The garden center thrived that summer of 2012, and by fall, Donald’s Cabbage Patch was overflowing with the harvest of apples, peaches, pears, pumpkins, squash, and gourds. There were bales of hay and stacks of cornstalks outside in the yard, along with all the trees and shrubs that so many people plant in the fall.
Donald had worked with an electrician to wire ghosts and witches to suddenly pop up or fly overhead in the building. There were candied apples, caramel corn, and sweet cider for all the kids, young and old. The greenhouse was filled with chrysanthemums of every size and popular shade, and the entire area smelled of cinnamon and apples and hay, all wrapped up to define autumn.
At the beginning of September, Donald started his hourly drawings for either a bag of apples or a large pumpkin every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The season flowed into Thanksgiving and then Christmas and all the things that went with it. The selection of Christmas trees began right after Thanksgiving. The entire outdoor area where they were stored was decorated with lights, garlands, and bows. A five–foot, laughing Santa greeted you at the door of the store. Inside the building, there were ornaments, lights, garlands, mistletoe, candles, wreaths, and more. The greenhouse held poinsettias of all colors, primarily red and burgundy, plus four tables of Christmas cactus and two tables of amaryllis. The hourly give–away on the weekend was a poinsettia. At the end of the day each Wednesday and Saturday, beginning the day before Thanksgiving until the second Saturday of December, there was a drawing for a six–foot Christmas tree, for which the customer did not need to be present. Each Tuesday and Friday, there was a drawing for a wreath. There again, the customer did not need to be present. The winner’s name was drawn from a big glass bowl, into which the customers has dropped little cards bearing their names and phone numbers.
By December 23, Donald and his employees were exhausted, and he closed the store until March. At the end of that day, when the outside lights were turned off and they were officially closed, he handed each of his twenty–two employees an envelope containing their paycheck and a bonus and wished them each a Merry Christmas. Each of his original fifteen employees received a $100 bonus; each of the seven part–time employees he had hired for the holidays received $50 and a poinsettia. Then he asked his original employees to remain as the rest happily went home to enjoy the holidays, knowing their part–time work was over for now. Many would be back in April.
Since Donald had asked his original fifteen employees to stay, they all wondered if this had something to do with their jobs. As his crew gathered around, his eyes misted and he said, “I want to thank all of you for the great job you’ve done to help make Donald’s Cabbage Patch such a success. You’ve done a terrific job, and your loyalty has been priceless. When you leave tonight, you may each take two poinsettias, and please divide the Christmas cactus and amaryllis that are left among yourselves. They make good gifts. I think there are probably twenty or so of each left, out of the hundreds we sold. I want you to know you’re expected to be back to work on January 2 for clean–up and inventory. You will all be off the month of February and then come back in March to stock the store with new inventory. We’ll open again in April.
“As of January 2, I’m raising your salaries $5 a day. If business continues to thrive as it has, and you keep giving me your full support, I intend to make this business a profit–sharing corporation—which means it will be up to you to make it the best darned garden center around. I still have a very large debt I’m responsible for, but if we continue to prosper as we have this past season, it will just be a few years down the road before I can make the profit–sharing possible. In the meantime, I hope to show you my appreciation as best I can. But we’ll talk more about that when we come to that place in the road.
“Right now, I’m going to ask you to volunteer to help me deliver the poinsettias and leftover Christmas trees to the three nursing homes in the area. I’ve spoken to the administrators, and they’re quite happy to give each one of their residents a plant, and they were quite open to decorating another tree. Every one of them told me there was always an extra room or corner of the building for a Christmas tree. I’m donating the lights and garlands for three trees. There aren’t many trees left out there, but I think that out of the fifteen or so left, we’ll find three good ones. Now, I know you’re all tired, but who will help me do this job tomorrow?”
There were fifteen volunteers.
The job was completed by 2:00 the following afternoon, and they all went to Froggy’s with a great sense of holiday spirit. They’d all had their share of smiles and hugs of appreciation for the day. Everyone knew they’d made many people happy that day as they’d walked into their rooms to give them a poinsettia, a hug, or a pat on the hand. The words “Merry Christmas” had special meaning that day. The pizza and beer—Donald’s treat—tasted especially good. As they prepared to part, Donald handed each of them another $100 gift card, and there were hugs, kisses, and many wishes for a Merry Christmas all over again.
