An Island Christmas (19 page)

“Are you awake?” whispered Archie.

“Mmmmm,” Felicia responded, crawling into his bed to be next to him.

Archie wrapped an arm around her and pulled her even closer to him, fitting his knees behind hers and pressing his feet up against her feet.

“You’re all nice and warm,” Felicia murmured. “How do you feel? Any aftereffects from your big adventure?”

“I feel great,” said Archie. “I think Nurse Felicia’s special patient care services last night provided the perfect cure.”

Felicia smiled smugly. “Good to know. If you’re cold on any of our travels, I know exactly how to warm you up.”

“We’re getting married today,” Archie said. “Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

His words sent a chill through Felicia. “Why is it hard to believe?”

“I guess because marriage is such a settled kind of thing. It’s what old people do.”

Holy moly,
Felicia thought.
Were they going to have an argument on their wedding day?

“We’re going to grow older whether we’re married or not,” she reminded him sensibly.

“I know that,” said Archie. He stroked her hair and her shoulder in silence; she understood that he was gathering his thoughts. “Being here this week, with your family and my mother all in the same house, has been a revelation for me.”

Her stomach clenched. “In what way?”

“Well, and I don’t want to piss you off, but when I first met your nephew and niece, I kind of wanted to check into a nice quiet hotel or at least pitch my own tent in the backyard.”

“But we deal with children all the time on our rafting tours,” Felicia reminded him. She forced herself to take deep breaths. She was afraid of what was coming.

“Yeah, but it’s not the same as being with children you’re related to. And when we lead our tours, we have a pretty good idea of what accidents can happen and how to deal with them. Living with children means that you’ve got to be prepared for
anything
.”

Felicia shuffled around so that she was lying facing Archie, with a few inches between them. She wanted to see his eyes. “As I recall, you were the one with Dad when you got stranded at Great Point. You were the one with Dad when he wiped out on a moped.”

“Yeah, but he’s an adult. He has to take responsibility for himself.” Archie met Felicia’s eyes and then did something that made her even more anxious. He sat up in bed, stuffing pillows behind his back, and stared at the opposite wall as he talked. “With kids, it’s different.”

Felicia sat up also, pulling the sheets up around her shoulders defensively. “Go on.”

“If we get married, that sort of implies that we’ll have children someday, and settle down and live in a house.” Archie folded his arms over his chest. “Doesn’t that frighten you?”

“Of course it does,” Felicia answered honestly. “But there are all sorts of ways to live a life. I’ve never been as anal as my sister and I never intend to be.”

“So does that mean you never want to have children?”

Felicia’s heart sank. They had been putting this conversation off for a long time. Today it all had to come out in the open.

“I want to have children … someday.” She couldn’t look at him as she spoke.

“I was pretty sure I never wanted to have children,” said Archie. “And if one of my children ever did something as dangerous as what Lawrence did, I think I’d die of a heart attack.”

Felicia nodded. “I think you have to be brave to have children.”

“Do you think you’re that brave?” asked Archie.

Felicia brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped
her arms around them. “I’ve always assumed I was wicked brave. I’ve gone over Class five-point-nine rapids. I’ve done ice climbing and scuba diving in a cave. You’ve seen me, Archie, you know how capable I am.”

“But having children seems to demand a completely different level of courage,” Archie said. “Are you up for that?”
Am I brave enough to be honest with this man I adore and don’t want to lose?
Felicia asked herself. “Yes. I want to have children even though I don’t know whether I have enough courage for the experience. Your mom told me it’s a learn-as-you-go kind of thing.”

Archie expelled a long sigh. “Oh, man, how did I get so lucky? I never knew I wanted children until I met Lawrence and Portia. And nothing I’ve done has ever made me feel as good as rescuing Lawrence yesterday.”

Felicia couldn’t help it. She started to cry. Archie wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against him. “I’m not saying we should have children right away. We’re young, we want to travel, and we don’t know where we’ll want to settle eventually. But at least we both now know that someday we want to have kids.”

Felicia snuggled against him, burying her nose in his hairy chest and dripping tears down his skin. “Archie, I love you so much.”

“Then I think we should get married today.”

“What an excellent idea!” She couldn’t help it again. She kissed him all over his face.

24
 

On Christmas morning, Jilly woke up sneezing. “Can you believe it?” she asked her husband snuggled beside her in bed. “I’ve got a cold.”

George tugged the down comforter closer around his shoulders. “Of course I can believe it. It’s a stress cold. You’ve always had a cold at Christmas, at least when the children lived here.”

“True. I had a cold when the children lived here but it always started the day
after
Christmas. Not on Christmas Day! I don’t want to be sneezing at Felicia’s wedding.”

“No more hints necessary.” George threw back the comforter, got up with the help of his crutches, and pulled on his robe. “I’ll go down and start the coffee, turn up the thermostat, and make a fire. Do you want me to bring you some orange juice?”

Jilly could imagine George on crutches, coming up the stairs sloshing orange juice on each step. “No, thanks, I’ll come down. It’s Christmas morning. I can’t believe the children are still asleep.”

Jilly settled in the most comfortable armchair in the living room. George had discovered he was good with only one crutch, so he brought her a tall glass of orange juice that he set on the table next to her. Rex came in, considered the situation, and jumped up to sit on Jilly’s lap like a living hot-water bottle.

It had been the tradition for the Gordon family to celebrate Christmas morning in their pajamas and robes and slippers, which was a good thing because the moment their eyes opened, Lawrence and Portia skittered down the stairs and into the living room, with their sleepy-eyed parents straggling along behind them.

When the two children entered the living room, they shrieked with such joy Rex streaked from the room.

“Look, Mommy,” cried Portia. “Santa brought me a
kitchen
! It’s so sweet!”

