ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON, TEENAGERS SWARMED THE sidewalks and blocked crosswalks in downtown Deerford.
As James drove through town on his way home, he realized this was the last day of school before the holiday break. It looked as though the entire student population had decided to go shopping. Or more likely, hang out with their buddies.
As was the town’s tradition, garlands of faux holly spanned Main Street, with huge wreaths in the center. Painted store windows displayed Christmas themes, from Santa Claus and elves to Nativity scenes and trumpeting angels.
James smiled, remembering how he and Fern had brought the boys downtown when they were young to admire the decorations. They strolled along the sidewalk, admiring the window decorations and listening to Christmas carols piped outside by many of the merchants.
Christmas was a season made for youngsters to enjoy. When they became teenagers, some of the excitement faded. Or his boys tried to make it seem that they were totally nonchalant about the whole thing.
He pulled into the driveway and parked in the garage. The one thing missing this season was snow. It had been a month since any had fallen. Just one of those years that’s dryer than normal, he supposed.
Inside he found Gideon slumped in the recliner in the family room, Sapphire, their silvery-gray Maine coon cat, in his lap.
James shrugged out of his jacket. “You’re home early.”
Gideon grunted in response.
“Where’s your mother?”
“Taking a nap.”
James nodded in understanding, although he needn’t have bothered. Gideon’s attention appeared fixated on the dark TV screen.
“How ‘bout Nelson?”
Gideon shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Apparently Gideon was in a noncommunicative mood.
After hanging up his jacket in the closet, James returned to the family room. Gideon hadn’t budged an inch. Nor had Sapphire. Something seemed off. From Gideon’s glum expression, it looked as though he’d just been told he’d have to repeat his entire junior year of high school.
“Is something wrong?” James asked.
Gideon exhaled a sigh that sounded like the last breath of a dying man. “Jenni dumped me.”
Stunned by the news, James took a seat on the couch and studied his son for a moment. Leaning forward, James rested his arms on his thighs. No wonder Gideon looked so down. It’s tough for a guy to weather being dumped by a girl.
“What happened?”
Another noncommittal shrug.
“Did you two have a fight?”
“No.”
“Did you upset her in some way?”
“It wasn’t my fault, Dad. She met me at my locker after school and told me that she didn’t want to go out with me anymore.” With the heels of his hands, he rubbed his eyes.
“Did she tell you why?”
“She said she wanted to date other guys. That I’d be gone for four years at the Naval Academy, hardly ever home, and she didn’t want to sit around watching TV every Saturday night while everybody else was out having fun.”
Ouch! “She’s known all along that you had your heart set on Annapolis. In fact, I thought she was excited about it. Why did she break it off now? It’s another year and a half before you’ll be going to the academy.”
Gideon ran his hand over Sapphire and scratched her between the ears. “Tad Bishop asked her out.” He mumbled the words as though he had a bad taste in his mouth.
Frowning, James asked, “Who’s Tad Bishop?”
“Only the biggest jock in school. Captain of the basketball team. Star receiver in football. And he’s getting a full-ride baseball scholarship to the U of Illinois.”
Tough competition. “Since Jenni is hoping to go to Wheaton College, that means he’d be a lot closer to her than you would be in Maryland. Right?”
“Yeah.” Dumping the cat from his lap, Gideon got up and paced across the room. His old green sweater had stretched out and hung loosely on him. “It isn’t fair, Dad. It just isn’t fair!”
“I know, Son. Not much about love—or war—is really fair.” James had a girl break it off with him in high school. It hadn’t bothered him much. He knew he wasn’t ready for a permanent commitment, and she seemed to want that. So no heartbreak for him.
“I mean, I was going to take her to the movies tonight, buy her popcorn and everything. I even bought her a necklace for Christmas. But Tad invited her to some dumb ol’ party, and she said she’d go with him. So she up and dumped me and broke our date.”
Sympathizing with his son’s problem, James leaned back on the couch. “I have to say I’m surprised Jenni would do that to you. But look at it this way: Maybe she’ll find out Tad isn’t all that good a catch after all. In a day or two she may call you up full of apologies and ask to get back together with you.”
Gideon seemed to brighten at the thought. “You think so?”
“I don’t know. It could happen.” Or not. James wouldn’t want to make any promises about what a young woman would or wouldn’t do. Despite twenty-plus years of marriage, Fern could still surprise him.
Having been patient as long as she could, Sapphire jumped back up on the recliner. She circled the seat twice and then curled herself into a ball.
“Maybe that’s what will happen.” Gideon tucked his fingertips in his pockets. “Tad’s had a lot of girlfriends. Maybe he’ll decide Jenni isn’t so great and he won’t ask her out again. She’d come back to me then, wouldn’t she?”
“No way of telling for sure. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. You might want to hang onto the receipt for that necklace, though, in case you decide to return it.”