Donald felt quite blessed with the overwhelming success of his new business. He had made a large investment in his store, and with the help of his bookkeeper, he had not only managed to keep his head above water; he’d made a tidy salary for himself as well. He planned to invest everything beyond that back into the business, and as soon as possible, pay back the loan that had gotten him started. That’s why he felt so good about sharing his success with those who had helped and encouraged him. He would continue to do so.
Christmas was especially wonderful that year, if quite hectic. Once the annual volunteers’ party was over and the endowment for the nursery had been upped to $50,000, it was time to get ready for some real partying. Someone was having a party every day of the week, beginning with the Christmas Eve gathering of the Carter and Murphy clans at Grandma Murphy’s house. It was her turn that year, and the first year Jim and Pat had been home since they’d married in 2010. Now the rest of the Murray family, Frank and Laura, had joined the clan. This was also the time when everyone was going to meet Hank’s family, so the Childers family became part of the clan. Grandma Carter and Grandma Murphy had lost track of how many families had been incorporated into their original two families.
The house was packed on that wonderful Christmas Eve. Nancy and Michael Childers couldn’t get over the fact that they now had that many new adopted relatives. Their mom had no family at all, and their dad’s family consisted of Great Aunt Martha, his unmarried older sister, Uncle Tony, his older brother, Tony’s wife, Aunt Margie, and cousins Rachel and Tom. In this house there were grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great–grandchildren, and little baby Jack.
Everyone brought a covered dish, and the dining room table was covered with mouthwatering food. Desserts of all kinds were on the sideboard, and the beverages were in the kitchen. There was a pile of gifts under the tree, and the pile grew larger every time another family walked in. The younger ones kept circling the tree, trying to check out their own personal stashes, so that when the time came for Great–Grandpa Murphy to put on his Santa hat, they would know exactly where to sit. All the adults remembered when that had been their experience of Christmas, because all the gifts under the tree were for the children. Nostalgia ran rampant that night. After all the planning, decorating, shopping, gift–wrapping, and cooking for that one occasion, it all became worth it just seeing the look of wonderment in a child’s eyes. This was the day a child looked forward to all year.
Once that hat went on Great–Grandpa Murphy’s balding head, it was a signal that the time for running around was to cease. People came up from the basement, out of the kitchen, and down from upstairs. The kids gathered in the family room around the tree while the adults fit in wherever they could. The house became hushed as Great–Grandpa Murphy announced his first recipient: “Freddie Parker,” Aunt Julia’s grandson.
As the names got called one by one, each child received one gift. Then all hell broke loose. There was no way Grandpa Santa could handle this mountain of gifts alone, so parents and grandparents helped. The room became a sea of torn paper and discarded ribbons, and as the paper went flying, there were constant oohs and aahs, “I love it,” “Just what I wanted,” “I hope it fits,” and an occasional “I hope I don’t have to take it back.” There was an abundance of hugging and kissing, and all over the room, there were bunches of thank you’s to and from everyone for all those wonderful gifts.
The best fun of all this particular year was when Aunt Madeline started throwing styrofoam snowballs. She came in the room carrying a huge shopping bag full of them and caught everyone by surprise when she threw the first one. The younger ones caught on quickly and began pitching them right back. It didn’t take long for everyone to join in, and for a good fifteen minutes, the adults reverted back to childhood and joined the melee. It was all–out war at the Murphy house, and very quickly, everyone seemed to polarize into two groups.
When everyone had exhausted themselves with laughter and had fallen back into a chair, Jim Murray said, “Hey, Aunt Maddy, I know they don’t call you Aunt Mad for nothing, and I understand how much you enjoy pulling your little jokes on people, but where in heck did you get these snowballs? I want to buy some.”
Aunt Madeline was known for her crazy antics, and this one couldn’t have been better, but she looked at Jim quite seriously and said, “Walmart.”
