© 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 15

A Time of Preparation

Paul Jarecki woke to a sound he hadn't cared about in a long time. Now it was returning as a major part of his life once again. It was the radio down in the kitchen. A modernized echo from his past, once the most important part of his morning, just like every school child's morning in Western New York. When you wake up in a world of silence, all normal sounds of traffic and commerce muffled due to a thick, white blanket of snow, you turn on the radio and listen. For Paul and John, it was Danny Neaverth on WKBW who brought them the news. It didn't matter who the morning DJ was, the content and the pattern was always the same:

"The following schools will be closed, Arcade, Franklinville, Machias-Lime Lake, Freedom Elementary will be closed, the high school will open one hour later. Ellicottville, all public and parochial schools will be closed. Gowanda, East Otto, Collins Center, and Woodside schools are closed. All Springville schools will be open on time today with the exception of Our Mother of Grace Academy that will open one hour late. Again, the following schools will be closed, Arcade, Franklinville..."

"Aww!" One of the twins banged her spoon against her cereal bowl.

"Collins Center always closes," pouted one of the twins. "They never close Springville." Paul chuckled at that outburst. Their school career covers three and a half months, and they already have the school closing mantra memorized.

"No," said their Uncle John. "They never close Cheektowaga Central. Never. Right big brother?"

"That's right," said Paul, coming up behind the twins. "We had to walk uphill in the snow in our pajamas and flip-flops, both ways," said Paul. Their elementary school was two blocks away, so any "In my day..." stories regarding the walk to school were generally listed as a fable by Macy and Andi.

"PAPA!" shrieked the twins. They jumped up from the breakfast table and dashed to Paul and wrapped their selves around him. "When did you get home?"

"About ten minutes after the storm ended. See? I even shoveled the driveway so Miss Yi will be able to drive you to school." He was about to crouch down and kiss them, but they dashed off to look out the bay window to check the status of the driveway. It was clear of the two and a half feet of snow that fell last night and now had a light dusting of about an inch from this morning's gentle flurry of snow.

"Come on girls, eat!" snarled Andi. "You're going to be late!" Everyone who spent the night in the house was now in the kitchen. Andi and Macy were sitting at the breakfast table breast feeding Danny and Katarina. Heather, Howard, and Kit Mays were sipping a cup of coffee, and John was feeding Cholly oatmeal sprinkled with brown sugar. The little guy couldn't get enough of that.

"Going to work boss?" asked Yi, breaking Paul's reverie and handing him a cup of coffee.

"I understand that I have my work cut out for me here in town."

"You need to reacquaint yourself with your chickens, they've missed you," said Andi.

"I've only been gone a week!"

"Poor chook chooks," said Sandy. "They miss Papa too." That got Madeline giggling.

"I had better get going," said Paul. "I'll have to clear the driveway..." Paul leaned over to kiss Andi.

"I was just teasing, we got the girls yesterday, and Trevett Road is probably closed.

"Ok, what's the battle plan?" asked Paul.

"Harold and I have childcare duty," said Heather. "We'll be watching Danny, Katarina, and Cholly."

"Cholly is good with that?" asked Paul.

"He'll stay with anyone as long as Wonka is near," said John. It looked to Paul like a mutual attraction was blossoming between Cholly and Wonka. Wonka was sitting next to Cholly's highchair and occasionally Cholly would take some oatmeal from his bowl and hand it to Wonka, who licked Cholly's hand clean.

"Macy, Kit and I will be checking on Amelia with Lucy. John and Gus are in charge of everything else," said Andi.

"Amelia?"

"The landlady," said John.

"I'm going to shovel out your vehicle," said Paul. "Santa Claus missed it last night."

"Santa doesn't shovel driveways," said Sandy.

"Eat!" said Paul and Andi at the same time.

Paul had John and Macy's van shoveled out before Sandy and Madeline trooped out to go to school. "Not fair," pouted Madeline. "Collins Central always closes."

"I thought you liked school," said Paul as he and Yi buckled the twins into their seats.

"Yeah," said Sandy. "But snow days are awesome!"

"I know the feeling. Maybe we'll go ice skating when you get home."

"YAY!"

"Be good for your teachers," said Paul as he kissed them.

"Mama already told us that," said Madeline.

"Ok, let me put it this way," he made a fist and touched it against Madeline's nose. "Be really good for your teachers."

"You silly," said Sandi, and Paul climbed out and they were off.

Paul folded down the rear seat of the White Whale and loaded up several tool kits and power tools, and some assorted hardware that's commonly needed for general jobs around the house, then Paul went into his house. "You coming with me General?"

"Yeah, I think I'm ready," said John. Just then Wonka walked through the kitchen with Cholly walking behind him, holding his tail. Cholly was laughing with an ear splitting squeal. "It's good to hear him laugh," said John. "He still cries for his mother, but Macy is taking her place."

"It's only been a couple of days," said Paul.

"I know, but it feels like I've been his dad his entire life, it's like... when Amelia brought him to me, that's when his life started."

"How does Macy feel?"

"We confronted that. At first it was like I brought a pet home without permission, then when she saw the wounds and his terror at getting in the water she felt sorry for him. But when the doctor took his temperature rectally he begged us to stop, and he promised to be good over and over... it was horrible." John took a deep shaking breath, then wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "I pity anyone that dares lay a hand on Macy's son."

"Believe me, it won't happen. If somebody hands you a piece of paper, don't take it. Tell them to serve your lawyer. I read it before you do, ok? And if someone says, "We have custody" or anything like that, you call my personal number immediately. I'm sure this will all settle out completely in six months at the outside. Until then, nobody touches him unless both you and Macy know them personally."

"You're an awesome big brother," said John as he drew a calming breath.

"I'm not talking as your brother; I'm talking as your lawyer. I'm not the Paul Jarecki that you locked yourself in the house with ten years ago, I'm a lawyer now. I don't play nice. Not when I have my loved ones depending on me. Now let's go fix a house."

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Paul found himself under a house laying on a sheet of ice that was several inches thick, looking at a water pipe that was leaking in three spots. The drips of water created three ice stalagmites that were strategically positioned to be in his way, no matter what he did. "Turn it off," he called.

A few moments later, John called, "It's off." Eventually, the slow drips stopped, and Paul had to use a chalk to mark the points of the leaks because the cracks were actually quite small. "We should replace this entire length of pipe," said Paul.

"Are you willing to do it in the freezing cold with people needing the water turned back on now?" asked Gus from inside the house.

"Just sayin'. You know the code better than I do." He got two clamps on, but the third one was hard to get to because of the ice stalagmites. Paul huffed and tried to move within the cramped space he was in. He used a rag and wiped down the pipe and took a piece of chalk and drew a circle around the crack where the pipe was leaking. He was preparing to put the sticky rubber wrap on it when his cell phone rang. It was Monica Rand, his head of HR. He completely forgot that on Thursday he made an appointment to meet with her regarding Min Zhong Sun's promotion to company C.O.O.

"I'm sorry Monica but I'm working on site today... yes I know we have to straighten this out... no I can't get free, why don't you come out to Springville, I'll be able to talk while I work... I'm not going to run off, that would be quite impossible... No, not my house. Seven oh five Argentine Road... yes it does exist... really, it does... Ok, see you in thirty minutes... yes, I'll be here." Paul Jarecki hung up his phone and put it in his pocket. He knew he owed his HR manager Monica 30 uninterrupted minutes, but this was an emergency.

"Are you done talking? Can we get back to work?" called Gus from inside the house.

"Hang on a second, let me tighten this sleeve," said Paul. He wrapped the last leaking area of the pipe in rubber, then put a metal clamp around it. The clamp had four carriage bolts to tighten to insure a tight seal. "Ok, try it," said Paul.

His brother John turned the main water valve back on and they waited. "Is it on?"

"All the way," said John.

"It looks good to me," said Paul, who didn't see any leaks. "Do we have any heat tape?" John threw him heat tape, a long rope-like heating element that keeps pipes from freezing and cracking. The underside of this house wasn't well insulated, so Paul wrapped the heat tape around the entire length of the water pipe he repaired, then he wrapped fiberglass insulation around that. When everything was set, Paul plugged the heat tape into an outlet that Gus had wired under the house just for the heat tape they installed.

Then he noticed a series of boards nailed to the floor joists. They were under the apartment end of the house and it looked like the boards were a wooden box seated between the joists. He gave the boards a tug and saw that they were held in place with quite a few dry wall screws. Lots of screws. Interesting. He pulled himself outside and brushed off the dirt. Amelia Hernandez shouldn't have to worry about her water line freezing on a cold Springville evening ever again.

"Who was on the phone?" asked John.

"That was HR."

"HR?" grinned John. "You're in trouble?" He grinned and asked, "what did ya do now?"

"I'm in trouble," sighed Paul. He frowned. He needed an assistant. He doesn't have time for all this nonsense. Even his dad, with one location, had an assistant (his mom). Paul has fifteen sites now (actually twelve locations and three supercar sites) and he just promoted his executive assistant away. From inside the house, he could hear Andi and Macy singing:

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style.

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas...

Soon all the busy workers were singing "Silver Bells" as they worked. Every one of them. "Do they have to do that?" asked Amelia Hernandez.

"We can do The Old Rugged Cross," said Macy as Lucy tried to listen to Amelia's lungs with a stethoscope.

After her coughing fit calmed down, Amelia said, "No, it's a sin to waste a hymn on me."

Lucy didn't look happy after that coughing fit. "Do you have a nebulizer?"

"I brought it with. You never know with our seasoned veterans," said Andi. She was sitting on a stool at Amelia's feet while the old nurse's feet soaked in a tub of hot water and Epsom salts.

"Did you bring some albuterol?"

"Yep."

"You're an angel doll." Lucy leaned over and kissed Andi's forehead, then she looked through the equipment Andi brought until she found the nebulizer. She tussled Andi's locks like she used to when they were residents together in Denver, then set up the machine.

"Are you two going to be taking warm showers together?" asked a grouchy Amelia.

Andi just laughed and returned to scrubbing Amelia's feet with a pumice stone while Lucy set up the nebulizer. She broke open the small vial of Albuterol, poured it into the nebulizer cup, turned on the air pump and put the mouthpiece in Amelia's mouth. "Breathe," she ordered.

"For how long?" demanded Amelia.

"Until I give you permission to stop and die. Now take a deep breath." Lucy has learned how to care for cantankerous veterans.

Outside, Paul and John replaced the hatch in the house's skirting that he had crawled through. The chill air was motionless, so the white clouds of their breath hung before them in the crisp December air. Gus leaned out of an open window and asked, "Are you done yet?"

"Hell yeah. Can we mark this job off the punch list?" Paul asked.

"Already marked it off. Have you ever replaced a sash cord?" said Gus with an evil grin. He knew the answer.

"Not since we redid every single window in every upstairs room in my house," said Paul.

"Then let's get on it!" said Gus with a grin.

Paul turned toward the front, but John steered him away. "Kenny, Ernie and the boys are leveling up the front porch. Follow me."

They entered the house through the back, the apartment entrance, and the house was a beehive of activity. So many people turned out to help a woman they didn't know. People were scrubbing every surface and corner. A couple of guys were hauling the refrigerator outdoors while the new replacement waited on the front stoop. The floor under its location had to be scrubbed first. When Paul entered the house, Gus handed him a large spool of sash cord and a heavy duty painter's knife. "Save the bedroom for last. Andi, Macy, and Lucy are working with Amelia in there."

"Gotcha," said Paul and he headed back to the rear of the house where the apartment that Séraphine Lévesque died and her baby, Chamonix, survived with a dead woman for three days. Four windows needed his loving attention because they all leak like a sieve. He shoved the bed out of the way and noticed that there was a square carved in the floor's linoleum. He knelt down and tried to pull the square up, but pieces of the floorboard came up with it.

He lifted the floorboard pieces up and he realized he was looking down on a gunmetal gray cashbox. That's what the boards underneath were for. Somebody made a secret compartment. He tried to lift the cashbox by the handle. The latch wasn't latched, so the lid tried to open as he lifted the box. He finally got it up. It would be wonderful for Amelia if this cashbox were full of money, but it wasn't. It was full of small envelopes full of white powder and lunch bags full of pills. If that were fentanyl, there were enough pills in there to kill the entire village of Springville several times over. What to do... what to do... He's a lawyer, he should be able to figure out how... then it came to him.

"Kenny!"

Kenny Johnson appeared "Yes Paul?"

"Do you have a dollar on you?"

"Yes."

"Give it to Amelia, tell her I'll come asking for it."

"I don't get it," said a clearly confused Kenny.

"It's a legal thing, the less you know the better."

"Gotcha."

Paul headed out to the front door where the crew from church were leveling and shoring up the front porch. "Dexter, are you busy?"

"Yes."

"Good, come with me," and they walked out to Paul's truck, where Paul stashed the cash box under the rear seat in the White Whale. They talked for a good ten minutes, then shook hands and headed back to the house. As he passed Amelia's bedroom, he stuck his head behind the blanket that was keeping out the noise and sawdust. "Amelia... who's your lawyer?"

"I don't have one of those parasites," she snapped.

"I'm worried, you had a girl die back there, her family may come looking to blame somebody. Look, give me something then I'll be on retainer and you can call me any time to come take care of your legal headaches."

"All I got is a dollar."

"I'll take it." Amelia handed Paul the dollar and Paul pointed to everyone in the room. "You all saw this, right?"

"Right."

"Ok, I'll have my secretary swing by with the papers on Monday, but if anything happens, my number will be on the fridge. Cool?"

"Whatever," grouched Amelia.

As Paul walked back to the apartment end of the house, he handed Kenny his dollar. "Here's your buck back."

"Glad to be of help."

Ten minutes later, Paul had the first window out of its casing and considered fixing the sash ropes on the upper window on the double-hung window. Most people don't bother with the upper window and only open the lower window, but the best way to vent the heat on a hot August night was to open the top window a little.

He almost had the counterweight cord completely tied off when Kenny and Yi led Monica Rand to him. "Paul, that stove of hers is bad, only two burners are working, and the oven is dead too."

"Are the burner caps seated properly and the burner heads clear?"

"Yes, there's no gas coming out of those burners, and the igniter doesn't work, she uses matches," said Kenny. "I'm going to give Shep a call and see if he can fix it."

Shep had an appliance repair business in Springville. He was a great guy, but winter was his busy season. Paul turned to Kenny and Yi as he tied off the knot in the counterweight cord. "Does the stove work in this apartment?" He pointed to the tiny three burner stove.

"Yes, it works fine," said Yi.

"Ok, go to the big box and get a nice basic stove. No high end machine that would take a team from NASA to set the timer. And get a nice, apartment style washer and drier combo. That set she has sucks."

"What if she likes it?"

"Nobody likes having a separate wash tub and rinse/spin tub. Just get it. And use your black card." Yi carries a black metal card with no discernable writing, but all credit card machines accept it. It's for household expenses and doesn't seem to have a limit.

"This is crazy, what is going on here?" asked Monica, Paul's head of HR, as she picked her way through the uproar.

"Just helping a neighbor down on her luck," said Paul as he lubricated the pulleys with grease and the sash slides with wax. He nailed the molding back into place and the window was done. The painting team will repaint the molding later.

"What's with the news crew?" Monica saw the Action News 7 van out front.

"They finished their interviews and went to get lunch; they may do some more filming as the day progresses."

"You need to come up with a salary for Min."

"Two hundred ninety four thousand per year," said Paul.

"Did you just pick that number out of the air?" asked Monica, which she knew Paul did quite often. But then... he never uses round numbers in business deals. Odd numbers give the impression that he considered his offer for a long time when in reality he's on a fishing expedition.

