© 2024 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

All Aboard Andi's Dream

Chapter 14

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

"We're still here!" called Paul cheerfully as he stood at the lectern to read the announcements at church. "We're a little banged up, but we're here. Welcome to December!" He looked at the congregation and grinned. "Who was here for Christmas Eve last year? Wasn't that cool?" Last year, Paul and Andi's wedding was held as part of the Christmas Eve candlelight ceremony. A hand was risen in the congregation and Paul said, "Yes Pastor Jarecki?"

"I know to which it is that you are dragging your feet in referring," said John as his wife Macy covered her face and his sister-in-law Andi joined Macy in hiding her face. Paul and John were doing their Damon Runyon thing again.

"The point to which you are trying to make dear brother," said Paul. "Will we come to it before nightfall?"

"I believe that this subject which you bring up should be conducted as church business," said John.

"A wise and salient point dear brother. Would you recommend a short congregational meeting of the impromptu variety?" asked Paul.

"That I would!" said John.

Their assault on the English language generally brought chuckles from the congregation, and after this autumn, they needed some joy in their lives. Paul saw the church secretary sitting three rows back and said, "Kathy are you ready to take notes?"

"Yes, I am. You told me I needed to." Which brought more laughter.

"Then that being said, we meet the charter requirements, and I call this meeting to order." He rapped his knuckles on the lectern and the entire congregation went "Awww!" as Sandy and Madeline raced up to Paul and wrapped their arms around his legs. As used to the twins that the congregation is, the twins still know how to pour on the cute for the crowd. He scooped up Madeline and said, "What is wrong love bug?"

"Bug-bug!" said Sandy as she still held Paul's legs.

"Aunty Lucy is lonely," pouted Madeline.

"Did you try to cheer her up?"

"She wants to marry Uncle Gus."

"Like momma and I did last year?"

Madeline nodded and Sandy called out, "She still has her dress!"

"That is the request that is brought to you, friends. Would you mind if we tailgate the marriage of Gus Didomissio and Lucy Kocis on the end of our Christmas Eve candlelight service for a few minutes and borrow you the congregation, and our pastor for a quick wedding ceremony?"

The congregation murmured a bit until John called out, "We need this in the form of a motion."

"So moved!" called out Kenny Johnson.

"Second!" called out Ernie Kraft, a local farmer and longtime trustee on the board.

Paul fell into his board chairman rhythm. "It's been moved and seconded and now open for discussion. Is there any discussion?"

"We like Gus better than you," called an anonymous voice.

"Thank you dear brother, any other discussion?"

"Will you pay the usual usage fee and pay the pastor his fee?" called out Marty Kraft, Ernie's wife and church treasurer.

"Yes, I will, I'll have the check for you after the service today," said Gus.

"Then it is fine by me," said Marty.

"Any other discussion?" called out Paul.

"I know Doctor Kocis," called Bud Chance, "Isn't she Jewish?"

"I baptized her a couple of days ago," said Macy.

"Any more questions?" asked Paul.

"Will they be able to complete the pre-marriage classes with the pastor and his wife?" asked Kathy Hansen.

"The classes are already complete," said John.

"Call the question!" called out the sound man Larry Snow, another trustee on the board.

"The question has been called," announced Paul, "All of the requirements needed to marry in the Springville Congregational Church have been met, the question is to allow August Didomissio and Evangeline Kocis to wed here at Springville Congregational Church, on December 24th, at the end of the candlelight ceremony, and use Pastor John Jarecki as officiant. All in favor please signify by saying aye."

"Aye!" called out the congregation.

"All opposed please signify so by saying aye."

Silence.

"Motion carried" there actually was a smattering of applause.

"Evangeline?" muttered Lucy. "I'm going to kill him."

After church, John and Macy greeted the members of the congregation by the exit as they left. Paul and Andi were nearby dressing the twins for the cold outside and making sure that Danny was wrapped up warm. Lucy stormed up to Paul and snarled, "Evangeline?"

"What's the problem, we had to get your real name into the church record," said Paul.

"I hate that name. You have no idea what it's like to be called 'Neon Genesis' your whole life."

"My bullies didn't have an imagination, they just called me Polack. You probably understand that too."

"You're six foot fourteen! Who was dumb enough to bully you?" said Lucy.

"Everyone. I was three grades ahead and was the smallest, youngest member of my class for my entire life until I enlisted. I got my bachelor's degree and puberty at the same time." Paul put his hands on her shoulders and said. "You will not get anything like that here. Evangeline is beautiful, even angelic, like you."

"We have to get going dear," said Andi.

"Ok," said Paul, then he turned to Lucy, "If you want to continue this, I'll have to hire you so you can come with." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Be good to my brother Gus." And they left.

"Where are they going?" Lucy asked Gus.

"Oh, Paul is off on one of his business trips. He's opening a new place in Portsmouth New Hampshire," said Gus.

"He wants to make it a supercar lot, like the Mile Strip Road location," said Macy.

"Andi and the kids are going to meet us for dinner at Giardino's," said John. "Why don't you guys join us?"

"It's been a while since I was there," said Lucy.

Forty minutes later, Paul drove the family van on to the Buffalo International Airport, but he went through the back entrance to the private Prior Aviation terminal. Min Zhong Sun was there waiting for him. Paul had decided that this was her trial by fire. If she was able to bring their new property, Linwood Ford, into the fold smoothly, she would be the new Chief Operating Officer of Jarecki Motors. Andi got out of the van and gave Min a quick hug under an overcast sky. "Can I see the babies before we go?" asked Min.

"If you can get Paul away from them," said Andi. In the Van, Paul was in the back saying his goodbyes to Sandy, Madeline, and Danny (AKA Little Josh). "You have to get going, honey!"

Paul gave each child a quick kiss, grabbed his briefcase and suitcase, and climbed out, allowing Min to climb in. "You two be good for your momma," said Min.

"Poppa already told us that."

"Then I'll just say, Duì māmā hǎo yīdiǎn. Ok?"

The twins looked at her in shock. What did she say? They kicked their legs in their car seats and finally said, "Ok."

Then Min turned to Danny and said "Zuò gè hǎo háizi," (Be a good boy) and she touched his nose which cause him to show an early attempt at a smile. Then she backed out of the van and closed the door.

A young man came up to Paul and took his briefcase and suitcase and said, "We'll be boarding in a few minutes Doctor."

"Thank you." Then with a last kiss to Andi he said, "What do you have planned for today?"

"Besides touching myself when I think of you?" she grinned. She was still recovering from childbirth and her gynecologist told her to hold off until New Years, which was not going to happen. "We are going over to Giardinos for lunch, then singing practice at Macy's house tonight. Then I have to do some knitting, I'm making you something for Christmas."

"I'm going to make you something for Christmas too," said Paul as they kissed again.

"What? What are you going to make me?"

Paul kissed her neck, then licked her earlobe, sending thrills through her body. "Rich," he whispered.

"It is time doctor," said Min softly. With one more kiss, Paul and Andi said their goodbyes, and he turned, waved to the kids in the van, then walked out on the ramp to get on the small jet, a Cessna Citation CJ4.

Andi returned to the van and adjusted the seat and when she finally got it right, she saw the small jet taxi out toward the main runway. She didn't move; she knew deep down in her heart that the little jet wouldn't be able to take off without her urging it into the sky with her heart. She knew that there wouldn't be any problems with the flight; she hasn't had any warning dreams about that. What comes after may not be fun for Paul and Min, however. She didn't know any details; she just had a feeling.

"Look girls, here comes Daddy's airplane!" She had moved the van in the parking area and unbuckled the twins so the girls could watch the plane take off.

"Is that poppa's plane?" squeaked Madeline.

"It's so little!" said Sandy.

"Aunt Melony used to fly faster planes," said Madeline.

"Aunt Melony?" asked Andi. Paul's first wife's name was Melony, and she was an F-15 pilot, but she died almost a decade before the twins were born. "Did poppa tell you about Aunt Melony?"

"Uh uh," said Sandy, shaking her head No. "She says he's sad to talk about her."

"Who told you that?" demanded Andi.

"Mother!" exclaimed Madeline with a huff. Then she and Sandy ran to the back of the van and crawled into their seats. Andi crawled back and latched them into their seats, but they refused to talk about Aunt Melony anymore. This wasn't the first time they did that. Often they'll come up with something off the wall like Aunt Melony, then they'll stop and refuse to talk about it, and when their prediction comes to pass, they deny ever saying anything about it. Last year, they were practically singing about Aunty Lacy's wedding, and now it's happening, but back then she had just met Gus. Lately, they've been talking about their cousin Katarina's big brother.

"He's dirty," Sandy had said.

"He talks baby-talk like Aunt Macy," insisted Madeline. To the twins, French is baby-talk.

Andi turned and checked on Danny. He saw his mommy and broke into a proto smile and kicked his little feet under his blanket. "A smile! You had a smile for mommy!" gushed Andi. She was so worried because he wasn't smiling and that could be a sign of developmental issues.

Soon they pulled into Giardino's Family Restaurant just up Genesee Street from the airport. "There she is!" cried Mama Giardino. "There's the angel that brought my Paulie's smile back!" Mama escorted Andi back to the reserved table with the energy of a woman of a quarter of her years. There were John and Macy, Gus and Lucy, and a surprise, Kenny Johnson.

"If Kenny's here, then Yi can't be far," said Andi, as she lifted Sandy into a highchair.

"She's in the kitchen trying to figure out Paul's sauce recipe," said Kenny.

"Ok, you two be good for Aunt Macy, I'm going to go change your brother," said Andi as she lifted a fussy Danny out of his carrier and headed off to the bathroom to wash and change him.

Sandy was worked up for some reason. "Aunt Macy, is Cholly here yet?"

"Who is Cholly dear?" asked Macy.

"Kitty Kat's big brother!" said Madeline. Kitty Kat was the nickname the twins had given to their cousin Katarina.

"Won't Katarina be Cholly's big sister when he gets here?" asked Lucy. As for Macy, she has decided that at her age, any more children will be a miracle.

"You're so silly," said Sandy, and that was the end of any mention of Cholly.

When Andi got back, Mama was telling everyone stories of when Paul was young. Since she didn't meet Paul until he was eleven, her stories included a young John who followed his big brother around like a puppy, or, as she put it, cucciolo, which caused Gus to roar with laughter. "He never knew why we called him cucciolo."

"I eventually figured it out," said John, to defend himself.

Lunch was served family style, large bowls of spaghetti, ravioli, and platters of lasagna and chicken parmesan were set out on the big table, along with baskets of bread and bowls of salad. The twins were starving and hadn't eaten at Giardino's in weeks and were ready for the spaghetti. After saying grace, both Sandy and Madeline put their hands in the air and Andi pulled their t-shirts off of them. Eating Spaghetti with tiny unskilled hands is an arduous task and messes happen.

Kenny leaned over and asked Yi what was going on. She just said, "Oh you're going to enjoy this show. It will probably affect any decisions you've made on child rearing." Yi helped Andi put the bibs on and put a plate of spaghetti and ravioli in front of the twins and the ravenous tykes dug in. No matter how much face wiping Andi and Yi applied, the twins were covered in sauce in moments.

"You know," said Gus, "If you get more of the sauce in your mouth it tastes better." Both girls looked at him like he's crazy. "What are these two going to grow up to be?" Gus wondered.

"I pity their future boyfriends," said Macy.

"They need to camp," said Madeline.

Sandy's eyes grew round when Madeline said that. "Hunting!"

"What about fishing?" asked Gus.

Sandy looked at him like he was crazy. "Fish are yucky."

"Fish are fun," insisted Madeline.

"Yucky!"

"Fun!"

"Yucky!"

"Fun!"

"Enough!" demanded Andi and Yi at the same time. Once they had the twins calmed down, the discussion turned to the wedding. Lucy wasn't excited about it at first but as the days grew slowly closer and they completed the pre-marriage classes with John and Macy, she couldn't wait.

"My favorite Man Hater is getting married," said Andi.

"I never hated men," said Lucy. "I just never had a use for one."

"What about Kevin?" asked Andi.

"He was gay," said Lucy. "We were buddies. He's now living in Utah with a lumberjack."

"There are just some things you can't unhear," said Gus to John.

"Truth," said John and they fist bumped.

"Stop," snarled Lucy. "Kevin was very helpful when I had my accident."

"I'm not making fun of Kevin," said Gus. "It's just that the part about the lumberjack sounded funny."

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Jarecki Motors was celebrating the opening of their 15th location, this one in beautiful Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The CEO and potential C.O.O. were heading there for the grand opening. The beautiful Cessna Citation CJ4 was a little rocket as it sailed east over New York. The Empire State was blanketed in snow and was utterly beautiful. Paul sat facing the rear. Across the little table from him was Min. They both had their laptops open, and they were working up a list of questions to ask the current manager Adrien Lannon. The cabin attendant brought them a light lunch as they worked. She bent over and said to Paul, "It would be fine with the captain if you would like to sit down in the cockpit and take a look."

"No thank you. I don't want to get any nearer to the cockpit than I already am. Now if you'll excuse me..." and he got up and headed back to the washroom.

"I've never had that reaction before," said the flight attendant.

"His wife was a pilot," said Min. "She died. He hates flying."

"Oh," said the attendant, and she couldn't formulate the rest of the sentence that came to mind.

Soon Paul returned, and he and Min got back to work. It was almost like getting ready to judge a beauty pageant. Everything depends on asking the right questions. Finally, Paul slapped his laptop closed. "If these gomers screw up the wedding..."

"I didn't know you were getting married," said Min. "I suppose with three kids it would be the right thing to do."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. No, my best friend is getting married on Christmas eve to my wife's best friend. I'm supposed to stand up for him." Paul took notice of the surrounding things to play with. He even loaded the plane's app on his phone and played with the interior lighting and looked at the map of their location. Then he looked at the aircraft's mechanical status on the app and said, "Damn! We're pressurized to sea level."

"Yes, that's why Macy, Mrs. Jarecki, and I insisted on this flight." Min looked concerned. "Mrs. Jarecki said you had lung issues."

"Yes, thank you for reminding me. I have an oxygen concentrator for flying and I forgot to pack it."

"Mrs. Jarecki hid it."

"Her name is Andi," said Paul. "Say it, Andi."

"Andi. There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," said Paul as he turned all interior lighting red.

"You act like you've never been on a corporate jet before," said Min.

"I haven't," said Paul. "I usually fly economy. If we were married we'd take Amtrak."

Beautiful Min looked confused. "Why would you take a train if we were married?"

""Sleeper cars," he said but she looked confused. "I suppose they don't have sleeper cars in Singapore, do they?" said Paul as he watched the snow covered ground draw closer.

Min took the train everywhere she went when she lived in Asia, but the term sleeper car was new. She knew Americans called the wooden supports between the rails 'ties' and the British called them 'sleepers.' It couldn't be that easy, could it? "What is a sleeper car Doctor Jarecki?" She noticed he pretended he didn't hear her. "What is a sleeper car Paul?" Paul only requires that she address him as doctor when there's a customer or potential customer in the area.

"Oh, that, it's a railroad car divided in compartments and depending on the compartment it can have seating from two to six. At night the porter will fold down the seats and convert them into beds."

"Oh," said Min softly, then the implication of what could happen in that compartment hit. "Oh!" she said, blushing.

"It's a lot of fun," said Paul as the plane touched down gently. "Melony and I took a sleeper compartment from Denver to Glenwood Springs one year. Some tunnels were so long you could get a full quicky done." He looked out the window as the airport eased past. "This place has changed a lot."

"I thought you said you never been to Portsmouth airport," said Min.

"I haven't. I was here when it was an Air Force Base."

"It has changed a lot, Doctor Jarecki," said one of the two flight attendants.

"I wonder if they still call the north ramp the Hockey Stick," said Paul. Soon they arrived at the commuter terminal and shut down. Paul and Min climbed off the jet into the blustery weather. It was a wet day filled with sleet and snow. The visibility was barely half of a mile and Paul looked around to see if there was anything he remembered from his TDY assignment here long ago. As the captain stepped off the plane, Paul turned and shook his gloved hand. "Great landing, thank you very much."

"Glad to be of service Doctor," said the captain. "Are you here for a medical conference?"

"No, I'm opening a car dealership."

The captain chuckled, then said, "You're serious?"

"I'm afraid so. My brother and I inherited a few dealerships from our dad, and I found I was better at extracting money from your wallet if I gave you a car in return."

"Now the captain laughed heartily as they walked into the terminal. "Jarecki motors, right?" asked the first officer.

"Yes, sir," said Paul.

"My brother and I would pedal our bikes to the Mile Strip Road location just to look at the hot cars."

"That's exactly what my dad wanted," said Paul. "He wanted people to come and look, especially the youngsters, because they'll be back eventually." He handed his phone to the first officer and said, "That's the showroom window at Mile Strip Road. Miss Sun set it up."

"Oh sweet! Porsche 911 and an Alpha Spider!" The picture showed the two cars sitting in front of a large Christmas tree surrounded by packages and wearing a huge red ribbon on each car.

"The Porsche is my wife's car, and the Alpha is my sister-in-law's car." He flipped to the next picture, which showed a pewter Mustang Mach 1 next to a tree dressed in Ford blue and white ornaments. "That's my baby."

"Sweet," said the captain. "I suppose owning a dealership..."

"No, the Porsche was my father-in-law's car, he left it to my wife when he died in Iraq. The Alpha was purchased new by my sister-in-law when she got her first big paycheck as a fashion model, and the Mustang has been my little girl for decades," said Paul. "Of course, owning the dealership insures maintenance is completed on time."

They walked through the terminal talking cars and when they reached the main entrance, they verified the return schedule, and the four members of the aircrew got in a hotel limo minivan and headed off to their hotel rooms. Paul and Andi waited in the snow for a while, then Paul said, "What time did you tell him we'd be here?"

Min looked at her phone, "I sent several messages to Adrian Lannon and said we would arrive at three PM and requested transportation for us and told them to be ready for a meeting with all department heads tomorrow at eleven AM." Adrian Lannon was currently the manager at the Portsmouth location.

Paul looked at his watch. It was three fifteen and there was no ride for them. "Let's go in and get coffee." There was a nice bistro inside where they got a table and ordered coffee, and Paul pulled out his laptop as did Min and they reviewed the numbers for this location and generated a list of questions for Adrian Lannon.

It was four PM when a fellow walked up to their table. "Paul? Paul Jarecki?"

"Doctor Jarecki," said Min coldly. "Are you Mister Lannon?"

"Sorry Doctor, I'm Dan Patch, your driver."

"Let's get going," said Paul. They got up and Paul slipped the waitress a fifty-dollar tip and said, "Merry Christmas!" and stepping outside, they found that the car waiting for them was the Jarecki Motors courtesy car, a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class sedan. It's a wonderful, beautiful four passenger car. Unfortunately, there were already two men in there, one sitting in front, one in back. With the driver that left one seat for Paul and Min.

The driver opened the rear door and said, "I will come back for Miss Min."

"Bullshit," Paul hissed. He turned to Min and said, "You know what to do."

"Yes doctor," she said and got into the car. Paul turned to the driver and said, "Drive."

"Sir, but..."

"Just drive, I'll probably beat you there." The driver shrugged and got in the car and they took off. Paul only had to wait a minute or two and a cab pulled up. "The Hilton Garden Suites at Hanover and Bridge street. Across from Jarecki motors."

"You got it."

"See that black and pewter Mercedes ahead of you?"

"Yes sir."

"There's a fifty in it for you if you beat him there."

"Yes sir!"