It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day, the Childers and Murray families celebrated at Dan and Maureen’s house. And so it went. Every day, someone had a dinner or a gathering, and on New Year’s Eve, everyone gathered once again, this time at Grandma Carter’s house. It was her turn for the traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner and charades.
Michael and Nancy Childers said they didn’t know families could have so much fun, and they were sure glad they were part of it. They liked their other relatives well enough, but their family had always been so small that they had never before experienced the closeness of such a large crowd. Michael had been quite pleased to meet and spend so much time with a couple of really cute cousins who kept him occupied. Nancy spent a lot of time talking to cousin Colin. He was now an intern at the Cleveland Clinic, and she was picking his brain for all the information she could glean concerning the steps she should take to become a doctor. That was her goal. The two of them hit it off very well.
Colin was Aunt Maddie’s oldest son, but you would never guess he came from her loins. He had always been a very nice but quite serious cousin. It made Fran feel good to see how much pleasure Hank got out of watching his brother and sister during the Christmas season and observing how easily they seemed to blend in. His parents found it all quite wonderful that their son had married into such a large family. Grace told Fran later that she was so happy that Hank had married her.
Little Jack had been Fran’s joy and the center of her whole holiday season. She found it hard to believe that on March 15, he would be two years old. He had always been such a chubby, squeezable little baby, and she was so surprised to see how he had thinned out and was actually on the tall side for his age. He didn’t look like Jim. He looked like Pat with his thick head of dark hair and big blue eyes. Jim and Pat doted on him, but that didn’t mean he would be their only one. They both wanted a brood of kids. “As many as God wants to give us,” Pat said. And it sure looked like Little Jack was going to have a little sister in April.
Fran couldn’t be happier for Pat, but oh, how she wished that she could be expecting a child of her own. After consulting three different doctors, they all agreed. “Your fallopian tubes never developed sufficiently for the eggs from the ovaries to pass through to receive the sperm. That’s to put it in simple layman’s terms.” And she grieved. She and Hank desperately wanted children, but it seemed that was not to be. They began discussing adoption.
New Year’s Day 2013 was a day for reflecting and making resolutions. The parties were all over. Fran had taken the three Murrays to the airport at 6:00 that morning. They were now on their way back to Dallas, and she was now back home and on her second cup of coffee. Hank was still sleeping, and as she sat there sipping her coffee, the only sound she could hear was the ticking of the clock in the hall.
This was the fifth New Year she had celebrated in this apartment, and so many changes had taken place since that first New Year’s Day. The pond and the ducks had been there from the beginning. Those ducks had been instrumental in helping her through a very dark period of her life. They had helped her get her own ducks in a row.
Then there was the man who had asked her to go fishing. Oh, how she had come to love him! And that love continued to grow deeper with time. Buying the property was a big step, but having Hank’s family move in was even a bigger one. All had turned out for the best.
Then the property had begun to change. First came the tennis courts, then the hot tub, and then the pool the following year. The place was beginning to look like a resort. There was no golf course, however—at least not yet. She had heard Hank talking to Michael about the possibility of some kind of short–holes, and this led her to think that there really was enough room for a short–holes course. She decided she wouldn’t encourage that idea.
Fran’s thoughts turned to Michael and Nancy. They were young and vibrant and had become everyone else’s focus these days. They were the reason the property had changed so much. Maureen still doted on Nancy and was proud she was doing so well at school. Michael loved the girls and tennis, in that order, and he was also doing well at school. Dan was still thrilled to have a guy to discuss sports with and to accompany him to the games. Having Hank’s family move into the big house had been one of the best things they had done together.
Fran took the last sip of cold coffee, stood up, and stretched. I think I’ll go crawl into bed with Hank, she said to herself.
Fran got a call from Pat on the first of April. The doctor had said to go home and pack a bag, because she was due any day. Fran called and booked three seats on the first flight available to Dallas/Fort Worth, walked over to the big house to ask Grace to take over her scheduling at the nursery, packed a bag, and drove to her parents’ house. They were on their way within the hour. Hank had left for Schenectady two days earlier; she would talk to him that night.
