The Christmas Present: The Pocket Watch Chronicles Read online

  The tears that had been swimming in Maggie’s eyes slipped down her cheeks as she tightened her grip on Anita’s hand. “And I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for you to leave. But, Anita, the gifts you’ve given us have taken their toll.”

  A knock sounded at the door. Maggie frowned and swiped at the tears on her face. “Come in.”

  The door opened and an elderly woman in a black cloak entered.

  “Gertrude,” both Maggie and Anita said in unison.

  Maggie crossed the room and hugged the old woman.

  Gertrude smiled broadly. “Good morning, ladies. I trust you’ve had a blessed Christmas season?”

  “Blessed?” Anita smiled the crooked smile she was getting used to. “Yes, Gertrude, that describes it perfectly.” Anita sighed heavily. She was so very tired.

  Maggie smiled broadly. “Thank you, Gertrude. Thank you for everything.”

  “’Twas my pleasure, and I am so glad things went well.”

  “We were just talking about when Anita should go home. I hate to see her leave—”

  “But her time is up.”

  Maggie shook her head, frowning. “No. She arrived on Christmas Eve. It’s only been fourteen days.”

  Gertrude caressed Maggie’s cheek with her wrinkled hand. “Sadly, there is a different clock ticking. Agnes’s body is failing. She would have died on Christmas Eve or within a day or two had Anita, with her determination and stamina, not taken up residence. But this frail earthly shell has very little time left. The universe is unfolding as it should. Goodbyes must be said and Anita needs to say her word, while she can.”

  Maggie gasped and ran to the door. She called to someone in the hall. “Please, run get the Laird and Lady Davina. Quickly. Lady Agnes has taken a turn.” Then she came back to the bed. “Before anyone else gets here, Anita, thank you, it’s very little but it’s all I have. I love you.”

  “I love you too, sweet girl. Take care of your wonderful family. I’ll never forget you.” As soon as the words were out, she knew she only had energy for one more.

  Davina was there almost immediately. She went to the bedside, took Anita’s hand, and whispered, “Thank you, Anita. God be with you, always.”

  Logan burst into the room moments later, looking as if he had run flat out from where ever he’d been. He knelt by her bed and put his arms around her. “Grandmother, I love you.”

  With great effort, Anita raised her right hand enough to touch his cheek before whispering, “Flamingo.”

  ~ * ~

  Anita gasped and sat up. She was in her own bed, in her own time. She was able to move and the pain that she’d lived with for days was gone. She glanced at the clock. Although she wasn’t certain of the exact time she’d fallen asleep, she knew it had been just after midnight. It was still only minutes after twelve.

  Jim roused slightly from sleep. “Something wrong?”

  Anita wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. “No. Nothing’s wrong. I just had a dream. Go back to sleep.”

  He rolled over onto his side and in a moment was snoring loudly again.

  Anita smiled at him, climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. She shut the door and turned on the light.

  The light. A flip of a switch and the bathroom was brilliantly illuminated. Light bouncing off all of the chrome and porcelain fixtures.

  And the toilet. Oh you beautiful toilet. Two weeks of being unable to control her bodily functions—and even when she could a chamber pot being the only convenience available—made modern plumbing seem nothing short of luxurious.

  She laughed aloud as she turned to look at her own reflection in the mirror. So much had happened to her it hardly seemed possible that it didn’t show. She felt a bit like she expected Ebenezer Scrooge had felt after his remarkable night with the ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. It was nearly impossible to believe almost no time had passed and it was still only the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve.

  It had been the most extraordinary experience of her life but as she knew it would, her heart already ached for Maggie and the rest of the Carrs. “But they lived hundreds of years ago. Even the children, Evan, Malina, Elasaid, Edward and little Maretta, have now grown old and returned to dust,” she told her reflection. No. She refused to think of it that way. What had Maggie said? Time is not linear. That means time can loop on itself. They are simply elsewhere. And for that matter, sixteen-year-old Magdalena Mitchell was tucked snuggly in her bed in New Jersey, a wonderful Christmas ahead of her with her parents and sister.