A scowl furrowed Gideon’s brow again.
James got up to give his son a hug and a pat on the back. A guy’s first love was always a tough one to handle if the relationship went south. He was pretty confident Gideon would survive the blow, but it might take a while for him to recover.
And he’d probably never forget it.
James went into the bedroom to check on Fern. He found her on the bed, the quilt pulled lightly over her. She was awake.
“Hi, honey, I thought I heard you talking to Gideon,” she said.
Bending over, he gave her a kiss. “Yep. Poor guy is bummed out. Jenni broke up with him.”
“What?” Fern rose up on one elbow.
James sat down beside Fern and briefly told her what had happened.
“My goodness. That doesn’t sound like Jenni at all. She’s such a nice girl. And she has a lovely family. I simply can’t imagine—”
“Neither, apparently, can Gideon. He’s hoping she’ll come to her senses and come back to him. I’m not so sure.”
“Neither am I.” Fern put her head back on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. “Being separated the better part of four years while he’s at Annapolis would put a strain on any relationship. Maybe she’s right to break it off now rather that drag things out for years and then have it end badly.”
Fern’s reaction surprised James. “You would have waited four years for me, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course I would have.” She stroked his cheek with her hand. “I was head over heels, helplessly in love with you the moment I met you.”
A quick grin lifted his lips. “The feeling was mutual, Mrs. Bell. Definitely mutual.”
He covered her hand with his and they shared a quiet moment, looking into each other’s eyes, remembering the years they’d had together and being grateful for every moment the Lord had given them.
Saturday afternoon, Elena stepped back from the Christmas tree she and Cesar had purchased that morning and inhaled the evergreen scent. The fresh smell swept through the room; and when she closed her eyes, she could imagine standing in a forest glade. Christmas music playing on the stereo supplied the sound track that could have been sung by birds in the treetops.
How wonderful it was to feel healthy again, with only an occasional zing reminding her of the surgery. Best of all, she had the threat of cancer well behind her, free to feel fully alive.
Cesar set up the tree in front of the living room windows. Rafael helped him string the lights, including the bubble lights, electric candles from the 1950s. Like so many things in her house, she loved the retro feel of her Christmas decorations.
Cesar’s job completed, he left to help a friend work on his transmission.
Now the ladies took over—she, Izzy, and Sarah, who’d come by to help. They would hang the ornaments, many of which had been handed down to Elena through her family or she’d picked them up at the Once Upon a Time store in Deerford.
Selecting a glass ball from the box of ornaments, Elena studied the best place to start.
Rafael sat on the couch, his legs stretched out, ready to supervise the action.
Elena pointed to a wooden ornament in the box for Izzy to hang. “Seems to me we are at least a week later than usual getting the tree up this year.”
“For pretty good reason,” Rafael said. “There have been just a few more important things going on, Mama.”
Elena gave a rueful grin. “True, true. I’ll be glad to get a vacation. Although I still have some shopping to do. I need a new pair of wool slacks and your dad needs some new clothes too. And I’ll need a new carry-on bag. Our old one has all but fallen apart.”
“Sounds like your trip will cost you a lot more than the airline tickets,” Rafael commented.
“I’m sure your parents think it will be worth every penny they spend.” Sarah hung a porcelain ballerina at eye level.
“Mommy, are you going to sleep in daddy’s bed when you stay here with me?” Izzy asked.
Rafael made a choking sound, and Sarah’s cheeks bloomed a bright pink.
When Elena turned toward her son, she caught a surprising gleam in his eyes and an amused smile on his lips. Oh dear…
“I think Sarah would be more comfortable staying in my room,” Elena said. “There’s more room in the closet for her things.”
Keeping her face averted, Sarah continued hanging ornaments on the tree.
“Mommy could sleep in my room. I’ve got a closet.”
“But your bed is too small for two people,” Elena pointed out.
“Then I could sleep with her in your big bed. Dorie and Bearbear would like to sleep with her too.”
Elena smiled. “We’ll let your mommy decide where you’ll sleep while she’s here. She’ll need her rest because she’ll have to go to work every morning while you’re at school. So you do whatever she says is best.”
“I can sleep real quiet. I wouldn’t wake her up.”
Elena knew that wasn’t entirely true. Some mornings she found Izzy sound asleep at the foot of her bed, the covers all in a jumble. And if she had a stuffy nose, Izzy’s snoring could be heard all over the house.
Sarah knelt beside her daughter and stroked her child’s dark hair, so unlike her own blonde coloring. “Why don’t we see how we both feel when I come over to stay?”
Izzy seemed moderately satisfied with that decision.
On the couch, however, Rafael’s expression appeared thoughtful, and he scratched his chin. Perhaps the idea of Sarah sleeping in the same house where he usually slept had some appeal.
It certainly seemed the ideal arrangement for Izzy’s child care.