Ken and Phil were there to meet the Carters as they deplaned.
“Where’s Jim?” Fran asked anxiously. “Don’t tell me she already had the baby! Oh my gosh, Phil, is everything all right?”
Maureen spoke quietly, “Calm down, Fran. Of course everything is all right. Isn’t it, Ken?”
“Well, how about a big Texas ‘howdy’ to y’all, and yes, everything is just fine. Jim and Pat were getting ready to leave for the hospital and asked us to come meet you and give you a heads–up. You might just as well go on to the hospital from here.” He grinned and said, “I believe y’all know where that is.”
“Only too well,” Dan laughed. He shook both men’s hands. “Good to see you two. It’s nice that Pat and Jim have such good friends to meet us like this. So, you think we should just head over to the hospital, huh?”
Ken nodded. “I think that would be the best idea. No telling how long this is going to take.”
“But what about Little Jack?” Fran asked.
“Julia Simko is with Jack for now,” Phil answered. “She’s been taking care of him quite a bit lately. These past couple of months have been pretty hard on Pat,” he added.
Maureen asked, “Will you two be going with us?”
Phil smiled. “Wish we could be there. We can’t wait to be uncles again, but they won’t let us in. Remember last time. We aren’t family. Anyway, we have to wait for the Murrays. They’re flying in on Midway. Their flight will be here in an hour, so we’re just going to hang around and wait for them. But hey, if you get any news after you get to the hospital, give us a call, would you please?”
The three Carters walked into the birthing room just minutes before Jamie Marie weighed in at eight pounds, three ounces.
The celebrating at the Murray villa began that evening. Fran could not put Little Jack down. Of course Uncles Ken and Phil were there. Then Uncle Bo showed up as soon as Jim called the office. With the Carter and Murray parents, Ken and Phil, plus Fran and Bo, they certainly didn’t need Jim’s permission to play pinochle. He had stayed with Pat at the hospital after everyone else had oohed and cooed and left for the villa. After Fran put Little Jack to bed, she and Bo became partners. Maureen had ordered KFC chicken and the works, and when Jim got home, they ate and continued to play odd man out.
Two days later, Pat came home, and Fran couldn’t wait to wrap her arms around that wonderful bundle of sweet–smelling baby. She was a mother hen, with Jack hugging her knee as she held little Jamie on her lap, caressing her tiny fingers and toes as though it was some kind of miracle that they were all there.
Fran helped Pat with the baby every day. Maureen and Laura could hold her as much as they pleased, but it was Fran who saw to her bath and other needs. She talked to Hank that first evening to tell him all about Jamie, and he told her he would be flying in the following Sunday. They had been asked to be godparents at Jamie’s baptism and so, because he hadn’t seen Jim since he had moved to Dallas, he wanted to spend at least a week with him and Pat. Fran couldn’t wait to see him.
In the meantime, Bo didn’t show up every day as he had when Fran had been vacationing there. He told her he knew Pat was going to need some peace and quiet. He stopped by twice that week to see the baby, and he and Fran went to Charley’s for pizza and beer. Their relationship was still a very comfortable one, and Fran had to admit he was still the best dance partner she’d ever had. They talked a great deal, mostly about his love life—which, as he explained, was just okay. He told her that her advice to him had been great. He was quite selective now, but so far, no takers. He said he’d actually thought that Wanda was the one for him, but when he realized that he could never move to Silver Springs and she wouldn’t think of moving to Dallas, he knew their relationship would never get off the ground. They parted as friends, and he was glad to have met her.
That following Sunday, when Fran drove to the airport to meet Hank, she was as excited as a teenager. This would be the first time they would be together in Dallas. When he walked down the ramp with that smile on his face and put his arms around her, it was as though there wasn’t another soul in the world. She was safe, she was loved, and life was perfect.
Hank was surprised when Fran pulled up to a Hampton Inn not two miles from Pat and Jim’s villa.
“What’s this, honey? I’m not welcome at the Murrays’?”