  “And you have a wonderful Christmas ahead too,” she told herself, smiling wryly as she remembered what she’d told Gertrude in the mall. “If being alone on Christmas Eve is a gift, where do I return it?”

  Gertrude had indeed fixed Christmas by adjusting Anita’s perspective on things. Time with her children and grandchildren was priceless, no matter when they arrived.

  Anita returned to bed. With her heart and mind so full of all she had experienced, she was certain she’d never fall asleep. But to the contrary, she drifted off quickly.

  Chapter 7

  Thursday, December 24, 2008

  Nona Bay, Florida

  Normally Anita was only vaguely aware of Jim’s alarm going off as it did every morning at six. She usually slept until seven-thirty or eight after that before starting her day. But this morning her mind was on the Carrs and even as tired as she felt, she had trouble going back to sleep after it went off and Jim had dressed and left for the day. It was still hard to believe she had experienced all of that in the space of seconds last night. Then her thoughts turned to Maggie—how Anita wished she could reach out to the girl. But Maggie had been right, the Maggie she became doesn’t exist yet and wouldn’t if Anita did anything to interfere. Her heart ached to know the pain and loss that was in store for the girl. But as Maggie had said, attempting to change even the smallest thing could make the entire situation worse and those few hard years were a small price for the life she’d gained.

  Eventually Anita must have dozed off because she woke to Jim nudging her. She was immediately awake. “What’s wrong? What time is it? Did something happen at work?”

  “Everything is fine. I’m not working today.”

  “Yesterday, on the phone, you said you had to work today.”

  “No, I said, if we didn’t get things sorted we’d have to work late today. But, we stayed a little later yesterday so we could get to a stopping point. I gave the whole crew the day off today. We don’t start up again until Monday.”

  “Wow. That’s great.” There had been many years—years when the kids were small and there was loads still to do—when having Jim home all day on Christmas Eve would have been a life-saver. “But wait a minute, you got up and left. Where did you go?”

  “I had a few errands to run.”

  She smiled. He was famous for waiting until the last minute to get Christmas presents. “You went shopping at six-thirty? I guess that’s one way to beat the crowds. Still, there can’t have been much open.”

  “The stores I needed were open this morning.”

  “So are you finished? Or do you have shopping still?”

  “I don’t have shopping, but I do have plans for the day.”

  “That’s okay. Everything is pretty much done here so go do what you’ve planned. I guess I’ll make the crab soup, then watch Christmas movies and crochet.”

  “No can do. My plans involve you.”

  “They do?” She sat up in bed, waiting to hear them.

  He smirked. “Yeah they do.”

  “Are you going to tell me what they are?”

  “Not yet. Breakfast first.”

  “Okay, I’ll make eggs.”

  “No you won’t. I picked up fresh squeezed orange juice, bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon this morning.”

  Anita smiled. “That’s nice.” Jim loved bagels and salmon. It wasn’t her absolute favorite but she liked it well enough too.

  H
e grinned. “I got strawberry cream cheese too.”

  “Now that sounds perfect.”

  When they’d eaten the bagels and Jim sat finishing his coffee, Anita stood, leaned down and kissed him. “Thanks for the orange juice and bagels, honey, they were a really nice surprise.” She carried the dirty dishes to the sink.

  He waggled his eyebrows. “That’s only the start.”

  “So what’s next on your agenda?”

  “Go put on a bathing suit.”

  “Why?”

  “The weather is supposed to be great today. We’re going to the beach.”

  Anita was flabbergasted. “The beach? You don’t like the beach.”

  “That’s not true. I don’t like sitting on the beach for hours doing nothing. But I like walking on the beach with you, and I like fishing while you relax on the beach and read. It’s been a while since we’ve taken the boat out. I thought we’d go to Cayo Costa for the day.”