“Awesome, dude, Legos! Oh, wow, it’s the Star Wars set! How did Santa know?”

The children’s faces radiated genuine surprise and wonder. Lawrence was probably in his last year of believing in Santa Claus but the fact of these unexpected gifts under the tree made his eyes shine like stars. Portia was opening and closing the doors of her little kitchen cupboards, squealing with glee when she discovered pots and pans, dishes and cups, and a fake Cuisinart that turned and tinkled music when she pushed a button.

She’s so much like her mother,
thought Jilly.

The rest of the household gradually came into the living room, carrying their mugs of hot coffee. It was seven in the morning. No reason to hurry. The day was bright and sunny and if the children needed to work off some energy before the wedding, they could play in the backyard. As far as Jilly was concerned, no one was going very far from the house today until they went to the church for the wedding.

The family exchanged presents, and what a lot of presents there were. So many people and so many combinations! Even Rex, who sauntered back into the room, blasé and nonchalant, as if he hadn’t just run for his life, got Christmas gifts. Lawrence lay on his belly in the hall, winding up the trick mouse and watching Rex chase it, and later Portia dangled the feathery bird from the wand for Rex to jump for. He caught it easily, wrenched it from Portia’s dainty hand, and carried his prize under the sofa. Archie wrestled the cat tree into the living room and set it by the window—George was going to do it but of course couldn’t because of his sprained ankle. Rex saw it, clawed it, and sprinted to the highest shelf, where he proceeded to curl up and fall asleep.

By nine o’clock they all agreed to take a break and enjoy breakfast. Lauren and Felicia, taking pity on Jilly with her cold, went into the kitchen to work together, whipping up a big batch of pancakes, frying a huge platter of bacon, and scrambling eggs with cheese.

Felicia returned to the living room. “Mom, the cat’s begging for some scrambled eggs. Do you ever feed him real people food?”

Jilly rose from her chair. “I’ll come feed him. I want to be sure the eggs aren’t too hot and I don’t want to give him too many at one time. I don’t know how they’ll agree with him.”

“Geez, you would think that cat was a child,” Felicia teased her mother.

The family gathered around the table for breakfast. The children bolted their food and ran outside to the backyard to play catch with a Velcro ball and Velcro mitts. Fortunately the ball was green; it would stand out when it landed in the snow. When the children got cold, they came back inside and the present opening resumed. Jilly brought in a large paper bag and a large plastic bag, one for recycling trash and the other for keeping bows, ribbons, and wrapping paper that wasn’t too wrinkled to be used again. Lauren and Felicia exchanged amused glances.

Finally all the presents were opened. It was almost time for lunch but no one was hungry because of the huge breakfast.

Always organized, Jilly took charge: “Everyone go take showers and get ready for the wedding. We’ll leave for the church at one-thirty. Pat and I will clean the kitchen from breakfast and put out some sandwiches and fruit for you to munch on if you’re hungry now. Felicia, don’t let Archie
see you in your wedding gown and don’t put it on until Pat, Lauren, and I are there to help you.”

“Who’s going to help me dress?” asked George.

“I’ll help you of course, don’t worry,” Jilly told him. She had enormous amounts of patience on her daughter’s wedding day.

Lauren and Porter bathed and dressed their children. They settled them on the sofa in the family room watching a video while they put on their wedding finery.

At twelve-thirty, Nicole Somerset knocked on the front door. “Merry Christmas!” she greeted Jilly, kissing her on the cheek. “I’ve come to fetch the poinsettias to put them in the church. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

“I don’t think so, Nicole.” Jilly pulled her friend into the front hall for warmth while they talked. “Archie has stacked the bottles of champagne for the reception on the back porch. We certainly don’t need to use the refrigerator today. I’ve called the caterers and they’re dropping the food off in about an hour. Archie’s mother, Pat, is a whirlwind of energy and she’s already tidied up the living room and dining room and vacuumed them both. I can’t believe it, but I think we’re good to go.”

Nicole followed Jilly down the hall and through the kitchen. Jilly opened the basement door and rescued the poinsettia plants from the top step. As they were shutting the basement door, the two women noticed Rex curled up in the laundry basket.

“I think the poor guy’s exhausted from all the commotion this morning,” Jilly told Nicole.

“If you’re lucky, he’ll sleep all day,” Nicole said. “Cats need lots of sleep.”

After that, everything moved swiftly. Jilly helped her husband shower and dress, then gave George to the tender mercies of Porter and Archie, who were responsible for getting him to the church in time to walk Felicia down the aisle. Pat, Jilly, and Lauren clustered in Felicia’s bedroom to help her dress.

“I thought you might want to wear this,” said Pat. Handing a blue silk garter embroidered with tiny white roses to Felicia, she explained, “It was my mother’s. She and my father were married for sixty years. Now you have something borrowed
and
something blue
and
something old.”

“Thank you, Pat, this means so much to me. I’ll treasure it.” Tears swelled in Felicia’s eyes.

“Don’t you dare cry!” Lauren ordered. “You’ll ruin your makeup. Besides, I want to give you something, too.” She handed Felicia a small turquoise box tied with a white ribbon.

Felicia opened the box and found a thin silver bracelet from Tiffany’s lying on a cushion.

“Something new, you see, and after the wedding you can tuck it away here at the house so you don’t lose it when you’re trekking through Outer Mongolia.” Lauren had tears in her eyes.

Jilly, who had promised herself she wouldn’t cry, felt
tears sting her own eyes as she watched her two daughters hug. Noticing that Pat was standing by herself, she went over and wrapped her arm around the other woman’s shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Porter yelled up the stairs. “We should go!”

Lauren kissed her sister’s cheek. “See you at the church.” Jilly watched out the window as Porter drove George, Lauren, Archie, and the two children in George’s SUV.