“Well, of course you are, my darling husband, but I’ve been sleeping on a cot in Little Jack’s room, and I don’t think you would fit. Mom and Dad have been bunking at Ken and Phil’s place. Frank and Laura are at Jim’s, and baby Jamie is in a bassinette in Jim and Pat’s room. So I chose to move out and spend my nights with the man I love. And speaking of that…”
As soon as they were in their room, Fran started to disrobe, and Hank was just a few seconds behind.
Hank was given a royal welcome by everyone, but especially Jim. Hank made a big fuss over little Jamie. “Darned if she doesn’t look like you, Jim. That’s a terrible legacy to give to a beautiful baby like this.” Everyone laughed at his oxymoron. He was quite familiar with Little Jack, and Jack demanded a great deal of his attention, because he knew his Uncle Hank loved getting down on the floor to play with him.
Hank wasn’t quite as good with the new baby, though. Terrified would be a better word to describe him. He seemed to feel she would break if he held her. He did try holding her once, and it became quite obvious to everyone watching that he couldn’t handle the little bundle.
That second week flew by quickly, and Sunday and the baptism were upon them. Hank and Fran, who had already eaten breakfast, arrived to find Julia Simko fixing everyone, including Ken and Phil, a good breakfast. As they ate, Fran bathed Jamie and dressed her in the beautiful white baptismal gown Little Jack had worn. Jack came in to watch, wearing his breakfast all over his face. The baby was kicking and cooing and Jack asked if he could hold her on his lap. Fran gave him a hug and said, “Of course you can hold her as soon as I shine you up as squeaky clean as she is.” She stood him in the tub and quickly washed him all over and dressed him in a white shirt and the most adorable navy blue suit with full–length legs and red bow tie. She squeezed him and said, “Oh, my goodness! Why don’t we go out and show everyone what a handsome young man you are?”
When Jack ran into the breakfast room to show everyone his new suit, Jim looked at him, and for a moment it looked like he was going to cry. He picked him up, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and looked around the room.
“Remember when I asked everyone to stop calling him Jackie? Well, now I’m going to ask you to stop calling him Little Jack. From now on, he’s just Jack.” He gave his son a hug, put him down, and said, “Love your tie, Jack.”
It was time for everyone else to get dressed, and when the group gathered in the lanai, it was obvious they had all dressed up in their best bibs and tuckers for this solemn occasion.
Ken said, “I noticed some pretty dark clouds out there on my way over.” No sooner had he said those words than a thunderclap rocked the house. Rain came down in torrents, and the group was driven inside.
Pat began to fret. “I can’t take a baby out in this weather. She’ll get drenched.”
“Pat, settle down,” Jim said. “You’re going to get in the car in the garage. The rain will probably be over by the time we get to the church, and if it isn’t, we’ll use an umbrella to get you inside.” He looked around at everyone and said, “How about the rest of you. You okay?”
Phil said, “Well, we don’t have an umbrella to get back home.”
“I can just drive you over. How about you, Dan and Maureen? Anything you need from their house before we get going?”
And so it went, until the entire group knew exactly what they were doing—maybe.
When they got to Saint John’s, the rain had not abated. Fortunately, there was a canopy over the side entrance by the parking lot. Mother, baby, and little brother in the long pants were dry as a bone. The three drivers were just a little damp.
That’s when baby Jamie began to cry. It was a quiet kind of whimper in the beginning. Unfortunately, it got louder as the service progressed. The church was fairly well filled, considering the weather, and Fran finally took Jamie out and walked the hall with her, shooshing her and patting her back. The baby wanted her bottle, and Fran found a bench to sit while she fed her. After the burping was over, Jamie started all over, only this time, the crying was almost a howl.
Soon the parishioners started to trail out of the church. The rain had finally stopped. Fran took the baby to the baptismal font, where two other families had gathered. Their babies were as placid as the sunny weather outside. Pastor Franklin joined the group and began the ceremony as Fran patted and jostled a bawling baby.