"Nope, this salary I chose has meaning," said Paul. "Seventeen thousand five hundred dollars for every Ford dealership site, plus thirty thousand dollars for every supercar site."

"Are you considering having her work on expanding the business?" asked Monica.

"No, expansion is my job. I'm looking at her to keep the existing sites open. Sites don't close because of poor sales or poor locations; they close due to poor management. Her job is to keep the sites we have running and if it comes out of her paycheck when we lose a site I'm hoping a lesson will be learned."

"How is that fair?"

"It comes out of MY paycheck too!" insisted Paul. "How is that fair?"

"What if she doesn't like that condition and decides to go back to being your assistant?"

"She's a fighter. After Portsmouth she'll be ready to take on the world, she won't want to go back. Besides, that job has been filled," said Paul as he pulled the window out of the next casing he was fixing.

"By who?"

"Oh shit," muttered Paul. He thought for a moment, then yelled out, "Melissa!"

"Yes?" said Melissa Kraft, the church pianist.

"You still looking for a job?"

"Yes." She was recently laid off by the philharmonic.

"Can you type?" She glared at him over the top of her glasses. There's no such thing as a pianist that can't type. "Sorry. Office skills? Word, Excel, Outlook, Solitaire?"

"Yes to all four," she said honestly.

"You're hired. Hang on a second." He leaned out the apartment door. "Macy! Are you coming back to work in March?"

There was a pause, then Macy said, "Yes, why?"

"I have a new assistant for you." He then turned to Melissa, "you're now Macy's assistant. I heard talk that she's nice to work with. I, unfortunately, am not. This is Monica, she's the head of HR, talk with her and demand more money than her first offer because she'll low ball you. Then talk with Macy when she's done with Amelia."

"You're crazy," gasped Melissa.

"You're welcome. You can bring your Casio keyboard and practice music when you're not busy. Just be on time. That's my number one requirement." As he talked, Paul replaced the sash cords on the next window and tested it for proper operation.

"What time is that?" asked Melissa.

He thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Macy may remember, she'll be back in a few months... if she comes back. Talk to Monica, she knows the job better than I do."

"She's right, you are crazy," said Monica.

"Oh, by the way, you are now my Chief Compliance Officer," said Paul to Monica.

"What is that?"

"Head of HR."

"What is my new salary?"

"Two hundred ninety four thousand per year. I want to see a staff that can handle twenty sites."

"What's that based on?"

"I'll figure something out as soon as my assistant sets up a meeting."

Monica shook her head. It was going to be a long year.

Over the ground lies a mantle of white

A heaven of diamonds shines down through the night...

Soon everyone was singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland."

Monica and Melissa talked about Melissa's new position as Paul continued to work on the windows. The apartment was tiny, formerly it was a bedroom and a dining room that were combined. It contained a stove, refrigerator, kitchen sink, in the corner was a closet with toilet and shower. There was a wardrobe for storage. The furniture was a small table and two chairs, an ancient reclining chair and a full size bed.

As he worked, Paul kept bumping into the bed. It took up most of the room in the apartment. Finally, Paul cracked. He pulled the door open and threw the mattress out of the building, then dragged it to the forty-foot dumpster he rented and pitched it in. "You bitch!" he shouted. "How dare you put a needle in your arm with a baby to care for!"

"Oh damn," groaned Andi.

"What is it?" asked Amelia.

"My husband, it finally got to him," said Andi.

"Paul doesn't take kindly to child neglect," said Macy, as Andi dashed out of the house and Lucy continued to examine Amelia. "He has always wanted children, and he will probably never forgive Séraphine."

"So what? she's dead," said Amelia around the nebulizer mouthpiece. "She'll never know if he does forgive her."

"No, but Paul will," said Macy. "Carrying that kind of hate and anger is poison for your soul, slowly eating it away until you're no longer the person you once were. You have to forgive, or you'll carry it forever."

Paul was on his knees in the snow. He was shuddering with anger and hatred for that junkie, and Andi had her arms around him, trying to soothe his pain. "Honey, it's over. Cholly is home and safe with my folks." She peppered his face with kisses. His cheeks were salty from tears.

"That cunt, that bitch, how dare she! Thoughtless... selfish... BITCH." Paul desperately fought back the tears as he thought of that cute little lad Cholly stuck in a house with his dead mother. The horror that little guy felt when maman didn't respond to three days of trying to wake her up. Amelia was in Niagara Falls for a couple of days and discovered the corpse when she returned because of the boy's crying. The terror Cholly must have felt! Paul's eyes filled with tears every time he thought of the torture that poor Cholly had to go through. He was so hungry; he drank nearly a full quart of milk and ate three entire grilled cheese sandwiches when they got him to John and Macy's house.

"It's ok, it's ok," Andi tried to assure him, and they clung to each other. Then Paul realized that Gus and John were with them in the snow.

"We all thought it," said Gus. "We all thought the same thing."

"I think it every night," said John. "How could somebody have something so beautiful, so loving and precious and throw it away?" John stared at the dumpster that contained the belongings of Séraphine Lévesque and he whispered, "Cholly still asks for his maman... He's slowly learning that Macy is now maman."

Gus sighed and patted Paul on the back. "Why don't you take a walk, go get some coffee or something. You've been working pretty hard for the past couple of weeks."

"Let's have a nice walk in the snow," said Andi.

"It's not always this pretty," said Gus.

Andi got her parka, and they walked hand in hand up the block to main street, and Gus was right. The snow was beautiful, and the walk helped Paul settle his heart. They finally stopped beneath a streetlight that was decorated with garland and a holly wreath. The air was crisp and filled with the scent of newly fallen snow. The village was so tranquil and relaxed under the glistening blanket of white that it helped heal the ache in Paul's soul. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't take it," said Paul. "I just can't imagine a parent being that reckless with their child."

"My poor man," Andi said to herself. She leaned her head back, her signal that she wanted a kiss, and he kissed her. How could he not know that it happens every day?

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Yi and Kenny pulled into the Big Orange Box. Other than a Walmart on the edge of town, Home Depot was the only big box store in Springville (Not counting Taco Bell). Between Home Depot and Walmart, they put every hardware store in Springville out of business, which is why most homeowners drive out to Ingvist's General Store in Morton's Corners for their unique hardware needs. Anyone can sell a washer and drier. Only Elmer Ingvist has bolts with eight point heads.

They walked into the appliance section and looked for a salesman (what happened to all the salesmen that seek you out?) They finally found one and he was clearly not from Springville, because he didn't recognize either Kenny or Yi. "How can I help you?"

"We're helping repair a neighbor's house and we need an easy-to-use stove."

"They're all easy to use," started the salesman.

Kenny said, "Doctor Jarecki told us to get one that doesn't need a team from NASA to set the timer. It's for an old lady."

Just then the appliance manager came up and said, "I'll take this Stan," then he turned to Kenny. "How's Archie and Lacy?" said the manager whose nametag said Bill.

"We think they're going to get married," said Kenny.

"They argue enough," laughed Bill. Lacy is Kenny's mother's mom, and Archie is Kenny's father's dad. They've been friends and have lived in the same house with the rest of the family for decades. "How can we help you?"

"Like I was telling Stan, we need an easy to use stove. Four burners, oven, timer. No bells no whistles."

"Is this for the neighbor you're helping?" asked Bill.

"Sure is," said Yi, a bit tired of being ignored.

"Do you mind a clearance item?"

"As long as it works."

Bill led them to the clearance aisle and there was a five burner gas stove. Instead of having an individual burner grate for each burner, it had a huge two piece burner grate that covered the entire top of the stove. It had a good size oven and a big drawer at the bottom. "This is a return? It looks incredible!" said Yi. She knew it wasn't restaurant quality, but for home use, it was an incredible stove. Kenny measured the width of the stove and Yi, who knew by feel, said, "Perfect, it will fit just fine. But does it work?"

"It works fine," said Bill. "We took it out to the customer and the guys that drove it out there put a big scratch on the side."

Yi looked at the scratch on the left side. It will never be seen. It's going to be flush against a counter for the rest of its life. "We'll take it, how much do you want for it?"

"A dollar."

Kenny and Yi looked at Bill, then each other, then back at Bill. "Are you sure? We can pay."

"My dad was over there, and a nurse saved his life. Let's say it's my Christmas gift to a woman that served in Vietnam."

"We didn't say it was for a Vietnam veteran."

"I saw the two of you on the news this morning. Pull your truck around and we'll load it up."

"We also need an apartment size washer and drier."

Bill showed them a very nice one-piece unit. It had a washer that was designed like a full size washer and mounted above that was a ventless clothes drier. "I can't cut a huge deal, but I think management will let me take twenty five percent off." He did some writing on a clipboard and said, "I'll go talk to the manager, hang on." And he disappeared in the back.

Kenny breathed a sigh of relief. That brought the twelve hundred dollar appliance down to nine hundred. Yi silently agreed with him. This was incredible! She thought. Gimme sugar. Kenny kissed her when her call of 'gimme sugar' rang in his head. Soon Bill came out with his clipboard and said, "Here you go, the stove for one dollar, the washer and dryer, and add tax and the bill is five hundred forty one dollars and eight cents. What is the address for delivery?"

"Seven oh five Argentine road," said Yi.

"The truck will be there in one hour," said Bill as he rang up the sale. "Tell everyone there Merry Christmas from all of us here."

Amazed at the generosity of the entire village, Kenny and Yi arrived at Amelia's house with the new three hundred dollar mattress that cost them fifty dollars at Town and Country Furniture. The crew out front had leveled up the front porch and the roof over the porch. These houses were built like mobile homes. They sat up on piers made of concrete block, then skirted to hide the piers. Amelia's skirting was falling apart so the bad spots were filled in, that should keep the icy wind from blowing under the house.

Gus had four guys building storm windows with 1 X 2 inch dimension lumber and heavy duty plastic and soon all the windows were covered, sealing in the warmth. Paul put weather stripping on every window he touched. Each window opened perfectly and easily; you could open that heavy wooden window with one finger.

Another addition they made, all doors in the house were sticky and hung, they were hard to open or sometimes the latch didn't line up with the opening in the strike plate, this was due to shifting in the house. Rather than spending the day trying to adjust a door to fit today but won't fit next month when the weather warmed up, Gus pulled the wooden doors down and replaced them all with accordion fold doors. The only wooden doors remaining were the front and back doors and the door between Amelia's side and the apartment. Now there weren't any doors on her side of the house taking up room when they were opened.

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The painting crew came through and sanded the edges of the windows where Paul cut through the paint and removed the molding to get to the sash counterweights, then repainted the edges of the window frames. Paul and Andi returned from their walk and Paul hung some Christmas lights on her front porch. Nothing rejuvenates the Christmas spirit in him like putting up Christmas lights. Julissa and Ayato arrived with a tabletop Christmas tree and set it up in her living room next to her easy chair.

"What is all that noise out there now?" demanded Amelia.

Kit peeked out and Gus spoke to her quietly, then she came back and said, "Paul got mad at Séraphine and threw the mattress she died on in the dumpster."

"That mattress cost me forty bucks!" squawked Amelia.

"He knows and he feels sorry, so he bought a new one to replace it. Would you rather have the new one here in your bedroom and we can put this mattress in the apartment?"

"Hell yeah, I may be ancient, but I ain't crazy." She got up and moved to her reading chair and Gus, John, and several other men from the church board pulled the covers off the bed, then carried the mattress away. Then they brought in the new mattress, pulled the plastic cover from it, and placed it on the bed. Then they opened up new sheets and put them on the bed and replaced the blankets and quilts.

Amelia sat down on the bed, then reclined on it. "Oh, this is nice, this is almost worth being trapped with the four of you hens."

Andi took a device from her backpack and said, "I want you to wear this tonight and tomorrow night, it's very simple, it goes on your wrist and this part clips to your finger like a pulse/ox. I'll be by on Sunday to retrieve it."

"What the hell is this gizmo?" said Amelia.

"It's a sleep study," said Lucy.

"The damn VA wants me to come in for a sleep study," Amelia snarled.

"You lucky lady, the VA has come to you," said Kit. When Amelia looked confused, Kit pointed to Lucy and Andi.

"Aww, you're shitting me."

"Nope, I run the South Boston pulmonology clinic," said Lucy. "Andi is my sleep specialist."

"And this little thing does all the work of one of those big overnight sleep studies with the probes?"

"Mostly," said Andi. "It tells us how you're doing and if you're having serious issues we'll have to do the overnight study. But this will give us data for sleep apnea."

"I ain't wearing no space mask to bed!"

"Masks have become smaller too," said Andi.

"No shit," said Amelia.

"What did I say about that swearing?" said a smiling man who poked his head in the room. He was a short, wrinkled, gray-haired Hispanic with an infectious grin.

"Something about the freedom of speech shall not be abridged at any time? Was it you that mention that?" asked Amelia.

"Touche!" laughed Father Juan from St. Aloysius. "Are these ladies treating you right Amelia?"

"Ladies? They're not ladies, they're from the VA!" laughed Amelia.

"Leave it up to the Catholics to show up now that the heavy lifting is done," they heard Paul say.

"That goes for the Lutherans too," said Gus from somewhere in the house.

"Oh come on," said Pastor Vincent from Trinity Lutheran. "We weren't invited."

"Let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful," said John.

"Ouch! How are you brother John?" said Pastor Vincent.

"The blessings are just raining down," said a cheerful but exhausted John. Macy stepped out of the bedroom and hugged John from behind. "I can't wait to get back to my babies."

"He has had the bad luck to marry a woman that doesn't recognize a blessing immediately," said Macy. She was talking about how she hated him when they first met, then how it took her a lot of time to fall in love with Katarina, and most recently was set against taking in Cholly until he broke her heart.

"I think we're ready," said John. "Amelia, would you like to take a look at what all this noise was about?"

"It was about the damned best exfoliation I've ever had," said Amelia as she stepped out of her bedroom. Her jaw dropped in shock. Her house was transformed, every surface, every corner was scrubbed clean. Holly garland surrounded every window, and the kitchen windows had holly wreaths hanging on them. She noticed that her ancient refrigerator had been replaced by a new one with a freezer. Drawings from Paul and Andi's twins decorated the fridge, held up with magnets. The old one just had a small compartment where you put the ice cube trays. She opened the freezer, and it was packed full of food and ice cream, and it had an ice cube maker. The lower section was full of food as well.

The stove! The stove was new, a fancy five burner job. "I can't afford this," she said. She was fighting off the urge to run. This was all unreal.

"That's a Christmas gift from the men and women of Home Depot," said Kenny.

"They just don't give a working stove away," she said as she ran her fingers over the knobs.

"No, they don't. This cost me a buck," said Kenny.

Her eyes roamed over her kitchen. They even replaced the faucet! "What's that switch on the wall?" Gus smiled and pressed it, and a whining sound was heard. "A garbage disposal?"

"Second most useful appliance in the kitchen," said Gus.

"What's the first?" asked Lucy softly in his ear.

"A beer tap."

"Ma'am, this is a present from Paul," said Yi, and she urged her over to the bathroom. There in the bathroom's corner was a modern washer and dryer.

"Oh my god I hated that old thing so much!" She lifted the washer's lid and watched the agitator wash her old sheets.

"Told ya," whispered Paul to Yi.

Amelia turned to Lucy and said, "What? What did I do to deserve this?"

Lucy, Macy, and Andi lined up Gus, John, and Paul. Lucy said, "Tell her. This whole thing was your idea."

John stepped up to Amelia and took her hands in his. "You saved a little boys life. You gave me a precious gift, a gift I couldn't begin to repay you for."

Then Gus stepped up to her and said, "I'm a veteran and I just want to thank you for being there for us."