All the way to the hotel, Min peppered Adrian Lannon and his assistant Jack Freitas about the inventory, the maintenance facilities, the employees, the sales staff, the payroll, and by the time they got to the hotel, Min had a good idea of what they didn't want her to look at. Entering the hotel, they found Paul in the lobby, reading a copy of Railfan and Railroad Magazine. "I've been here long enough to read two articles," said Paul. "Slow and steady does not win the race. We will see you gentlemen tomorrow at eleven, all department heads will be there. Clear your calendars. And there will be a test."

"What if we have an issue on the sales floor..." started Lannon.

"That's why god gave you subordinates," snapped Paul. As the men turned to leave, Paul said, "I'll need the car."

"Pardon?"

"The courtesy car? Out front? Miss Min and I will be going to dinner later, I don't want to walk."

"But..."

"I'm not allowed to drive my own car?" asked Paul.

Lannon took the fob out of his pocket and detached a ring of keys, then tossed the fob to Paul. "See you tomorrow."

<><><><><>

Once Macy lit the desire to sing in Andi's soul and trained her voice a bit with Yi's help, Andi became an excellent singer, and their trio had a wonderful sound. The same thing happened with her knitting. Once she learned the basics of knitting, and learned to read a pattern, she became quite good at it. These weren't the skills she needed as a doctor, but her intellect and her ability to retain a lesson learned made her quite good at anything she wanted to do. Except cooking, but Andi doesn't want to cook.

Cooking brings back terrifying memories of being a single mom buried under student loan debt and hospital debt for her two little angels. She worked her ass off. Often, she pulled double shifts, and that didn't always put enough food on the table for herself and her little girls. She made sure they ate well, but she would have to make do with a potato and a glass of water. Now Yi cooks and Paul cooks and if need be, she can make a PB&J or hand out a pop tart.

Everyday Andi, Macy, and Yi would gather to practice, and their catalogue grew. They started with Cantique de Noël (Oh Holy Night) in French and branched into many other Christmas carols. Andi's stepfather Harold loved to listen to the girls sing and cared for Danny and Katarina while they sang. Quite often Josh gave them a hand. "Y'all are incredible!" he drawled as he helped them tune. He would have them sing and hold a note and he would listen and direct the girls to come up or drop down a touch to get all three singing exactly on key. "If we could get one more, y'all would make a right fine quartet," said Josh.

"We have what we have," said Andi. She was wondering what Josh was getting to. "Are you thinking Veronica?"

"Nah, she don't sing, she's a dancin' girl," said Josh, and that was true. Their neighbor Veronica borrowed Paul and Andi's library to practice dancing with her ballroom dancing coach Mitch. They were incredible and Andi couldn't wait to see them at the Andalon company holiday party. She's seen Veronica's white sequin dress, and it was spectacular. With Mitch in his U.S. Army dress uniform, they probably look incredible. In their practice, Mitch wore sweatpants, a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt and a pair of bedroom slippers. The twins normally sat on folding chairs waiting for Veronica and Mitch to start their practice so they could try to dance along with them.

Occasionally Josh would dance with Veronica, and he was becoming quite good, but this evening Yi and Andi were practicing at John and Macy's house and Josh was using the musical skills he's honed with the Barbershop Harmony Society to tune Macy, Andi, and Yi. "Y'all need a bass, and we can start putting some easy harmony in your music."

"Do you have a bass in mind?" asked Macy.

"No, not at all... and she's running late. Let's try B flat," he took a pitch pipe out and blew a B flat note. As the three sang the note, John answered the front door.

"I think our bass is here," said Josh as Julissa Tanaka walked in. As they greeted their friend from the corner bar, Josh continued. "Julissa is an alto, and she sings bass with the Orchard Park Sweet Adelines."

"What do we have here?" asked Julissa as she flipped through a loose-leaf binder with their music.

"Looks like we have us a quartet," said Josh. "Macy can sing any part and has a powerful voice, Yi is a natural born tenor, Andi can fit in a baritone, we just need you to build the foundation."

Julissa saw the piano and smiled. "Over here girls," she said, and she sat down at the piano. "Thank you Josh, but this is girl talk." She hit a few notes on the piano and said, "I'm going to take you to seventh heaven," and she began describing what is called the 'dominant seventh cord' but is known to Barbershop Harmony singers as the "barber shop seventh" or the "Meat and taters cord."

Josh joined John and Katarina in the basement where John had a nice study built. "Ah smell pipe tobacca," said Josh. "Ah shoulda brought my Missouri Meerschaum." A Missouri Meerschaum is a corn-cob pipe.

"Nope, sorry, not with Katarina here."

"This is where your sermons are made?"

"Mostly," said John. "I started writing them at the kitchen table and that's where I feel most comfortable writing."

"Why don't you put a kitchen table down here?"

"Nah... down here it would be a basement table. I need the kitchen and Macy around me. She's a pastor too, so she has a lot of input. I just can't write in peace and quiet... I'm most inspired when Katarina is wet and hungry, and Macy is moving around doing dishes or making dinner." Little Katarina was being fussy, and John couldn't get her to take her bottle. "Like now would be when my greatest inspirations hit."

"Here, gimme. Let me try," and John handed Katarina to Josh. "Come on my little milk-dud, ah could just eat you up." Katarina studied the large, bearded man with interest. To pass the time while Josh entertained her, she began nursing at the bottle he held. "I amuse kids," said Josh.

"We're ready for you Mister Maestro," Julissa called down the basement stairs.

"Let's make music," said Josh and he and John headed back upstairs. "You guys ready to make four part harmony the easy way?"

"I'm all about the easy way," said Yi.

"This is all a cappella," said Josh as he handed Katarina back to John. "Julie taught you about the barbershop seventh cord, Here's the only musical instrument you're going to use." He took out his pitch pipe and blew it and pointed at Macy. Macy sang the note perfectly. "Ok, now everyone sing it," they all sang the note, with Josh joining in. "Ok this time I'll help Yi, Julie, you help Andi and let's make harmony." He blew the pitch pipe and Macy sang a perfect note, then Josh sang in Yi's ear, giving her a note above that, and Julissa gave a note to Andi below Macy's note. When Andi had her note, Julissa came in with the base note and the four note cord rang.

Josh stepped in front of the girls and gestured for them to sing louder, and their eyes grew wide, and their smiles grew as they sang their one note together. The four notes created a fifth harmonic note, and they could hear it. It rang! When Josh gestured them to stop, he grinned and said, "There, you did it. You combined your voices to make a fifth voice. They ain't no popular music group capable of doin' that, and here you are in Macy's livin' room crushin' it!"

The women looked at each other in surprise. Even Julissa was a bit surprised. She didn't remember getting the 'fifth voice' the first time she sang in a group. Macy, who has always been a solo singer, was probably the most excited. She now had another realm in music to explore. "Now what?" she asked.

"Have any of y'all been to Coney Island?"

In 20 minutes, the girls were singing the 100-year-old Tin Pan Alley song "Goodbye My Coney Island Baby" in perfect four-part harmony, and their confidence soared.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Monday Morning, Adrien Lannon and his assistant Jack Freitas entered the dealership and found Paul Jarecki and their sales manager Isaac Mendes, both holding a scotch and telling stories.

"Ah, did we have a good sleep? It's almost the crack of noon, just in time for the meeting," said Paul. "Shall we?" and he set the glass that he took no sips out of on Isaac's desk, and they headed into the conference room where Min was typing away on her laptop. "This is nice!" said Paul as he looked at the dark woodwork of the meeting room. He ran his fingers across the well-stocked side bar and asked, "What is this, walnut?"

"Solid chestnut," said Adrian Lannon proudly.

Paul almost fired him on the spot. Chestnut is an extremely expensive exotic wood costing a dollar an inch for a 1" by 2" board, and the cost skyrockets for thicker boards. "He's oblivious," whispered Min without moving her lips.

Paul smiled, and they sat down at the beautiful twelve foot long red chestnut conference table. "This is truly a beautiful room, My brother is a carpenter, and he loves dark wood like this. He built a mantel piece shelf out of chestnut, it cost him almost five hundred dollars." He nudged the young fellow next to him and said, "Your customers must love this room. Right?"

"Uh this is for staff meetings only," said the nervous looking young man.

"Nah, we'll sell this embarrassing table, divide it up into to sub offices and our high rollers will be tripping over themselves to come in here and sign a contract. Right Adrian?"

"Uh yeah," Adrian was getting the idea something was wrong.

"Let's start with the heart of a Jarecki Motors location. Service." said Paul. "Service is the linchpin, the key stone of the Jarecki Motors success story, right Andy?" Paul looked around, and no one answered. "Andy Engler?" Still no answer, but folks were looking unhappy. Finally, Paul turned to Adrian. "All of your department heads are here, right?"

"Yes sir," said Adrien, terrified of what Paul was going to say next.

"My personal friend Andy isn't here. Isn't that odd?" Paul glared at Adrien. "Andrew Engler is your head of service, right? I hired him myself; he should be here. Did he take the day off?"

"I'm the head of service," said a fellow at the end of the table. He was resplendent in a $2,500 Canali Siena Suit.

"I'm sorry, we weren't introduced, you are?" and Paul got up to shake hands. As they shook hands, Paul noticed the manicured softness of his hands. He's never lifted a wrench in his life.

"Messias Rocha," said the man.

"Good to meet ya," said Paul with false pleasantness. "Does Andy Engler work here?"

"Yes sir," said Messias.

"Go get him for me." When Messias didn't move, Paul said, "Now." Messias sputtered and turned to Adrian Lannon. "Don't turn to him, I gave you the instruction. Now go or clean out your desk." When Messias dashed off, Paul turned to Adrian and asked, "Who is that? Your brother-in-law?"

"Doctor Jarecki, you can't come in here and treat my employees like..."

"They are Doctor Jarecki's employees," corrected Min as Paul reviewed the notes she took on the car ride over. "I personally interviewed Mister Engler at Doctor Jarecki's request, and Doctor Jarecki hired him to run this service department. Mister Engler is one of the best service managers in the Jarecki Motors family," she said.

As Andy stepped into the conference room, Paul stood and walked up to him and gave him a hug. Andy was wearing filthy coveralls; it was clear that he was busy working on a car or maybe two. As they patted each other on the back, Adrian's assistant Jack Freitas got up and poured a couple of drinks and set them down in front of Adrian and a few other men.

Paul sat down after greeting Andrew, the man he hired to run the service section here in the new Portsmouth location. "Messias, Andrew was doing a transmission swap on a Lexus, go finish it up for him please."

"I uh," Messias sputtered as Andrew sat down in his seat.

Paul said, "Messias, please, if you want to work here, you were put in the service section, what is your ASE certification?" Messias was unaware of what an ASE certification was, and his confusion made that clear. "Let's open our Jarecki motors handbooks," said Paul. "These were given to you three weeks ago. Min, could you read section one, paragraph three?"

"Any employee who performs any form of maintenance on a new, used, or customer's vehicle must have an Automotive Service Excellence certification. That is to include all maintenance, even items like fluid level checks, car washes, oil changes, tire changes or rotations. Additionally, all people filling management positions in the service section must have an ASE Master Certification."

"Thank you," said Paul. "Could you read section two, paragraph one."

"Intoxicating substances are not allowed in Jarecki Motors locations. This is to include beer and wine. Also prohibited are marijuana in any form and any other drug without a prescription."

"Gentlemen, we are in the business of selling very expensive cars to very powerful people," said Paul. "My customers come here expecting a good car and a straight story, not a half drunk frat boy posing as a salesman. This is not a fucking country club. I'm very good at this. I know what I'm doing, that's why I printed this handbook. Have any of you bothered to read it?"

Paul waited for an answer and then the young man to his left said, "I did."

"Good, you're my assistant. Come with me." As they rose to leave Paul said, "I'm going to leave Min Zhong Sun here, she has full authority to do what I want done, including hiring and firing. Andy, come join us."

As Paul, Andy, and a young, nervous looking intern left, Min sneered at the men looking at her. "I gave explicit instructions to pick us up at three o'clock yesterday. I gave specific instructions to arrange transportation for two. You sent transportation for one, an hour later than you were instructed." She turned to Adrian. "Because of your inability to follow simple instructions, Doctor Jarecki had to take a cab to our hotel. Explain that please."

"It was snowing, I can't control the weather," sputtered Adrian.

"The number of available seats in a car is determined by snowfall?" Min demanded.

"The traffic was horrible, accidents were everywhere," said Adrian, ignoring her barb. His response was a lie, but how would she know?

"Our flight crew had a hotel limo waiting for them, and they're right across the street from us," she said as she pointed out the door. "The same place Dr. Jarecki and I are staying." Their hotel was right across the street. She typed a bit on her laptop. "You consciously chose to let the CEO of this company, your boss, wait," she said as she continued typing. "On a lighter subject, Doctor Jarecki saw that the cars in the showroom window have new car window stickers... they're clearly for sale, is that right?"

"Of course," said Adrian. "I wanted to talk to Mister Jarecki about that silly rule about not putting cars for sail in the front windows. We put our best cars there so the public can see them."

Like many older car dealership buildings, the front showroom windows were actually rooms separate from the main showroom. "Good," said Min. "Good thinking." She closed up her laptop and smiled. "I want to take the Bugatti for a test drive." She stood and got her coat from the coat rack. "Are you coming with me?"

"It's going to take nearly an hour to get the car out of the window..." sputtered Adrien.

"And you didn't stop to consider that before you put the car in the window?" She stared at him with her coal black almond-shaped eyes. "I'm waiting for an answer."

"I don't answer to you!" said Adrien.

"If you weren't paying attention to Doctor Jarecki, let me repeat it for him, you do answer to me."

Adrien stood and said, "I'm going to talk to Mr. Jarecki." And he turned to storm off.

"Fine, go. But it's DOCTOR Jarecki." Even before he left, Min leaned back and turned to Adrien's assistant, Jack Freitas, and said. "You are now the general manager." Then turning to the sales manager, Isaac Mendes, she said, "have your hostlers take those cars out of the window and put your display vehicle in before close of business."

"We don't have display vehicles," said Isaac.

"Why not? You were budgeted quite a bit of money for that. I suggest you find something quick. Also, the holiday decorations do not appear to be up. There is a list of what kind of decorations Doctor Jarecki wants to see and a schedule of when he wants them to go up and come down. As sales manager you are in charge of the appearance of the showroom and expected to comply with that."

"We don't do holiday decorations, we never did in the past," said Isaac, but Min had moved past that. He was under the assumption that his job hinged on something as trivial as holiday decorations, and he was right.

"I see you're wearing the Team Honda racing jacket," said Min. "You realize that's reserved for salesmen that have sold a million dollars' worth of product and have joined the Millionaire's Club. It's in your handbook. This site hasn't sold a million dollars in total yet, but oddly you're wearing the jacket."

"You're not going to fire me for wearing the wrong jacket," said Isaac, maybe a bit too loudly.

"You're right," said Min. "I won't release you for wearing the wrong jacket. You will be released for fraud. For presenting yourself to our customers as something you're not, a million dollar salesman." When he looked shocked, she said. "We tell our customers what that jacket means, and the big purchasers look for it. It's in your handbook." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Gentlemen, that handbook is not junk mail. It is a formula for success. Doctor Jarecki has become very rich with this formula and so have many of his employees. You were given three weeks to study it. You were told that you were going to be tested on your knowledge of the material tomorrow at ten thirty AM."

Just then, Adrian Lannon walked past the conference room door with a box in his arms. There were several trophies sticking out of the box, along with papers, files, and framed certificates. It was abundantly clear that he was no longer an employee of Jarecki Motors. He was let go just a few weeks before Christmas and that wasn't lost on the men in the conference room. One of the people who had remained quiet in the conference room leaned back in his chair and said, "Can we assume our job is going to depend on our score on this test?"

"That is a safe assumption," said Min. "Gentlemen, we have cars to move, alcohol to remove, decorations to hang and customers to greet. I'm looking forward to seeing teamwork and I'm looking forward to proctoring your tests and grading them tomorrow at ten thirty."

The implication was clear; they were going to be given one hour to test to keep a job that many of them had been doing for a dozen years or more. A few men that left the conference room were smirking.

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Veronica von Köster and her dancing coach, Mitch Rollins, spun around the library of Paul and Andi's house in complete silence. They were getting ready for Veronica's traditional dance at the Andalon Data Systems holiday party, coming up right after Christmas. Veronica's dance is the traditional opening to the dancing and carrying-on portion of the party. She used ballroom dancing as her talent in the talent portion of the Miss America pageant, and she's stayed close to her coach and trainer ever since. Mitch was a Major in the NY National Guard and married to a very jealous man, Frank Rollins. Frank was watching Mitch and Veronica closely, making sure he saw no evidence of enjoyment on Mitch's part.

As they danced, Andi's twins sat on the side of the sprung dance floor and watched. They were home from school and were babysitting their little brother Danny and little cousin Katarina while Andi and Macy continued to knit their Christmas presents. The babies were in their carriers and asleep and they completely missed Sandi and Madeline's lecture on how to set up a Barbie dream house properly. While Andi and Macy sat on the living room couch knitting, and the twins were fascinated by Veronica and Mitch's dancing. Every now and then Mitch and Veronica would stop, then count to four over and over, then they'd dance again.

Now they were stopped and looking at each other and softly counting "One and two, three and four, one and two, three and four...". "Hippy hop!" gushed Sandy. As Mitch and Veronica danced a spirited polka around the silent dance floor, Sandy and Madeline got up and started bouncing in rhythm with the dancers. They were trying to show Danny and Katarina how to dance, but the babies were asleep and weren't interested.

Veronica and Mitch were wearing Bluetooth ear buds to hear the music they were dancing to. As they danced, Andi called out, "Make sure your toys are put up, Miss Veronica will be here soon to practice dancing."

"She's already here momma," said Madeline.

"Oh?" Veronica must have come in through the kitchen. Andi reasoned. She got up and stepped into the library to see Veronica and Mitch whirling around the silent dance floor. Nearby, Josh was standing to the side with Mitch's husband, Frank, watching intently. "What is going on?" asked Andi.

"Dancin' momma," said Sandy with a broad grin.

"But where is the music?"

"They don't need any!" chirped Madeline, as she bounced in rhythm with the dancers.

Josh pointed at the twins and said, "We're just tryin' to make the sound police happy, ma'am."

"Sound police?" asked Andi as she glared at the twins.

The girls put a finger to their lips and warned, "Shhh! Baby!"

"That's not for them, that's for you and your screaming and yelling and your Foofie The Dog music."

"I like Foofie the Dog!" insisted Sandy.

Veronica and Mitch paused and took out their earbuds and Veronica said, "The twins let us in."

"They were so worried about waking the babies that we broke out this multi listener earbud setup," said Mitch.

The whole thing looked freakish to Andi. "That's ok, you go ahead and use the stereo system here," said Andi.

"These two love music," said Macy. "Their lives are full of music."

"If they aren't, they will be," said Josh. "I'll bring something to help you girls tonight. Trust me," he added with a grin.

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Across the street from the new Jarecki Motors location sat the Hilton Garden Inn. In the hotel lounge sat Paul, Andy, and Paul's "Assistant" Josey Kersey. He had a degree in business management, and he was tightlipped about what has been going on at the dealership since before Paul took over. Inside the hotel lounge, the bar was decorated for Christmas and the only lights were from the tree and the candles on the tables. It made Paul eager to head home and spend the holiday with his family, but he had two more days left here in Portsmouth. He and Min have several TV interviews, but now he realized that after the test tomorrow he was going to have to replace many employees.

However, while Andy Engler and Paul were drinking ginger ale in highball glasses, Josey was nursing a Vodka Collins. Andrew complained bitterly about the management of the dealership. "Service is tight, the certified mechanics know their jobs, but Lannon dumped a few uncertified folks on us and demanded they do light automotive maintenance like acceptance inspections." Paul gritted his teeth; the sellers of Lakewood Ford knew what he was expecting, and uncertified mechanics wasn't it. Andrew continued, "We have them doing building maintenance and working in the parts department."

