Jenny Grayson loved
going into the city at this time of the year.
It brought back all kinds of memories from the days when she was a
little girl and would accompany her mother on the two hour trip. Today was special, though, the first Saturday
of December. Today was the first time
she’d been able to make the trip since her eighteenth birthday, which was also
the last time her mother had made the trip.
Ten years had passed
since that day when they’d traveled—from their rural farming community into the
big city of Chicago—on a greyhound charter bus to spend the day Christmas
shopping and to see the play, A Christmas Carol. They both loved that play so very much and
each Christmas season when they made the journey, it was like seeing it for the
first time all over again.
Jessica, her mother,
said that Scrooge reminded her of Jenny’s dad, James. He’d been very much like Scrooge himself when
they’d first met. Jenny loved hearing
the stories her mother told about the romance with her father. She could just picture the fireworks her
mother talked about as she’d told her about the animosity between the two of
them when they’d first met.
She was brought back to
the present by the sound of a big bus pulling into the parking lot. She carefully got out of her Grand Am, grabbing
the backpack from the passenger seat then locking the car before limping over
to stand in line with the others getting picked up at this location. There were about twenty people, mostly
mothers and daughters, but there were a couple of guys making the trip as well.
Knowing she would need
extra time to get on the bus due to her injury, Jenny made sure to stay at the
end of the line. When she’d made the
trip arrangements, she’d let them know about the special provisions she would
need. The woman had assured her that
wouldn’t be a problem.
Stepping onto the bus,
she felt the excitement mounting. Sure
enough, there was a sign on the third seat behind the driver that said
reserved. She lifted the sign and sank
down in the window seat before arranging her injured leg on the seat beside
her.
She felt eyes on her as
she did this and looked up at the most amazing pair of whiskey colored
eyes. The imp attached to the eyes
smiled up at her and Jenny felt an answering smile come to her own lips.
A rough baritone
intruded into the silence to say, “Sit in your seat Tori, we’re going to start
moving.”
The little person in
front of me wrinkled up her nose and sighed.
Without turning to the speaker, she said, “Okay, Daddy.”
Jenny leaned back
against her seat back and closed her eyes, smiling as she heard the little
girl’s grumbles that her activities had been curtailed.
Although she pretended
to sleep, she never reached that magic zone.
Still, she had lots of practice in keeping herself still. It had been a life-saving skill she’d needed
over the years. The only clue that she
wasn’t actually sleeping was the smile she couldn’t erase from her face as she
listened to the father and daughter duo behind her.
“Daddy, are we there
yet?”
“Not yet, Tori.”
“How soon will we get
there?”
“About another hour.”
Sigh… There was silence for
several beats and then, “Daddy?”
“What, baby?”
“Are we there yet?”
A deep chuckle sounded
giving me a warm squishy feeling inside.
This father hadn’t once answered the many beeps alerting him that he had
a message, and not once had he let impatience into his tone when he spoke to
Tori. He had many of the same
characteristics of Jenny’s own father.
She must have fallen
asleep because the change in speed and the rockier motions as the bus started
making more turns woke her. Her eyes
opened and she sat still for several moments while she waited to acclimatize to
her surroundings.
The driver was speaking
and she finally registered what he was telling them. They could either get off at the first stop
here by Macy’s or they could continue on to the Clock Tower and get off there,
but everyone would need to meet back to this location.
Tori was bouncing on her
seat. “We’re here, Daddy! We’re here!”
His voice sounded amused
as he told her, “Yes, we’re here. Now,
what was it we were going to do first?”
A giggle sounded before
the little girl said, “Oh, Daddy! You
know we’re going to see Santa at Macy’s.”
A deep chuckle answered
the child and Jenny felt an electrical current race down the back of my
neck. She’d never been affected like
that before and wasn’t sure she liked the feeling.
Standing so she would
have a chance to get the circulation flowing again to all the necessary places,
she waited while the people from the back of the bus disembarked.