"I'm a military surgeon," said Paul. "I've spent ages in field conditions but what you did far exceeds anything I did. Thank you so much Captain."

"You? You're a surgeon?"

"Come here, I'll show you," said Paul and he led her to a window and said, "Open that."

Amelia glared at him, then grabbed the little handles and lifted. The look on her face as the window shot up with no effort was priceless. "Surgeon's touch," said Paul and he walked away proudly.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Amelia wasn't ungrateful to everyone who worked on her house, but she was out of practice. When she got back from Nam, the world she left was gone. She was hated and spit on by the very people she served to protect. It seemed like every hippy and freak protesting at her Alma Mater, the University at Buffalo, was there to drive her out. She gave up everything for them, her youth, her health, her family, and in return she was branded a baby killer, a mercenary pig, a mindless robot of the right (ignoring that it was President Johnson's war) and being a woman, they directed their anger at her calling her a "killer cunt" and an "Army whore." Then they ignored her unless some congress man wanted to show "He Cared" and whittled away at the benefits she earned with her blood.

Her livelihood was gone. With a bullet in her hip, spending the day on her feet in a hospital was impossible, and who needs a nurse that does their best work in a chair buzzing on pain medications? She moved in with her sister Maggy and waited to die. Unfortunately, it was Maggy who died, and Amelia was left alone.

And that was it. Her day started with morning coffee, a newspaper saved from last night (what the hell good is a newspaper in the afternoon?) and an egg. She stared at the walls until the sun lowered and had peanut butter toast or a PB&J for supper washed down with the remains of the coffee pot she started the day with. Then, with a sigh, she ended her day with a simple prayer, "Dear Lord, no more. I'm done. Take me." But He never answered her prayer.

Maggy had made the little kitchen and bathroom for Amelia so everything she needed was close when she was feeling poorly, but in the end, it was Maggy that needed the little apartment. Maggie's room became a source of income for Amelia, and her latest tenants were horrible. If the French-speaking junkie hadn't died, Amelia was going to pitch her out. It wasn't her place to stick her nose in that frog's business, but the kid kept screaming and whimpering.

She looked over the apartment, and it was so much warmer in there now; she checked the thermostat and realized that it was new as well. There was a typed set of instructions hanging below the thermostat, telling her how to set the thermostat so the temp would go down at night and come up in the morning. She saw it was already set to roll back at 9:00 PM. She changed that to eight thirty.

She opened the freezer compartment and saw a myriad of foods in there, frozen vegetables, ice cream, taquitos (whatever that is), and many other things. She took a bag out of the freezer and started to read the instructions. These things were supposed to work in a microwave. She looked over at her microwave and saw that it was replaced, too. Another gadget to learn to use.

Suddenly, a chime rang through the house. They fixed the doorbell! She opened the door and there was an old, bent, white-haired man. She peered through the door she had opened slightly and said, "Well?"

"I understand you have a room to rent?"

Common sense told Amelia that he should go away until tomorrow. "It's tiny."

"I know, I painted the window frames."

Another one of them. If nothing else, they proved to Amelia that they were harmless. "Come on in," she mumbled and opened the door wider. "I was just going to make..." she read the bag, "pizza rolls."

"They're not bad, especially if you don't want a whole pizza."

"I don't eat," said Amelia as they sat down at her table. "You need a room?"

"Yes, my wife passed last year and... I just don't need that big old house. I love working on it but it's too big now and if I want to cut a lawn or weed a garden, Pastor John lets me work on the church. I'm going to sell the house and simplify. That room looks like everything that I need."

"What's your name?" asked Amelia.

"Dexter. Dexter Humbolt."

"I'm..."

"I know your name Captain Hernandez, I read your plaque. You were at Long Binh the same time I was."

She looked at him oddly. "You were in the 93rd Evac?" The 93rd Evacuation Hospital was a huge mobile hospital at Long Binh Post between Saigon and Biên Hòa. "Were you a patient?"

"No, I was in the 44th Medical Brigade. Field Medic," said Dexter.

They chatted about Vietnam and coming home to a strange world for a while, then Amelia said, "You've seen the room. It's not much, but some wise-ass doctor fixed the windows and sealed the water leaks. I charge a hundred bucks a month rent. That covers room, utilities and my fancy new washing machine. Rent is due before the fifth of the month. I take check or cash. I don't take plastic."

"Fair enough," said Dexter as he started to get up. "I have eaten nothing at all today, I was going to Worzil's for a fish fry, would you care to join me?"

Fish fry! Amelia hasn't had a fish fry since before Maggy died. Suddenly, without permission, Amelia's mouth said, "Yes, I think I will." And that was that. She pulled on her old cloth coat, tied a scarf over her head, and they stepped outside. "Christmas lights?" They looked like the big old-fashioned C9 bulbs that her dad used to decorate their house in South Buffalo with. They didn't have the warmth of the old Noma lights, but they reminded her of a better time. "Who put Christmas lights on my house?" demanded Amelia.

"I believe it was that wiseass doctor who fixed your windows. We also leveled up your porch."

Amelia walked back and forth on her porch. "It's not bouncy anymore. I miss that." Dexter chuckled. She was being cantankerous, just to be cantankerous. He knows the feeling. "That doc threw away my perfectly good mattress," continued Amelia.

"A dead lady lay on it for three days. He replaced it... you know he paid for everything that we put in your house."

"Now why would he do something like that? It's not normal."

Dexter laughed. "There's nothing normal about him. He won't mention it, and he'll never ask for his money back. He threw me off the church board, ya know."

"Why?"

"I deserved it. I was an ass. His wife and his brother Pastor John were hit by a car, and I went crazy and said a lot of things I regret. The board voted to pitch me, and I deserved that. But when I went to apologize, he apologized to me, and he offered me a job helping out with the grounds." Dexter sighed. "He's one of the good ones as we used to say."

They walked in silence for a time, the soft crunch of their boots in the snow replaced their conversation. The snow fluttered gently from the sky, soft as feathers shed by the wings of passing angels and occasionally Amelia would examine their exquisite beauty closely like she did so long, long ago before she discovered what pain was all about. They turned on to Howard Avenue at Second Street and Dexter pointed out Doc Jarecki's house as they walked past it. "He lives here."

Amelia was amazed. The big old Victorian house was covered in Christmas lights that were twinkling randomly. An enormous tree filled the front window. The wrought-iron fence was decorated with tiny white lights and evergreen garland. The lights faded on and off gently, as gentle as a firefly on a warm July evening. On the front lawn was a large, illuminated Coca Cola Santa Claus. It was the warm Santa Claus that Amilia remembered seeing everywhere in her youth. The bottle of coke Santa originally had in his upraised arm was replaced by a doll. "He's crazy."

"He is that" said Dexter. He pointed out the ice rink across the street. The lights were on and the falling snow shone in the beams as a group of boys were playing hockey. The slap of sticks, the crack of the puck, the metallic scuffing of the skates and the breathless shouts of the players reminded both Dexter and Amelia of games long past played in the streets of their neighborhoods in their youth. "His company donated that rink to Springville. The ice will remain solid up to an air temp of fifty five degrees."

"His company?"

"Jarecki motors, that's his company," said Dexter. "They just opened a new location in New Hampshire."

"Oh," said Amelia. She had a millionaire under her house fixing her plumbing? "Why?"

"Because his daughters and his wife like to skate."

"No, why did he do what he did? Why did he pay for everything... for someone he doesn't know."

"Paul and John grew up dirt poor, they know the pain of being fed and watching their parents go without eating."

"I can't repay him," she said as she felt the sting of the snowflakes landing on her cheeks.

"He's repaying you for the gift you gave his brother."

At the corner of Main Street and Howard Avenue was Worzils Bar and Grille, an old-fashioned neighborhood pub. The windows were steamed over from the breaths of the people inside, but all windows were lined with multi-colored Christmas lights, and silver garland. Christmas advertisements from forgotten breweries long gone were proudly displayed. The lights from the windows were reflected by the snow that fell past, making each window a little oasis of light.

They entered the bar, and the smell of tap beer and frying fish announced it was Friday night in Western New York. it wasn't crowded out front, but it sounded like a large crowd was in the back room. There was a lot of laughter, and the sound of an air hockey puck clinking came from back there. As they sat down in a booth, a tiny toddler dashed out of the back room, his face a mask of joy. He squealed with the pleasure of having the room to run! His dark, curled locks bounced as he ran and he panted with breathless joy. Behind him were Veronica and Macy, trying to catch up with the tot. He raced around a table to avoid Veronica, his little feet slapping the floor as he ran, and he suddenly found himself face to face with Amelia.

He looked up at her with those enormous eyes of his. Did he recognize her? Did he remember her carrying him, screaming and crying for his dead mother, those eight long blocks to John's church? She looked down at the little curly haired toddler and said, "Hello."

Cholly broke into a grin and said, "Bonjour!" Then he turned to run and ran smack into Macy's arms. "Maman!" he squealed happily.

She scooped him up, saying, "Where did my baby boy run off to?" in French. Then in English she added, "No more running." Then she said, "Hello Dexter, Miss Amelia. Why don't you join us? We're just getting ready to order."

"I don't think..." but in a few moments, Amelia found herself surrounded by neighbors and their families. This entire day has spun out of her control! She's spoken to more people today than she normally speaks to in a full year. There were two pastors and a priest, the pastor's families, the crazy doctor and his family and that Asian girl who never talks to her boyfriend but they always seem to understand each other. Tables had been pushed together to make a huge, long table and two babies were being passed around like smiling loaves of bread.

"Don't forget to wear your bracelet tonight and tomorrow night," said the small blond doctor. "I'll pick up the bracelet after church on Sunday."

Then the VA doc said, "We have an appointment at the VA clinic in South Boston, ten thirty on Thursday."

"I don't have a way to get there," said Amelia.

"Dexter, can you drive Amelia to South Boston on Thursday?" asked Paul.

"It would be my honor, sir."

"You all are ganging up on me!" cried Amelia to the laughter of the group.

Julissa placed a small portion of fish fry in front of her. "Just roll with it honey, these folks are crazy, but there's a lot of love in them."

"I didn't order this," said Amelia as she looked at the Friday feast set before her. The small portion of fry was more food than she would eat in a week.

"They're going to make us sing for our supper," said Dexter. "You watch." Sure enough, Pastor Vincent rose and asked for their attention as Julissa set out drinks and meals.

"Let's sing grace tonight, what do you say?" said Pastor Vincent. Julissa took her pitchpipe out of her pocket and blew a C. "I take it that's a yes," and as John played the guitar, Pastor Vincent directed the gathering at singing Silent Night. For the first time in a year, Dexter felt like singing.

Sleep in heavenly sleep...

With the completion of the last note, everyone began eating. "Thank you for suggesting this Mister Humboldt," said Amelia. "I forgot how good a Friday fish fry is."

"Thank you for joining me, Missus Hernandez," said Dexter as Sandy and Madeline peered over the top of the table at his plate. "I love these intimate gatherings," he added as Sandy took one of his French fries to the embarrassment of Andi.

"I'm hoping to get some of that heavenly sleeping done tonight," said Amelia, when she stopped laughing. How long has it been since she laughed like this? "It's Miss Hernandez, there's never been a mister."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

By the time the family got back to Paul's house, they were exhausted. They practically rebuilt an ancient house from the ground up. They had a good sized workforce with them, but Gus, Paul, and John did all the tasks that relied on carpentry skills and were beat. They strolled out to the garage and lit a small fire in the little stove in Paul's workshop, fired up the HAM radio, and Paul swept the dial for shortwave radio stations. "There's nothing out there," said John as he and Gus raided Paul's humidor.

"Oh! Did I tell you that I met the Station Manager of HCJB?" said Paul as he grabbed the cigar out of John's hand, snipped the cap and handed it back to him.

"I can cut my own," said John softly as he inspected Paul's cutting. Paul cut John's cigar with a V cutter, something he's never tried before.

"What's an HCJB?" asked Gus as the three men puffed their congratulatory cigars. John looked at his Romeo y Julietta 1875 Reserva Real, and smiled. That v-cutter worked perfectly. A much better draw than normal. The scent of premium cigars filled the workshop, but the smoke was drawn off quickly by the vent fan that hummed quietly.

"'HCJB The voice of the Andes.' Just a great radio station. We listened to it when we were kids with a homemade radio and a long wire antenna," said Paul.

"Slingshot launched antenna," said John.

"Slingshot launched?" asked Gus.

"We had a long wire antenna on a spool, and we attached some fishing line and a weight to the end," said John. "I ran a pencil through the spool of wire and Paul used a slingshot and fired the weight into the neighbors tree."

"It worked perfectly," said Paul. "John held that pencil and that spool was spinning at a million RPM. When the spool hit the end of the wire, the weight went 'doink!' and wrapped itself around a branch. We wrapped the other end a few times around our desk lamp and plugged it into our home made radio."

"We could pick up EVERYTHING with that, but HCJB was the best," said John. "It was a Christian Ministry radio station in Quito Ecuador that catered to SWLs."

"SWL - when did you become so savvy?" asked Paul.

"What's an SWL?" asked Gus.

"It's what we call Short Wave Listeners," said Paul. "That used to be a lot of fun, the shortwave bands used to have a lot of activity, and the best listening was at night. John and I would sit up all night listening to voices from the other side of the world. They'd direct broadcasts at the US with their news and we could find out what was going on in Russia, and China and Yugoslavia. It was a lot of fun. I picked up WRNO from New Orleans in Saudi Arabia."

"So, what happened with HCJB?" asked John.

"The Quito Airport wanted to expand right where their transmitter was, so HCJB took the money, sold the equipment and put their money into other projects," said Paul.

"I miss that station," said John sadly. "But Amelia's house is done for now. When it warms up we can paint the exterior. I want to do something with that porch so there's not a hundred cats crawling around underneath."

"She needs a new roof," said Gus. John and Paul looked at Gus with exhaustion in their eyes. "It's a simple straight ridge roof, we can knock that out in six hours."

"Not tomorrow, that's for sure," said Paul. "I'm going to build a fire in the fireplace and snuggle with Danny all day long. Listen to some classical Christmas music and build a proper appreciation for Pavarotti in the little guy. I might even let the girls open his present early."

"Isn't it amazing that something similar came for Cholly," said John.

"You mean a Lionel train set?" asked Gus, who was there when Paul bought it.

"Of course!" said Paul. "It's a Jarecki family tradition. A Lionel train set for a young boy's first Christmas."

"When did that tradition start?" asked John.

"In a couple of weeks."

When the guys re-entered the house, Yi, Macy, and Lucy were pealing and cutting potatoes. There was an enormous bowl full of peeled, cut potatoes sitting on the counter. "What's all this?" asked Paul as he inspected the potatoes. They were cut in one-inch cubes, and from the pile of peels, he could tell that they were all good solid russet potatoes.

"Don't touch," warned Yi. "It's for our lefse party tomorrow."

"What's a lefse party?"

"It's a Jarecki family Christmas tradition," said Macy as Yi drained the pot of boiling water in the sink.

"When did that tradition start?"

"Tomorrow."

"Are you ready to go?" John asked Macy.

"Your daughter and I are," said Macy. "We haven't seen your son in a while." The sound of barking, laughing and running feet somewhere in the house gave them a clue of what their son was up to. "You'll probably have to change him before we go."

John sighed sadly and unrolled the changing mat and waited for his boy to chase Wonka through the kitchen. They didn't have to wait long. As he came by, John scooped him up and asked the twins to find his shoes and socks, then he took a peek down Cholly's diaper, and he was messy. Now came the heart-breaking part.