"I don't know where that Adrien Lannon came from," said Paul. "He wasn't part of the package."

"About a week before you took over," said Josey finally. "Linwood put Adrien in charge." Oliver Linwood was the previous owner of what is now Jarecki Motors. It was a Ford/Lincoln dealer that was on the edge of bankruptcy. Paul took it over and was converting it to ultra luxury imports and supercars.

Min sat down and looked frustrated. She's never seen such a collection of incompetent bunglers in her life. "If I didn't know better, I would say that this is a diversion, something to get us looking away from something they don't want us to see."

"What could they be hiding? They've been on the verge of bankruptcy for over eight years," said Paul, then he stopped. No dealership teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for more than a year. They either rebuild, expand, or they collapse and with luck get bought out like Paul bought out Linwood Ford and turned it into Jarecki Motors.

"Fuck if I know," said Andrew. "They get their cars off the ship, straight from the factory and turn them fast, they should be millionaires."

Paul thought about it for a long time. Cars aren't shipped to domestic markets via ship, and neither are imports. Imports arrive on a ship, go through customs, then are loaded on truck or train to some massive yard where they're doled out to the dealerships as needed. Why are there cars coming to this location on a ship? Then the truth appeared before him. "They found a hole in customs," gasped Paul. "Our border is in tatters, and they figured out how to slip cars into the states without having to go through customs." He was going to have to go to the port and check that out.

Then Paul considered the young mister Kersey. He just popped up on the employee list. Paul didn't see a W4 for this guy, nor did he see any documentation for his hiring. He just appeared in the employment role two weeks ago. Instead of asking if he was hired by Oliver Linwood or Adrien Lannon, he asked a more direct question. "Josey, are you FBI or DEA?"

Josey smiled and chuckled. He reached into his pocket and tossed a badge on the table. Paul looked at the badge and read the lettering. It said, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent. "It took you guys long enough," he said. "I thought I was going to have to wear an FBI T-shirt."

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At Didomissio Construction, Gus decorated the woodworking room with silver garland and hanging ornaments. Christmas carols played on the stereo and John had finally finished the last sanding on his project pieces and took them into the paint booth. "They look beautiful, John," said master carpenter Gus Didomissio. He looked in admiration at the four rocking chairs that hung from wire hooks waiting for their final coat of polyurethane.

Gus had a project that he had just completed that needed a spray of poly, except he was using gloss poly. He had finished a pair of small Santa Claus looking sleds. They were large enough for a baby and had a handle you could use to push the baby through the snow, or remove the handle and use it as a decoration. The sleds were stained red and decorated with gold pin striping. A cushion was made to fit inside and comfort the baby. He made one for Katarina and one for Danny.

John fired up the compressor, poured the carefully thinned Polyurethane into a spray gun's paint cup, then attached it to the gun. He pulled on his painting coverall and face mask, then carefully sprayed the chairs. A pair of chairs were stained a light color to match Andi's nursery and porch, and a pair were stained darker to match the woodwork in John's house.

That was the sixth coat, and John was right about putting that many coats on. Even though the finish was satin, there was a depth to the finish. He wanted these chairs to last forever.

"You could easily get four hundred dollars for one of those chairs. Maybe more," said Gus as he peeked into the paint booth now that the painting was done, and the baking lights came on.

"Considering all the time I put into them they're worth double that," said John. "You said I was crazy when I mentioned this project." John slipped off the painter's coverall and respirator.

"Well, you came in here with a few photographs and recreated a piece of American history," said Lucy as she poured Gus a cup of coffee from her thermos. John had brought in a few pictures of his great grandfather and in them was a big rocking chair that he and Paul played on as kids when they went to visit relatives in Gowanda, NY.

"Polish history," corrected John. "Grandpa Smolak brought his rocking chair and other furniture from Poznań when he emigrated in 1900." John had studied the photographs over and over and was able to draw up construction plans for a brand new chair of the same design.

"Newbie," said Gus. His relatives emigrated to America from Italy in 1897.

"Don't take that crap from him," said Lucy. "Us Polacks have to stick together."

"I thought Kocis was Hungarian," said John.

"It is, but my mother's maiden name was Witkowski" she said as she handed John a cup of coffee.

"That's as Polish as a pierogi from the Broadway Market," grinned Gus.

"I didn't know that" said John as he thanked her for the coffee. "We are having Wigilia, would you like to come?"

"You never ask that of a woman on her wedding night," said Lucy.

John stared at her blankly, then Gus said "Would, you, like, to...?" and suddenly John's eyes flew wide open. Wigilia is a Polish Christmas Eve feast, but John was going to be performing Gus and Lucy's wedding ceremony on Christmas Eve.

"I'm so sorry!" he gasped.

"Relax! Just teasing!" said Lucy as she patted his back.

"Same here," said John as he straightened up and grinned. "We're actually going to have it on Christmas day, rather than Christmas eve."

Lucy frowned. "There's a reason our families moved to America, and most of it was the food. I'm all for a vegetarian meal, but I can only take so much mushrooms and sauerkraut."

"Paul Americanizes the menu. The carp will be halibut steaks. He also makes an incredible cheese and mushroom soup and pizza flavored pierogies."

Gus and Lucy looked at each other. She clung to his arm. "We don't leave until boxing day," said Gus.

"Come on, it won't be Christmas without Gus," said John. Gus has been part of Paul's Christmas celebrations since Gus's wife died years ago.

"Don't forget the missile toast," said Gus with a huge grin. "What's Christmas without missile toast?"

Lucy sighed. The stories her grandparents told of life in Poland... searching the forest for mushrooms, not for flavoring, but because there was nothing to eat. The German and Russian armies stripped the country bare of food and Jews. She couldn't wait for their honeymoon to begin. A full week on the private island of Nisi Arcadia, a wedding/Christmas present from Paul and Andi. Playing naked in the surf, fishing on Andi's Dream, sailing around the island. She looked over at the other side of the wood shop and the hull for the Lucy II was coming together nicely. Gus had gotten the sailing bug as much as Paul and John did at Nisi Arcadia last January. She wants to do what Andi said was her favorite part of sailing, laying out nude in the tropical breezes and enjoying the ride. Finally, she sighed and said, "Ok, but I'm bringing pastrami on rye, just in case."

"Perfect!" said John. "Now I am going to collect the twins. We're going to do a little ice skating then we're going to get ready for Christmas Eve."

<><><><><>

"Come on Yi! cried Sandy as they waited impatiently for her to come and skate with them. They were at the outdoor rink that the village erected in the park across the street from Paul and Andi, Kenny skated around the hockey rink with the ease of an NHL player cooling off, and the twins were almost ready to hit the ice with their little skates, but Yi can barely stand on skates. The twins could skate circles around her if they knew how to turn properly, but all Yi can do is hang on to Kenny. Right now, Kenny had a hockey stick and was batting around a tennis ball.

"He's winning!" shrieked Madeline, as Kenny finished another lap around the rink.

Yi could picture Sandy and Madeline as roller derby champions. "I'm going with your mommy and Aunt Macy," said Yi. "Your Grandma and Uncle John are going to watch you."

"No! Stay!"

"Sorry girls," said Yi as she laced on Madeline's double bladed ice skates. "We are working on a Christmas surprise, and you have to go to practice for the nativity play."

"I don't want to be in no dumb play!" pouted Sandy. She looked at her ice skates. The skates were decorated with red and orange flowers. Madeline's skates had purple and pink flowers.

"That's what you get for being so cute," said Yi as she adjusted their bicycle helmets. "People want to watch you. Now come on before Kenny wears out your tennis ball. Let's go!"

Sandy and Madeline picked up their little plastic hockey sticks and trudged through the snow to the door on the boards leading into the hockey rink. Then pouting, they stepped out on the ice. They wiggled and slipped, then Kenny rolled the ball right in front of them. The twins looked at each other, then they shouted "YAAAAAA!" and started skating after the ball. Concentrating on the ball and their little hockey sticks, their feet seemed to automatically know what to do to skate. They weren't smooth or graceful by any means, but they were skating.

Sandy shouted the six-year-olds cry of full-blown athleticism: "GRANDMA! WATCH ME!"

"WATCH ME GRANDMA!" shouted Madeline as she and Sandy slammed into the boards.

"Ow! Be careful!" cried Grandma Heather, then she said, "Stop laughing," at Grandpa Harold. "Why do they keep slamming into the walls?" asked Heather.

"That's how they turn," said John as he laced up his hockey skates. He was having a hard time because he was laughing so hard. The twins had developed the fine art of the ricochet to adjust their speed and direction. John stood and picked up his stick. "Grandma, watch me." And he stepped off to the ice.

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" asked Heather. "You could rebreak all those bones."

"Just as long as the girls don't bounce off of me I'll be ok."

Over the weeks of watching him caring for Macy while he was so horribly injured, and then standing in front of his congregation and preaching for an hour every Sunday showed Heather how strong her other son-in-law was. "Go get 'em tiger!" John made his way slowly out to the ice. It was the first time this year that he had his skates on, and he was feeling pretty shaky. He slowly made his way to the door and stepped onto the ice. He stood on his wobbly ankles in his CCM AS 550 hockey skates and fought to keep his balance. After what seemed like forever, he lifted his right foot, reset it on the ice at an angle, dug in with his razor-sharp edges and pushed off.

Sandy zipped past him with the completely ungraceful skill of a six-year-old and cried, "Faster Unka John!"

"Girls, don't break your Uncle John!" cried Heather.

Luckily, John made it around the rink without falling, then he began to feel comfortable on his skates. His CCM skates dug in, and he felt the old thrill he felt when Macy dared him to learn to skate. The super-expensive skates were a Christmas gift from Paul. He got them the year that the rink in the park was given as a gift to the village from Jarecki Motors.

It took a while, but John got his feet under him, and he circled the rink easily at a moderate speed. No pain so far, but then he hasn't fallen. Sandy shot past him, trying to get the tennis ball, her stick waving back and forth like a windshield wiper. She was followed by Madeline, and he swore she was falling. He held the blade of his stick out for Madeline to catch because it looked like she was falling, but that's just how Madeline skates. She grabbed his stick and held on yelling "Pull me!" and soon John was towing Madeline around the rink with his hockey stick and soon Kenny was pulling Sandy around.

"Faster! Faster!"

It seemed like they skated for hours, and when the girls let go of their sticks, John and Kenny passed the tennis ball back and forth, frustrating the twins, who were trying to intercept the ball. It felt so good to get back on the ice. He wished Macy was here with him. She goaded him into learning to ice skate in their first year so long ago in Montreal. Then, in their final year, he learned how romantic ice skating could be. They skated hand in hand everywhere together, Parc La Fontaine, Old Port Skating Rink, and John's favorite, Parc Maisonneuve. Maybe they should go back and show Katarina the land where her mother and father's love blossomed against all odds. His reverie was interrupted by Heather calling, "TIME!"

"Ok, that's enough," said John. "Lets go get a happy meal and go see what your Sunday school buddies are up to."

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Ave... ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine...

The music was beautiful... mysterious... and the girls hit every note perfectly. It was Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus motet in D major. They sang along with the accompaniment of a programmed Casio keyboard. The four guys applauded and gushed their admiration. "Amazing!" they cried as they clapped.

"I thought you guys just liked Barbershop music," said Andi.

"We like all music that's done well," said Dick Daniels, the lead. "We sing barbershop because it's fun to sing, but we appreciate all forms of music."

"Ok, are we ready?" asked Josh. "Let's light this village up."

"Next we might hit the big time," said the guy's bass, Bob Borsh. "Machias!" Machias is a tiny village in the hills of Southern New York with a third the population of Springville.

Chuckling, the two quartets walked the few blocks in the snow, Andi, Macy, Yi, Julissa and the four guys from Josh's quartet Josh, Dick, Bob, and their tenor Johnny. They lined up on a street corner in the shopping district. Guys in the back, girls in the front where they held the music book open. The shops were doing great business. Couples and families walked from store to store as the snow fell from the sky. The girls studied the song book that the guys and Julissa knew by heart. Even though they knew the songs, carolers should always carry a song book. It just looks right.

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly..." they started, everyone singing the melody, but soon as they hit "Don we now our gay apparel," Dick and Yi split off to do the tenor harmony, then on the next line, "Troll the ancient yuletide Carol" Julissa and Bob broke into the bass harmony. By the time they hit "See the blazing yule before us," they were in four-part harmony.

The girls merely followed the guy's lead, so by the time they got to the end of the song, they had learned their part and were singing cheerfully. A crowd gathered around. Their next song, Angels We Have Heard on High, was so beautiful in four-part harmony. Andi was having a hard time singing Gloria because she was smiling so much. Then again, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was so sweet and beautiful she and Yi were both shedding tears as they sang.

The guys had brought a bucket for donations to the Barbershoppers charity, the Institute of Logopedics and the crowd eagerly donated when Dick, the guy's lead, explained how the institute helped children that couldn't speak. "We sing that they shall speak is our motto and our mission," he explained.

"What happened to speb squaw?" asked a fellow in the crowd as they flipped through their song book for the next song.

"That is an excellent question," said Josh. "Our organization used to be called S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. Inc., which stood for... the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America inc."

Just then, Dick, Johnny and Bob said, "it also stands for Some People, Especially Baritones, Should Quit Singing Altogether." This caused Andi and Josh to do a controlled burn from their positions.

"We're now known as Barbershop Harmony Society, just to make the Baritones happy," said Julissa.

They sang a few more songs and had attracted a fairly sizeable crowd. Silent Night was beautiful, but Oh Holy Night was incredible because the girls had practiced it so much and all eight voices were clearly heard. When they had exhausted their songbooks, they thanked the crowd and finished with "Keep the Whole World Singing," a song that just rang with beautiful barbershop cords. They thanked their audience and headed back to Andi's house, singing "Here We Come a-Wassailing" as they walked.

As they turned up Church Street, Andi told the guys about her experience with Chivaree, an old tradition that's occasionally still celebrated in Western New York. "My brand new husband and I were in the steam room and suddenly the entire wedding party and their friends were outside the curtain singing 'Here we come a Wassailing' at the top of their lungs beating pots and pans."

"Did we disturb you?" asked Julissa with a wicked grin.

"You were there too!?!" squealed Andi. Then she added, "we finished before you got there," which brought more laughter. Andi gasped when she realized what she said. "No! I mean..."

"We know what you mean cherie," said Macy as Andi turned a crimson red. "It was your first day of marriage, and it hadn't gotten boring yet."

"It still hasn't," said Andi, as she gave Macy a hip check. "I'm going to check on my babies," she said and turned to go into the church.

Inside, the church was a scene of joyful bedlam and laughter as the Sunday schoolers worked out their parts in the Nativity play. Pre-schoolers dashed around in sheep costumes, the older kids were dressed as angels, and one of the twins was walking around with a beard. As Hester Willoughby, the head of Sunday school, tried to organize her flock of sheep and desperately tried to convince the shepherds not to hit their sheep with their crooks, the angels were chasing each other through the pews. Sandy came up to Andi, stroking her beard made of yarn thoughtfully. "Are you a shepherd?" asked Andi.

"I'm Joefuss."

"Where's Madeline?" asked Andi, and Sandy pointed over to where John was sitting off to the side of the chaos.

John was seated with his foot up and a smaller child on his lap. The little fellow had tangled black hair and huge round eyes filled with terror and he shivered. Madeline was trying to convince the younger boy to do something. "Cholly doesn't want to be the baby Jesus," said bearded Sandy. "He's scary."

"Who is he?" asked Andi.

"I dunno," said Sandy. "Some lady dropped him off and went away."

Madeline ran up to Andi and said, "Can we keep Cholly?"

Macy and Andi looked over at the little boy. He was probably one-year-old and looked terrified. His little eyes were wide in terror, and he shivered constantly. John glanced up and saw Macy and Andi, and he looked like he was going to cry himself. Macy and Andi walked up to John, and they knelt down so the little guy didn't have to look up at them in terror. "What is this?" asked Macy softly. "Qui es-tu?" (Who are you?)

Suddenly, Charlie threw his arms around Macy's neck and clung on to her tight and whimpered. "A woman walked in and put him in my lap and said, 'Merry f___ing Christmas,' and walked out," said John softly.

"This blanket is filthy and he's soaking..." said Andi, who checked his diaper. "And worse. Are there any diapers for one or two year olds here?"

"There's an assortment in preschool classroom," said Macy as they took him to the bathroom to clean up.

"He hasn't been washed in... weeks," groaned Andi, as they changed him. The little guy just shivered and looked up at the women in terror as they cleaned days of waste from him. "He needs a good soak in a warm tub."

"You need to call Paul," said Macy as they wrapped the boy up in a spare quilt. Both women fought back the tears. Who would do such a thing to a little boy?

They carried the shivering boy out to John and Macy told him in French, "We're going to take him home and give him a bath, he is filthy!" As she said that, the little boy looked at her in surprise.

John nodded and said, "You need to call Paul."

"He's a cardiologist, I don't think he can help much," said Andi.

"He's a lawyer," said John as he took his aching leg off of the stool he had it rested on. "We need a lawyer as much as a doctor right now."

"I'm sorry I was so focused on his injuries."

"Injuries?" John looked horrified.

"He was whipped," said Macy in French.

"Our special account," said John softly. "Use every dime if you have to." Then in English he added, "I will be along in a half hour or whenever we finish up practice."

Then Bearded Sandy ran up and gasped, "If Danny plays Baby Jesus, does he have to be naked? Olive Morris says he does."

"No," said Macy. "The first thing Mary did was wrap him in swaddling clothes. It's in the bible, he's fully dressed."

"Good! It's too cold out, even for boys!" added Madeline.

"Ok, you two stay with grandma and grandpa," said Andi. "We're going to wash this little boy."

Ignoring the twins' cries of wanting to help, Andi scooped up the carriers for Danny and Katarina and before they left, she asked Heather. "Did you see the woman mom?"

"Yes, I can't think of anything charitable to say about her. Luckily, Pastor John had the presence of mind to pretend like it was supposed to happen, so nobody panicked."

<><><><><>

Paul had just returned to the hotel after a long, painful day in the dealership. Half of the idiots in the sales department at the dealership failed the handbook test, but Josey Kersey, Mister Secret Agent Man, didn't let him fire anybody. "If you fire them, they'll scatter. Pretend they passed by the skin of their teeth. Give me twenty-four to forty eight hours and then you won't have to worry about paying unemployment."

Min was fuming, and she kicked off her shoes as she entered their suite and collapsed on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. "Morons," she grumbled. "We should let the guys in the service bay sell the cars."

Just then Paul's phone rang with Andi's ringtone. "Hey darling, what's up?"

"I'm sorry, I want to talk... you know... but we need legal advice."

"What's going on?" asked Paul.

"Some woman abandoned a child at the church." The phone was silent for a long moment until Andi said, "did you hear me?"

"Yeah, it's just, I can't picture somebody doing that in Springville. Not during the holiday season."

"She hurt him, or somebody did. He's got marks like he was whipped with something, mom thinks it was an electrical cord. She says she's seen it before."

"Ok, I don't do family law, and that's where this is sitting. I'm trying to think of who knows what can be done... isn't your friend Lanh's brother a lawyer?"

"Yeah, I'll call her, and honey?"

"Yeah?" said Paul. It sounds like she was covering her mouth so Macy wouldn't hear her.

"What is John's special account? I don't speak a lot of French but when Macy asked what they should do, he said to use every penny in his special account."

