Chapter 29
Five weeks later Horatio having assured James Burton he would be covered for while away arranged to have the 24th to 27th off as Christmas extended leave; they were travelling to New York on Saturday 22nd so a nice long Christmas break. When he had asked, James with a straight face had remarked, "This is getting to be a habit Horatio. This is the fourth time this year you have asked for leave." But when he saw Horatio purse his lips and look worried, he gave in and laughing said, "Just teasing you Horatio, I couldn't resist."
"Go and have a great Christmas with your family and friends. Oh, and thank Aileen once again for helping out in our legal department in October." Then he added, "Actually, I might be in New York myself to see family over Christmas, and I may pop in to see Michael."
Horatio thanked him for granting him his vacation request, and wished James a good trip to family if he made it to New York. He wasn't surprised that James might see Michael as they were old friends from their law school days.
During the morning of the 21st, the last working day for most of them prior to Christmas Horatio and his team tidied up everything on the go as much as they could. Eric as Horatio's deputy was going to cover for him while he was away, and he was really pleased at the way Eric had been evolving in this role over the last few months, and he took him aside to tell him so, which pleased Eric immensely.
Back in November Eric had asked him if he knew why Yelina was no longer working for them. He had simply told Eric it was for personal reasons and for once Eric maturing into his role knew not to try asking any other questions although Horatio knew full well that Eric knew it had something to do with him. He liked that Eric was learning to keep quiet at the right times now.
The rest of the team were all going to family locally so they were happy to be covering each other over the Christmas period, particularly Christmas Eve and the days following Christmas day.
Straight after work he took them all for a Christmas drink, and wished them all a Happy Christmas, and thanked them all for a good years work and after an hour left them to carry on being sociable for a while.
Then in the evening he helped Aileen to finish the packing. There wasn't much to pack though as she had already done most of it, with some help from Tommy who was on his school Christmas break and had been for a few days now.
The previous day they had explained to Tommy who no longer believed in Santa Clause that they couldn't take his main present with them, but they would take some presents with them, and told him he could either open what had to be left here in Miami before they went or when he came back. He chose to open before and was thrilled to find he had a complete new basketball outfit, and a Star Wars Darth, 20inch wheel bike, and a helmet. They had chosen a bike for him as there were numerous cycle paths in most of the Miami parks, and they could take this in the back of the car whenever they visited one of them.
On the 22nd December, Horatio opened a few Christmas cards that had arrived very early in the morning and passed them to Aileen as he went through them. But she saw him frown when he got to the last one, and a look of utter distaste crossed his face, "It's from Yelina. She is apologising to me," he said, and promptly tore it in pieces. "She should be apologising to you Aileen not me."
"Horatio don't you think, that maybe you should..."
"Don't ask Aileen, because the answer is NO."
"Sorry Horatio."
"Oh come here Sweetheart," said Horatio as he took Aileen into his arms. "Sorry if I sounded sharp. I didn't mean to. Sometimes you are just too nice. She was an utter cow to you, and I'm just not going to accept any apology from her. She ought to know me better than to even try. She should have apologised to you immediately, not me a few weeks after the event. I'm sorry Sweetheart I've completely had it with her."
"Okay, Horatio I understand," said Aileen kissing him on the cheek.
Shortly after, they left for New York.
When they arrived in the middle of the afternoon it was cold and there had been a flurry of snow in the morning, but the apartment was nice and warm as Maeve had put the heating on for them, and she had done some shopping for them, and also prepared a lamb casserole and had placed it in the oven to cook slowly, and timed to be ready by around 7:00 pm.
While Aileen unpacked, and because he thought you simply couldn't have Christmas in New York without a Christmas tree Horatio dashed out and was lucky enough to pick up a medium size potted tree, which had a nice shape to it. Luckily the cabbie had been helpful in allowing it to be placed in the back of the cab, Horatio rewarding him well for his help.
Aileen had some tree lights in the apartment from previous years so when he returned he placed the tree in the lounge and draped the lights on the tree, and then helped a gleeful Tommy finish decorating the tree with Christmas baubles and other bits and also placed some Christmas cards around the room. Their friends had sent cards to them here in New York, knowing they would be here for a few days.
While Horatio and Tommy were busy, Aileen had In the meantime, with Horatio's agreement phoned Maeve to come and join them for their meal. She arrived just before 7:00 pm and after Horatio and Aileen thanked her for all her help, they sat down to eat, and then enjoyed Maeve's company for a couple of hours. Horatio was pleased to see Aileen was looking really happy as the two friends chatted away together, so while they were chatting he did the clearing up and made coffees. Soon after he walked Maeve the few yards home and he had just returned when John Kelly phoned.