Trying to keep a smile on his face, John tugged down Cholly's pants but when he went for the disposable diaper, Cholly started pushing his hands away and began shrieking. Occasionally he'd cry "arrêt!" (stop). John did everything he could to reassure the little boy that he loved him, and he would not hurt him, and he worked as quickly as possible, but Cholly was terrified. "Non! Non!" he cried. Working as quickly as he could with Macy's help to reassure Cholly, John was done, diaper off, butt cleaned, new diaper on.

When they were done, John sat on a kitchen chair clinging to Cholly. The little boy began to whimper through his tears, "Je serai bon! Je serai bon!" which started Macy crying too. Paul and Gus were in shock as Cholly wept "I'll be good" over and over in French.

Paul stormed out of the house, and Andi followed him. "Paul! Wait..." and soon the crash of a garbage can being kicked could be heard.

"Paw!" shrieked Cholly as Andi dashed after Paul.

Paul couldn't take the emotional turmoil every time poor little Cholly shrieks in fear. Paul's mind was filled with memories of four-year-old John locked out of the house, starving, freezing, and all Paul could think to do was feed him out of a dumpster. Suddenly, the hate for that whore Mrs. Benedetti and the self-loathing that he couldn't do anything but feed John rancid noodles out of the garbage overwhelmed him. "I can't take it," he groaned as he clung to Andi. "That poor kid... It shatters me, I can't take it... if that woman wasn't dead I'd finish her myself."

"Stop," said Andi. "Paul, look at me!" He looked down at his wife and held her tight. "That isn't for you. She's already got a millstone tied to her neck," said Andi, reminding him of the biblical punishment for child abusers. "This isn't helping that boy; it's not helping John or Macy. Monday morning, we talk to Helen Lenox and find the top child psychologist in the state."

"Throw money at the problem?" asked Paul with a frown.

"Yes! If that's what it takes," said Andi. "Why else do we have that money? Let's use it to help our nephew!" As Paul looked away, she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "That little boy loves you. Running outside to kick the garbage can and scream at a dead woman scares him."

"I'm sorry... It reminds me of John when he was little, I want to do the right thing..."

"Then get ready counselor. I guarantee that some dirtbag is going to discover that Cholly is now related to a wealthy man and try to grab some of your money."

"Our money," corrected Paul.

"Now you're talking."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"We're trying to be peaceful, airman," said Paul to his fussy son. It was a beautiful pre-Christmas morning. The sunlight streaming through the front window was weakened by clouds and snow, but it caused the tinsel on the fourteen foot tall tree in front of the window to sparkle. Danny was nursing at a bottle and trying to push Paul's hands away and kicking his tiny legs. He wanted to hold his bottle himself and was grinning at daddy around the nipple. "You don't act like this when mommy drops a tit in your mouth."

"Of course not," said Howard. "He's not crazy."

"That's your daughter's tit we're talking about."

"What's your point?"

Paul was planning to read a story to little Daniel, The Caterpillars Christmas, a favorite of everyone in the family under the age of two.

"Come on Papa, we want to go skating," begged Madeline, as she and her sister crawled into the room on hands and knees.

"I've got a baby," said Paul. "He's too little to go skating and we just started an exciting Christmas story."

"Come onnnnnn," groaned Sandy. "You promised."

"That was your mother." Paul was tired. He spent all day yesterday fixing a house, and he spent all morning turning boiled potatoes into potato batter... or whatever the Norwegians call it.

"Same thing. Come onnnnnn." Just then, Macy, John, Katarina, and Cholly arrived, and the twins dashed into the kitchen, shouting. "Unka John! Unka John! Wanna go skating?"

"Sure, get your snow pants on and grab your skates," said John.

"YAAAAYYYY!"

"I'll watch the little one," said Howard as he sat near the crackling fire.

"I will never forget any of you for this. I will haunt you all," complained Paul as he got up. He slouched into the kitchen and found his skates and his mukluks, but in the end he decided on sneakers. He sat down and started to tie his sneakers, and Cholly stood next to him and watched with interest. "Do you want to go ice skating too? um... Patinage sur glace?" Cholly just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't think they have Ice Skating in the South Pacific," said John. "If his mother was Canadian he'd know all about it."

"Oh ja," said Macy. "You betcha."

"You tell that silly daddy of yours that you're from New York," said Paul.

Cholly turned to John and said, "Nork!" which caused the twins to laugh at him.

"What are you going to do with Cholly," said John.

"It's not what I'm going to do, it's what you're going to do," said Paul and they went out the kitchen door. The twins had their colorful skates with the brightly colored flowers, John and Paul both had CCM hockey skates, and Cholly didn't have anything and he looked a bit confused. Paul walked over to the garage and reached inside and pulled out a Flexible Flier sled. A Flexible Flier was once the Christmas wish of boys and girls throughout the north. Wooden frame with bright red metal runners. They were the fastest things on the hill, and they were steerable too.

"You're coming with little guy." Paul placed the dual runner sled on the driveway and set Cholly in his neon green parka on the sled. "Put your feet here..." and he placed Cholly's feet against the steering bar.

"Feet!"

"And hold here," and he placed Cholly's mittened hands on the side bars.

"Han!"

"Right, good boy! Bon garçon!" As Cholly grinned, Paul turned to John. "Doesn't garçon mean waiter?"

"Uh, no. If you called a waiter that in Montreal you'd end up wearing a bowl of soup. A waiter is une serveur."

"Here you go Daddy," and Paul handed John the loop of sash cord that was tied to the sled. Cholly loved being pulled along on his sled. Paul and the twins walked on either side of him so he didn't fall off and Paul had to lift Cholly and his sled over the pile of snow left by the snowplow. Once they got to the rink, they stopped to put their skates on at the bench. Cholly got off his sled to watch.

"Come on Cholly, come skate!" cried the twins as they got their skates on and headed over to the rink. As Paul and John laced up their skates, Cholly tried to step through the door onto the ice when Veronica von Köster ran up from her house, with Josh following behind her.

"I haven't skated in ages," gushed Veronica as she sat down and began lacing on her pair of figure skates. "I'll probably spend all my time on my butt, I haven't had these sharpened in ages."

"Kenny over at the feed store does a great job of sharpening skates," said John. "Just be careful, the twins are out on the ice. They're a bit aggressive."

Just then, at the sound of Veronica's voice, Cholly turned around and grinned. "Ha," he said, which seemed to be his greeting. It was clear he recognized Veronica from that horrible night that Amelia carried him over to the church and set him on John's lap.

"Cholly! Are you going to skate with us?" asked Veronica. "Est-ce que tu vas patiner avec nous?" but he didn't seem to understand English or French.

"He's just a little guy, he doesn't understand skating yet." As Paul went to turn on the sound, John placed the sled on the ice, set Cholly back on the sled, and pulled him around the rink. The twins were excited that Cholly was joining them, but they had to keep their distance because of their full-contact style of skating. Soon, beautiful Christmas music was playing on the rink's loudspeakers.

"I set the music timer for an hour, when that's over it should be time to head home," said Paul.

<><><><><>

Over at the house, the Lefse Party was getting underway. It was a month later than she planned, but Andi set the date of the party a year ago and didn't expect to get run over by a car then have a child not long later. Macy, Andi, and Yi were soon joined by Melissa Kraft and Kathy Hansen from the Church and as they got started, Elmer and Elinore Ingvist from Ingvist's General Store in Morton's Corners arrived. There was a lot of holiday greeting and people hugged as Andi and Yi set up their lefse station.

"Your house is so beautiful!" gasped Elinore as she and Andi hugged.

"Here, let me show you the best part of my house," she waved and her parents stepped into the kitchen. "These are the proud grandparents from Denver, my mom Heather and she's got my niece Katarina, and my dad Howard has my son Danny. Mom is going to be teaching us to cook like a Norwegian."

"Oh, my goodness!" laughed Elinore as she took Katarina into her arms. "What a cutie! You two have been busy this year!"

"We have more," said Macy. "Their dads took them over to the park."

"Oh my," gushed Elinore as Andi gave them a tour of the first floor. The house was a magical Christmas wonderland. Every vertical edge was decorated with pine boughs and holly. Garlands looped overhead with glass ornaments at the apex of each loop. The staircase itself was a work of art, as were the railings around the balcony upstairs. They were covered in holly, ribbons, glass ornaments and tiny white lights that slowly twinkled like fireflies.

The dining room fireplace mantel was a masterpiece of early American Christmas decoration featuring a candle holder made from a birch log and surrounded by evergreen boughs. The fireplace in the parlor was a stunning example of French Provincial decor. A large mirror was hung over the mantel, and candles flickered in front of the mirror, adding depth to the decor. Frosted evergreen boughs covered the mantel and white stockings hung over the white brick face of the fireplace. The fireplace in the library was designed by the twins, so it was an ode to Santa Claus and the reindeer. A stuffed Santa toy rode in a wooden sled pulled by two toy reindeer on a blanket of white cotton with sparkles glued to the cotton. Around them were numerous toy pine trees and snowmen made from Styrofoam balls.

"I've been here every year for Christmas," said Melissa. "But it never looked like this!"

"That's because somebody is helping Paul put up decorations this year," said Kathy Hansen, the church secretary.

"Yeah, it's Yi. Who would have thought that our governess and chef is a Christmas nut?" said Andi.

"Paul knew," said Yi. "He hired me for my cookies."

They made it back to the kitchen and set up their equipment. Heather set up a deep frier and what looked like a waffle iron to the gathered women. Meanwhile Elinore Ingvist asked, "You've got plenty of room here dear, mind if we set up a grill also?"

"Of course," said Andi and Elmer went out to the car and brought in the grill, rolling board and rolling pin.

As Andi and Yi took the first bowl of potato flour out of the fridge, Yi explained lefse. "The best description is a tortilla made from potatoes. We mix flour, butter, cream with riced potatoes, roll it out paper thin, then grill them, cool them then fold them up." Yi took over the party. She's been studying Lefse and has already made a few batches and soon the two grilles and rolling boards were set up and Yi said, "I've studied these things for about a month and I came to the startling conclusion that the old fashioned way of making them is the best way."

"Well, yeah," said Elli Ingvist. "Didn't you know that?"

"No, of course not! I have a fancy culinary institute education," said Yi. She took a ping-pong ball size blob of the potato mixture and flattened it to a hockey puck, dusted it liberally with flower and rolled. "Roll your dough and if it begins to stick to the roller, dust it with flower and get back to work."

She kept rolling until the dough was impossibly thin. "Keep rolling until you can read the writing on your rolling cloth then take your lefse stick." She produced what looked like a long, thin paint stirring stick that was sharpened to a flat point at the end. "Slide it under, then slide side to side to make sure your dough is free, then lift and place the dough onto the grill."

"How long to you cook?" asked Macy.

"Just until bubbles come up, maybe 45 seconds, then flip it over, cook 30 seconds and put it on the cooling rack."

"You make it look easy, but is it?" asked Kathy Hansen.

"Yes, of course it is, after a ton of practice," said Yi.

"Well, at least she's honest," said Elli, and soon she and Elmer joined the party and started rolling potato dough along with Andi, Yi, and Kathy.

<><><><><>

Over at the ice rink, Veronica put on a display that stunned Paul, John, Madeline and Sandy. "She should have tried out for the Olympics," said John, as Veronica pirouetted past.

"Or at least Stars on Ice," said Paul.

"Pardon?" said Veronica as she skated past the two dads that were towing Cholly around the rink. Cholly was up on his knees on the sled, watching Veronica as well.

"I said I have an opening for an executive assistant at the top of a growing company. Are you interested?"

"You can't afford me," said Veronica, as she pirouetted, then reached out to the twins and began pulling the twins around the ice. She was skating backwards with the twins holding her hands and she was pulling the twins along behind her.

"She's right," said Josh as he slowly made his way onto the ice. "My boss is going bankrupt keeping her on the payroll." Then his feet slipped out from underneath him. "This is ridiculous," he muttered as he tried to keep his new figure skates beneath him. "Ice belongs in a drink!" he shouted. The next thing he knew, he had a six-year-old girl on each hand.

"Don't look down," advised Sandy.

"Keep your back straight," said Madeline.

"Seriously?" asked Josh. Being trained by children that are one sixth his age?

"They're right," said Veronica as she skated by with a startled looking Cholly in her arms. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was a little o of amazement. "Keep your eyes forward and your back straight."

"Et tu sweetie?"

Somehow the twins' abstract method of skating off set Josh's off balance skating and they made it around the rink. "Here, let me help," said Veronica, and she put Cholly back on the sled and took Josh away from the twins. Together, Josh and Veronica skated around the rink and Josh looked incredible compared to his earlier attempts. "See, it's just like dancing."

"No, it's you," said Josh. "I can do anything with you at my side."

"MUSHY!" cried the twins as Josh and Veronica kissed.

They had a grand time and even let Sandy and Madeline pull Cholly around for a little while, giving John and Paul the chance to zip around the ice. They didn't bring their sticks, so they mostly wove in and out of other skaters as more and more people showed up.

There were about six couples and a dozen children skating in the falling snow, but sadly, the music shut off. "Awww," groaned the crowd.

"Come on girls," said Paul. "Momma wants us home." He went to the music control box and set it for several hours and the music resumed, then he helped the girls get their boots on. "Are you guys coming over? Andi is having a lefse party."

"Lefse party? What's that?" asked Josh.

"They're making lefse, it's a Norwegian treat," said Paul.

"Well, I'm all about the treats," said Josh.

"She said they're going to make rosettes and sandbakkel too," said John.

"And Spritz!" cried Sandy.

"And krumkake!" said Madeline. The twins loved their grandmother and great grandmother's krumkake. "Come on Cholly!" and the twins tried to run home, but the snow was far too deep for Cholly to join them in their sprint. As the little guy tried to fight his way through the snow that was above his waist, Josh scooped him up.

"Come on buddy, you and me. Let's go get those cookies!"

"Thank you," said John. "But I'm afraid he needs changing."

Josh noticed Paul was tightening up, fighting back the tears and anger that were due to come. "What's the matter lil' guy? You stinky? Are you stinky?" and he tickled Cholly, which caused Cholly to laugh and hold his tummy. "Is there a problem?" the southern boy asked as they walked home. "You two look like you're heading for an amputation."

"He freaks out when you change his diaper," said Paul. "He was horribly abused, now when you change his diaper he keeps saying he'll be good."

"Just a messy diaper. If he's wet, he's fine," said Josh.

"Sounds like his mother was an idiot." Josh considered the issue. He doesn't have any children, but somehow, he ended up as everyone's uncle in the military and became an emergency babysitter for anyone on flight status. "Babies are very logical, they know that A plus B always equals C. We know that he has A, a poopy diaper, and B, you change him, the two together equal a meltdown. We just have to replace B in the equation. Where do you change him?"

"We have a changing table and a mat that we put on any handy table," said John.

"Do you think his mother could have dropped him when he was little?"

John and Paul thought about everything they knew about Séraphine Lévesque, which wasn't much. "It's quite possible."

"Ok, that's half the battle," said Josh. "Let's try something when we get to your house."

Inside Paul and Andi's house, they found that the Lefse party spilled from the huge kitchen to the large dining room. Stacks of Lefse, folded into eighths, cooling racks full of rosettes waiting for a dusting of powdered sugar. Stacks of krumkake, cannoli like cones waited for a sugar dusting and to be piped full of fresh whipped cream. Sandbakkels - tart like cookies waited for filling.

"Spritz!" shrieked the twins. Spritz cookies are cookies made with a cookie press (the twins call it a cookie gun) and are covered with colored sugar before baking.

"I've been waiting for you," said Grandma Heather as she loaded up the cookie press with dough. "Get your coats and boots off and get your aprons on."

"YAY!"

"As for you, ya lil' stinker," grinned Josh. "Let's go fix that butt of yours."