"That's their life savings," said Paul in a whisper. "Every penny he and Macy earn from the dealerships goes in there. If John mentioned using that account it means he is going to fight for that kid tooth and nail. You call Lanh, I'll call Veronica. Oh, and darling, photograph every mark, every wound."

"The poor little guy is filthy."

"Photograph that too.

After saying a quick goodbye, Paul called Josh, who had just got home. "Hey buddy, is Veronica available?"

"Define available, y'old horn dog."

"We need help, legal help. I think she knows what we need to know, or she knows who to talk to."

As Paul talked to Josh, over in Minnesota, it was a cold blustery night. It was one of those winters that the temperatures remain frigid, but there's very little snow. These kinds of winters aren't pretty at all, but it's easier to ice skate on the pond. It was almost time to chase the twins Ahn and Him-chan off to bed when Ahnjong Nguyen's phone rang. It was her sister-in-law, Lanh, calling from their home in Colorado. "What's up babe?" said Ahnjong as she picked up the phone.

"Annie, I have a friend on the line, she's got a situation, and she wants to know what she can do." Lanh sounded quite disturbed.

"What do you need?" asked Ahnjong.

"Annie, this is Doctor Adrianna Roberts, tell her Andi."

"Hi, we need some advice, a woman abandoned a child at our church, I guess she's a known drug addict and worse, our pastor wants to keep the child and raise him."

"What do you mean, worse?" said Ahnjong.

"Prostitute, sex trafficking..."

"What state are you in?"

"New York."

Ahnjong sighed. "New York is a mommy state. The mother has all rights for the children. I'm not licensed to practice in New York, but what I believe would be the first step is to reach out to an adoption agency, get their opinion, they're the experts. Of course, you're going to have to notify the police and hire a bunch of lawyers."

"Thank you counselor," sighed Andi.

In the bathroom, "Charlie" was screaming. Andi dashed up the stairs and found Macy trying to lower Charlie into the water in the bathtub. It was only a couple of inches deep, but he was shrieking in fear. "What's the matter big guy?" Macy asked him softly over and over. Out of habit it came out "qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" (What's wrong?)

"Should!" he wept, and he kicked his feet.

"Should? What should we do?" asked Andi.

"No," said Macy, in shock. "Should, that's French for hot!"

Charlie nodded, "Chaude! Chaude!"

"Parlez vous français?" asked Macy. Suddenly, the little guy started crying. He clutched Macy's skirt, crying what sounded like pada coo, but he was saying pas de coup, "no hitting." Macy took him in her arms and wept with him, "Non, non... pas de mal." (no hurting) Andi wept too, for the horror this little boy must have survived.

Then the doorbell rang, and Andi went down to get it. It was Veronica von Köster at the door. "Ronnie..." Andi gasped, and she started weeping.

Veronica wrapped her arms around Andi and said, "What's wrong?"

"They beat him, they whipped him..." was all that Andi could get out. That poor little terrified guy, too scared to sit down in a bathtub. She couldn't hold back her tears.

"Paul called, he's all worked up," said Veronica. "Something about a foundling?"

Andi finally collected herself. "Yeah, some lady walked into church and dropped a little boy on John's lap. She said Merry Fucking Christmas and left. He's been abused and we think he speaks French."

"Let me see him." They went upstairs and found Charlie standing in the bathtub, chattering. He didn't want to sit down because he was afraid of the water. Macy and Heather were scrubbing him with soap and washcloths.

"What's he saying?" asked Andi.

"I don't know much, he..." Macy went silent. "He's speaking French, but I don't understand much of it."

"You speak French."

"No, I speak Canadian French, it's like French with a really bad accent. It sounds to me he's trying to speak mainland French or maybe colonial French."

Veronica knelt down by the tub and said, I used to live in France. Let's see if I can pick out his accent. "Qui es-tu?" (Who are you?)

He patted his chest and proudly said, "moi!" (me)

"And what is your name little guy?" asked Veronica as she tickled him. "Quel est ton nom?" He looked terrified when she asked that. He looked from face to face as if he was terrified of getting the answer wrong. Tears welled up in those huge brown eyes of his. "Peu importe..." said Veronica. "Tu as faim?" (Never mind, are you hungry?) Charlie considered what she said and eventually he nodded his head.

"I'll go make him dinner," said Andi. She dashed downstairs to put together a meal for the little guy.

Veronica continued to get Charlie to talk, and he said a few words. Occasionally, he'd crouch and carefully touch the water he was standing in. "We think he was scalded," said Macy. "He kept saying Chaude! Chaude! when we put him in the tub."

Veronica put her hand in the water and said, "Chaude? Froide?" (Hot? Cold?)

Charlie put his hand in the water again and said, "bien," (nice) but he said it with an accent she's heard in the past, but she couldn't place it.

"I wish he would sit down and soak," said Macy.

"He needs bubbles," said Madeline, as she and Sandy peered through the women at the little boy.

"I have some baby bubble bath," said Macy and she poured some bubble bath in the tub and then added water to the tub. When she turned on the tap, Charlie panicked and dashed to the far end of the tub. She was about to throw up her hands in frustration when Madeline and Sandy jumped naked in the tub. Charlie looked at his visitors, trying to make out what they were doing, but Madeline and Sandy sat down in the water and began kicking and splashing, churning bubbles in the warm water.

"Come on Cholly! You gotta splash!"

The little boy watched, then smiled and reached down and splashed the water.

"Éclabousser l'eau!" said Veronica cheerfully, "splash the water!" and soon Charlie was sitting in the water with the girls, splashing and laughing. Macy added a few bathtub toys and sat back and laughed. The twins started washing Charlie with baby sponges and he tried to wash them with a washcloth. Macy, Veronica and Andi let the twins play and Charlie loosened up. The splashing and soaking soon melted the dirt off of him.

"Out, as much as I like the idea, the bath party is over," said Andi, as she lifted Sandy, then Madeline, out of the tub. Macy soaked Charlie's hair and lathered it up with baby shampoo. He even let Macy comb his hair with a baby comb as long as the twins were nearby to encourage him.

"Ok girls, go dry off and get your clothes back on," said Andi, as she watched the fun from the doorway.

"Quel beau garçon!" (what a handsome boy!) said Macy and Veronica over and over. They lifted him out of the tub and the water was gray from the dirt that was on the boy. But now the welts, bruises, and sores were clearly visible, and Macy took photos, even though her eyes were full of tears. "What kind of Animal does this?"

"I hate to do this," said Veronica and she checked Charlie for evidence of sexual assault, which startled him, and she sighed with relief when she found none. They put a diaper on him and wrapped him up in a blanket and Veronica said, "Let's go see daddy, Allons voir papa!"

"Papa?" the little boy asked. "Papa?"

When Macy carried Charlie downstairs, John and the twins were in the living room waiting for her, while Andi and Yi were in the kitchen making grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids. "Do you want to see poppa? Tu veux voir papa?" When she said that, Charlie reached out to John with both hands.

Soon John was sitting in his easy chair, aching leg propped up on an ottoman, and little Charlie, wearing only a diaper and wrapped in a baby blanket, was seated on his lap clutching half of a grilled cheese sandwich. The twins dashed back and forth between the kitchen and the living room where John and Charlie sat, and Andi spent most of her time shooing the girls back to the table to eat their dinner.

Everything was new and scary to Charlie, except the twins. They amused him. "Wait until you meet Wonka!" said Madeline. "He's a big brown dog and he snores!"

"Sometimes he beeps out his butt!" added Sandy. Then Madeline simulated Wonka's snoring and Sandy imitated Wonka's gastrointestinal sounds, causing Charlie to laugh.

"Back to the supper table!" demanded Andi.

"Ooops!" and they ran off, but Andi was able to get a picture of the smile they caused on the little boy's face. Farts are an international language for kids. Just as the twins settled in at the table, the doorbell rang and it was Marjorie Friedman, Veronica's other boss. Marjorie was a staunch advocate for adoption and a leading voice in the fight to make adoptions easier. The twins glared at the tall, slender woman, uncertain if they were going to allow her to see their new cousin.

"Girls!" Andi growled.

The twins dashed off to eat as Veronica introduced Marjory Friedman to John and Macy. "She's my second boss, I'm her executive assistant at Andalon Adoption, an adoption advocacy group. We will do everything we can do to help."

Marjory sat down on an ottoman and laid out to Macy and John what their next steps were going to be. "We're going to fight to keep Charlie here, to register you as foster parents. It should not be a problem because of this little angel," said Marjory as she bounced Katarina in her arms. "It's easier to adopt a child when you already have a child, and speaking French should clinch the deal. We can get a lawyer in front of a family court judge tomorrow. Once you become foster parent there will be a search for his actual parents. I have to warn you, they may find them, but since you have him here you have a better chance to adopt if they don't find them. But first we need to get a policeman over here to write out a statement. Try to remember everything that happened."

"My brother is a lawyer," started John hopefully.

"And a good one too, but he's a business law and tax attorney, not a family law attorney. He doesn't deal with people, just other lawyers. But he will be able to translate what our lawyer says into plain English for you."

Andi hung up her phone and said, "Town of Concord is sending an officer to take your statements."

As chaos ruled the Jarecki home, the doorbell rang again and Andi ran to get the door, thinking that it was the policeman. The house was already full of people, not just Andi, her parents and her three children but Yi, Veronica, her boss Marjory and several concerned people from church. The house hasn't been that full in a long time. Since Macy and John were busy, Andi opened the door, and it was Kenny Johnson and Mary Kraft, the church treasurer. Kenny's arms were full of shopping bags full of clothes and Mary was holding several jackets, snow pants, boots, and sneakers.

"I grabbed Kenny, and we made some calls," said Mary. "We went from house to house and collected some boys clothes and cold weather gear, shoes, boots, hats..."

"Merci!" wept Macy. "Merci beaucoup!"

"Look at Charlie momma!" laughed Madeline as John dressed him in a lime green parka and pulled up the hood. Charlie still ate his sandwich with the hood impeding him.

"This reminds me of the last scene of It's a Wonderful Life," said Julissa.

"It does," said Yi. The place was crowded, and Macy and John were going through the generous donation. With a grin, they both started singing.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot and old lang syne?

Soon almost everyone was singing:

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne

we'll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.

Again, the doorbell rang. Andi was trying to settle down Danny when the next visitor arrived. She opened the door and this time it was a police officer. "Come in officer..." she started, but that didn't stop the singing.

"Sergeant Montgomery, ma'am."

"I talked to you a year ago! I was stuck in a ditch on Trevet road, and you sent Doctor Jarecki to get me out of the ditch."

"How did that work out Ma'am?"

She hefted Danny and said, "It worked out pretty good."

"There is a report of a foundling? Is that correct?"

"Over here. This is Pastor John Jarecki, and he was handed a baby and the woman ran off."

"Is there a place where we can sit down and talk?" asked the Sergeant.

Andi directed them to the kitchen table where the girls were finishing their milk. "Ok, it's a school night girls! Let's get going, it's past your bedtime."

"Awwww..."

"Charlie will be here tomorrow. Let's go!"

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

After his talk with Josh, Paul gave Andi about twenty minutes and called her, but his call went to voice mail. Eventually, she sent him pictures of the wounds they found on Charlie's body, a picture of the filth he was caked with, and his terror when they tried to put him in the tub. The last picture was of Charlie sitting on John's lap. The little guy was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, just like John, who had gone to church right after working at the wood shop, a very rare occurrence. Around John was a gang of people, including Kenny, Mary Kraft, Gus, Lucy, Macy, Yi and the twins.

Paul chuckled at the look on Charlie's face, so shocked at a house full of people and all the grilled cheese and milk he could eat and drink. What a cute boy. Whoever dumped him off found the perfect home for the little guy. Paul was looking at the pictures Andi was sending him, and he was reviewing a spreadsheet at the same time. Where was the money coming from? It's like they're making money parking cars on the lot and... where are the cars going? They were in the inventory, then they weren't in the inventory... but there was no sale or transfer. Min walked into the living room of their suite. Paul didn't even notice her disappearing into her room. She was dressed in a gauzy gown and came up behind Paul and began rubbing his shoulders. She leaned over and put her red lips next to his ear and breathily whispered, "Is there anything else I can do for you Paul?"

Paul closed his laptop and turned to Min and looked at her. She was beautiful. Her raven black hair was down, flowing over her shoulders in waves, and her makeup was perfect. He could get lost in those beautiful Asian eyes in a Cheektowaga second. She was, without a doubt, an incredibly sexy woman. A genius intellect and a slim, curvy body making a heart breakingly delicious package. Normally Min was cold, ice cold. A withering glance from her could send brave men scampering. However, tonight she looked warm and inviting. Paul saw warm evenings on a tropical beach in her eyes. She would look perfect on Honeymoon Beach on Nisi Arcadia Island wearing... but no, she's not Andi. "Min, no. If I am reading this wrong then I apologize, but I waited my whole life for Andi, she is my one and only love."

Min stepped back and a smile spread slowly across her lips. "That, Doctor Jarecki, is the right answer." She opened her robe to reveal a Buffalo Bandits jersey and a pair of sweatpants. "I'm ordering lobster rolls for dinner. What do you want with that?"

"Wha... I don't get it," said Paul. "What was this?"

"It was a test like you do to all your employees, I took the opportunity to test you. If you had allowed me to seduce you, that would tell me you have no loyalty to Andi, so how could I expect you to be loyal to me?"

"So, if I took what you were offering you would have slapped me?"

"No, I would have had an evening in your bed then left in the morning," she said as she got a Diet Pepsi out of the kitchenette refrigerator.

"And you would have called Andi... right?"

"No, I would have sent her the video. What do you want with your lobster roll?"

"I want the Connecticut style roll with a cup of chowder, and tater tots with salt and vinegar. Can I get a copy of the video too?"

She opened the curtains and across the street they could see Jarecki Motors of Portsmouth, the two showroom windows lined with Christmas Lights, one window had a beautiful Stingray with Santa Claus, the other had a vintage shark nose pickup truck painted a glowing metal flake candy apple red. One of the salesmen put a fake tree leaning out of the back of the truck before she could suggest it, and the tree was lit with multi-colored lights. Perfect. It wasn't long before the dinner came. Lobster rolls! John and Macy spent two weeks in New England touring around in her little Alpha Romeo Spider and when he announced his visit to Portsmouth they both said, "have the lobster rolls Connecticut style." Instead of cold and doused with mayonnaise, Connecticut style is warm and soaked in butter.

They were right.

They ate as they watched a movie in the suite living room, then at 9:00 PM, about the same time that Andi got the twins in bed, they retreated to their bedrooms and Paul gave Andi a call and this time she answered. "Hi love, I'm sorry for missing your calls but it's been a madhouse," said Andi.

"I understand, this call has to be quick; it's going to be way busy tomorrow, and I have to get up early."

"Ok, just to let you know, the cop that came over to take the report was Sergeant Montgomery."

"I don't think I know him."

"A year ago, while I was stuck in the ditch, he called me up and told me that you were on your way to rescue me."

"I still don't know him, but put him on the Christmas Card list."

"Ok, is everything ok?"

Paul sighed. "Other than Min trying to seduce me?"

"How did that go?" asked Andi, trying not to giggle.

"Did you know about that?"

"She told me. She said, 'if he does anything but tell me to back off, I'm quitting.'"

"She's still here, so you won't be getting a porn video in your email."

"Speaking of porn video..." she paused, and he could hear her typing on her laptop, then she said, "You'll have it in a few moments. I'm exhausted and I'm going to go to sleep, Yi and I are going to help Macy with the boy, I'm going to give him a workup then take him and Macy over to a pediatrician. Oh! and Kit Mays comes in town tomorrow!"

"Your lesbian hot tub buddy?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to put electrical tape over all your so called Security Cameras out back."

"I love you darling," said Paul.

"I miss you, and it's ok if you spend an extra day or two."

"How did you know?"

"You're not my only friend in Portsmouth."

Paul sighed. Andi and Min were getting close. He didn't realize that they were 'yacking about working close' as Josh would say. He looked in his email and opened it, and it was Andi's barbershop octet standing on a snowy street corner singing Silent Night. They were incredible...

<><><><><>

At two AM a dark figure stealthily stepped up to the showroom door of Jarecki Motors, Portsmouth. The figure entered the building and quickly typed a code into the alarm box, silencing the alarm. Min Zhong Sun then walked quickly and quietly through the showroom, keeping to the shadows. That was easy because the showroom didn't have nearly as many Christmas lights as Paul requires.

Min was still steaming over the test. All salesmen and office workers were tested on the handbook, and most of the office folks did fine. The people in the finance and bookkeeping divisions were great. The service guys, once they weeded out the uncertified, did great, but all they really need is their ASE certification. But the management, HR, and salespeople were abysmal.

They all should have been fired on the spot, and they likely will be released just as soon as Josey springs his trap. Whatever that trap is going to entail. Josey has been told by Paul that if he doesn't do it by close of business on Wednesday, Paul is going to do it himself. When Josey asked, "Give me 48 hours," Paul said, "You get it done 48 hours from now or I'll get it done in 49." Whatever he needs to do to ensure that this dealership is viable. That, in this case, means "Operation Rolling Heads."

She looked around and saw that the Christmas and Hanukkah decorations were up, and they found two show vehicles, one for each of the showroom windows, a jet black 1972 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray was in the right-hand window. The top was down and a big red sack full of presents was sitting on the trunk lid, and a mannequin dressed as Santa Claus was behind the wheel. There was a sign next to the Corvette that said, "Giving the reindeer the night off." Then, in smaller letters underneath, it said, "From the collection of H. Pierce Montgomery." The other window had a candy apple red 1941 Willys Americar Pickup truck, owned by the same guy that owns the Corvette in the other window. There was a fake tree leaning out of the back of the pickup like in the craft store craze, but this tree was covered with lights. She made a mental note to look up H. Pierce Montgomery and thank him. Then she made a note to find out where the money they allocated for show cars went and put the perpetrator in prison.

She heard voices in the parts department and quickly made her way upstairs to where the employee lunchroom was located. It was a good sized lunchroom with vending machines, coffeemakers, and school cafeteria tables and chairs. She crouched down and took a powerful flashlight and holding it parallel to the floor, moved it up and down until she saw it, lines... black threads stretched across the aisle between tables. She traced the thread back to each end, where it was tied to empty cans on a chair that was pushed under the table. A quick nip with a fingernail clipper would disable the home-made alarm, but she knows it's there, and it's best to avoid it. She avoided the center aisle and moved to the window that overlooked the back lot and got out her opera glasses and her cell phone.

<><><><><>

At the waterfront, the MV Dakota Hustle, a mid-size RO-CO, Roll-On Roll-Off Container ship docked at the old Boston and Maine terminal and offloaded two dozen vehicles. The vehicles were all high-end imports from Asia bound for Jarecki Motors of Plymouth, but they weren't cars that Paul or anyone else ordered. "So far so good," said Special Agent Josey Kersey as he and Paul watched the unloading process from across a large container strewn lot.

"What is the Dakota Hustle?" asked Paul.

"It's a coastal steamer," said Commander Owens, their coast guard representative. "It goes from one U.S. port to another."

"Then where did it get these import vehicles?" asked Paul as he watched another top-of-the-line Lexus offload.

"That's the fundamental question," said Josey.

"I don't move cars for a living but there's one thing I know," said Paul. "You don't move cars full of people."

Josey watched the off-loading process with high-power binoculars, and he saw the cars pulling out of the Dakota Hustle, and it was clear there were four to six people in each car. The hostler pulled the car up on to a transport truck and hopped out while the truck driver chained down the car. In short order, four car transport trucks left the Dakota Hustle, which immediately made preparation for getting underway to New York harbor. Special Agent Josey Kersey made a quick call and the moment the MV Dakota Hustle prepared to get underway, they headed to their next observation point.