  “You’re kidding.” Cayo Costa was an island state park only accessible by boat and it was one of Anita’s favorite places. But even though they lived on a canal with access to the Gulf, their boat spent much more time on the lift than it did in the water. They always seemed too busy.

  “I’m not kidding. The weather is perfect. I picked up subs, snacks and drinks from Publix and I’ve already stashed them in the cooler, on board. The towels, chairs, umbrella and fishing rods are all taken care of too. All you have to do is put on a swimsuit, grab a hat and get on the boat.”

  “Okay. I just need to get back in time to make the crab soup before we go to Mass.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “But we always have crab soup and snacks after Mass on Christmas Eve.”

  “We haven’t always.”

  “Of course we have, it’s our tradition.”

  He stood, crossed the kitchen and took her hands in his. “Anita, it has not always been our tradition. When your parents were still alive, before we had kids, even before we were married, we went out to dinner with them on Christmas Eve and then went to the late Mass. But when Jack was a toddler we stopped that. We went to the earlier Mass and then back to your parents’ for dinner. Then, after a few years, you thought fixing both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner was too much for your mom. She still wanted to have everyone in for Christmas Day, so we started having them over to our house on Christmas Eve. I think the first time you fixed crab soup was when Katy was three or four. Both kids loved it and Jack asked for it again the next year. That’s how it became a tradition.”

  “Okay, it hasn’t always been a tradition, but it has been for the last twenty-three years or so. And you love crab soup.”

  “I know. But things are different this year. The fact is the way we’ve celebrated Christmas has changed as our lives have. Even in the last twenty-three years.” He winked at her. “Since we’ve had crab soup every Christmas Eve, subtle things have changed along the way. The kids grew up and we added a nice wine to dinner. We lost your mom and started having both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at our house. We lost your dad and it was no longer three generations. Then Jack and Erica had Lucy and it was three generations again.” He smiled. “And Santa started visiting again, only he sounded much more like me than your dad.”

  She laughed.

  He moved closer, gathering her in his arms. “The constant hasn’t been the food we served or the things we did on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t the presence of your parents, our children or our grandchildren. The tradition, the only tradition that we’ve had since before we were married, was that we spend Christmas together. You and me. Each step of the way since before our marriage, through good times and bad, we have had each other and we still do. We had thirty Christmas Eves with both of our children and we may have more. But now we need to turn back to each other, where we started. We are the constant in all of this and will be for years to come, God willing. And even when the inevitable happens, we still hold so much of each other in our hearts that we’ll never truly be parted.”

  She nestled her head against his chest as tears slipped down her cheeks. He was right. Life evolved, but they had each other through it all. “I love you, Jim.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I love you too.” After a moment, he took a step back and she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  He grinned. “Now, let’s go start new traditions.”

  ~ * ~

  It had been a spectacular day. The temperature reached the low eighties, the humidity was low and the sky was deep cerulean blue from horizon to horizon. A few puffy clouds appeared in the early afternoon. When the breeze picked up and it became a little cloudier later in the afternoon, they packed up and went home.

  After they’d put everything away and the boat was on the lift and had been hosed down, Anita glanced at her watch. “We’ve missed Christmas Eve Mass at our parish. I’ll look and see who has a later one.”

  “Nope. We have dinner reservations at six-thirty. You have just enough time to shower and change.”

  “Dinner reservations too?” It was rarely Jim’s idea to eat out, especially not during the snow-bird season when everything was crowded.

  “I thought it might be nice. After dinner we can come home, put our feet up, have a drink and maybe watch a movie…or something.”

  “Are you planning to go to a midnight Mass somewhere?”

  “Nope. I plan to be in bed by midnight. I thought we could have a leisurely breakfast in the morning, go to the last Mass and then make a pot of crab soup when we get home.”

  “Crab soup for Christmas dinner?