Macy looked at John with a concerned look, but John shrugged and said, "Josh calls himself the diaper whisperer."

Josh took off Cholly's coat, snow pants and boots and let him go and the little guy scrambled off to the parlor where the huge Christmas tree and Wonka waited for him. "We're going to keep this a happy occasion. Maybe he feels guilty, I don't know," said Josh. "But it sounds like he feels guilty for making you sad."

"What do we do?" asked Macy.

"First, let's change him on the floor with something he can look up at. Next, keep it happy, act like his poop is the greatest present he could have ever made for you. Lots of smiles, lots of happy."

"Ok," said John as he knelt down next to Wonka who was laying half under the tree. "Viens ici Cholly!" said John cheerfully.

"Did his mother speak French?" asked Josh.

John nodded. "We believe so, she was from French Polynesia."

"Ok, as far as we know, she was the source of the abuse. Speak English. Let's get B completely out of the equation."

"Ok," sighed John. "Come here Cholly!" He got Cholly to lie down next to Wonka and with a combination of tickles and dangling Christmas ornaments over him, they got the messy diaper off and a new one on, with Cholly barely whimpering.

"Now, congratulate him!" said Josh.

Veronica's eyes filled with tears. "You did it," she gasped. "I saw the terror in that little boy's eyes a half dozen times, and you did it." She wrapped her arms around Josh and began weeping with joy. "How? How did you know?"

"Ah guess ah got a two-year-old intellect ma'self."

"You jerk," and Veronica gave him a long, deep kiss.

For their part, John and Macy knelt on the floor where the miracle of Cholly's diaper happened. "Come here and give me sugar," said John, but Cholly looked at him, confused.

"Bisou bisou (kiss kiss)," said Macy and Cholly got up and hugged his new parents then he scrambled off on his hands and knees to follow Wonka wherever he was off to.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Paul stepped up to the lectern. He didn't want to do it, but he was tired. He loved being head deacon and chair of the board of directors, but it was time to turn the board of directors over to someone new, and then he could spend some time with Andi and the kids. This was the Sunday that he planned to announce he wanted to step down. This past year took so much out of him, it was time to cut back and play with his children. He has a C.O.O. to shoulder some of the burden at work. Now he could just come to church on Sunday like everyone else.

The smells of the soups and chilies wafting from the kitchen were almost intoxicating. Soon the women's ministry would set out crock pots full of soup and chili. A dessert table will be covered with Christmas cookies, cakes, and pie. It would be nice to be the first in line instead of last, as he and John always took. But they made it a practice of insuring everyone ate first before the pastor and the head deacon ate.

This was a fellowship Sunday where the church shared a meal and the December meal was always simple, a potluck of casseroles and soups. There's nothing Paul likes better than a bowl of Macy's homemade chicken noodle soup. Those thick, homemade noodles, that tender, savory chicken, that rich broth... Sometimes Paul wished he were a musician so he could write a song praising that soup! Number two was Ernie Kraft's chili on a bed of white rice. It's not spicy, but it's flavorful. The very best non-nuclear chili he's ever had. The December meal was always outdone by the January meal. The January meal was the annual meeting, and that was always roast turkey, mashed potatoes, and gallons of gravy. For some reason, the details get blurry after that for Paul. Just the thought of a steaming hot bowl of Macy's soup drove him on.

It was time he started reading the announcements. "Ok, it's fellowship Sunday today," said Paul. "For lunch we will have potluck and Christmas cookies. We had the gang over to our house yesterday making hundreds of Norwegian Christmas treats, berlinerkranser, sandbakkels, rosettes, cannoli's..."

"Krumkake!" Andi and Heather corrected from the fourth row back.

"Unfortunately, I got a bit peckish last night... but they were good. What's next..." he flipped open the bulletin. "Men's bible study meets this week here at the church in the big classroom. The rest of the building will be taken up by nativity practice. Please be sure to drop off any foundlings before practice starts. On a personal note, I want to thank everybody who turned out Friday to help us with a project. A fellow Springville resident, a disabled veteran had some issues with their house and so many of you turned out and pitched in. It was truly beautiful to take part in. I am so proud of everyone, give yourselves a round of applause!" When they were finished clapping he said, "are there any other announcements?"

Paul looked up and saw that Lucy had her hand up. Lucy hasn't said anything in church yet. This could be interesting. "Yes Lucy, what do you have for us?"

"I have something I wish to say, but I would like it to be on the record."

"Um, ok. Ok, Kathy, can you take notes?"

"Yes I can," she said happily.

Paul suspected he was being set up for something. "Ok, let the record show that a congregational meeting was called for by Evangeline Kocis. Meeting the constitutional requirements for a congregational meeting I call this meeting to order. What do you have for us Evie... I mean Lucy." He knows how deeply she hates being called Evie, which was more than she hated to be called Evangeline, but his taunting didn't seem to faze her in the least.

"Next month is election of board members..."

She paused to get her thoughts straight. "Do you have a nomination for us?" asked Paul.

"Yes. Our board has been incredible navigating us through a horrible attack and through the most joyful of joys. I move to nominate the current board members en toto for another term."

"Second!" called out Dexter Humbolt with barely a moment's pause.

"Et tu Dexter?" Paul glared at Dexter, who happily grinned at him from the back. Was that Amelia Hernandez next to him? "Ok, it's been moved and seconded that we nominate the current board for another term. Is there any discussion?"

As Paul was getting ready to explain that he wanted to retire from the board of directors, Andi, his darling wife, called out, "Call the question!"

Before Paul could react, John called out from the back, "The question has been called, all in favor signify by saying aye."

"Aye!" came the thunderous response.

"All oppose? Anyone?" asked Paul. "Anyone at all?" He looked at the congregation for a very long time. "Please?" Being head of the board, he always restrained from voting to prevent his vote from effecting others. "My own family..." he took a deep sigh and then said, "the motion passed, this year's board members have been nominated for another term and will be voted on next month." He rapped the lectern with his knuckles. "I call this meeting over. Pastor John, could you speak to these people?"

John came up laughing and shook Paul's hand as Andi leaned over to Macy and said, "Do you think either of them noticed that they're wearing the same suit and tie?"

"I think they planned it this way," said Macy as John stepped up to the lectern. Paul returned to his family and sat down and suddenly gasp with a wince of pain.

"Are you ok?" whispered Andi.

"Yeah, I just leaned back into this knife sticking out of my back."

At the lectern, John was all smiles. He loves his board of directors, and it will be great to work with them for another year. They don't always see eye to eye, but they are not afraid of tackling troublesome issues. "That was awesome, you guys are getting faster with that every year. Who is our couple for the advent wreath?"

Advent - the Time of Preparation. In a liturgical church, it's a time of mourning followed by a time of excitement to prepare for Christmas. To show the passage of time, there's a wreath with three blue candles, a pink candle, and a white candle placed in the middle. In the days when calendars were not kept in homes, people could see how many weeks until Christmas by the number of candles on the wreath were lit. It's an ancient tradition that still hangs on.

In John's church, it was a tradition in the church to have the advent candles lit by a couple, and being the 4th Sunday of Advent, this meant there would be two couples. First came Kenny and Yi, to John's surprise and delight. Nobody knows who is selected to light the candles. Picking the couples was Macy's job. Usually, she selects married couples who are expecting a child, couples that have been married a long time, or engaged couples. Macy never picked a couple that was simply dating. They were always married or engaged. This was a sign that there was something that didn't meet the eye with Kenny and Yi.

Hand in hand, Yi and Kenny walked down the aisle up to the Advent wreath and, as John read the prayer for the fourth Sunday, Yi lit the pink candle. This caused a little bit of a stir in the church, because this was proclaiming to the world that their relationship was a lot more than it seemed.

They were followed by Lucy and Gus, who lit the white candle.

Later, after the service, it was mealtime. Most people remained to have dinner in the open room called Fellowship Hall, and the meal was open to anyone. John and Paul were standing at the end of the line to get food. Cholly and the twins were almost done eating by the time that Paul and John got to the food service line. The line was a long table covered with crock pots and serving pans. Many were close to empty. Paul noticed that Amelia Hernandez was at a table near him and she was there with Dexter and another couple in their 80s, but it was obvious she hadn't eaten. "Come get in line Amelia."

"I'm not a member, I wouldn't want to impose."

"Amelia, you need to eat," implored Paul.

"I'll be fine. I have pizza rolls at home."

Paul looked to Dexter, who shrugged helplessly, then returned to the serving line. There, he found that there was one bowl left of Macy's homemade chicken noodle soup. He filled a bowl with what was left in the crock pot, grabbed a spoon and some crackers and placed it in front of Amelia, then went back to the line and then he realized that there was no chili left either. He settled for a salad and a dry corner piece of what was obviously once a frozen lasagna. As Paul and John sat down, Macy asked, "Wasn't there any of my soup left when you got there?"

"No," said Paul, and he chewed on his salad.

"There was, but he gave the last bowl to Amelia," said John.

"Why?" demanded Andi. "You love that soup."

"She needed it more than I do."

Gus and Lucy watched this little drama play out, and Lucy shook her head sadly. When she met Paul a year ago, she hated him. She thought he was a privileged rich guy who was using Andi for sex, but every day he changes her mind. Never in her wildest dreams could she have considered Paul capable of being that sweet to Amelia, a woman who loves to pick on Paul.

After the meal was cleaned up and the church emptied, Gus and Lucy returned to their home on the outskirts of Springville. Gus lit a fire in the living room wood stove and they relaxed. Even though this was a big old farmhouse, Gus's renovations made it as comfy as a weekend cabin. That house was Gus's pride and joy and showroom. One look at the woodwork in his house and the potential client is hooked.

"I saw what Paul did with that soup," Lucy said. "He loves that soup."

"He waits all year for it," said Gus with a wistful nod.

"So why did he give Amelia that and not the dry lasagna?"

"Because he loves that soup and waits all year for it. You know as well as Paul does how malnourished she is. It's like she's starving herself."

"He had no idea if she was going to eat it," continued Lucy.

"No, but she needed it," said Gus. "It was the best thing for her at that table." He took Lucy's hand in his and patted it gently. "Think... think of what day Saturday is, what we celebrate."

"I'm sorry, I had completely missed the parallel," said Lucy sadly. "Paul confuses me."

"Blame John. Paul wants to be a rotten bastard, he really does, but he's afraid that John might disapprove of him."

Lucy pulled herself on Gus's lap and began kissing and gnawing on his neck. She was going crazy having him so close, but not being able to make love. They had made a promise to John and Macy that they would abstain until after they said their vows. One more week of this self-imposed celibacy and they would soon be on their honeymoon and she couldn't wait. For the first time in her life, sex was a good thing. It was a desired thing! Lucy bit and nibbled at Gus's ear and kissed his neck. "I don't know how you can take this," she purred.

"Oh, it's not too bad, we're only down by seven and there's two quarters left to play."

Lucy whirled and looked and the Bills game was on the TV. She underestimated the will power of the Buffalo Bills Mafia. "Not that!" she hit the mute on the remote and made sure that the blue tooth connection to Gus's hearing aide was shut off. "Us. SEX! How can you deal with it?"

Gus cuddled Lucy close and said, "I've been through this before. If you're feeling vindictive, just take solace with the fact that John and Macy, Paul and Andi are going through the same thing."

"Why? Oh... the babies." How did Lucy forget she became a double god mother barely over a month and a half ago?

"Yes, their evil doctor made them promise no hoochie coochie for two months."

"TWO MONTHS? Oh god, Andi's wedding anniversary is Friday. No wonder why she's been so bitchy!"

"I don't think Paul can wait either, I have a feeling that Santa is going to bring something nice down her chimney."

"What about Macy and John?"

"John disobey doctor's orders? Not in this plane of existence," Gus said with a smile. "I love John and Macy so much; they waited so long to have children and now they have the complete set."

"Why did they wait?" asked Lucy.

Gus pulled Lucy close and pulled a knit Afghan over their laps. It was knit for him by John and Paul's mom. He looked for an explanation that sounded less sad than the actual story was. They snuggled on the overstuffed couch and Lucy thought Gus forgot the question, but he finally told her. "They were scared. Macy had a pretty bad upbringing and they had no idea how to raise a child."

"But every day they're dispensing advice to parents," insisted Lucy.

"They were parroting book learning. They became experts on dispensing somebody else's lessons." Gus tried to count the times that John came to him for advice. A loving wife and four rowdy rambunctious girls, Gus knew marriage. "After Andi appeared with two exceptional girls Macy thought, 'If she can do it on her own, I can do it standing on my head.' So, Andi challenged her to a baby race a year ago, you were there."

It was hard for Lucy to think that Macy was afraid of anything. She's tall, beautiful, well-educated and well spoken. With John at her side, Macy can handle it all. She just didn't know that she could handle it all. Lucy sighed and looked out the enormous picture window that showed her the expanse of the woods beyond the house and down into a vast valley they call Spooners Gulch. It was this window that revealed the beauty of the hills of Western New York to Lucy as she and Gus watched the seasons change from lush green to a frenzy of colors in autumn. The bare branches and steadfast pines were covered in a layer of snow and a fresh coat was on the way. "What was Springville like when you were a kid?" asked Lucy.

"I have no idea," said Gus. "I'm not from here."

"Where are you from?" asked Lucy. "Introduce me to the young Gus Didomissio."

"It's boring," warned Gus.

"Bore me."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

August Gianmarco Didomissio was born over a half century ago in Brooklyn, New York, to Nunzio and Cinzia Didomissio. Nunzio and Cinzia were immigrants who moved to the United States with their parents before the war started. Cinzia's parents, Tino and Luna Giardino, lived in the same apartment with Nunzio, Cinzia and their five boys. Gus had four older brothers, Emilio, Carmelo, Silvio, and Carlo, whom everyone called Carl.

The boys all worked at the family restaurant Tino's Place as dishwashers, bus boys and cooks. When they weren't working, they were on the streets, if nothing else, to get away from that crowded apartment. The oldest boy, Emilio, was arrested for stealing a car for the last time when Gus was still in grade school. Emelio was 17 at the time, and he was two months from turning eighteen. It was his third arrest. "I'm tired of seeing you in my court," said Judge Stone.

"Da feelin' is mutual," said Emilio, acting like a tough guy.

"Normally you would be tried as a juvenile, but since this is your third arrest and your eighteenth birthday is a matter of weeks away, the State of New York gives me leeway in your case," said Judge Stone who could act like a tough guy too. "Your choice, Mister Didomissio, two years in the military or two years in Otisville State Prison."

"I'll take the military, yer honor. How tough can it be after growin' up in Brooklyn?"

"That's the idea, you take that attitude into the recruiters office and return with an enlistment contract in one week or I will issue a warrant for your arrest," said Judge Stone with a grin that told Emilio he knew something that Emilio didn't.

The next morning, Emilio strolled into the Air Force recruiter's office and said, "Sign me up. Whadoya got? Fighters, bombers, whatever. You got it, I'll fly it."

The recruiter asked for name and social security number, then opened a huge folder that was a large computer readout. "Didomissio, Emilio A. grand theft auto. Sentence two years military or two years prison." Technical Sergeant Dixon closed up the readout and looked at Emilio with a smile. "Sorry. We're all full up."

"Come on, I'll do anything, sweep floors, paint the yellow lines on the concrete, whatever you need."

"I'm sorry Mister Didomissio, There's no room at the inn. In case you haven't heard, there's a war in Vietnam, it's been in all the papers. And you would be shocked at the number of young men that do not want to spend a year in a Vietnamese jungle. Shocked, I tell you. So, they come to me to avoid ground duty over there. I have my choice, my pick of the litter, and you aren't it."

"There's nothing you can do for me?"