Tori went to rush past
her when she was brought to a halt by a gentle hand.
“Where are your manners,
young lady? You need to wait for this
lady to get off first.”
Jenny felt the heat to
her cheeks and smiled, “Oh, no, please go first. It will take me a bit longer to get off and I
don’t want to hold you up.”
The man looked down at
the child, his only direction was a raised eyebrow.
Tori turned to her and rolling
her eyes, she smiled sweetly, displaying the dimples in her cheeks as she said,
“We don’t mind waiting.”
Jenny looked up at the
father and time stood still. She shook
herself as she gave herself a mental lecture on ogling other women’s husbands
as she carefully stepped out into the aisle and slowly made her way to the
front. She let out a sigh when she felt
solid ground under her and turned to thank the father and daughter duo.
Tori frowned at Jenny’s
leg before lifting her eyes to meet Jenny’s.
“How are you going to walk around town?”
Jenny smiled gently as
she said, “I’m not going to be doing much walking. I’m just going over to the Christkindlmarket
when it opens.”
The child’s eyes lit up
as she turned to her father. “Oh, Daddy,
I’ve always wanted to go and see that.
Can we? Can we please?”
Drake Keller felt the
hitch in his heart as he looked at the young woman his five-year-old daughter
had taken a liking to. Her tawny brown
hair flowed around her shoulders and she had the most beautiful blue eyes he’d
ever seen. He’d love nothing more than
to spend their day with the person standing in front of him, but figured she
wouldn’t want to be stuck with a widower and his precocious five year old
daughter.
Just as he was ready to
give her an out, she reached out and touched Tori’s blond curls. “I’d love for you to join me, but don’t you
and your daddy have other plans for the day?
I’m sure I heard you say you were going to see Santa.”
Tori hesitated for a
second then said, “You can come with us to see Santa first and then we can go
with you to the village.”
Jenny hesitated before
asking, “What about your wife?”
Tori piped up, “Daddy
doesn’t have a wife. My mommy’s in
heaven. That’s why we are getting two
pictures today. One for us to take home,
and one for Santa to take to Mommy in heaven.”
Tears blurred Jenny’s
eyes and she had to catch her breath.
She looked up at Drake. “I’m so
sorry. I didn’t know.”
He nodded. “She died the day Victoria was born. Five years ago Christmas Day.”
“You must have loved her
a great deal.”
Drake placed a hand on
Tori’s head as he said, “She gave me a very precious Christmas gift that
year. So each year we come into Chicago
and get a picture of Tori with Santa.”
Jenny smiled. “That’s a wonderful thing you are doing.”
He shrugged. “We usually get the pictures done first and
then get a meal before taking in one of the plays. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”
She smiled. “I’d like that. I used to come here with my mother when I was
little. She used the excuse that we were
going into the city to Christmas shop, but like you, we always stopped in to
see Santa and get a picture. Then we
would spend a while walking around the market before making our way to the
theatre so we could watch A Christmas Carol.
It was our favorite.”
Drake smiled as he held
out his hand. “Shall we?”
Jenny placed her hand in
his and allowed him to pull her along with them as they headed across the
street to Macy’s. She felt the twinges
in her leg as they crossed the road, it always seemed to act up whenever she
tried to hurry.
After the first several
steps, Drake slowed to match Jenny’s pace rather than let her continue trying
to move at his faster pace. When she
looked up at him, he winked at her and they continued into the store and up the
escalator to the toy department where Santa was on his throne giving court.
It only took fifteen
minutes for Tori to reach Santa and within seconds she had her picture taken
and was racing back to her father.
The woman in the elf
costume handed Drake both of the pictures that he’d purchased. He took them and handed one of them to Tori
who ran back to where Santa sat and handed it to him. He nodded solemnly and put the photo inside
his suit. As Tori ran back to her father
once more, Santa put two fingers to his temple and saluted Drake.