Next to Jarecki Motors, there was a nice Marriot hotel. There were several hotels in the area because this area was close to historic Portsmouth and the waterfront. They pulled into the Marriott parking lot and watched the action in the Jarecki lot. One by one, the cars were taken off the trucks and driven into the drive-thru service entrance on the back of Paul's new dealership, and when the truck was emptied, and the cars had all passed through the service entrance; they were put back on the truck.

"Where are the passengers?" asked Paul. The cars came off the boat with up to six people in each one. They went inside Jarecki motors with four to six people in the car, and they came back out empty.

<><><><><>

In the employees' lunchroom, Min heard footsteps approaching, and she ducked behind a table. Soon, a dozen young women entered, and somebody set off the tin can alarm which scared the girls. They were all Asians in their teens, from twelve to about twenty. It sounded like they were speaking Vietnamese. Some guy led them to the breakroom and told them to sit down and shut up, but no matter how loud he shouted, they still didn't understand English.

The girls gravitated into a corner, and Min came out from behind the table she was crouching behind and joined them. One of the girls said to Min, "Giúp tôi," which means "Help me" in Vietnamese. With hand gestures, Min got all the girls to gather around her and she asked each, "Nǐ huì shuō pǔtōnghuà ma?" which roughly means "Do you speak Chinese?" but no one understood her.

With reassuring words, gestures and vocalizations, Min tried to calm the girls, but she only knew enough of Vietnamese to recognize that it was Vietnamese. It's a tonal language using voice inflection, making it a very sing-song sounding language and fairly easy to spot. Decades of French influence made it an individual language.

Group after group of girls showed up and luckily in one of the groups, there were several girls that spoke both Chinese and Vietnamese and Min questioned the girls on how they got there. All the girls had the same story. They had answered an ad for work, some as fashion models, others as an au pair girl. When they showed up at the interview, they were promised money and a great paying job in America. The next thing they knew, they were on a ship and locked up in a stinking, dark hold. When they made port, they would force the girls into the cars and drive off the ship. Half the girls got off several days prior, but they were kept in a dark hold and had no concept of time. This was the first "daylight" they had seen in weeks.

"Ok, hush, stay close to me," said Min in Chinese. She waited for the translation, then asked, "How many more?"

"Not many. Ten girls, maybe less," said a Chinese-speaking girl.

Min had to do something, but what? "How many of you can fight?" and a half dozen raised their hands. Her only idea was to steal the stolen girls, and there was only one place she could hide a group this big. "Fighters stay here, I'll be back soon. The rest of you, follow me if you want to go home," she said and led the girls out of the employee's break room, down a hallway and she unlocked a door at the end of the hall. Then she led them down another hall, then down a stairway.

<><><><><>

Down in the drive-through service entrance, the last car pulled in. The trunk lid popped and a fellow wearing latex gloves and an N95 mask took several large but cheap suitcases out of the trunk and stacked them along the wall with the other suitcases. Each suitcase was wrapped in plastic and secured with nearly a full roll of duct tape. Four terrified Asian girls were led out of the car and into the dealership. With shouts, kicks and a gun waving around, the man who was also in a mask forced the girls to climb a staircase to the employees' lunchroom. As he rushed the girls into the break room, he stopped. There should be over eighty girls here! Instead, there was a group of maybe a half dozen.

They couldn't have gotten far. Every door in the building was locked. He checked them himself. At best, they could have wandered back to the drive-through service bay. He stormed up to the half dozen or so that were closely huddled in an open area in the break room. They had pushed tables and chairs aside and opened a wide-open area and were standing in the middle.

"Where are the rest of them?" He shrieked.

"Come here and I'll tell you," said a voice from the cluster of women.

"Who said that?" demanded the man. The women stepped aside, revealing an Asian woman he recognized, Min Zhong Sun. In a move faster than he could see, she kicked him in the throat, and he went down, clutching his neck. That was the signal for the other women to attack. Using whatever martial arts they possessed, they attacked. Kicking, punching, even the occasional knee drop or elbow drop, they beat the man unconscious.

Min bent over and removed his mask, and she recognized the guy. It was Ben Moreno, one of the salesmen who thought the handbook and testing was a big fucking joke. Min produced a spool of steel wire and a cutter that she borrowed from the service area, and she hogtied the creepy salesman.

<><><><><>

Downstairs in the drive-through service area, the trunk in the last car was sanitized as best as possible. It was time to finish this up. The hostler drove the car off and the first of the two school buses was ready to pull in so they could load it up with their two-legged merchandise. Suddenly, bright floodlights came on from all over the area. The men were surrounded and men yelling, "FBI! SPECIAL AGENT! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!"

The cluster of men realized they were trapped, but they still tried to run, so they chose the only man in their view without a gun, Paul. And they ran over him. He was knocked to the ground and as the lawbreakers tried to run, Josey Kersey swung a telescoping baton, which brought down everyone it touched. "I told you to stay in the car."

"You didn't say which car," groaned Paul as he slowly got up.

Then several camera men from a local TV station turned their lights on. They caught the action of where the local cops surrounded the remaining auto carrier truck and arrested the men chaining down the cars, then they turned to the dealership and saw the FBI taking down the rest of the crew.

"Doctor Jarecki, do you recognize this man?" asked an FBI agent.

"Mister Lannon, my assistant fired you. What are you doing back on my property?" grinned Paul as they led the handcuffed Adrien Lannon away.

"How about this man?" asked the agent.

"Jack! Mister Freitas! He was my general manager for what... thirty hours? I'm sure it's the longest he's ever held a position." Paul knew every one of those miserable bastards. They were all Oliver Linwood's special last-minute hires. The rumor was that Messias Rocha, the man who displaced Andy Engler as head of service, was the head man on the operation and the link to the Portuguese mafia.

"What about this guy?" grinned an agent.

"Oliver Linwood!" grinned Paul. "What's the matter? Didn't my check clear? Boys tell me when it's time to get out the lead shot filled rubber hose, I want to help."

"Where are the girls?" demanded Josey Kersey as he came downstairs leading Ben Moreno. "We found him tied up in the break room, but all the girls are missing."

Just then, someone noticed a banging noise on a door on the other side of the drive-through service bay. Paul peered through the small safety glass window on the door and saw Min peering out at him. Those plastic wrapped suitcases were in the way. "Hang on Min," said Paul, and he bent to grab a suitcase to move it.

"Don't touch!" shouted an FBI agent.

"What?" said Paul.

"Those cases are full of fentanyl. As pure as it comes. You could overdose just from contacting the dust on the surface of those cases." As he spoke, a HAZMAT team dressed in protective overalls, masks, and gloves carried the cases off, then washed down the area that the suitcases had touched. Finally, the door opened, and Min said, "Come in here."

Paul entered the service area. It looked like one of Andy Engler's service areas, neat and clean to the point of looking sterile. Cars were parked in every service bay, mostly to keep them out of the weather and looking good for the morning. Min grinned and shouted in Chinese, "Tā shì ānquán de!" (It is safe). Her words were soon echoed in Vietnamese "Nó an toàn!" and suddenly women peered from behind every car in the maintenance bay.

"I led them from the break room over the drive through bay then down here through the back stairs."

Paul looked at Min's smiling face. "You're pretty damn proud of yourself."

"Yes, I am," said Min.

"And you should be Madam Chief Operating Officer," and he shook Min's hand. "Anything you want is yours."

"I want that private jet."

"Just name it, anything."

"I want Macy to be my assistant."

"Whatever comes to mind, just let me know."

"I want a 1967 Jaguar XKE."

"That we can make happen."

<><><><><>

"MV Dakota Hustle, this is the United States Coast Guard. This is your last warning. Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded." The USCGC Rush, known affectionately to her crew as "Mister Limbaugh" blocked the Dakota Hustle's route to open water. The Rush was a Heritage class cutter and lightly armed with a 57mm Mk110 Bofors deck gun and a 25mm Mk38 Bushmaster gun, either of which will penetrate the hull of any boat coming in or out of Portsmouth harbor. Joining Mr. Limbaugh were two Defender class 25 foot long boats that circled the Dakota Hustle.

Above them, two helicopters circled the Dakota Hustle, a Coast Guard MH-65C Dolphin. Fast, agile, and armed with a .50 caliber gun, it illuminated the decks and the containers on the back of the Dakota Hustle. The Coast Guard Dolphin was joined by an FBI UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter filled with a dozen very unhappy agents. At least two television helicopters orbited the area as well, their spots adding to the illumination.

The captain of the Dakota Hustle looked at his options and said, "Dump the merchandise."

"On it," said his first mate.

"USCGC Rush this is Air One, the stern RO-RO deck is beginning to open." To sailors, RO-RO means Roll On, Roll Off.

"Get down there one!" called Captain Terlecki of the USCGC Rush. Then he turned to his first mate. "Get the RIBs in the water."

Moments later, the 'merchandise began to be tossed into the frigid waters of Portsmouth Harbor from the stern loading ramp of the Dakota Hustle.

"OH MY GOD HE'S THROWING THE HOSTAGES OUT THE STERN!" shrieked a young "Coastie" on the MH-65 into the radio.

"Diver's ready." Was the next thing heard on the intercom, followed by, "In the door."

The Dolphin dropped like a rock from two hundred feet to just ten feet off the surface of the water. Their diver jumped and almost landed on a flailing and weakening girl. The two defender boats turned fast and raced to the stern, where the dolphin hovered, illuminating the scene and tossing out flotation devices to the freezing girls below. Meanwhile, their gunner carefully drew a bead. "I have a shot."

"Shoot," said the helicopter commander, who was working desperately to hold the Dolphin steady. There was a tremendous "BOOM" as the Barrett M107 .50 caliber gun roared and a man on the stern of the Dakota Hustle disintegrated in a spray of blood and stopped pushing women into the harbor forever. The shrieking girls covered with blood and gore ran back into the ship, but over twenty of their sisters fought for their lives in the frigid waters.

The UH-60 also dropped from the sky and hovered just above the foredeck of the Dakota Hustle and ropes dropped from the Blackhawk. FBI agents slid down the rope and dashed into the crew area of the ship. Their mission was to zip tie, or kill every member of the crew and let some judge sort it out later.

"RIB's are away, sir," said the first mate of the USCGC Rush.

"Not fast enough," muttered the Captain as he watched the rescue in progress. Now two RIBs, Rigid hull Inflatable Boats, shot out from the Rush to join the rescue. "Left full rudder, all ahead slow, course two eighty degrees, take us closer," said Captain Terlecki.

"But sir, what if there are shooters on the Dakota Hustle?"

"Mister Snerdly, that water is thirty eight degrees. Get our medical bays closer to those women!"

<><><><><>

Shay MacNevin had been a truck driver for over thirty years. In all that time, he's never had such a strange job, but it's paying damn good. He was driving an auto carrier from Portsmouth to Burlington, which was normally no big deal, but he was warned not to get pulled over. In 30 years of gear jammin', he's never been pulled over. He picked his way through the streets of pre-dawn Portsmouth, New Hampshire, carefully. He didn't want to attract attention, so he worked hard to stay out of the residential areas and off the madhouse of I-95. He worked his way up US1 to the Highway 1 Bypass and on to US4. From there, his planned route would take him up to Dover and on to Burlington, Vermont. He should be ready to offload by lunch time.

Finally, out of the city lights and into the countryside, he could put some miles behind him. Just as he finished shifting all the way to 18th gear, red and blue lights flashed behind him. He edged over to let the cop pass, but he wasn't passing. Son of a bitch! He's five mph below the speed limit! He finally came to a stop on the wide shoulder and set the brakes with a loud chuff of air and waited.

They made him wait a long time, purposely making him sweat. Nobody pulls over car carriers. What's going on? Finally, he could see two cops leave their cruiser and walk toward his cab. He watched them in his mirrors. As they walked toward him, they both pulled their batons and, with a well-practiced swing, both smashed a random marker light on each side of the car carrier.

Shit!

Finally, one of the largest people he's ever seen stepped up and said, "Stay in the cab. Do you know you have two marker lights out? That violates New Hampshire safety laws." The cop watched a car slow and stop ahead of them, then said, "I'll just give you a warning this time. Let me see your bill of lading."

Shay handed him the clipboard that Oliver Linwood drew up and handed it to the cop. "Ok, let's see... Six Lexus ES 350 sedans..." He made a show of counting the cars on the trailer. "Six Lexus ES 350 sedans looks good... except..." The cop looked up at them with a huge grin. "Where did you get these cars from?"

"Linwood Ford in Portsmouth, like it says on the papers."

"Linwood Ford doesn't exist, Mister Linwood sold it lock, stock, and barrel a couple of weeks ago. These papers tell me that you just stole six high end sedans from Doctor Paul Jarecki."

The cop pointed at the car in front of him and the undercover car suddenly came alive with flashing red and blue lights. "If you'll just follow him to the truck stop just up the road, we'll get this all sorted out."

"Just a paperwork problem, just a paperwork problem," Shay said with each gear change, hoping to calm the sinking feeling in his gut. He had almost convinced himself that it was just a paperwork problem by the time they pulled into the big Gas n' Go truck stop. The car leading him into the lot guided him next to two other car carriers, and he recognized the drivers. Derrek and Jeff. They were in handcuffs.

A fellow in an FBI flack vest opened the door to Shay's truck and said, "Shut it down and step out." Shay set the brakes, killed the motor and stepped down from the cab of the tractor. "Follow me" and the FBI Agent led Shay to the back of the car carrier, and they already had the trunk open on the lower rear Lexus. A German shepherd barked and snarled, and a beagle tugged at its leash. An agent moved the beagle closer to the car carrier and said, "Seek! Seek boy!" The Beagle took a sniff from five feet away, and it howled like it was baying at the moon.

"Best drug dog on the east coast," grinned the huge cop.

Two FBI agents with lab kits leaned into the trunk of the car then came back out and were looking at the test strips they wiped the interior of the trunk with. "I got positive for Fentanyl," said one agent.

"Same here," said the other.

Shay had his wrists yanked behind him as the huge cop said, "You have the right to shut the fuck up. I suggest you exercise that right because everything you say will get your ass locked up by a federal judge. You have the right to an attorney..."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"Didja hear that they shut down all flying?" said the young lieutenant, who sat on the examination table.

"You go back on flight status while flying is canceled," said Paul. "I always get irony confused with coincidence. Was that irony?"

"The word you're looking for is 'sucks'," said the Lieutenant. "Why am I sitting on an examination table instead of a comfortable chair if you're just taking my blood pressure?"

Paul patted the examination table and said, "because sitting up here puts your face right at shoulder level for a good solid slap if you haven't been following my directions!" Major Paul Jarecki, flight surgeon, checked the lieutenant's vitals. He was doing fine, much better than the last time Paul saw him. His blood pressure was down to 135/85. "I would like to see that blood pressure lower, but you're back on flying status, git outta here lieutenant. See you in two weeks!"

"Yes sir!"

Paul dutifully entered the lieutenant's information into the computer system, then he hand carried the records out to the front desk. "Set him up for a follow-up to the follow-up in two weeks, and I'll see whoever is next." He went back to his office and looked at his terminal to see what exam room he was needed in next and saw that his status was still "OWP" Occupied With Patient.

Paul waited for fifteen minutes, but the status didn't change. He was getting angry, so he went to the front desk and said, "Hey, what's the deal? I'm still OWP in the system."

"Sorry Doctor J. We'll get it straightened out. The colonel put a hold on clinic operations."

"Hold for what?" said Paul. He's been here before; this has happened, and it's happening again... déjà vu had him in its grip! He staggered back to his office and stared at the screen. It said OWP, almost accusing him of malingering. Then came a soft tap on the office door. "Doctor Jarecki?" Paul knew that voice. "Mom?"

The door opened and his mother Katarina and his father Cecil walked in. As always, when in difficult situations, Cecil was tongue tied. He stood behind Katarina and twisted his hat in his hands. Mom was never at a loss for words. "Oh Paulie! You did so good and tried so hard," she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheeks. "Don't burden yourself, you can't save them all."

"What do you mean mom?"

"It's ok Paulie, you saved most of them, and they got the guys who did it."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" but he was alone in his office staring at a monitor that said OWP, Occupied With Patient. He banged the screen, but it didn't change. He grabbed the phone to call IT, but it wasn't working. Just as he was about to get up and harass the front desk again, there came the gentle rap at the door. "Doctor Jarecki?" Paul knew that voice. It was the wing commander, Colonel James Kendall.

"Come in," Paul didn't know what to expect but the Wing Commander entered his office accompanied by the Chaplain and his wife Melony. "Oh god." It was dad, his heart was bad, he always worked too hard and too long, he's overweight and his blood pressure is through the roof. Paul knew in his heart it was Cecil.

"You did so good, Major," said the Colonel.

"But you can't save them all," said the Chaplain.

"Any... if you saved any would be a big win, and you saved so many," said Melony. She leaned over and placed her hands on his cheeks and their foreheads touched, just like they used to do. "Take the win and go home and rest."

"Paul?

"Oh shit, what time is it?" He opened his eyes, and he was sitting in the overpriced conference room that he hated with a passion.

"It's eight AM, we're supposed to do an interview in a few minutes.

"God, I love this chair. I want one just like it."

"You have one just like it, you never sit down long enough in your office to enjoy it."

"I want every bit of this office sold, every scrap. It sickens me. Yes, I like to pamper our big rollers, but this... this is disgusting."

"What should I do with it?"

"Sell it. Then send what you can't sell to my brother and his boss Gus, they're wood whackers, they'll figure out what to do with it."

"We have a TV crew waiting for us." Min held up the Team Honda coat for Paul to slip into. He personally has over five million in sales, so he's more than entitled to wear the Team Honda racing jacket. "All press is good press," she said.

Paul straightened his tie and zipped up the jacket and put on his aviator sunglasses. "Let's do it."

"Glasses off."

"Yes ma'am."

They stepped out into the show room, and the camera crew was ready to set up. "Where do you want to do this? Your office?" said a slim brunette news reader.

"My office would be perfect," said Paul.

"His office is back in New York. He's kind of a jester," said Min. The C.O.O. looked around the showroom and then said, "Yes! In show room window number two, in front of the Willeys pickup truck."

"You read my mind," said Paul, and they headed out front. The light there was perfect.

"Why not in front of the corvette?" asked the news girl.

"It's too low to the ground, the camera might see Santa's head. Here they'll see the cab of this candy apple beauty."

"By the way, my name is Melony Barnette," and she extended her hand to shake.

Paul went into shock momentarily... he just talked to Melony, and now he heard her say, "Get your shit together doc." He took the girl's hand and said, "My first wife's name was Melony. She was an F-15 pilot and died in service to our country."

That statement clearly threw Melony for a loop. It took her a moment to get back on the game and they went over her questions as the camera crew set up and took a long, loving look at the Willys Americar pickup. Finally, time grew near. Paul and Min lined up in front of the pickup and Melony said, "We're going to do a quick teaser, send it back to the studio for commercials and promos. Then they'll open with video from last night and send it to us. Ready?"

"Let's do it," said Min.

"Bring it on," said Paul.

"And we're live in 4... 3... 2..."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

As usual, Yi had the kitchen TV on while she prepared breakfast. She had it on mostly for the weather report and the school closings, neither of which was important that morning. The news opened with a huge banner that took her breath away. "Coming up next on WBEN This Morning, a huge drug and sex trafficking bust in Portsmouth New Hampshire and the Cheektowaga man that helped the bust go down." Yi looked up at the crawl at the bottom of the screen - Cheektowaga Man Leads Drug Bust in Portsmouth NH. "ANDI!" she shrieked.

"What?" said Andi as she was trying to get the twins dressed.

"TURN ON CHANNEL FOUR! PAUL DID IT AGAIN!"