About ten minutes before the baptismal rites were over, Hank couldn’t stand seeing his darling Fran exhausting herself with a screeching baby. He reached over and took Jamie out of Fran’s arms and held her close to his shoulder so he wouldn’t drop her. Within seconds, the baby became quiet and fell asleep. Pastor Franklin congratulated all the godparents, reminding them of the responsibility they had taken on for the welfare of the children’s Christian upbringing. Then he said, “If that’s the child I’ve heard crying for the past hour, I congratulate you, young man, for being able to silence her so quickly.”
“Maybe it’s your aftershave she likes,” the godmother next to him said. “I’ve been standing next to you smelling it all this while, and I gotta say, I think you’ve found a secret weapon there.”
The parents, godparents, and observing relatives all laughed.
Hank continued to hold sleeping Jamie until Pat got in the car.
By the time they reached the villa, Julia Simko had prepared the dining room table for a wonderful catered dinner of roast chicken and everything that went with it. Jonathon Roberts and crew had control of the entire kitchen, but that didn’t stop Jim from getting out and mixing drinks while one of Jonathon’s girls set out some finger food. This was the first time Pat had been out, and she was exhausted. She felt she needed a nap before dinner, which would be served in an hour.
Fran changed little Jamie and put her in her bassinette. She was still sound asleep. Jack would be taking a nap right after dinner. For now, he was playing with his toy cars. Fran tried to get him to change his clothes, but he said he wanted to keep his suit on until after. He didn’t specify after what.
Dinner was fabulous, the wine was heady, and the tiramisu was out of this world. Now everyone wanted to take a little nap. Jim held Pat in his arms and kissed her. He knew that as much as she wanted him, he needed to wait. This pregnancy had been extremely hard on her. He knew the wait would be worth it.
Hank and Fran went back to the Hampton Inn to change into jeans and light shirts, pack for their flight tomorrow, make love, and take a quick nap.
By the time they got back to the villa, things were jumping. There was a poker game going on in the lanai. Bo had just preceded them by minutes and was asking about the baptism. He couldn’t attend because a friend had driven in from Waco and he had to entertain him for the weekend. Little Jamie was definitely waiting for her bottle, Jack was pounding on his peg board, and Julia Simko seemed to be in charge of both children.
Pat was always beautiful, but her face was wan and she seemed to lack energy. As soon as Bo and Hank appeared, she got up and went to lie down on a sofa and watch TV. It was obvious she was not the old Pat. Both sets of parents had noticed how tired she looked and decided to fly back home with Fran and Hank. They all agreed she needed less company and confusion. Julia would move in with them for the next month and take charge of the children. Little Jamie and Julia would sleep in the room Frank and Laura had been using. Fran knew they were all doing the right thing by leaving. Julia was great with Jack and very capable of taking care of little Jamie.
Around 6:00 that evening, Maureen got out all the leftovers, and the first thing she did was make a pot of corn chowder, using the creamed corn from dinner. She made chicken sandwiches, sliced and fried the roasted potatoes, and sliced some tomatoes and lettuce for the sandwiches. She had found two graham cracker crusts in the pantry. She lined the bottoms with sliced bananas and covered them with cooked vanilla pudding, topping both pies with Cool Whip. By 7:00, supper was ready, and that was the end of the poker game.
The rest of the evening was spent walking down memory lane. Of course the name Jimbo came up a number of times in that conversation. The fact that Fran and Hank liked to talk to ducks was another tidbit. Bo had a great story about the trip they had made to the botanical garden. He remembered that Dan had kept calling the foxglove hollyhocks, and at the end of that day, they had seen the most beautiful sunset while they were eating. He said it was one of his favorite memories, because the entire day had been filled with good friends and beauty.
Maureen had many stories to tell about Pat and Fran when they were little, and when Frank told the story of why and how little Jimmy Murray had learned to ride his first set of wheels, he had everyone in stitches. Of course, Jim said the story was grossly exaggerated. No one cared; it was good just the way he told it. There was no mention of Ken and Phil’s horrible incident, or the one when Jim was shot. Those were in the trash bin of memories—too much baggage to carry, as Jim was heard to say. The evening ended early and on a happy note. Everyone was tired and had to get ready for the morning’s departure.