As they made their way
through Macy’s, Jenny was glad to have Drake at her side to ward off the crowd. It was nearly wall to wall people. Tori held tightly to her father’s hand as
well. When they reached the main floor,
the smell of perfume permeated the air and Jenny was glad the moment the stepped
outside onto the sidewalk because she was finally able to get a breath of fresh
air.
They headed a couple of
blocks over to where the Christkindlmarket was set up. The smell of teas, beer, hot cocoa, hot
cider, brats, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, Currywust, Leberkäse, assorted
roasted nuts, gingerbread, German cookies, and an assortment of German
chocolates and candy, Stollen, popcorn, and cotton candy as well as fresh and
savory strudels and puffs as well as Schnitzel, chicken sandwiches, German
burgers, and ghoulash soup all blended into an incredible aroma and Jenny felt
he stomach rumbling telling her it was lunch time.
They stopped and Drake
bought them each a sausage and cider along with some roasted nuts and a German
cookie to share. As they ate, they
walked around the village looking at the artwork that each of the vendors had
on display.
Jenny stopped to admire
the cuckoo clocks. She remembered her
mother standing and watching them for quite a long time.
Drake leaned in to ask,
“Are you thinking of buying one? You can
have it shipped to your home if you’d like.”
Jenny shook her
head. “No. I was just remembering how much my mother
loved standing and looking at them.”
“Which one do you think
she would like?”
A soft laugh escaped as
Jenny pointed to an intricately designed model.
“No question, that one. She loved
ballerinas.”
“Why don’t you get it
for her?”
Jenny looked up at
Drake. “She was killed in a car accident
two weeks before Christmas ten years ago.
I was in the Marines and we were stationed overseas. I wasn’t able to make it home until after the
funeral.”
“I’m sorry.”
Tears pooled in Jenny’s
eyes. “That’s okay. She loved life and believed every day should
be celebrated. That’s why I’m here. I’m making the trip for both of us this
year. It’s the first time I’ve been able
to do this since her death.”
“What about your
father?”
“He still lives in the
house he built for my mother before they married.”
Drake’s arm went around
her shoulders and she leaned her head against him. They stood like that for a minute or two more
until they were jostled from behind by the mob of bodies all trying to make
their way through the market. As the
allowed the crowd to move them along, they took in the rest of the sights,
Christmas ornaments, colorful clothing, wood carvings, among other things. All in all, it took them nearly ninety
minutes to get find their way to the sidewalk at the exit.
Drake checked his watch
as they stopped outside the crowd looking to make their way into the
market. “If we are going to see A
Christmas Carol, we need to go now. It
will be starting in a few minutes.”
The three of them headed
to the theatre just a couple blocks down and when Drake paid for all three
tickets, Jenny protested but she was over-ruled. Drake placed a finger over her lips and said,
“Let me. Please.”
She nodded and was
pleasantly surprised when they took their seats in the front row.
The way Tori’s young
face beamed at the action on the stage and her eyes seemed to glimmer with the
wonder of what was going on around her gave Jenny more pleasure than she’d ever
had before. She remembered her mother
watching her much in the same way she was watching Tori. As Scrooge was redeemed, she smiled and
looked up above her, smiling as she whispered, “This was the best one yet,
Mom. Thanks for coming.”
Once the show was over,
Drake ushered them outside to where a horse-drawn carriage was waiting. He helped Tori and Jenny inside before taking
his own seat and directing the driver where to take them. They had just enough time for a short ride
before they were dropped off where the bus was loading.
They waited for all of
the others to get on, taking their seats as the driver prepared to head
home. Drake put Tori in the window seat
and reclined her seat before taking his own seat beside her. “Why don’t you recline your seat so that we
can talk on the way back? Unless you’d
rather sleep.”
Jenny did as he
suggested and had the best time of her life talking to the man that had made
today special for her in so many ways.
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