"What?"

In the living room, Heather was feeding Danny, and she heard Yi's shriek. She turned on the TV and shouted, "ANDI! COME HERE!"

Yi was already on the phone. "Hello, John? Yi..."

"Calm down, Yi," said John. "Did Paul's Christmas Craziness get to you too?"

"Turn on your TV, channel four. I think Paul did it again."

"Honey, Yi says to turn on Channel four," said John as he spoon fed oatmeal to Charlie.

"I like channel seven..." said Macy as she reluctantly changed channels. "Oh... John! you better get in here."

The TV showed the drive-through service entrance to Jarecki Motors, Portsmouth. It was a long distance low light zoom; the picture was jittery and fuzzy, but a viewer could see what was happening. Inside the drive-through bay, four women were yanked out of a car, and something was taken out of the trunk. A moment later, lights came on from everywhere and police and FBI raced into the building. "This was the scene at the new Jarecki Motors dealership on Hanover and Bridge streets in the early hours of the morning. The FBI and Local police broke up a human trafficking and drug move worth over a hundred million dollars. Meanwhile out in Portsmouth Harbor this scene was taking place..."

The scene shifted to a ship in a dark sea surrounded by small boats, helicopters, and a Coast Guard cutter. The scene was shot from an orbiting helicopter. "This was the scene last night when the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard attempted to inspect the MV Dakota Hustle. As you can see, the crew of the Dakota Hustle opened the rear loading door and began throwing their captives into the freezing water of Portsmouth Harbor. Brave Coast Guardsmen dove into the frigid water to save the woman that were kidnapped from Southeast Asia."

The scene shifted away from the drowning women to the bridge of the MV Dakota Hustle from the outside. Bright flashes of light could be seen through the windows. "The captain and the first mate of the ship died in a gun battle with FBI agents."

The scene shifted from video tape to a live shot of the harbor. "This is Jose Ramirez. This is the place, right here at roll on, roll off dock number one where the MV Dakota Hustle unloaded two dozen high end Japanese cars, each car filled what the FBI called 'Steamer trunks full of fentanyl' and three or four kidnapping victims each. They were shipped by truck to the new Jarecki Motors of Portsmouth location where the entire scheme fell apart. Melony?"

"This is Melony Barnette, I'm here with Doctor Paul Jarecki CEO of Jarecki Motors and his Chief Operating Officer Min Zhong Sun. Can you tell us what happened?"

Min started. "Doctor Paul had recently purchased this dealership, we felt this location was right for a Super Car dealer, and we put in a lot of upgrades. We came out for the grand opening, but the books never looked right."

"We could see inventory moving in and out, but we didn't see the actual sales figures, then when reviewing the data in their system, it all changed," said Paul. "It was very frustrating; somebody was hiding numbers from us and I assumed that cars were being stolen or money changing hands improperly. We found an FBI agent assigned to the case and he didn't want me to fire people I knew to be below Jarecki Motors standards..."

"What do you mean below Jarecki Motors Standards?"

Paul grinned. She clearly wanted to help him sell cars! "My dad was very specific about selling high end cars like the Ferraris and Bugatti's that we have here, he taught me and my brother that service was everything so anyone that touches a car at Jarecki Motors, except for the customer, is required to have an Automotive Service Excellence certification. Many of these guys didn't have it. I told the FBI agent on the case; you clean it up in 48 hours or I'll clean it up in 49."

"Yep, he would say that" said John as he and Charlie watched TV.

Several blocks away, the twins were hopping up and down, "POPPA'S ON TV!"

"Quiet, we're trying to hear," said Andi.

Now Min was speaking. "We just thought they were stealing import cars and somehow getting past customs, so did the FBI. They were trying to figure out how they were doing it."

Paul said, "When we watched them unload the cars off the Dakota Hustle, I remember telling the FBI 'I don't transport cars, but I know it's not done with passengers in the car.' We looked and there were four or more passengers in each car as they came off the ship and loaded up on the truck."

"Min's the actual hero here," said Paul. "She was inside the dealership in a high position where she could watch them unload the cars from the trucks. It turned out that she chose to hide in the room where my former employees put the girls, and they never noticed her."

"We all look alike," grinned Min.

"She was very brave; Min moved the girls to another part of the building so they couldn't be taken away. When a fellow came to get the girls, she knocked him down and let the girls take care of him. Luckily by that time the FBI realized how bad it was. The trunks of the cars were filled with fentanyl, and they arrested everyone involved, including the truck drivers and the crew of the MV Dakota Hustle."

"An amazing story, and amazing people, this is Melony Barnette."

"And we're clear," said the cameraman/producer.

"That was amazing," said Melony. "What a story..." She put her hand to her ear. "WBEN would like to do a live remote with you, do you have the time?"

"Oh yeah, anything for Buffalo," said Paul. They fitted Paul and Min with headphones and microphones and gave them a three second countdown.

"This is Roxie Davis, WBEN, that was an amazing story you two, you saved well over two hundred hostages and only lost five to drowning."

"I... I didn't realize we lost any," they could see the color drain from Paul's face when he said that. Back in Cheektowaga, John saw the shock on Paul's face, and they both realized how real this was. John slowly sank to his knees and folded his hands in prayer for Paul and the girls. Macy knelt with him and placed her hands around John's hands. Charlie was trying to figure out if this was a game, so he toddled up to them and placed his hands on theirs and John began to pray in French, hoping that Charlie would understand. "Père céleste, nous t'en supplions..."

Melony's spirit whispered to Paul again. 'Take the win, it's all right.' She's right, suck it up Paul. "It breaks my heart that we lost those poor girls... so far from home... So many people worked so hard, and when the mission shifted from car theft to drugs and slavery, they just shifted gears and worked harder to save the girls."

"What's the future of Jarecki Motors now?"

"The future is bright. We just got a new Chief Operating Officer, Min here is a Jarecki legacy. Her uncle Chun was one of my dad's favorite mechanics. She came to us as a photographer wanting to photograph the cars and we put her to work."

Min waved to the camera, "Hi Uncle Chun!"

"I thought you said he had passed away," said Paul.

"He's retired, not dead. Big difference."

"That's why she's the C.O.O. Now we have to find her a sales force to get this show room on its feet, but we will be open and ready for Christmas and Chanukah."

Later, a shocked and depleted sales force gathered around Paul. "What do we do, chief?" asked a salesman.

Without a word, he turned to Min. She glared at every salesman in the place. Well, at least these people passed their tests by the skin of their teeth. Min smiled and said, "we sell cars. If you are not engaged in selling a car, you will study. Study the handbook and study the product. You know what the test is going to be like, so there will be no excuses come Friday."

"What are you going to do Chief?"

"I am going to get a few warm bodies in here to help and maybe find you a boss," said Paul.

He spent the next hour taking calls from Andi, John, Gus, Yi, and half the Church board of directors. Then he started getting calls from salesmen he knew in the Albany and Plattsburgh office promising to be there as soon as possible to help. "You don't have to come," said Paul.

One salesman put it perfectly. "This is more than a company, it's a family. Besides, I saw the publicity you got; I want in on the gold rush it causes."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Andi, John, Macy, Yi, and Charlie sat in the waiting room of the Bertrand Chafee hospital. No one was willing to talk about the 2000 pound elephant in the room - was Paul ever in danger? "If he got within fifteen yards of one of those maniacs, I'll kill him!" Andi finally said.

"The way he spoke to me sounded like he was feeling guilty for not getting in there and mixing it up," said Yi.

"Paul!" said Charlie.

"Ready to see the Doctor?" asked Andi, but Charlie just looked at her. "What's doctor in French?"

"Médecin," said Macy.

"But what's medicine in French?"

" Médicament," said John.

"I will never learn that language."

"Charlie?" asked the nurse. Everyone got up. "Just the parents please."

Yi and Andi sat down but John said, "We would like Andi and Yi to come with if we can. Andi is his aunt and she's a doctor and will translate what you say for us if we need it. Yi could end up watching him and if there's something in his profile, we want her to know it."

"Just make sure the doctor has room," said the nurse.

"Ok. What's the little fellow's name?" asked the doctor.

"We don't know," said John. "My nieces call him Charlie."

"Cholly," said Yi. "They call him Cholly, like holly or jolly."

"Why?" asked Doctor Berman.

"They just do," said Yi. "They're very headstrong."

"He's been abused, and we don't know how bad it is," said John. "A woman walked into the church and put him on my lap, said Merry Christmas and left."

"Oh my," said Doctor Berman. "And you say he's been abused?"

"Andi opened up her tablet and showed him pictures of the wounds and the condition he was in when they got him.

"The woman gave him to me wearing a very old diaper and a t-shirt that was so small it had to be cut off. She had him wrapped in an old baby blanket," said John.

"Ok, let's get the clothes off so we can see how he's healing."

Macy started unbuttoning his little flannel shirt and underneath he had a button up t-shirt. "He doesn't like to have shirts pulled over his head," she explained. As she unbuttoned his shirt, he kept pushing her hands away. "Chut mon petit garçon," she whispered (Shush my little boy) as she finally got his shirt off. "Oh my," said the doctor as he inspected his wounds.

"We applied a topical antibacterial last night," said Andi. "Then there was the diaper rash, it was horrible."

"Did you use A+D?" asked the doctor.

"It was beyond that," said Andi. "I ran out and got some Desitin Max." Desitin Maximum Strength is the most effective rash treatment available over the counter. They continued to strip Cholly, and soon he was naked. He seemed to like the doctor's stethoscope and even got to hear his own heartbeat. The doctor tapped and thumped and convinced Cholly to take a few deep breaths while he listened with the stethoscope. "Ok, he's going to hate this," said the doctor, and he used the rectal thermometer, which caused Cholly to completely freak out.

" Arrêt Serai bon! Serai bon! Arrêt, Arrêt, Arrêt." Soon Macy and John were crying with the little boy too.

"What is he saying?"

"He's saying Stop, I'll be good," said John.

"Oh dear god," groaned the doctor. "Almost done... and there." He took the probe out and Cholly clung to John, crying pitifully. "Thirty-seven point six, he's got a slight fever."

"I can't picture what he's been through," groaned John. "C'est fini," he reassured his son. "All over." He felt a bit warm. Thirty-seven point six is about one hundred Fahrenheit.

"Other than the sores and the malnutrition, he's fairly healthy," said Doctor Berman. "He sounds a little congested, he may have a cold, or he may have a little asthma or other issue but that could be from maltreatment. He needs plenty of dairy, up to four cups a day. Cow's milk, cheese, yogurt, daily. Lots of protein, maybe sixteen grams minimum. Legumes, eggs, soy, wheat, lean meat such as turkey, chicken and salmon. And vitamins, A, iron, zinc. Give him baby aspirin for the pain... do you need me to write that down?"

"No, I got it all here," said Andi as she tapped her temple. "I raised a pair of preemies."

"Very good. I want to see him back in three months so we can see the healing on these wounds and see if his lungs clear. If they get worse I want him back immediately."

Andi showed the doctor her stethoscope that she kept in her purse. "I'm a pulmonologist. I'm not peeds but I know what to listen for."

"Peeds?" asked John.

"Pediatrics," said Andi.

When they got Cholly dressed, Yi held him while Macy put on his socks and boots. He was still sniffling and whimpering from his exam, but when he got a view of Yi, he broke into a smile and touched her eyes. "Ton!" he said.

"You little brat, I don't weigh an ounce over 100," she lied.

"Ton!" and he touched her eye.

"He likes your eyes," said Andi.

"Eh, we all look alike."

"Ton!"

"He's not saying ton, like weight," said Macy. "He's saying Tante." (pronounced ton) "It means Aunt."

"Oh, I'm Aunty Yi? I suppose havin' you around is better than waiting for my brother's girlfriend to make up her mind."

When they got to John and Macy's home, there was a note on the door that asked them to call Sergeant Maxwell at the Concord Police Department. John made a call in the kitchen as Andi and Yi sat and listened to Macy playing the violin. "Cholly really likes this," said Macy and she played, and she sang

Alouette, gentille alouette

Alouette Je te plumerai

The song went on and on and was very repetitive, but Cholly tried to sing along with Macy as she played.

"That's cute, what's it about?"

Macy shrugged. "It's about threatening to pluck the feathers off a live bird."

"You're kidding!" cried Yi.

"Nope," said Macy as she continued to play the simplistic melody. "This is the unofficial anthem of French Canada."

John returned to the living room. "I have to go to the hospital. They have a body, the police have her over there."

"The woman that dropped him off?" asked Macy.

"I don't know," said John with a frown. "I better head over."

"Let me go with you," said Andi. "In med school, I saw a lot of cadavers, some were in pretty rough shape."

"I want to see it," said Yi. "It beats tearing the feathers off of a live bird."

"Wha...?" asked John.

"Alouette," said Macy.

"Oh..." John said with a sigh. He used to sing that song in elementary school, everyone did. Until they found out that it was about torturing a gentle little lark.

"That's how we learned our bird's body parts when we were little kids," said Macy as she put the violin away. "The song goes on describing plucking feathers off the head, chest, wings, legs, and tail. It even sings about plucking off the beak."

"First hockey, now disfiguring live songbirds..." said Yi. "You French Canadians are crazy."

"Oui, you should see what we do to underage black fashion models," said Macy.

"They make you marry short Americans; I've heard it all before," said John as he zipped up Cholly's parka. "Faire une le tour? Go for a ride?"

"Tour!" chirped Cholly as they headed out into the cold. They piled into Andi's van and clipped Cholly into one of the Twin's seats and popped Katarina into Danny's seat. (Danny was home with Heather and Harold getting some serious grandma and grandpa time.)

In a few minutes, they were at the hospital, and they all trooped in. At the front desk, the receptionist looked up and smiled. "Doctor Roberts, Pastor Jarecki, how may I help you?"

"Sergeant Maxwell asked us to meet him here to view a cadaver," said Andi.

"Hmmm yes... hang on," and she made a quick phone call. "Somebody will be right out."

As they waited, Andi threw up her "doctor façade." An emotional bulwark that allowed her to deal with severe illness, injury, and death in a cool, calm manner in front of patients and their families. Soon, a familiar face greeted Andi. "Doctor Roberts! How are you and the baby doing Andi?"

"Kendra! We're doing fine. How are you doing?"

"Good, looks like you're doing good," said Kendra Long, the osteopath that delivered both Danny and Katarina a little over a month ago. "Katarina looks good but what have you been feeding Danny?" she kidded, seeing Cholly.

"This is Cholly, he's John's Christmas present. Sergeant Maxwell says you have a body for us to take a look at?"

"Follow me," said Kendra and they trooped off to the morgue, a place where very few hospital patients and even doctors get to see while alive. There they met Sergeant Maxwell.

"Sergeant Maxwell, do you know Kendra?" asked Andi.

"No, I don't believe we've met." They shook hands, "Alex Maxwell."

"Kendra Long."

"Kendra delivered our babies during the November storm," said Andi. She noticed that neither Alex nor Kendra were wearing a ring of any kind on their left hand.

"You have a thing with storms," said Maxwell. "There's no doubt about that."

"What's with that?" asked Kendra.

"Last December during the big storm, he set me up with Paul on our first date. Can we go see the body?"

"Yeah, follow me," and Kendra led a strangely silent John and an oddly animated Andi into the morgue itself. The scent of chemicals and decaying bodies assaulted their senses. It revolted John, but Andi was almost excited. At one point, she wanted to major in forensic pathology. The challenge of discovering the clues that point to the cause of death was actually exciting to Andi. She loved the TV show Quincy MD.

Kendra pulled a drawer out and there, under a sheet, was Cholly's mother. It had to be his mother. She had the same dark brown hair, the same tiny nose, and the same cleft chin. Andi even put on a glove and pried open her dead eye. Hazel, same as Cholly's. "Her landlady found her when the baby's non-stop crying got to her after three days."

"Cause of death?" asked Andi as she inspected the woman's fingernails. Fingernails reveal a lot of health information. Hers were not coated with polish, so Andi could see the pale white fingernails of a hepatitis sufferer. She looked at the inner elbow. The vein was blown. A habitual heroin user. "Let me guess, OD?"

"Toxicology said that her last dose of smack was stepped on with Fentanyl."

"God I hate that shit," said Andi. "Time of death?"

"We're guesstimating at four days ago, maybe five."

"What do we know about her?" asked Andi.

"She's not an American, her name was Séraphine Lévesque. She was twenty three."

"French?" asked John. His eyes were locked onto Séraphine's dead face. The sorrowful look on John's face broke Andi's heart and almost shattered her façade.

"French Colonial, she's from," Alex looked through his papers on his clip board. "New Caledonia."

"That's the paradise of the south Pacific! What's she doing in the snow belt south of Buffalo?" demanded Andi. She glared at Séraphine's blank expression. "She comes here for what... a fiancé? Fiancé becomes pusher becomes pimp? How did she end up in Springville?" Andi couldn't get the pieces completely organized, but she was able to see some of the big picture coming together.

"We'll keep working on that," said Alex.

"DNA," said John finally.

"What?" asked Kendra.

"DNA... can we match Séraphine's DNA to Cholly? I need to know if he has living parents. When was he born? What is his name?"

"DNA's not a problem let me get you a kit. As for giving birth... we think eighteen months ago, June," said Kendra as she gave John a swab kit and they headed out into the waiting area.

"Was it the woman that dropped Cholly off?" asked Macy. She was nursing Katarina, and Cholly was watching with interest.

"No, it's his..." John couldn't bring himself to say it. "I want to lay her to rest in the churchyard."

"There should be no problem, is she French?" asked Macy.

"Caldoche, from New Caledonia."

Caldoche is the name given to the European descendants living on the French overseas collectivity of provinces and islands of New Caledonia.

"That explains his accent," said Macy.

John crouched down in front of Cholly and took a cotton swab out of the DNA collection kit. "Say Ah!" It took him a few tries to get Cholly to open his mouth so he could get a DNA sample. "Bon gamin! Good boy!"

Cholly grinned broadly at John's praise, which caused John to tighten up. Andi could see he's one or two more revelations from a cry of anguish. "Why pull his DNA?" she asked.

"Because some day he's going to want to know about his real parents. And when we go to family court I can say his parents are gone. We will be able to walk over to the church yard and show him where she rests."

"Come on, let's put Séraphine to rest," said Andi. and she took the DNA sample from John and gave it to Kendra. Then she turned to Alex and said loud enough for Kendra to hear, "You should bring Kendra with you to the Springville Congregational Church on Christmas Eve. Doctor Kosis is getting married after the candlelight service."

"Lucy? Married?"

Andi nodded. "Miracles happen every day! Oh, and Pastor John will arrange for Séraphine's interment."

They rode in silence to John and Macy's house, and when they got there, Andi said, "Why don't we have practice at my house, we have everything we need."

"Oui," said Macy as she got out of the van.

"Come for dinner, an old friend is coming to town today."

"Oui," said Macy. "We need a little time to digest this."

"I understand," said Andi.

After John and Macy went into the house, Andi dropped the facade. The thought of that sweet little boy stuck in a cold apartment with his dead mother for three days... She cried for almost ten minutes, then said, "I need my babies."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The mayor of Portsmouth, Chester Horton, was sipping coffee in the conference room with Paul as Paul went on about the idiots that he just sent off to prison. "I should have known they were up to no good. The handbook that I sent them says in bold face type, there will be no alcoholic beverages consumed on the premises ever. I walk in here at ten AM and Isaac Mendes, the sales manager, hands me a scotch, neat."

"A sip or two can lubricate a sale," said Chester.

"I want my salesmen and my customers clean and sober when the deal is struck, or I get some lawyer breathing down my neck because a customer totaled his car on his way home because he couldn't handle the power. The lawyer is ready to file a claim that I never should have sold the customer a car he couldn't handle. I either have to eat a three hundred thousand dollar McLaren or a six hundred thousand dollar legal bill. It's not worth the headache."