"I'm sorry Mister Didomissio," said the recruiter, sounding almost sorry for him. "But on the upside, I hear the Salsbury steak on Wednesday night at Otisville is pretty good."

Emilio stormed out of the office without another word and walked the block to the Navy recruiter's office. This time, he was a bit more humbled. He stepped into the office and waited for the petty officer behind the desk to hang up the phone. "Hey Popeye, I'd like to volunteer. I'm not sure where I'll fit, but I know cars real good. Maybe the motor pool?"

"Not with grammar like that Mister Didomissio. I assume Sergeant Dixon over at the Air Force recruiter told you about Vietnam?"

"He told you I was coming?"

"Yes he did. Look, with your record there's no way you're going to avoid combat, why not do it with a group of elite special forces on your side? All volunteer, hand-picked, the best fighting men in the land. A true band of brothers who are looking out for each other."

"This is fucked," snarled Emilio. He turned on his heel and left, then headed over to the Coast Guard recruiter's office and when he entered, the recruiter was on the phone.

"Wait a minute... no, he's here right now," and the recruiter started laughing. "Ok. Thanks for the warning." He hung up and, trying to stifle his laughter, said, "How can I help you Mister Didomissio?"

"Awww fuck you too," and Emilio stormed out of the office.

He found himself standing in front of the Army recruiter's office, wondering how it came to this. He walked into the office and the sergeant behind the desk looked up with a smile. "Mister Didomissio, so good to see you." He stood and shook hands with Emilio.

"Did Popeye over at the navy office tell you I was coming?"

"No, of course not! It was Sergeant Dixon at the Air Force. Now, how can we help you?"

"I'm in a bit of a fix," said Emilio.

"Yes you are. But we can help. Unfortunately, the shortest enlistment we have is four years, but one tour of duty, and after that you'll be in Germany with the blond women and the cold beer. Hell, I'm getting jealous of you, I'm stuck behind this desk for the next three years!"

"So, how bad is it in 'nam?" asked Emilio.

"Well, that depends on where you're standing," said the recruiter.

"Where, like standing in the jungle?"

"More like if you're standing behind a draftee or in front of him."

"What?"

"Look. Relax. They're all notoriously bad shots, the chance of them hitting something vital... Mister Didomissio? Emilio?" The recruiter grinned as Emilio sprinted out of the office. He picked up the phone and made a quick call. "He's on the way, this should make us even, right?... What? Bullshit, you sent me a hippie with fallen arches. Ok then... Friday night? Bowling? Sounds good, see you then."

Petty officer Ramirez hung up the phone as Emilio sprinted into the office. "Yes Mister Di..."

"Sign me up for those special forces!"

"There you go! Sign here, and here, and here..." One week later Emilio was on a bus headed to Camp Lejune and an honor filled career in the United States Marine Corps that would span three decades. Emilio would retire after thirty years with six combat deployments, three of them in Vietnam. He and his wife Tiên Lê occasionally visit her family in Vietnam and there has been talk of moving to Thailand.

Not all the Didomissio brothers' lives were as successful as Emilio's. Carlo, or Carl, as everyone called him, somehow pictured the Brothers Didomissio as a Mafia gang that was out to take over the Brooklyn criminal scene. This was because the brothers were always there for each other. If you picked a fight with one of the brothers, you ended up fighting all the brothers. But that was just life in Brooklyn. Nobody got a serious beating except for Denny Goldsmith, who jumped seven-year-old Gus on his way to grade school.

Gus described Carl to Lucy as an idiot. He quickly got into drugs and was always stoned or high on something. He would snort coke and wash it down with bourbon and then wonder why his three brothers were avoiding him. On his last night in Brooklyn, he got really ripped on meth that was laced with PCP. He was already drunk when he took his drug cocktail, so thinking rationally was an alien concept to him. However, on his way to the bowling alley, he walked past a 1959 Cadillac Coupe Deville Classic. It was midnight black with a white roof and tons of chrome and the wings! The wings on the back would stabilize an F-4 Phantom II.

The car was beautiful and Carl wanted it badly. He got the front door open and was under the dashboard trying to hot-wire the car when he heard a voice shout, "get out of there or I'm calling the cops."

"Fuck you."

"Lita, call the police," shouted the man.

Carl crawled out of the car and glared at the man. "And I said fuck you. This is my car now little man." And then the little man sealed his fate by lifting a gun.

"Just go away..." but Carl charged. Bennie Goldsmith got off one shot, but Carl was so hopped up on PCP that he didn't notice it. He slammed Bennie Goldsmith to the ground, took the pistol from him, and beat the little man to death with it. Blood sprayed as Carl shattered the man's skull with the pistol and he didn't stop pulverizing his head until he heard hysterical screaming. He looked and saw a woman standing on the doorstep, paralyzed with fear. Carl raised the gun and shot her in the belly, killing the baby she was carrying, and once in the head, which ended the screaming, but it didn't end the cries of the three children in the apartment upstairs who were now orphans.

When the police arrived, they found Carl, still covered in Bennie Goldsmith's blood, trying to start the Cadillac, which, incidentally, was owned by a neighbor, Mrs. Nusbaum. Bennie was just trying to protect his neighbor's property, and he paid for that with his life.

"I think I can keep him from the chair," said his public defender, Vitale Bonaventura. "There's just too much evidence, they have four eyewitnesses, they have the victims blood all over his hands, they have the gunpowder residue all over his hand, they have his prints on the murder weapon. I am going to advise him to plead guilty. Maybe we can avoid the death penalty."

Finally, Nunzio Didomissio spoke. "He shot a pregnant woman," his voice was quivering with anger. "Dovrebbe bruciare all'inferno." (He should burn in hell) Carl's mother Cinzia nodded in agreement with her husband and they left without another word.

They spent a week in their apartment, the phone ringing off the hook, the newspapers wanted quotes and the family wanted to know, "How could you raise a monster like that?"

The shame was too much to bear. Cinzia refused to leave their tiny apartment. She couldn't show her face in public. Finally, a cousin, Tony Portelli, invited the family to move to Boston and run his new restaurant "and show these oblivious Beantown pedestrians what good Italian food is all about." It didn't take long to move.

Just before they vacated their Brooklyn apartment, the phone rang, and out of habit, Cinzia picked it up. "Collect call for anyone at this number from Rikers Island." Fed up with the shame and humiliation, Cinzia said, "Yeah, I'll take it."

Soon she heard the voice of Carlo. "Mom? I'm sorry, I don't know..."

"You disgrazia!" she shrieked. "Is that how I raised you? Eight hours of hard labor for you become a disonore and an imbarazzo to the family! But that's not bad enough! You can rot in prison and then rot in hell for what you did to that family." Then at the top of her lungs she shrieked, "tre bambini non hanno genitori per colpa tua!" (Three babies have no parents because of you). She slammed the phone down so hard she cracked the case on the handset.

"Who was that on the phone?" asked Nunzio as Cinzia got into the packed car.

"No one. Absolutely no one," and they never mentioned Carl's name again. Carl still lives in Dannemora prison, serving three concurrent life sentences.

Seeing the examples laid out before him, Gus spent his high school years racing cars at Province Town, Rhode Island and Seekonk MA, and occasionally East Islip New York. But Gus was terrified he would end up like Carl, hated by his family, ignored by his parents, but he wanted to go have fun. Finally, just before graduation, he walked into a recruiter's office and he was greeted with a more open and welcoming greeting than his brother Emilio received a decade earlier. "Tell you what, we need an ASVAB test." Gus had never heard of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, but it was a test to see where his skills lay. "You can take it now and if your scores in any area are low, you can study and retake the test. What would you like to do?"

"Let's roll the dice and see what I get," said Gus. He took the test at the Boston Military Entrance Processing Station and ended up with what he thought were fair scores, 95 Word Knowledge, 90 Paragraph Comprehension, 95 Mathematics Knowledge, and 95 Arithmetic Reasoning for an AFQT score of I, whatever that means.

He spoke to the recruiter and found that I means he scored higher than 93 to 99% of anyone else who took the test and that he could reasonably get any job in the military. The USAF has the highest AFQT requirements, then the Navy, then the Army, and the Marines at the bottom. He didn't want to join the USAF because he didn't like airplanes, so he joined the Navy because he wanted to work machinery.

For the next four years, he was part of the engineering division on the USS Dahlgren (DDG-43) a guided missile destroyer. He spent most of his time on the ship underwater. His workstation was below the water line and his bunk was below the water line. The only time he went above the waterline was to eat or get his ass chewed out by the division head or captain. Gus was not satisfied with his job and not challenged at all. All he learned was "Righty tighty, lefty loosey."

When it was time for Gus to get out of the military, the Navy couldn't get him off ship fast enough. He ended up in Philadelphia and met a girl named Greta Bennet. He immediately fell in lust with her and three weeks later, he found himself in Buffalo, NY, without a home, without a dollar to his name and without Greta.

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"What did you do?" gasped Lucy.

"Hell, I was new in town and living in an old pickup-truck. I didn't know enough about the area to start a life in crime so I found a nice Italian neighborhood and began working in any restaurant that would hire me. It was almost like being at home. I moved from dishwasher and busboy to waiter or cook depending on the customers. One of my regular customers was a fellow named Bryce Swanson. One day he asked me what I wanted, what I really, really wanted. I don't know why I said it but I said, 'I want to feel useful.' He said 'Gus, you come over to my shop and let's see if we can find a use for you.' So I went, he had this big, beautiful wood shop. He said 'Gus, I have about fifty cabinets I need to build, and you're going to help.' I didn't know any better so I said, 'Sure.' And that was that."

Gus closed his eyes and leaned back and sighed. He could still smell the sawdust and the mixed odors of the stains and varnishes. The sound of the different saws, and always the sense that this made sense.

"He started me on cutting the dimension lumber. Mostly one by two, it seemed like I cut a truck load of one by two into 24 inch pieces. Bryce would come and stack the wood on end and look, and every piece was perfect. He'd say, 'God damn kid, you can cut!' He taught me so much, mostly geometry, that I ignored in school but somehow kept. How to check that a piece of wood is square using the Pythagorean Theorem was a big one. I remember measuring every bench and table in the shop to see if they were square, it was a whole world that opened to me."

"So, Pythagoras lead you to bigger and better things?" asked Lucy.

"No, it was Pamella. She was so smart, and so beautiful, Veronica von Köster reminds me of Pamella. So beautiful and graceful, and so skilled. She could sit down with a scroll saw and a piece of one eighth inch plywood and create a mountain scene freehand. She was Bryce's daughter so I did everything I could to impress him and her. I studied hard and got my general contractor's license hoping to make a home with her. By this time, I had a street car and a race car and I was racing at Lancaster and Pamella would cheer me on."

He paused and took a deep breath, then said, "There's a difference between Veronica and Pamella. Veronica is stunningly beautiful, but it seems like she doesn't realize it. If you call out, "Hey pretty girl!" She'll look around to see if Andi is anywhere near her. Pamela knew that she was the most beautiful woman in the room and used it like a weapon."

"So you were wrapped around the little finger of another pretty woman?" asked Lucy.

"No, not so much that. I thought we were much closer than she did. I finally started talking marriage and she looked at me and said, "You? A laborer marry ME? That's the funniest thing you've ever said!"

"That's awful!" said Lucy.

"It crushed me. I cut off from Bryce Swanson Contracting and opened my own shop with the tools and skill I got from Bryce and I threw everything into it. But my racing was shot. Pamella was my good luck charm and to see her on somebody else's arm just broke my heart. So, one Saturday at the racetrack as I was staging against Tina Skeates, Tina calls out 'Hey hotshot! If ya catch me you can fuck me!' I got on that line and looked over at her and she blew me a kiss."

"You red-lighted, didn't you," said Lucy.

"Yep, big time. At the far end of the track Tina said, 'Don't worry, it happens to men your age quite often.'"

Lucy laughed so hard she almost fell off Gus's lap.

"We were married before the end of the year and we had a baby on the way. You can say our oldest, Danielle was born a year premature."

Gus stretched out on the couch and Lucy lay down on him and looked into his eyes. "What happened? how did you get to Springville?"

Gus shrugged. "Springville started growing, and I started getting more jobs out here, so we found this place and bought it. We started going to Springville Congregational Church, and the girls graduated and moved off to college or found a husband. Then Tina lost her fight with cancer and I was alone. John and Macy had just moved to town, I was the one that met them and took them in to meet the board. After they were hired I was their first bereavement they ever had to deal with."

"That's so sad!"

"John and Paul and their families helped. Really helped. Their folks Cecil and Katarina were so awesome to me, and I was proud to be there to help Paul when they died." They kissed and finally Gus asked, "What is the history of Evangeline Kosis?"

"There's really not much," said Lucy. "I was born in Boulder, Colorado, in an upper class Jewish family. I was a spoiled rich kid but I was always the plain Jane, no boobs, no looks. I rated myself as disabled because I considered myself ugly. I completely gave up on having a sexual relationship with men because I was so plain, and I'm not really interested in women, so I threw everything into school and athletics. I did anything that drove my parents crazy, running, swimming, biking, mountain climbing, I loved it all. At one point I was running in triathlons and doing pretty good ending in the top 10. I rode bike across country several times. Then I had my accident."

Many career ending injuries are memorable but nowhere near as spectacular as the one that ended Lucy's Olympic dreams. She was riding in a 118 mile bike race called The Triple Bypass, a bike race that crossed three major mountain passes from Evergreen, Colorado, to Vale. She was riding strong and well placed in the field of over two hundred. She crested the peak at Loveland Pass and even hazarded a glance across the canyon over at Keystone, a ski resort she loves. Lucy was coming down the west side of Loveland pass on US 6 and was gaining on the leaders when the chain on the bicycle ahead of her broke. It flew off of the derailleurs of the bicycle and shot straight for her front wheel, where it tangled in her spokes, then wrapped around her front fork. Every single one of her spokes snapped like match sticks, her forks dug down into the road and flipped her through the air. She sailed over the guard rail and down the rocky slope, hitting rocks and trees as she bounced down the cliff face. She finally came to a stop on US 6 that had looped back around 500 feet below the scene of her accident. Fortunately, she was unconscious when she hit the road, unfortunately she landed in a pack of riders causing 10 of her fellow competitors to collide. All of this was caught live on ESPN. She looked like a rag doll fired from a cannon as she bounced down the cliff.

"Six weeks in the hospital, months recovering and Andi nursed me back to health while she nursed her twin babies. You know all the rest. I'm a failed athlete who plays doctor all week long."

"There's so much more to you than being a doctor or athlete. You love being active, you love the outdoors. I'm surprised we've been snuggling this long."

"You inspire me to snuggle." She rested her cheek on his chest. "You've shown me so much love, I wish I had more to give you."

"You are everything I could want. You are five foot four inches full of laughter and fun, and you've got the cutest ass I've ever seen. And you're susceptible to Missile Toast." He took a sprig of mistletoe from a decorative lamp on the end table and held it over her head. They kissed long and sweet and they only stopped when Andi's ringtone chimed from Lucy's phone.

"Your timing is impeccable," groaned Lucy into the phone.

"You shouldn't be messing around until Christmas," said Andi. "Hey, we're having dinner at the cabin, wanna come with?"

"Who's going to be there? What's for dinner?"

"John and Macy, Josh and Veronica, Kenny and Yi. Paul made beef and venison stew."

Lucy and Gus studied each other's eyes, then Lucy said, "We'll be heading there shortly."

"See you soon!" said Andi.

"Keep that Missile Toast," Lucy told Gus. "We'll be using it later."

As they worked their way off the couch, Gus asked, "How do you want to get to the cabin? Truck or sled?"