"Horatio, glad you got here safely. I was wondering what you would say to having an evening out together tomorrow evening in Central Park for some skating; Tommy as well of course. I haven't done that for ages and it's always more fun when you can go with some friends"
"Sounds like fun...just a minute."
"Aileen and Tommy, do you feel like going ice skating tomorrow evening?"
Tommy's eyes lit up, so Horatio knew that was a yes, and seeing Tommy keen on the idea Aileen nodded her head with a smile.
"Okay John, it is a yes from this end."
"That's good Horatio. I'll pick you up about 6.00 pm. Michael has confirmed he will join us, but Jerry can't this time. He has an evening service at the church."
...
They had a relaxing day on Sunday and in the evening John and Sharon duly picked them up at 6:00 pm and drove to the Wollman Ice Skating Rink in Central Park where John was lucky enough to find a parking space eventually when someone moved away, it was very busy. When they got out of the car, a spectacular scene met their eyes. The trees surrounding the rink had touches of light snow speckled on them and the park lights illuminated the trees and the ice rink casting ever changing patterns on the ice surface, and the city skyline with twinkling lights from many of the buildings gave the whole scene a magnificent backdrop.
They met Michael at the ticket booth, he had already purchased their tickets for them and then they hired their skates, leaving their shoes in a rental locker. They could all skate; being New Yorkers all of them over the years had skated on this rink several times even Tommy.
They were having a terrific time. It was cold but they were all well wrapped up. The men of course acting like big kids went mad and showed off a bit, and Tommy loved every minute of it. They glided all over the rink, sometimes in pairs, sometimes on their own. And there was a lot of laughter.
An hour later they all sat down and had a cup of hot tomato soup that John bought from one of the stalls around the rink. Then they skated some more, but after a while Aileen went to the side of the rink and didn't come back.
Skating over to her Horatio asked, "You okay Sweetheart?"
"Do you mind if I just sit and watch Horatio? I have a headache. I think it is the brightness of the ice causing it."
"I'll get John to take us home," said Horatio looking concerned.
"NO, please don't Horatio, I don't want to spoil the evening for everyone. I'll be alright if I can sit down somewhere."
So he led her to an empty bench on the side of the rink, and then knelt down and reaching for her hands and curling his fingers around hers asked, "Are you sure you will be okay?" And then his skates shot from under him and he fell on his back. Aileen smiled and Tommy who had just reached them laughed and laughed, and then unbalanced fell over himself, and right on top of Horatio.
Aileen was also laughing now, and pushing Tommy to one side and struggling to his feet Horatio was pleased to see she was looking better now. Then he helped Tommy who couldn't get up because he was laughing so much.
By now Sharon, John and Michael had glided across the ice to see what was going on, and Sharon decided to sit it out now with Aileen saying she had had enough and would keep Aileen company.
Really this was just an excuse as she wanted to ask Aileen if anything was wrong. But Aileen told her she was fine, she just had a headache. Sharon was not sure however as she knew Horatio was worried about her. He had mentioned to her out on the ice that he thought Aileen may be missing New York and didn't want to tell him so.
Another half hour went by and then they all decided it was time to call it a night. So they returned their skates all agreeing they had had a wonderful evening. John was going to drive Horatio, Aileen and Tommy home, but Michael offered to take them home instead to give John a break.
Michael was more than happy enough to take them home, but he wanted to use this opportunity to tell them something, and on the drive home he told them he had recently started dating Maeve.
Aileen's eyes opened wide, "Wow, how did she keep that quiet? She had dinner with us last night and never said a word."
"I asked her not to," replied Michael. "I selfishly wanted to tell you myself."
Horatio laughed, "Well you got her trained well."
Then Tommy piped up, "Does that mean you love Maeve?"
"I guess it does Tommy," said Michael smiling.
"So when did this all happen then?" Horatio asked.
"At your wedding I guess. I did feel attracted to her back then. But didn't do anything about it as I was busy climbing down from being District Attorney this year and knew I was then going to Catlin's for a month in Canada. Anyway, when I returned I popped into John's office one day, and as you know Sharon now works for him in the main, but helping me as well, and she invited me to dinner one night and who should be there but Maeve."
Michael laughing said, "I reckon they set me up don't you? But it worked."
"I did ask her last night after John phoned you if she would like to join us skating tonight, but she cannot skate apparently, but she wanted us all to enjoy ourselves."
"Maeve will be at the party on Christmas Day, so I will pick you all up about 1:00 pm." Then Michael dropped them off at their apartment and also got out of his car and told them he was popping in to see Maeve for a while, and as he walked up Maeves drive way he called across, " Hope you feel better tomorrow Aileen."
They heard his car drive away a little later and knew he hadn't stayed the night
TBC
