in the front facing the other tables.

“Oh my, Tom,” she said, perplexed, “What is all this?”

“Honey, you always do everything you can for everyone.” Tom turned to her and said, “so this year for Christmas, we want you to have everything done for you.”

“This is overwhelming,” Maeve whispered.

“Just enjoy, my dear,” Tom whispered against her ear.

“Say the prayer over the food, Dad, so we can get this feast underway,” Arthur yelled.

“Yay, Dad, let’s roll,” William added as everyone snickered.

“Okay, okay,” Tom answered. He led Maeve to her seat which he pulled out for her to sit. Then he began his prayer.

“Dear Heavenly Father, we come before You on this beautiful night and ask that Your Spirit be with us. We ask for strength from our food, Your Word for our spirit, and this meal for our bodies, and that no part shall bring us harm. We seek Your wisdom and thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who died to give us life more abundantly. We thank You for the anointing of Christ and the grace and mercy offered for all those who believe. In Jesus’s name, we pray, amen.”

Dinner turned out to be a five-course catered meal, not barbecue, from a local chef who was the son of one of Tom’s buddies in the Marines. Everyone went back for seconds, and the tiramisu was exquisite. There was no way this Christmas was going to get any better than it was at this very moment, Maeve thought.

Then, at the table in the far-right corner, a man stood and clanged his spoon against his water glass.

“Everyone! Listen up!” he yelled.

Maeve knew that voice. Pastor Mitchell.

The ensemble halted their rendition of Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet, and the hall grew silent.

“This Christmas Eve,” Pastor Mitchell began, “we have had the pleasure of being in the presence of one of the most loving, caring, most beautiful souls ever placed on this earth, Mrs. Maeve Boulier. Better known as Aunt Maeve.”

Everyone began to clap.

“Maeve is one who even keeps the pastor in line,” Pastor Mitchell continued.

Laughter filled the room, and people shook their heads in agreement.

“Now, that is not a bad thing,” he exclaimed, “I just wish I realized I was wrong before she got a hold of me!”

The crowd rolled with laughter again.

Clang, clang, clang went the spoon on the glass once more, and the crowd hushed again.

“But seriously folks, Maeve is a seeker of the Kingdom, and God is with her. I could go on with so many stories, but I want to remain faithful to what this evening is about. It’s about being with friends and family. It’s about breaking bread with those you love and who love you. It’s about the Spirit of God that brings so much love and peace during the holiday season. And we know that you must receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believe it, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

“But tonight, is even more special than Maeve knows. I was contacted by Gill, who was the main coordinator of this night, by the way.”

Applause filled the room again.

The pastor held up his hands again for quiet. “I was contacted by Gill,” Pastor Mitchell continued, “who said he had been speaking with the family about what would mean the most to Maeve. Each of them told me their mom would like her whole family to enter the Kingdom of God.

“Now, some of you all, and you know who you are”—he paused to look around the room which was followed by the giggling of the crowd—“have been sitting on the fence. While others broke the fence down and stepped on it.”

Laughter ejected, once more.

“I personally spoke to each of the family members, and tonight is a declaration of what each of them has agreed to. Each agrees that being in God’s family trumps any other thing they could ever hope or do on this earth.

“So, with each person’s declaration of faith confirmed by me, I would like to call those who agreed to be baptized tonight up, and we will get the real party started!”

Thunderous applause echoed across the hall as all those family members who had not yet been baptized stepped forward, and the large white curtain was dropped to reveal a baptismal.

Maeve gasped. She could not believe her eyes. All those mornings, sitting in the breakfast nook, praying not only for the salvation of her family but for their entrance into the Kingdom of God, was happening tonight, on Christmas Eve. A glorious event that could only be orchestrated by God!

One after another, Jacob, Mary, Bethany, John, and the twins, Alan and Alana—twenty-four in all—declared Jesus as Lord. Each one came to Tom and Maeve and hugged them before entering the baptismal. And, as you can imagine, there was not a dry eye in the house.