"Sled!" said Lucy, without a moment's consideration. Taking the snowmobile cross country is so much fun. She used to look down on motor sports as lazy, but as Gus introduced her to them, she discovered that they're so much fun! She can't wait to get to Nisi Arcadia, she heard they have Jet Skis there now.

"Ok, get your suit on," and they pulled their one piece snowmobile suits on, then their boots and they headed out to the "toybox" where they're cruising cars and race cars are kept. Lucy has a collection of bicycles out there and Gus was learning bicycle mechanics from the ground up. Gus pulled the garage door to the side and Lucy stepped inside. There were two sleds in there, Gus's Polaris 850 Pro RMK, but next to it was a brand new Polaris 850 RMK Khaos, a mountain climbing speed demon.

"What is this?" Lucy gasped.

"Early Christmas present," grinned Gus.

Lucy threw herself around Gus and peppered his face with kisses. She loves anything that gets her outdoors, and something like snowmobiles is an activity they can share. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried as she kissed her fiancé.

"Let's go, it starts and rolls just like mine," said Gus and Lucy vaulted on her sled, pulled on her helmet and fired up the engine.

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Kenny and Yi drove out to Paul's cabin immediately after church to clear the driveway and warm up the cabin. They parked on Trevett road and trudged back to the cabin carrying a Dutch oven between them. When they got back there, they checked the cabin to make sure it hadn't been vandalized. As Kenny lit a fire in the wood stove, Yi opened the inside shutters and placed the hot iron Dutch oven on top of the wood stove, then they headed out to the barn.

They worked together wordlessly. First, they fought the barn door open, then Kenny inspected Paul's 1950 Ford 8n tractor. He topped off the gas, checked the oil, and when he was done, Yi hopped on. She fired up the engine and worked the manual choke, getting the frigid motor to heat up properly. In a few moments, she had the tractor purring. She reached under the seat and found the proper lever and raised the drag plow.

She put the tractor in first gear and inched carefully out of the barn, then lined up the tractor with the poles that John and Paul setup alongside of the driveway back in the autumn. She shifted to second gear as Kenny angled the plow to throw snow to the right. When he was done, he stepped back, and she dropped the blade with a clang, opened the throttle and eased up on the clutch. Soon she was scraping a couple feet of snow off the driveway. Kenny would probably do a better job with the tractor than Yi. She's still learning. However, the snow blower has a habit of tossing Yi around, so Kenny takes that job for her.

As Yi plowed the driveway with Paul's Ford tractor pulling a drag plow, Kenny worked to clear the porch with a shovel, then he fired up the snow blower and cleared out around the barn and around the woodshed. Out on Trevette road, Josh and Veronica had arrived at their cabin across the street from Paul's cabin. They opened their cattle gate that blocked the driveway by lifting it off its hinges. The moment they did that and carried the gate off to the side, Yi backed into their driveway, exploding through the pile the county road plow left blocking the driveway. She went back up to Josh's garage, dropped her plow, and drove forward, clearing the driveway with one pass and kept going up Paul's driveway, pushing back her snow pile.

Kenny heard that familiar, deep throated rumble of the old four-cylinder engine running at constant speed as Yi returned. He had the snow blown away from the cabins and the woodshed and was working on the "parking lot" in front of the patio. Yi stopped the tractor, spun around pointing back out to Trevett road, and backed up around the front of the barn and on the back side she backed up the hill to the hayloft door, dropped the plow, then raised it up about 6 inches and came down the hill leaving the hill with half a foot on the road, a barn on one side and a hill of snow on the other.

*What is that?* asked Kenny.

*I'm grooming the sledding hill,* Yi told him. Then images of the twins sledding down that hill using the tractor's tire tracks as bobsled runs filled Kenny's mind.

*Good idea.*

At the bottom of the hill, Yi stopped and hopped off the tractor and straightened the blade, then hopped back on and plowed the rest of the snow out of the "parking lot" before backing the tractor into its stall. She killed the motor and let the hydraulics bleed off and the plow slowly settled to the ground. Just then, her cell phone rang. "Hi mom."

"You can read minds and you don't know it's me calling?" asked Andi.

"I don't read minds," insisted Yi. "I read Caller ID."

*Doggy-style,* whispered Kenny in her mind, which caused her to whimper.

*Do you mind I'm on the phone,* Yi warned. Then she said to Andi, "I just finished plowing the driveway, Kenny is..." Andi heard a pause then Yi continued, "he's setting out candles and hanging pine boughs in the cabin."

"Oh, that's so sweet," said Andi. She remembered her first moments in Paul's cabin and was overwhelmed by the scent of pine and other herbs that were hanging from the rafters. "We'll be there in an hour, maybe more. The kids are playing with Danny's Christmas Present."

"By kids you mean John and Paul," said Yi. A mental picture of John and Paul setting up Danny's Lionel Train under the Christmas tree came to mind.

"Exactly. See you soon."

When Yi got to the cabin, Kenny was setting up his favorite part of the cabin, Paul's candles. Paul had a series of fake candles that had artificial flames that flickered and wove and looked fairly close to real. There were little shelves for the candles that he mounted on the columns that held up the second floor. Instead of batteries, Paul installed a 5 volt power system for the candles that was controlled by a switch. Each wooden column had a candle on each of its four sides for a total of twelve and three candles on each side wall for a dozen and a half candles. Each candle was set in a nest of pine boughs and when Kenny flipped the switch, the cabin was filled with a gentle, flickering light. With classical piano playing on the sound system, the cabin was enchanting.

*It's beautiful!* whispered Yi.

"It's incredible when it's dark outside," said Kenny aloud. *One more thing,* and he held up a string of large Christmas lights. They went back outside to hang the lights on the edge of the porch roof.

*What about the windows? Don't they get Christmas lights?* asked Yi.

*That's Andi's problem.*

They looked at their job of clearing the snow as a gentle snow began to fall. Kenny and Yi looked at each other and raced to the cabin. Inside, the fire in the stove began to warm the cabin. The smell of the pine boughs filled the air, making a warm, romantic retreat. They kicked off their heavy snowmobile boots, pulled off their parkas, and closed the inside shutters, making the cabin a candle lit wonderland.

Paul's couch was set up to watch the fire in the glass walled wood stove, but it's also Paul and Andi's bed. Kenny and Yi folded the couch flat to a full size bed and soon they were sitting on the couch kissing and pulling each other's sweaters and t-shirts off. Playfully, Kenny pushed Yi on her back and unfastened her jeans, then he pulled her jeans off, leaving her wearing panties and a warm pair of socks. She gave him an "I'm waiting!" kind of look, so he stood and dropped his jeans and boxer shorts. Her slim, elegant hand wrapped around his cock, tugging him toward her, and Kenny rejoined Yi in bed and they lay together, reveling in the warmth of each other's body as they kissed.

The feel of Yi's warm skin against his was delicious. Her white flesh was so smooth due to her baths in mysterious products that make her skin silky smooth. Kenny pushed himself up so he could drink in the sight of her slender frame, impossibly narrow waist and round hips. Her small, firm breasts were capped by large, hard nipples that caused her no end of embarrassment when young, but as she entered her 20s, she found they attracted men of a certain type. She enjoyed teasing. Her fingertips now traced around her nipples, sending erotic charges through her body. Knowing that Kenny was watching was more stimulating than the touching.

With the fire slowly dancing in the stove, the candles gently flickering, and the snow drifting past the side door window, Kenny made love to his woman. Like everyone else, they were so busy this month, this was the first chance they had to truly enjoy each other. He nibbled her ear lobes, causing shivers to run through her body. Then he began on her neck, his lips, tongue and teeth began sending shudders of desire through her body as he looked for that spot, the spot that makes her squeal.

He soon found it, the sensitive spot on her neck, always hidden by her hair, behind her ear, and when he sucks and licks on that spot, magic happens. Erotic pleasures course through Yi's slim body. She grew so sensitive she had to push Kenny away, so he kissed his way down to her breasts and began sucking and nipping at her nipples. 'This guy knows...' she gasped to herself as she writhed in pleasure below Kenny's touch.

His hand slid down her soft, sensitive skin and he discovered she had pulled her panties off. He once again treated himself to her soft, silky pubic hair, not coarse and crinkly like other girls, but as smooth and silky as the hair on her head. When he touched her pussy, she jumped at the touch. She wanted him so badly! Kenny found her pussy soaked, and he easily slid a finger inside of her, collected her luscious juices, and spread them on her tingling clit. As his finger circled her clit and his teeth trapped a swollen nipple between them, Yi cried, "Now!"

She pushed Kenny away, then her knees fell open, a silent invitation inside her. Kenny climbed between her legs and rubbed the head of his cock up and down her coin slot tight slit, collecting her moisture and driving her out of her mind. *Are you playing?* she silently demanded.

Kenny smiled and eased his cock into her cloying, tight pussy, and Yi arched her head back and closed her eyes, concentrating on the pleasure of the invasion. The feeling of being opened and stretched, to have another person press inside of her, in love, was overwhelming. Deeper and deeper he pushed, and the feeling was so intense. She opened her eyes and saw Kenney looking down at their juncture. She propped herself up on her elbows and arched over to look. She saw his thick root buried in her, her pussy lips stretched around him and her tiny clit peering out. *We were made for each other* came Kenny's wonderment.

Yi saw it, and he was right. She laid back and pulled Kenny down and she whispered Korean, "Nalang segseuhae," (Fuck me) in his ear. Kenny doesn't speak Korean, but he and Yi speak without language, and he got the hint. In a moment, Kenny was pounding his cock into her and she was wondering where this mad man had been hiding. He was ravenous, fucking her savagely. The sound of their flesh slapping together filled the air. She was helpless beneath him. Like a bug pinned to a mat, she could only take every pounding thrust she was given.

And she loved it.

"Fuck me, yes!" she gasped as he pounded her to one mind bending orgasm after another. Somehow, she ended up face down. Maybe she was trying to get away, she didn't know. All she knew was that Kenny was now a sexual predator, using her for his own savage lust, and she was loving every pounding inch of it. He hauled her hips up and plowed into her exposed pussy, burying his cock into her savagely, fucking maniacally and bringing her along for the ride. Finally, he pounded into her with hard thrusts that she could feel in her chest. He was cumming, spurting his life, creating semen into her as he grunted with each thrust, then he collapsed on top of her. Spent.

Kenny felt something from Yi and he just had to ask, *You're proud of yourself?*

Yi just smiled even though she knew her pussy was going to ache for days. *I brought you out of your shell.*

Gentle classical piano pieces played for the lovers; Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen Traumerei (Daydreaming) filled the air as Kenny kissed his celestial lover.

"Don't call me that, besides I'm Korean, not Chinese," said Yi.

"We're both Hahn. That's all that should matter according to Guoxin." He touched her black pearl necklace and Yi swore she felt him touch it. *They're coming,* and with one last sweet kiss, Kenny got up and disappeared in the kitchen cabin, and returned with a warm damp cloth for Yi to clean up with and a glass of iced spring water.

"I think I'm going to keep you," said Yi. She was stunned. All that savage, tooth jarring sex, and he's a perfect gentleman. He even let her keep her fluffy socks on the whole time.

"I think I'm going to let you," said Kenny as he pulled his jeans on, then helped Yi get dressed.

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"Where the hell are we?" asked Lucy to herself as she followed Gus through the woods. They were first in a pine forest and the run was quick. The trees were planted in rows and they had been there a long time. The lower branches that die off had fallen from the trees and there was probably a foot of snow on top of a thick bed of pine needles. They were heading downhill most of the way until Gus led her onto a forest road that crossed a small stream and rose, coming up the other side of the valley. It was a fun run, but she wanted to get out there and romp!

Her new sled was a marvel. A couple of times, Gus led her to a steep incline in the forest and her Polaris Khoas just chewed up those inclines. They finally emerged from the trees and they were in a valley alongside a four-lane highway. They were at the bottom of Spooners Gulch! Gus put his sled next to US39 and charged up the hill. With a shout of glee, Lucy charged up after him and gained on him. They rocketed alongside the road until they finally got to the crest of Spooners Gulch and were up on the flatlands. Ahead and to their right were all snow covered open fields. The falling snow blocked their vision, so they weren't able to see the farmhouses that they knew were over there to their right. To the left on the other side of US39 was deep woods with a few farmsteads cut out of the forest.

When Gus was sure there were no cars on US39, he cut across the road and Lucy followed him across. Gus found a road back into the woods and he led her on a dash straight back into the woods. They wove back and forth through the woods and actually jumped over a stream. Then when they came out of the woods, they were at a narrow farm road that was recently plowed. They climbed down the tall mound of snow left by the snowplow and onto the street, where they zipped along the street for a while. There was still a good two inches of snow on the street as they raced along.

The six foot high hill of snow built on each side of the road by the snowplow looked like a fun challenge, so when Gus climbed out of the street, Lucy hit the throttle and shot up the side of the six foot high hill like a rocket. The hill was a launch ramp and Lucy sailed through the air and landed about five feet from where her sled landed. Gus was terrified that she was hurt, but Lucy was laughing and eager to resume. The snow was deep there and she couldn't get on top of the snow, so Gus gave her a hand. He pulled up next to her and Lucy pulled herself out of the snow and on to the back of his sled, then he moved up to her sled and she climbed over on the Khaos. Gus then pointed off to the west. "There's nothing between us and them but saplings. Don't get too crazy."

Lucy looked over and there were the three cabins and the big barn and nothing but open field. She waggled her eyebrows and slammed the throttle wide open. Her skis came up off the surface of the snow as the Polaris dug in and took off like a rocket. She raced across the field with her front skis in the air the whole time until it came time to turn and she had to back off the throttle. The skis slammed down, and she had them turned a little and the sled jumped to the right the moment the skis touched. She almost got thrown off her sled again, but she recovered and took a wide curving path back to the barn, where she knew that Paul and Josh made an easy access opening for snowmobiles to their field.

There were a few cars parked in front of the cabins and Lucy parked her sled next to the barn and Gus shut down his sled next to her. "Well?" he asked as he pulled off his helmet. "Is it everything you wanted?"

"No," said Lucy. She took off a glove and reached over and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close to her and laid a kiss on him that had him cursing their vow of celibacy. Six more days! When their lips parted and he was left panting for breath, Lucy said, "That's all that I want."

They nuzzled and kissed tenderly until Josh and Veronica walked up and Josh said, "Hey, y'all are melting the snow out here."

Gus simply laughed while Lucy scooped up a handful of snow and flung it in Josh's face. (She's also a damn good softball pitcher) The four entered the cabin and Andi was on the phone. "Really? That's so awesome... wait, Josh just walked in, let me put it on speaker."

A high-pitched female voice said, "Are you there Josh?"

"Is that you Squeaky? Merry Christmas!" Josh loves teasing people, but Lanh Campbell is too sweet for his barbs. They met when Josh and her husband, Donovan, were stationed at Kunsan Air Base in Korea and she sneaked on base and moved into Don's dorm room for two months. That took guts, and Josh respected her for that. Calling her Squeaky and Little Bit is all the abuse she gets from him. "What's up?"

"I was just telling Andi; Don and I are moving back to Minnesota this summer! My mom is here spending Christmas with us and helping us plan the move."

"That's great Little Bit, why the big move?"

"I'm losing hours, they're cutting back my department, and my teaching position will not be renewed in January. Don isn't getting any speaking engagements and Karole is going to lose her house. But I have been offered a position at Bemidji and Don is thinking of running for supervisor of the local school system in Grant Valley and Karole can make more money working for my mom then any job she was offered here in Colorado."

"That's great!" chirped Andi. "I'm really happy for you!"

"It's all coming together, we're so happy!" said their Vietnamese friend.