"I get you. How are you doing?"

"Crazy, everyone is stopping by to see where it happened, and quite a few are taking home a car."

"How are you able to do that with your sales staff in jail?"

"I now know how my brother feels," said Paul wistfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know what this ridiculous racing jacket signifies?"

"What," said Mayor Horton.

" At Jarecki Motors it's a sign of excellence. It means I sold a million dollars' worth of cars and we have customers that look for salesmen that wear the Honda Racing Team jacket. This is my fifth jacket. But if you notice I've got half a dozen Honda jackets on the sales floor."

"I saw that," said Chester. "I was going to ask if I was able to buy one."

Paul continued, "last night my brother, a Pastor in a small church in a small town was conducting practice for the kid's nativity pageant. Some woman comes in and drops a two-year-old in his lap and stomps out saying, "Merry fucking Christmas." Word goes out among the members of the church that Pastor John needs clothes and stuff for a two-year-old boy and the whole congregation pitches in. It was like the end scene of It's a Wonderful Life. My wife told me that they were singing Auld Lang Syne. This morning, word went out that I was down to two rookie salesmen, and suddenly I have Honda Jacket salesmen from all over the company showing up to pitch in and make store number fifteen a success. Just amazing..."

"Your C.O.O. is a pip," said Chester. "What company did you poach her from?"

"She just walked in one day. I made her assistant to my assistant, then when my assistant took maternity leave, she became my assistant. She's been on me since day one to get a C.O.O. so made her the C.O.O. and she's rocking it."

"How about a general manager for this store?" said Chester. "My son has a lot of experience. He'd probably fit right in."

"Have him come in with his resume in hand... hang on." Paul stepped to the door and poked his head in the GM's assistant, Laura's, office. Right now, Laura is the executive assistant to Min and Paul, but compared to Oliver Linwood and Adrien Lannon's incompetence, her job is now a breeze. "I need to do an interview tomorrow. When can I do it?"

"You and Min have interviews with the press, the coast guard and the FBI all day tomorrow. WWKB and WBUF TV are sending teams from Buffalo to interview you two, they're bringing Chun Yun Jian with."

"Uncle Chun? Cool... but find me a half hour... twenty minutes. It's for the Mayor."

"Can you do an interview over lunch? Does one PM sound good?"

"It'll have to do." Paul returned to the mayor and said, "One PM, that's my only available slot tomorrow."

"That'll work, I'll have him bring a sandwich," grinned Chester.

Paul's phone chimed, and he saw he got a message from Andi. It simply said, "I need daddy." Paul said to Mayor Horton, "Thank you for stopping in, but it's hectic and I have a call I have to take."

"Thank you for the tour and thank you for cleaning up my harbor. I wish you all the luck."

Paul ducked into the GM's office, a place he's been avoiding, but the FBI has already gone through it and carted off several file boxes of evidence. Steve called Andi and when she answered, it sounded like she had been crying. "What the problem sweetheart?"

"We found Cholly's mom today. She's dead. She died of an overdose and poor Cholly was trapped with her for three days until we believe it was her landlord that discovered him.

"Oh that poor kid," groaned Paul. "How are John and Macy dealing with it?"

"John plans to bury her in the church yard."

"Why?" demanded Paul, maybe too forcefully. Burying a junkie in his church yard? He can convince the board to prevent it from happening.

"Cholly is going to want to know about his mother."

"Is that really going to help Cholly with his mother?" demanded Paul, a bit too forcefully. He just didn't like the idea of strangers in his churchyard.

"It helped you with Melony," Andi said softly.

Paul sighed, as always she was right. A graveyard has nothing to do with dead people. It's all about their families. "I'm sorry, I'm letting this place get to me. How is it going there?"

"When I picked the girls up from school, they wanted to see him, so we stopped by and John had a prayer circle for Cholly. Gus and Lucy, Brad and Dianna Clemmons, Kathy and Lars Hansen, Carole and Larry Snow. It was quite a gathering. Little Cholly was in the middle looking up at all the people as they prayed. Then the Twins got there, and they dragged him off to play." Andi took a breath and continued. "Now that we have identified the mother and the DNA match is complete, John's lawyer will be able to get access to his birth certificate."

"John's lawyer?"

"Yeah, Veronica and Marjorie arranged a lawyer that's working pro bono. They're worried about Cholly's emotional development so they will be hiring a specialist. Think of it, an eighteen-month-old baby in a freezing apartment with his dead mother for days."

Paul did think of it, and he realized he was going to have nightmares about that scenario for a long time.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

It was snowing and windy the next morning when John left his house and walked across the village to the area where the railroad workers used to live. Small houses tucked closely together, two, maybe three bedrooms holding families that were up to ten people. Now they're rental spaces and occasionally a room will be sublet.

They were teetering collections of old decaying wood held together with rusting nails and untold layers of paint. Ancient wood frame screens with clear plastic covered many windows from the bite of winter, other windows were covered with cardboard or plywood. Normally, John would pause to consider the design of the building and what it would look like after he got his skilled hands on it. These old one story "shotgun" houses may not be worth the effort.

He knocked on the door of the address that he got from the police and waited and soon a short, bent woman with graying black hair and a wounded soul opened the door and peered out. It was her, the woman that brought him Cholly. The town of Concord identified the owner of this standing wreck as Amelia Hernandez. Former U.S. Army nurse, she did several tours in Vietnam before taking a gunshot wound herself from some stoned idiot with an M-16. "What do ya want?" she snarled.

"I just wanted to thank you. Thank you so much for bringing the boy to me."

"What, that brat? The dead junkie's little monster? He did nothing but cry."

"He was malnourished, he was hungry," pleaded John, trying to find some humanity in this woman's soul.

"That bitch just had him as an anchor baby, so they couldn't send her back wherever she came from."

"When you brought him to me you saved his life."

"What?" demanded the woman. "I never did such a thing. Now go away." She slammed the door.

"I just wanted to thank you," said John to the closed door. "Many people would have let him die, but you saved him. There's still some love in your soul."

The woman tugged at the door, and with a screech it opened a bit, and she snarled, "I'm no hero, I've seen things that would curl your hair, now go. Merry Fucking Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Amelia," said John. "If you'd like, you can come see him. He'll be the lamb in the nativity pageant."

"Please go," she whispered, and she pushed the door closed.

"I'm a carpenter, Amelia. I can fix that door. I can seal those leaky windows. I'll get some people over here to clean out Séraphine's apartment."

"Don't," she said sadly. "I ain't worth it."

"Yes you are. I'll be back tomorrow with my boss Amelia; we'll fix up this old house for you."

She pushed the door closed and sagged against it. She watched the snow blow under the edges of the door, and she shoved a rolled-up towel at the base of the door. Amelia... when was the last time somebody called her that?

For some reason, John was feeling the joy of the season for the first time this year. Yes, the pain from being run over and the surgeries still plagued him, but that woman cared enough to bring Cholly to him. It's time to find out Cholly's real name! He hummed all the way home. At home he called up Andalon Adoption, "I met the woman that brought Cholly to me in church. It was the land lady. I guess she grabbed the kid and brought him to me before she called the cops."

Marjorie looked at the papers she got from the Town of Concord. "She told the police that you volunteered to babysit him, and she took him over to you at the mother's request. Did you tell her that you would babysit him?"

John closed his eyes, and thought back, when was the last time... "About three weeks ago I said, 'The holiday season is always crazy. I'm laid up with injuries and not going anywhere, so if you need a sitter, bring your child to me, no questions asked.' We had a few young mothers take advantage of the offer."

"You said that?"

"Yep, my wife is still glaring at me for that."

"Other people heard it and brought their children to you?" asked Marj.

"Yes. I'll text you their names."

"Perfect. You don't realize how much this will help."

"We're going to the county clerk to see his Birth Certificate," said John.

"Raoul Corbet and I will meet you there in 30 minutes," said Marj.

"Give us 45," said John as he pulled Cholly's parka on the little guy and Macy wrapped up Katarina and put her in her carrier, then they headed downtown. For the first time, he turned on Christmas music on the van radio. Shortly after they pulled out of the driveway, Andi pulled out and followed them. She wanted to be moral support and Paul asked her to keep an eye on John and Macy.

"You must be feeling good," said Macy in French as she drove. The van was full of beautiful Christmas music played on the piano. It was so good to see the cheerful man she married again. It has been so long.

"Oui, I found a soul that needs work. It's part of the gift that comes with Cholly."

When they pulled into the parking lot of the Erie County offices, they found Gus Didomissio waiting for them. "What's up?" asked John as he walked up to Gus with Cholly in his arms. "Cholly, this is Mister Boss."

"Hello Cholly," said Gus and he extended his hand to shake, but Cholly just looked at Gus's hand in shock.

"It's ok Cholly," said John and he shook Gus's hand. "Give it a try." But Cholly pulled his hands tight to himself.

"I've never done that to a kid before," said Gus.

"So why are you here big guy?" asked John.

"Paul called and asked me to stand with you and if there's anything you need from the board, I am to arrange it."

He looked at Andi, who was standing next to Macy. "Same thing," said Andi. "Whatever you need, whatever it takes."

"Good," said John. "I need work crews at 705 Chesapeake Ave. We're going to help that old woman that saved Cholly's life. She's got sticky doors, leaking windows, and an apartment in the back that probably needs to be cleaned up. God knows how many other issues that old house has."

"I'm on it," said Gus. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called Kenny. "We have work to do. Can you call a few of the guys on the board and tell them to be at 705 Chesapeake Ave tomorrow at nine? I'll call Dexter."

As they stepped into the County offices, Andi turned to John and said, "What can I do?"

"You're a doctor. Doctor her."

"Will do," said Andi, as she made plans to inventory Paul's doctor bag.

Inside the office building, they found their way to the County Clerk's office where Marj Friedman and Raoul Corbet from Andalon Adoptions were waiting. After introductions, they stepped into the clerk's office, where John and Macy were introduced as the foster parents of Séraphine Lévesque's son. "We will need a registered copy of the birth certificate," said Raoul.

"Of course," said the assistant clerk. She looked up the correct file, and said, "do we have a court order of a..." Raoul handed her a paper from the judge in Springville, naming John and Mary the foster parents and a copy of Séraphine's death certificate. She turned, made several copies on an ordinary-looking copier, then returned with a big logbook and a few forms. "Sign here, and here, and here." As John and Mary signed, the assistant clerk produced a copy of the birth certificate, punched it with a notary stamp, and put it in an envelope. "That will be thirty five dollars."

While John and Macy went through their wallets, Andi slapped a twenty, a ten, and a five on the counter and the clerk handed John and Macy the envelope and the receipt for the certificate. "Come on, I want to see what Cholly's real name is!" said Andi.

John and Macy slid the birth certificate out of the envelope and read his name. Then they started laughing. "They nailed it. I don't know how, but your girls nailed it," said John as Macy continued to laugh.

"What! What's his name?" demanded Andi.

John hefted Cholly in his arm, then, getting the little boy's attention, he said, "Chamonix." When he said that, Cholly broke into a grin. "Chamonix Lévesque! Cha-Le, Cholly!"

"Da!" squealed Cholly, and he fell forward in John's arms, giving John the sloppiest, wettest kiss he had ever received. John's free arm snaked around Macy, and he pulled her and Katarina in for a hug as Andi took pictures of their joy.

"What's the matter Gus?" said Andi. "Your eyes are getting a bit damp."

"I'm just happy to see my boys finally succeeding."

"Let's take our happy family to lunch," said Andi. "Paul promised last night that he will be home tomorrow."

A half hour later, they were seated with Mama Giardino. "Now who is this big boy?" asked Mama Giardino as she tickled Cholly under the chin.

"This is the new addition to our family," said Macy.

Mama sat down with Katarina in her arms. "You two work fast!" she said, then she turned to Gus and said in Italian, "I can't wait to hear the complete story."

"It's a good one mama," assured Gus. "It's a wonderful story."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"... it's a wonderful story and I urge you to go visit, take a camera crew and head out to Springville, Tomorrow members of the church will be helping fix up the house of the woman that saved this little guy, then some evening next week when the kids are practicing for the nativity, head out and you'll get a Christmas story for your viewers.

"What part is Cholly playing in the nativity?" asked the bright young reporter from back home in Buffalo.

"Well, he's so little they want him in the starring roll, but he likes to wander around so he might end up as a lamb where my girls will keep him in line." He showed the reporter a picture on his phone of Sandy, Madeline, and Cholly. It was a close-up picture of them close together, their mouths open wide in huge noisy grins.

The sheer joy of the picture made the reporter laugh. "And there's two more?"

"Yes, but they're just two months old and both mommas put their feet down on putting Kat and Danny in the nativity. "He showed a picture of Macy and Andi sitting on the couch knitting with Kat and Danny sitting propped up between them. To the side can be seen the Christmas tree and behind them the handrail and balusters of the grand staircase covered in holly, garland, and lights. Over Macy's shoulder in the distance could be seen the aluminum Christmas tree in the living room.

"I'd love to see your house."

"Do the Cholly and the Springville Congregational story and I'll give you a tour."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He handed her a card with a cell phone number on the back. "Call me. Now I have to go. I have a couple minutes for lunch and I'm working through that," said Paul.

"Thank you Doctor Jarecki," said the crew as they left and Min and her Uncle Chun walked into the GM's empty office with a couple of Submarine Sandwiches.

"They're called Hoagies here," said Chun with a frown.

"Look up 'Hoagie," said Paul. "The definition is 'submarine sandwich.'" They sat around the GM's desk, unwrapped their sandwiches, and took a bite. "Not bad," said Paul.

"They don't have the garlic in the sandwich oil that Sorrentino's back in Cheektowaga has," said Chun.

"Exactly!" said Paul, and they tapped their subs together. Just then, a familiar face entered. "Ernie?"

"Heya Boss, how's it going?"

"Min, have you met Ernie? Ernie, This is Min Zhong Sun, she's the C.O.O. I know you know her Uncle Chun.

"Hell yeah, I came aboard, and Chun retired, and they blamed his retirement on me for years afterwards."

"Min, this is Ernie Hawkins, he's the assistant GM of Syracuse and is just slaying it out there. Third racing jacket?"

"Fourth," said Ernie.

"What's up? What brings you to town?"

"Well, you have half of my sales force out here, I decided to see what's up."

"Same old, same old," said Paul. "Drugs, human smuggling, and stupid salesmen."

"My dad said to stop in and see you," said Ernie.

Paul stopped in mid-bite. "Stepdad?"

"Yeah, Chet Horton. He said to bring my resume, and I might get to move home."

"Mayor Chester Horton is your stepdad?" asked Min.

"Yep."

"You're hired," said Paul. "Now tell us how great you are so we can eat our lunch."

After they finished lunch, Paul said, "How much time do we have before we talk to the FBI?"

"Six minutes."

"They're government, they always start their crap late. Paul called his office and dialed the number for his private line to Monica.

"Who are we firing now? Captain Bligh," said Monica, his head of HR.

"No, we extend the plank tomorrow. We have three retesting. We have a few bodies shuffling around. I emailed you the roster for here in Portsmouth, right?"

"Yeah?" said Monica suspiciously.

"Move Ernie Hawkins from Syracuse to here as the GM. Let Dale in Syracuse know, let him down easily, ok?"

"Isn't that your job?" demanded Monica.

"I did that once and screwed it all up. Also, move Min Sun from my assistant to C.O.O."

"We don't have a position of C.O.O. Every time I try to pin you down on that subject you find something else to do... like play with your kids."

"Here's your chance. I'll be home tomorrow; you can come out for hot cocoa, and we can chat. "

"And you'll claim that you have to shovel the driveway, and I'm stuck with Andi wondering what you're thinking. Monday at 8:00 will be fine. Just promise me you didn't talk salary with her yet."

"Other than country club membership we haven't spoken bennies or pay."

"You're killing me."

"See you tomorrow."

<><><><><>

It was quite a day. Paul and Min had interviews with two TV stations in Buffalo, then after lunch had interviews with the Coast Guard, followed by interviews with the FBI. The news was clueless, but that was to be expected. The news media has died in America. On the national level, it's all baseless accusations and uneducated opinion, but the local news is still trying to cover the story.

As for the government agencies, the Coast Guard was sharp and asked intelligent questions, and they were done in less than a half hour. Paul grew tired of the FBI's stupid questions quickly. "Mister Jarecki, when did you realize that this was a human smuggling operation?"

Paul picked up a computer read out showing his next load of import cars.

"Mister Jarecki?"

"Pardon Mister Nasmith?"

"It's agent Nasmith," snapped the FBI agent.

"And it's Doctor Jarecki. God knows I worked harder for my title than you worked for yours."

"Can we get back to this gentlemen?" asked Special Agent Davidson.

"Doctor Jarecki, when did you realize that this was a human smuggling operation?"

"Agent Nasmith, right after Agent Josey Kersey told me it was after he apprehended the kidnappers."

"You didn't know it was a human smuggling operation before Agent Kersey told you?"

"Didn't I just say that?" asked Paul.

"I just find it hard to believe that you didn't realize it was going on under your nose."

"The FBI was here before I took ownership of this place, they were following these clowns around for weeks, but you don't find it hard to believe they didn't know what's going on?"

"What are you implying Mister Jarecki?" demanded Agent Nasmith. Paul stared at him silently until he finally said, "Doctor Jarecki."

"I'm just saying that your line of questioning tells me you understand how stupid FBI agents are."

"You are so goddamn lucky my gun is holstered," snapped Agent Nasmith.

"Are you threatening to kill me Agent Nasmith?" asked Paul. He turned to Special Agent Davidson, the man that was doing such a horrible job at being in charge of this interview. "He just threatened to kill me."

"I'm sure that he didn't do any such thing Doctor Jarecki. Right Agent Nasmith?"

"Right."

Paul reached under the desk and pressed a button that he discovered earlier. It was unethical, but some car dealers have them. Right after he pressed the button, his office door opened, and Min peered in. "Doctor Jarecki, somebody from the department of justice wants to have a word."

"Hang on a second guys, let me see what this is." And he got up and left while a digital recorder in Oliver Linwood's old desk recorded the conversation while Paul was out.

The FBI agents talked for about ten minutes. It was mostly Davidson telling Nasmith to pull his head out of his ass. Then they went silent for another ten minutes. "Where the fuck did he go?" spat Agent Nasmith, and he got up and stormed out of the office, looking for Paul. He found Paul in the show room with his Honda Racing Team Jacket on and he was bent over a Lamborghini talking to the woman in the driver's seat.

"I'm sorry Lady, this conversation is over." And he grabbed Paul by the shoulder and yanked him back. He didn't know how it happened, but the doctor had him caught in a very effective thumb lock.

"Her title is Madam Governor, and you will address her as such... now."

"I apologize Madam Governor, I didn't..."

Paul turned to Special Agent Davidson. "I gave my deposition to Special Agent Kersey. Now get him out of here, grownups are talking." Then he turned back to the car, "I'm sorry Madam Governor, they get so excited when their careers are waning. Where were we?"

<><><><><>

"Ok, folks gather round." He had the entire team out in the drive-through service bay. Everyone was there, all the service folks, the office people, and the sales staff. A fellow from PR was there recording the meeting. Paul stepped up on a few cases of oil and continued, "We got off to a rocky start. Many of our sales team failed the handbook quiz, and then there was that human trafficking and drug smuggling thing. Hopefully, we got that behind us now and we can move forward. I want to thank everyone who came to our aid and made this opening something to remember."