  “Why not? I’ve been thinking about it. Jack and Erica’s flight is due in at four. With getting luggage and all, it’ll be nearly five before we get home. The kids will be tired. Let’s just treat it like we used to do Christmas Eve—a light supper, an elf gift for the kids and an early night. We can leave presents and roast beef until the next day. That way Katy will be sure to be here.”

  Anita was flabbergasted. He had every detail planned. “How long have you been thinking about this? Ever since Jack said they wouldn’t be here until Christmas Day?”

  He chuckled and pulled her into a hug. “No, baby. When I called yesterday it was just to ask if you wanted me to go straight to the airport to pick Katy up, or if you wanted me to swing by and get you first. But I knew you were really upset about it, so I made a command decision. I told you I was working late, then as soon as I was off the phone, I told the crew. There were a few grumbles until I told them we could all have Christmas Eve off if we just worked a few more hours into the evening. I didn’t want you to be alone today.”

  “And that’s when you decided to do all this?”

  “Does that sound like me?”

  “No.”

  He laughed. “Smart girl. I forgot to turn my alarm off last night. When it went off, I decided to get up and go get bagels. Then on my way back from the bagel shop, I was driving past Publix and remembered how much fun it was to take a picnic out on the boat, so I stopped to get subs. It was strictly a plan by the seat of my pants day.”

  “When did you make the dinner reservations?”

  “When you were changing into your swimsuit.”

  “And the idea of pushing things out a day? Crab soup tomorrow and Christmas dinner the next day?”

  “Well, I’ll admit, I had that idea weeks ago. But I figured I’d wait until Katy was here to propose it.”

  They went to their favorite Italian restaurant for dinner and it was as wonderful as ever. When they got home after dinner, Anita turned the tree lights on and lit some candles while Jim busied himself in the kitchen.

  Anita called, “What movie do you want to watch?”

  “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. I like it. I was probably fifteen or sixteen when it first came out and I thought I was too old for it. So I think the first time I actually watched was when Jack was little.”

  “Oka
y. We have the DVD here somewhere. She found it and put it into the player.

  He walked into the family room with highball glasses filled with a brown liquid.

  “What’s in the glasses?”

  “Another new tradition. Instead of hot spiced cider or perked punch, drinks that we’ve always made in spite of the warm weather, I just invented a latitude-appropriate Christmas beverage. I’m going to call it Florida spiced cider. I sweetened fresh cider with caramel sauce and added a dash of orange juice.”

  “Where does the spice come in?”

  “That would be the healthy shot of spiced rum.” He kissed her and handed her one of the drinks.

  Anita laughed. “Sounds delicious.”

  They curled up together on the couch and she pushed “play” on the remote. “I don’t think I’ve watched this in years.”

  “Honey, I think the kids watch it every Christmas Eve.”

  “I know it’s been on. I just don’t think I’ve taken the time to sit down and watch it in ages.”

  “That’s because you were too busy making crab soup.”

  Anita frowned. He wasn’t being critical, but it was true. Part of her “traditional Christmas Eve” was the flurry of work she did to prepare everything. She didn’t usually sit down and relax until after the dishes were done and she was usually exhausted by the time she fell into bed. It was the good kind of exhaustion. The kind one feels when they’ve accomplished a great deal and are both happy and proud of the results. But still, it was exhaustion.

  She thought about the medieval celebrations with the Carrs. Of course a tremendous amount of work had been required to prepare for them. She suspected that had Lady Agnes not been infirm, she too would have bustled around a bit, doing what she could. It was only because of the stroke that Anita, as Lady Agnes, could simply rest and take it all in. Maggie and Davina had intentionally taken time away from the work, to make memories. It was only in stopping and absorbing everything going on around them that they could make memories. Maybe that was why many of Anita’s memories, the things she thought were the important traditions were things she did for the family instead of with the family. But it wasn’t baking cookies or making crab soup or putting Christmas dinner on the table that had been the important part of their traditions. Looking back now, she realized her strongest, dearest memories were of the time she spent with her family. The date on the calendar really didn’t matter. They would have many more wonderful times together.