"We're going to come visit when you get settled in," Andi promised, and the friends said their goodbyes. When she was done, she looked over at the couch. The twins had figured how to fold it down flat and were rolling around on the couch with Wonka. "Girls!"

"What?" answered Sandy, who was using Wonka for a pillow.

"You're supposed to be watching Cholly."

"We are!"

"Then where is he?" asked Kit Mays, who was watching everything from the sidelines.

The Twins sat up and looked around. Their first babysitting job and he escaped! Then they saw him climbing up the stairs to the bedroom up on the second floor. "You had better catch him!" warned Kit.

"Cholly! You bad boy!" scolded Madeline as they dashed up the stairs.

"Excuse me you two," said Kit sternly. "Cholly is doing what little boys and girls do all the time, you were supposed to watch him. He's not a bad boy, but his sitters may be bad girls."

By the time the girls caught up with Cholly, he had gotten upstairs and was crawling through the cots and trying to peek into a footlocker that was at the foot of a cot. "You want to get in?" asked Madeline. When Cholly answered with a smile, she opened the footlocker, then she and Sandy lifted Cholly into the footlocker and climbed in with him.

"It's like our own boat!" said Sandy. "Have you been on a boat Cholly?" He didn't understand, but he smiled and sat down between his cousins. Madeline began to lower the lid saying, "We have to close the boat, we don't want to get wet!"

After a few moments, something was revealed in the dark, close atmosphere. "Mom! Cholly is stinky!"

Macy grabbed the diaper bag and headed for the stairs. John got up to join her, but she said in French, "You relax with your daughter." Macy headed up the stairs to find Sandy, Madeline, and Cholly sitting in a footlocker. "What is this?"

"We were teaching Cholly about boats," said Madeline.

"But he pooped," added Sandy.

Andi had set the couch, so it faces into the cabin rather than the fire in the stove and she had John, Gus, and Paul sitting on the couch, John and Paul caring for their infant children. They heard squealing and giggling upstairs, but they didn't hear Cholly crying. Finally, they came back downstairs. Macy was carrying Cholly, who didn't seem to mind the diaper change, and the twins followed. Sandy was carrying a wrapped up disposable diaper like it was nuclear contamination. "Sandy and Madeline are true babysitters now!" said Macy. "They changed their first messy diaper."

"Stinky!" groaned Sandy.

"He didn't cry?" asked John.

"A little," said Madeline.

"They changed him and he did not mind much," said Macy. "Just a little panic, but Sandy told him if he was good, he could sleep with Wonka tonight."

"That old traitor would do it too," groaned Paul.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew," cried Sandy, and she dashed across the cabin, taking the diaper to the garbage can.

Paul started to get up, but Andi pushed him back down. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I was going to help with dinner."

"Sit down, the three of you have worked hard enough this month," said Andi. "Relax! Enjoy your son!"

The scene was peaceful, even in the crowded cabin. While the guys sat and talked to Josh about the events of last New Year, the girls prepared dinner. They were baking something in the kitchen, but whenever Paul got up to see what was going on, Andi would push him back and demanded that he relax. Even though the stew was ready, they kept insisting that they were still cooking.

"So, New Years Eve... you were cruising on this boat that Andi may or may not own, and you saved a family that was drowning, saved a girl from the wreck, you delivered a baby, and you ran away?" asked Josh. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but I'm having a hard time believing you."

"We talked with a friend and there was some shenanigans going on and our friend advised us to avoid the press," said John.

"The fellow that sank was a whistleblower with a government contractor. A couple days after the congressional hearing his boat catches fire? Our friend knew what was going on and advised us to run," said Gus.

"What?" said Paul and John at the same time.

"You and Andi had other issues going on," said Gus. "Nicoletta told Lucy, Stan and I. It turns out that the Garcias worked for ITech building spy satellites and found in the designs a downlink outside of the normal secured downlink allowing anyone with the key to access the unencrypted image stream, so there was a classified hearing on December twenty third and it got ugly from there."

"Wow, Fernando was a whistle blower and it almost got his family killed," said John.

"No," said Gus. "Moyra was the whistle blower. Fernando backed her up, he worked in finance and was able to see unaccounted-for cash coming inbound. ITech was bankrupt and suddenly they became solvent with one software upgrade."

"I always wondered how a boat with no source of open flame could suddenly catch fire," said Lucy.

"Odd isn't it," said Paul, as Andi handed him a mug of egg nog. Paul took a sip, and a smile bloomed on his face. "Did you make that?"

Andi grinned and nodded. "It's easier than I thought."

Paul gave her a kiss. "This is incredible. Homemade eggnog from homemade eggs," said Paul as Andi handed out mugs of eggnog.

"So, what problems did you have on your honeymoon?" asked Josh with a grin and a wag of an eyebrow.

"My ex husband had Russian mobsters rape me and he put the video tape out on the internet," said Andi as she returned to the kitchen.

Josh said, "That's really not funny. If you don't want to tell me, don't tell me."

"That's what happened. When Andi found out, she admitted it to me," said Paul. "Then she tied an anchor to her leg and jumped overboard."

Josh and Veronica looked stunned. "You're not shitting me?" Paul shook his head no. "That same guy that tried to run you over? You should have let me whack him!"

"No, we don't work like that," said John sternly.

"Pastor, I have the blood of hundreds of sons of bitches on my hands. One more blood thirsty animal isn't going to add any time to my sentence in hell. I may even get some time off."

"We don't work like that," said John, almost angrily. He's in pain every day from being run over by Frank, but that's nothing compared to the pain he would be feeling if he did nothing.

"Don't worry about Frank," said Gus as he patted Josh's shoulder. "He pled guilty to all charges."

"Yeah, and he's sitting in some comfy federal pen," snapped Josh.

"He's not a politician who sold his country out for a few gold ingots or a meaty investment in a shell corporation. He's sitting in solitary in a Supermax," said Gus. "Somehow his fellow prisoners got the idea that he was a child molester. He wasn't getting much rest before he went into solitary."

"How do you find out all these things?" asked John.

"I have a friend who owns an island," said Gus with a grin. He elbowed Paul. "You're being oddly quiet."

"Oh, just thinking, we have so much to do, your wedding, our anniversary, Christmas, Josh's party, New Years... I have a new C.O.O. but I have to train a new assistant, I cannot wait to get to Florida!"

"Are we going to see Mickey?" squeaked Madeline.

"No, not until Danny and Katarina and Cholly are old enough to have fun too."

"Awww," moaned the Twins. "That could take years!"

"With any luck, yes," said Paul.

"I guess we'll have to concentrate on sailing and riding in the zodiac, and making sandcastles, and catching mullet..." said John.

"Yeah," moaned the twins like it was the worst thing that could happen.

"Why are you staring at me?" asked Paul. He just realized that the twins had been standing next to him the whole time.

"We want to change Danny," said Madeline with a grin.

"He's not wet."

"We can wait," said Sandy.

Just then, Cholly wormed off of Gus's lap and said, "Boat!" and scrambled to the stairs, with the twins following.

"Where did the kids go?" asked Andi, as she stepped back into the cabin from the kitchen.

"Upstairs. They're playing boat. Whatever that is," said John. Meanwhile, Paul was gazing at his son in his arms, dreading the day when the little guy was able to wander off like that. If possible, Paul would be more than happy to hold Daniel Cyryl until that day.

"Suppertime, come down!" Andi called up the stairs and Wonka dashed down the stairs as fast as he could. Andi suspected the twins convinced that poor old dog to get in a footlocker, too. When everyone was at the table, Yi, Andi, and Macy began setting out the plates. Everyone soon found a bread bowl full of Paul's stew with a Bisquick dumpling on top placed in front of them.

"You just baked this now? That's amazing," said Kit.

"Awww, thank you! I haven't had a dumpling in ages," said John happily.

"You should have said something," said Paul and Macy at the same time.

"Girls, are you going to say grace?" asked Andi.

"Ok, hold hands..." said Madeline. The twins bowed their heads but peeked from time to time until the twins recited their line. "Will the circle be unbroken?" Veronica elbowed Josh, who reached across the table to hold hands with Gus. Only then the twins could say grace. "God is great and God is good, let us thank him for our food. By His blessings, we are fed, thank you for our daily bread. Amen."

"That was great!" gushed Andi. "That was the best one yet!"

"We learn a new grace every food day at church!" said Sandy as she started dipping bits of bread in her stew.

"Food day?" asked Josh.

"I told you," said Veronica without moving her jaw.

"Next month is turkey, but if you're not interested..." said John as he tasted his first Bisquick dumpling in years.

"I might have to check this out... it's for science," said Josh.

This was the first cabin meal that they had since August, and the first ever for Josh and Veronica, shared with the Jarecki clan and found the entire dinner to be full of laughter and love. They told stories of past Christmases, Paul and John told of when they lost their house when they were kids, but that didn't stop Christmas from coming. "We had nothing that year but mom and dad did everything to make sure that Christmas was still special," said John.

"Many of the things they taught us are still family tradition," added Paul.

"Like what?" asked Josh.

"It's a Polish tradition to light your Christmas tree with candles. Well, not a lot of people do that, but we do. On Christmas Eve we put several candles on the tree, and then we stand and hold hands and tell everyone what the greatest gift God gave us was."

The twins looked confused. "I don't remember that" said Sandy.

"You were asleep," said Lucy. Then she said, "Yeah, we did that at Paul's house after putting the kids to bed and..." She wondered how she should say what happened next without revealing to the twins that Santa Claus needed their help. She settled on, "After our chores, John put candles on the tree."

"Paul and I were here that night," said Andi. "John had told me, so I put candles on the Charlie Brown tree we had over in that corner."

"I was so shocked and thankful that somebody remembered," said Paul. "It was so hectic and crazy,"

"I wanna see," said Madeline with a pout.

"We have suddenly been blessed with so much," said Andi. She leaned over and kissed Paul. "Maybe we modify the tradition and include the kids this year?"

"What, and return the tradition to it's roots? Shocking!" kidded Paul. "Inconceivable!"

Madeline turned to Sandy and said, "He keeps using that word."

Sandy nodded. "I do not think it means what he thinks it means."

"That's enough Princess Bride for you two," said Sandy. The girls have been watching it non-stop for months.

"That was a Christmas to remember," said Gus. He clasped Lucy's hand under the table and said, "If it wasn't for the mistletoe..."

"MISSILE TOAST!" shouted the twins.

"You love setting them off, don't you," demanded Andi.

"Sorry, force of habit," said Gus with a wink.

"What is with the missile toast?" asked Josh.

The twins rolled their eyes like they had just discovered that Josh was an alien. They hopped down, then went over to Veronica's chair and convinced her to stand, and they led her to a doorway where mistletoe was hung. "There, now you can't move."

"I can't move? Why?" asked Veronica.

"Something bad will happen," said Madeline.

"Very bad," said Sandy, and they wrapped themselves around her shins so she couldn't move.

"Come on!" yelled Madeline. By now Josh and Veronica were confused, the twins were angry, and everyone else was laughing.

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do," said Josh and he got up, walked over to Veronica and gave her a little kiss. "There, are you happy now?"

Sandy glared up at Josh. "Not yucky enough."

"Ok, get ready, I can lay down the yucky," and he gave Veronica a deep passionate kiss that had her whimpering.

"I think you saved me," said Veronica.

"Does everyone go through this?" said Josh.

"Pretty much," said Andi. "Did you get it too Yi?"

"In public," said Yi, glaring at the twins.

"Oh yeah, we got it at the feed store in front of Grandpa Archie and Grandma Lacy," said Kenny.

"We got it when they helped us decorate our house," said Macy.

By this time everyone was done eating, and Andi and Macy cleared the table. Paul got up to help as usual, but Andi said, "Go sit down and relax. This is your party."

"My party?" asked Paul, but Andi just smiled and gave him a kiss. "Go sit. Go play guitar with your brother."

He grabbed his guitarrone, and he and John began playing. Just noodling around, familiar tunes that went nowhere but rekindling skills thought forgotten. It seemed like it had been years since they played together last, but in truth, it was September. Neither John nor Paul remember when they started playing together, probably in their parents' house in Williamsville, and they didn't get serious about it until after Macy, Cecil and John "rescued" Paul from a self-destructive life. John started strumming faster, and he grinned at Paul. "Ready?" and he leaped into an up-tempo favorite.

"Here we come a caroling among the leaves so green, here we come a-wandering so fair to be seen..."

It was their father's favorite Christmas carol, and Katarina loved it almost as much. It can be played fast or slow, but John loved to play the guitar part very fast.

Love and joy come to you, and to you your carols too...

"Try to keep up old man," said John with a grin and took up the tempo and went up a key. Paul kept up with John's quicker tempo and Andi, Yi, and Macy, who were singing along, were able to make the key change. Soon Veronica and Josh joined them and they had a great sound. John grinned at Paul. It's been ages since they had this much fun with a song. When the song ended, John and Paul sat panting. It was so exciting to make that sound after so long!

"It's a little late for this year, but we could use you next Christmas," said Yi.

"Let's see. I never really sang before," said Veronica.

"Me neither. Your hubby taught me," said Andi.

"We could play as the folks are coming in," said John. He reminded Paul of an old Andi Hardy movie. "Let's put on a show!"

Finally, Andi came in carrying a drink for Paul and one for herself. A Tom & Jerry, a drink made with whipped egg whites, brandy, rum, milk, and nutmeg. It's like a delicious, sticky egg nog. Lucy brought a pair of hot buttered rum drinks. She gave one to Gus and sat on his lap, and enjoyed the other. Macy brought John his favorite - Christmas punch! Cranberry juice, orange juice, pomegranate juice, and lemon-lime soda.

"How did you know?" asked Paul as he sipped his drink.

"It's a North Dakota Christmas tradition," said Andi, licking the white batter from her lips. "I figured you learned about it in your time there."

"Yes I did. Thank you," and he gave her a kiss.

"No thank you," said Andi. "You've done so much for all of us, you took care of us after the accident, you took care of the babies, and Yi, and Mom and Dad. You took us to the hospital in a snowstorm, you delivered my baby, you cared for all of us, then you went to Portsmouth and all those girls you saved!"

As Andi and Paul kissed, Lucy continued. "The three of you guys rebuilt Amelia's house from the ground up."

Just then, Kit came in from the kitchen with two cylinders wrapped in Christmas paper. "Macy said you finally earned this award." She handed the cylinders to Paul, who handed his drink to Andi and tore the paper off, revealing two quart jars of Macy's homemade chicken noodle soup.

"Thank you mon ami," said Paul. "This means so much to me."

"I thought it would, it's Katarina's recipe," said Macy.

John and Paul looked at each other. They don't remember their mom making soup any way other than out of a can. "Really?"

"It was in her recipe index."

"I want to see that recipe," said Yi. "I love that soup."

"Did you have some at church?" asked Paul.

"Oh yeah, we made pigs of ourselves," said Kenny to the laughter of everyone.

Andi diverted Paul's attention with a kiss. When they were done kissing, Andi said, "I know you missed your cabin, we haven't been here since August! Thank you for giving that up for Danny, and Katarina, and Macy, and John, and me. That's why we're having this Christmas party for you here!"

"Yes, I did miss the old place, I can't wait to snuggle tonight."

"Uh..." Andi whispered in his ear, "My friend is back." Andi doesn't like sex play while she's on her period, which she calls 'her friend.'

"We'll be good for our anniversary," grinned Paul.

They tapped their glasses in toast and Macy said, "How did you convince Dexter Humbolt to move in with Amelia?"

"What?"

"How did you convince her to let him move in?" asked Andi.

"What are you talking about?" asked Paul.

"Didn't you see them at church, they looked like a happily married couple," said Gus.

"I just asked Dexter if he would be able to give Amelia a ride to the doctor when she needed it," said Paul.