Paul paused for applause, then continued. "I don't have the numbers yet, but we sold some cars! Ok, I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that you have a new General Manager, Ernie Hawkins is moving here from Syracuse. He's a Portsmouth boy and his dad is mayor. He's a good friend and he knowns the ins and outs of this job like no one else."

"What's the bad news?" someone asked.

"Ernie is a good friend who knows the ins and outs of this job like no one else. As my old first sergeant would say, Y'all ain't gittin away with nuttin no more!" After the laughter died down, Paul said, "I want to introduce Min Zhong Sun. She's taking over as Chief Operating Officer. It's kind of like my assistant, but she doesn't have to make coffee anymore. Her position becomes permanent on the first of the year, and from that point on, what she says goes. I'll deal with the manufacturers and distributors and our elected officials' "great" ideas, (he added air quotes) she'll deal with you. Do not get the idea that she can't handle you, she took out those jerks that were kidnapping all those girls. I'm not going to mess with her."

"Did you tell Monica in HR about the first of the year?" asked Min.

"She's smart, she'll figure it out."

<><><><><>

One hour after his farewell speech to the men and women of Jarecki Motors, Portsmouth, Paul was climbing onto a Cessna Citation CJ4. "What would you like for dinner?" said the cabin attendant as the little plane was getting fired up and ready for launch.

"I want Connecticut style lobster roll with a cup of chowder, salt and vinegar tater tots and an ice cold Pepsi."

"I'm sorry, all we have is the Pepsi, we don't have any of that other stuff," said the tall blond cabin attendant.

"Luckily I brought some." He placed a cardboard takeout box on the small table. "Can you warm this up after we get airborne?"

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

John and Melissa Kraft, the church pianist, were putting together a musical accompaniment for a song that Macy wanted to try. John and Melissa spent almost an hour getting her Casio keyboard to sound like a hammered dulcimer, but they got it. She played the melody, and they all agreed it sounded great. "Let's do it!" and she played a few bars. Then John came in on his rhythm guitar, strumming along with Melissa. Finally, the girls started singing.

Quand Dieu naquit à Noël, dedans la Judée,

On vit ce jour solennel la joie inondée.

It was upbeat and high-pitched, but the girls loved it, even though the lyrics were French. Even Macy had a tough time with the lyrics because they were over six hundred years old and French back then was different from modern French-Canadian. They almost made it through the song without error for the very first time when Yi said, "What does this mean? Here in the refrain,"

Sans cé, cé, cé, cé,

Sans céré, ré, ré,

Sans cé, cé,

"That's just how they pushed 'Sans cérémonie' into the pattern of the song," said Macy.

"This is a tough piece of music," said John. "It's probably over five hundred years old and only sung by choirs that specialize in ancient music. I am so proud of you three!"

"I am amazed!" said Katrina "Kit" Mays. She sat off to the side where she could see everything. The vast library where they practiced, the homey living room with its 1950s Christmas decorations, especially the antique aluminum Christmas tree. Off to her right was the grand staircase with the boughs of holly and evergreen, silver garland and brightly colored bells as decorations. Past that was the elegant parlor with the huge blue spruce Christmas tree in front of the window.

Kit was sitting next to Andi's mom, Heather, who was holding her grandson, Danny, and Kit was holding Macy's daughter Katarina. When the girls began singing, Cholly excitedly crawled over to the living room couch and after a titanic struggle, he climbed up between Heather and Kit, then he held onto Katarina's foot and began to hoot, "See! See! See!"

John and Macy looked over at Cholly, who was trying to sing to Katarina. They watched him try to formulate words and chimed in with the rhythmic refrain, and it must have been entirely entertaining because she called out a loud "HA!" which scared Cholly. The little guy scrambled down off the couch and zipped over to the gigantic tree where he lay under the branches and looked up into the lights and branches from below. The twins joined him in admiring the tree from a toddler's POV.

Cholly was getting comfortable with these people, and he especially liked Aunt Andi's house. The enormous tree, the warm fire, and the front window which was low enough for him to look out at the snow. He loved playing with his cousins, who were his guide through this difficult time of his life. He was behind on walking and speech because of his mother's poor child-rearing skills. He still mostly crawled. His walking was unsure and wobbly, but here at Paul's house there was always a twin to help hold a hand.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" he cried as he slapped his hand on the front window.

"MOM! He said Snow!" shouted Sandy.

"Santa Claus won't be able to come!" cried Madeline.

"Why is that?" Andi asked as she came over to see what the kids were doing. "Oh my," said Andi. "Macy, you might be staying the night," said Andi.

"Is it snowing?" asked Macy as she checked on Katarina.

"It's a winter wonder land out there."

"Wow," said John as he looked out the window towards Josh and Veronica's house. The lit-up Christmas tree on their front lawn wasn't visible through the heavy snowfall. "I can't see how we can stay; all your bedrooms are filled up."

"There's no room at the inn," said Macy.

"When it snoooooows, ain't it thrillin,'" sang Yi as she pulled a large suitcase into the middle of the library and plugged it in. She unzipped all the sides and let it fall open to reveal a tangle of folded legs and heavy plastic and she hit a switch...

"And your noooooose gets a chillin,'" sang Andi as she produced an armload of blankets and pillows.

"We'll frolic and play, the Springville house way...." They sang together as the large suitcase began to unfold and inflate to a queen size bed on legs.

"Your room will be ready in a few minutes," said Andi.

"That's amazing," said John as he watched the bed unfold and inflate. "Does it fold itself back up?" asked John.

"Yep. You set the pump to deflate and it kind of sucks itself back into shape then you zip up the case around it."

John watched the bed unfold in fascination as Macy muttered, "I know what John wants for Christmas now."

"He's a Jarecki man, they never outgrow their toys," said Andi.

Meanwhile, Madeline and Sandy dashed back and forth between the wood pile on the back porch and the library, bringing a piece or two of firewood with each trip and piling it up in the fireplace. Cholly tottered into the library carrying a single small piece and brightly said, "bois!"

"Oui Cholly!" cried Macy, suddenly filled with pride and astonishment for the strength and tenacity of the tiny lad. "Bois, wood!" (Bois is pronounced b'wa)

"Woo," said Cholly, and he put his stick in front of the fireplace and scampered back to the porch on his hands and knees for another.

"He said wood," said an amazed Macy. "He said wood in French and English!"

"We're going to be alright," whispered John as he took Macy into his arms for a kiss. "Our little boy is going to be fine."

"I need to get going," said Melissa as she finished programming the Casio keyboard for the next refrain of Quand Dieu naquit à Noël (When God was born at Christmas) probably the oldest remaining Christmas carol known. The idea is to make the Casio sound more and more like full baroque orchestration as they sang each refrain. Hopefully, Paul and John can learn their parts in time.

Andi and Katrina Mays peered out the window at the storm. "I've never seen snow like this!" said Nurse Kit.

"I just hope Paul doesn't try something stupid like flying home in this," said Andi.

<><><><><>

"The difference is," said Paul, "the Lamborghini Aventador is probably the greatest sports car you can put on the road in America. It costs a fortune to maintain, but hey! It's a Lamborghini Aventador. On the other hand, the Maserati GranTurismo is a luxury sports car, the ride is so smooth. It's got a lot of the bells and whistles the Aventador has but it doesn't look like a spaceship and," he nudged the pilot with his elbow, "the maintenance for a Maserati is a fraction of a Lambo. Just for that reason it keeps its value better than any other supercar in America, that includes the Mustang Cobra and the GT40." He turned his laptop so the Pilot could see the photo of the Rosso Corsa red Maserati GranTurismo that was waiting for him at the Orchard Park Jarecki Motors. "We have the Aventador in a yellow/brown too."

"I'll be in on Monday to check this out," said the pilot. "I had better get up front, I have some pilot things to do."

"Like land us," said the Cabin Attendant. "Doctor Jarecki, if you are done with your drink?"

Paul downed the rest of the Sprite and Lemonade and handed the glass back to the Cabin Attendant. "Just don't put it down on Lake Erie. It's a bit chilly this time of year."

"I'll relay that to the cabin crew," said the attendant with a smile. "Seat belt please."

Soon the Cessna executive jet settled in at Buffalo IAP and taxied up to the Prior Aviation hangers. They walked back to the hangar with Paul dragging his suitcase. "Headed to Orchard Park doc?" asked the Co-Pilot.

"No, I'm headed up to Springville, that's where the whole Jarecki clan lives."

"Oh, they are getting hammered," said the pilot. "From South Boston to Ellicottville, you have a lake effect storm."

"Just my luck," said Paul as they walked through the hangar. "I have a new nephew I'm dying to meet." And he told them the story of John's foundling son. As they stepped outside the front of the hangar, there was a huge Ford F-550 truck with a salt spreader and drag plow on the back and a variable geometry snowplow on the front. "Looks like my ride is here," said Paul. "See ya fellas."

"You're going to need that thing," said the Pilot with a laugh. He clearly thought Paul was kidding. Then he went silent as the driver hopped out and tossed Paul's suitcase in the back of the truck. With a wave, Paul climbed into the back door of the plow truck, and they were off.

"Who was that masked cardiologist?" asked the co-pilot.

"Never underestimate Doctor J." grinned the flight attendant. "I bought my Ferrari from him back in August."

The pilot and co-pilot looked at each other in shock. "She's got a Ferrari," said the pilot.

In the truck, Paul leaned over the seat and gave Lucy a kiss. "Thank you for picking me up."

"We have to set a record getting back to town," she said as she showed him her clip board. "The calls are piling up."

"Do not let her frighten you, we had to come into town and get salt anyhow," said Gus.

"Has she been grumpy lately?" asked Paul innocently.

"Oh yeah? Try going for years looking for someone you love and then when you find them, not be able to touch them!" she shrieked.

"Dear? How did Andi and I spend last December?" asked Paul, trying not to laugh.

"Leave me alone!" she said and spun around and started swatting at Paul with her clipboard. "This is for Evangeline!"

It was a couple of hours later when Gus backed into Paul's driveway and Paul got out and dug his suitcase out of the back of the truck. Paul saw that John's van was in the driveway, parked to the side to let Andi or Yi out of the garage. He leaned in Lucy's window and said, "Thanks a metric buttload guys."

"Ignore what Lucy says, it's never a problem," said Gus and he adjusted his front plow from V to straight, then angled it left and dropped it into the 2 foot deep snow, then dropped the drag plow. "We'll be by for coffee later!" He took off out of the driveway as fast as he could get the truck running in that distance. He threw snow up on the neighbor's lawn and left Paul's driveway completely clean. "For that he gets seventy five bucks," chuckled Paul and he walked onto the patio. He kicked off as much snow as he could, then took off his mukluks and entered the house.

It felt like he had been away for months. The holiday decorations in the kitchen were amazing. Before he left, Paul gave Yi an open budget to make their kitchen a "Winter Cooking Wonderland" and the girl did it. Still perfectly functional but so beautiful with holly, evergreen and red ribbons. All kitchen towels and cloths were replaced with Christmas towels, and the Coca-Cola colored mixer and blender were put out on the counter to add to the festive appearance of the kitchen. There were even festive wreaths hanging from the back of the chairs at the kitchen table.

He heard a snap from a fire and looked and saw a glow from the library, and he walked over there and found a fire in the fireplace and the inflatable bed was set up. He could see in the firelight that John and Macy were in the bed and between them lay Katarina and Cholly. John placed his finger to his lips and folded back the cover so John could see that Katarina was holding Cholly's hand in her sleep. Paul leaned close and whispered, "I am so proud of you." Then he gave his brother a wink and headed upstairs. As far as John was concerned, that was the greatest Christmas present Paul could give him.

Paul quietly entered his bedroom, and someone sat up in bed with a gasp. She turned on the bedside lamp and Paul saw immediately it was Katrina Mays. "Hey Kit," he whispered. She had short dark hair and her figure was slim. There was no way he could confuse her with Andi.

"I'm sorry, we were up all-night yacking," she whispered as she got out of bed fully dressed.

"It's ok, just a party foul, no big deal."

"Go get her big guy," said Kit as she swatted his ass on the way out the door.

Andi was a sound sleeper, and Kit getting up and Paul entering the room didn't wake her at all. Paul wheeled his suitcase into his closet and stripped everything off, then took a quick shower. He reveled under the flow of water, not realizing how much he missed the shower in the master bedrooms. Each one had an on demand water heater which made the showers come out perfectly. This was his first trip away from home since early spring, when they toured North Dakota down to Denver and back.

Drying off, he slipped in bed next to Andi and cuddled close. Danny was in the bassinette next to the bed, so he curled up behind Andi and reached for Andi's full breast and gently squeezed. She was wearing a nursing bra, but that didn't stop. He gently hefted her breast, so large and full. "Kit stop," Andi mumbled.

He stopped caressing her breast and allowed his hand to travel lower, over her slightly rounded tummy, lower and lower. Her skin was so warm and soft, and he was reveling in the smell of his darling. Suddenly, he caught an elbow in the middle of his chest. "Kit please! I'm not..." Andi turned over and in the dim light of the tiny Christmas tree she saw Paul grinning down at her. She gasped, then pulled him down for a long, deep, overdue kiss.

The sensation of their lips pressing together, their tongues sliding over each other, the little whimpers of desire coming from Andi. "Why didn't you call?" she asked.

"I had the chance to get out of there quickly and I took it. I didn't call when we landed because I didn't want to wake you."

"You're waking me now."

"No this is a dream," said Paul. "Just lay back and enjoy," and he began kissing his way down to her pussy. As his lips grew closer and closer, Andi's body tensed up. It's been a couple of weeks since Paul has touched her. She ached for his touch, and she sighed as he pushed up her nightgown and began tugging down her panties. She lifted her butt and Paul pulled down her panties and

As soon as her panties were off, he kissed her sensitive inner thighs. She ran her fingers through his hair as she gasped and sighed. "I missed you so much," she whispered as his tongue danced around her pussy lips. "I miss you inside my pussy... I miss your cock."

"I miss being inside you," he whispered between kisses on her vulva.

"I want you in my mouth, my pussy, my ass..." she gasped as his kisses and licks drove her crazy with desire. "That's so ahhhhh!" she gasped. Whatever she was going to say was driven out of her mind when his mouth closed around her clit and his tongue fluttered on it, sending lightning bolts of desire through her body. He was relentless as he suckled on her pussy and his hands worked their way north, closing in on her round, full breasts. His fingers worked their way under her bra and he lifted it over her round breasts, freeing them to his touch.

He gently pinched her already erect nipples, twisting and tugging on them. "Oh daddy!" she gasped. Her cry went straight to his cock. It's been so long since she called him that. As he tugged and twisted her nipples and slavered on her pussy, her fingers tangled in his hair and held him to his task. "So good..." she whispered, surrendering herself to the sensations. She fought to be as quiet as possible. She loved her son as much as her daughters and her husband, but Andi didn't want his cries interfering, not now.

It's been so long! Paul was terrified to touch her after her accident and for her part, she was in too much pain to even consider sex, but that didn't mean that she didn't miss it. Now recovering from childbirth, she was still tender down there and he didn't want to make maters worse, so holding back on his part ached as bad as it did a year ago.

Paul slid one, then two fingers into her moist pussy and teased her gently down there as he concentrated on her clit. "Oh God... Oh daddy!" she gasped over and over. They both knew she was getting close. The pressure and desire grew quickly and suddenly she bunched up her nightgown and bit down on it to muffle her screams of passion. She planted her feet on the mattress and lifted her hips. Her hands clasped Paul's head and her thighs clamped down on the sides of his head as waves of. She clinched him firmly as her orgasm crashed over her, screaming and grunting into her bunched up nightgown. Suddenly she pushed him away and rolled to her side and shuddered as aftershocks of the greatest orgasm in months coursed through her mind and body.

He held her close, and they kissed as she came down to earth. She finally said, "you made me leak."

"That's part of the process," he replied as they kissed.

"No, milk. You spilled Danny's breakfast." And sure enough, they were covered with her milk.

"A small price to pay," he said, and he got up and retrieved a washcloth, rinsed it in warm water and returned to bed. He gently cleaned them, and without warning, Andi shoved him onto his back. She rolled between his legs and began running her tongue up the length of his cock. Paul was so careful and so terrified of causing any damage to her. He was so gentle that it almost broke Andi's heart. But for her part, she wanted to slide up and pound her pussy down on his cock, but she knew he wouldn't allow that. He's so terrified of causing any damage at all to her, so in the short term she's going to put up with his tongue, which wasn't a terrible option, but it wasn't a nice thick cock.

She feasted on his cock, her mouth, lips, and tongue dancing over the most sensitive areas of his body. Taking one of his large balls into her mouth, she suckled on it as she stroked his cock, causing him to groan. As she built up his excitement to a fever pitch, she took his cock into her mouth. Andi plunged her mouth down onto his cock over and over, her hands sliding up and down his cock until he groaned softly and came in her mouth.

She swallowed every drop as she pushed Paul over the edge, and he came gloriously. As he came, she swallowed every drop he spurted into her mouth. Paul shook and twitched as waves of relief washed over him, his body trembling and his cock twitching with every spurt. Finally, her mouth became too much stimulation to bear, and he pulled her up where they snuggled and kissed. "God I missed you," he whispered.

"I missed you too, we all did," she whispered.

"Happy anniversary," said Paul.

"Huh? Our anniversary is... Oh yeah... that was Monday." Monday was their one-year anniversary of the blizzard that changed their lives forever.

"No, this is the anniversary of the first time you entered this house and took command," he said as they kissed.

"You know I'm going to have to kill you," sighed Andi, as they snuggled under the covers and kissed softly. "I told you to be careful in New Hampshire and next I see you on the news getting knocked down and run over by a dozen guys. How many women did you collect over there?"

"About sixty," then Paul started chuckling.

Andi demanded, "What's so funny?"

"Something Min said. She decided she was going to watch from the employee's lunchroom and that's where they put all the Vietnamese girls they grabbed. They never noticed her in that crowd of Vietnamese girls, and those idiots didn't try to hide anything because they didn't realize she could speak English. They'd talked and named names in front of her, so when one of the guys said that was the last group of girls that they brought, she walked up to him, knocked him down and the girls beat the crap out of him."

"That's not funny," said Andi.

"The funny part was every time she was interviewed on the news they'd ask her if she was afraid she would be discovered, she always said, "No, we all look alike to you." The news crews went nuts trying to edit that out."

"What did you do?"

"What could I do? I promoted her."

Andi snuggled close to her man and with a final 'I love you,' she drifted off to sleep. Paul was almost asleep when Danny began to cry softly. Paul got up, pulled on a robe and scooped up his little man, who seemed shocked that it wasn't mommy answering his early morning cry of distress. "Let's go bug-a-boo," said Paul and he headed downstairs. Paul pulled a bottle of formula mixed with breast milk out of the fridge and put it in a bottle warmer to warm up. Meanwhile, he began changing Danny's wet diaper.

"You were soaked little guy," said Paul and when he said that, he heard John behind him.

"This one is wet too."

"Here, you can use the changing mat, I'll put a bottle in for you."

"Thanks," said John.

Paul turned to the fridge and as he opened it and looked down, a sippy-cup was pushed into his line of sight by a tiny hand. He turned and saw a cute little boy with long, curly, dark hair and huge, sad eyes. Paul crouched down and the little guy was terrified, but hunger drove him to implore for some milk. Then he recognized Danny in Paul's arms and broke into a grin. "Dan!" If this big guy was good enough for Dan, he was good enough for Cholly.

Soon, Paul and John were sitting at the kitchen table, feeding their infants by the gentle glow of the Christmas lights. Between them, Cholly sat on the table, swinging his legs and drinking his milk. "Good to have you back," said John.

"Good to be back," said Paul as they tapped baby bottles in a toast, then continued to feed their little loved ones as their wives peered at them from the library doorway.