Chapter 34 — MERRY CHRISTMAS
"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence
of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." (Burton Hillis)
All things considered, the week leading up to Christmas went rather well. Jess' disappointment at not being able to actually dance at the dance was ameliorated by the shower of attention he received from a plethora of unattached young ladies—so much that Carrie Compton declared she was exhausted from fending off the competition. And although Jess urged her to accept repeated invitations to take the floor, she remained steadfastly by his side.
Upon being introduced to each other by Slim, Carrie and Beatrice Evrard hit it off immediately, as did Beatrice and Sally when the latter put in a spectacular appearance in unfamilar female finery with Lindsay 'Lychee' McNutt on one arm and Luca 'Lucky' Giancomo on the other. Later, when Beatrice speculated which of those two fine-looking gentlemen might be the lady blacksmith's paramour, Slim privately clued her in on the men's relationship and she dissolved in helpless mirth. Confessing she was there more for the shock value than anything else and being hopelessly inept at anything more vigorous than the hesitation waltz, Sally chose to sit with Carrie and Jess in a show of solidarity.
The successful evening concluded with Jess spending that night and the next in Carrie's apartment and, at the hotel, Slim joining Beatrice in her room for a nightcap and a frolic. As arranged, Slim arose early the following the morning to return to the ranch. On Monday Sally gave Jess a lift home in the Whatleigh's surrey, having skipped attending to the station horses the day before—better late than never.
Along with Jess, Sally's son Jacob and baby Lily in her basket, the surrey carried presents in the form of boxes of edible goodies and a mysterious wooden crate. When Sally'd stopped by the post office to pick up her mail, the postmaster had requested she take along to the Sherman ranch a special delivery marked 'Fragile: Handle with Care', which'd come all the way from Germany. Unknown to her, similar boxes were to be delivered later that day to her and her brother's residences, and another to the rectory at Our Lady of the Prairie.
To make room for the Christmas tree, the woodpile that normally occupied the southwest corner of the parlor had been relocated to the front porch. From the attic Andy'd brought down the box of homemade ornaments accumulated over the years: candle holders with clips, fashioned from tin by a grandfather Slim and Andy had never known; tiny wooden animals carved by their father Matthew Sr.; angels and snowflakes crocheted by their mother Mary Grace and stiffened with gum arabic; paper chain garlands proudly cut and assembled by Andy himself and sparkling with glued-on mica flakes.
The crate was the last thing to be unloaded from the surrey. Slim and Andy deposited it in the middle of the parlor floor then stood back in contemplation.
"Where'd it come from?" Slim asked suspiciously.
"Whaddya suppose it is?" Andy queried.
"Why don't you pry open the lid and find out?" Sally suggested.
Everyone crowded around in wonderment as, after the first layer of straw cushioning was removed, the contents proved to be an assortment of exquisite glass baubles nestled in tissue.
"There's been some mistake... they have to go back to the post office!" Slim sputtered.
"No mistake. I ordered them." Kim stepped forward, baby on hip. "You wouldn't take my money for taking care of me, so this is my present to the family."
"Dammit Kim... these must've cost a fortune," Slim said. "When...? How...? You haven't been off the ranch in three months..."
"Read in a magazine weeks ago that merchants back east are starting to import Christmas ornaments from Germany, so I asked Lychee to use his boss' resources to order them."
"I ain't never seen anything so pretty!" Andy breathed.
" 'Haven't ever', not 'ain't never'," Slim responded automatically, recognizing that resistance was futile.
The bulk of the afternoon was devoted to decorating the tree. Slim excused Andy from his normal chores, saying he and Sally would help Mild Bill and Opie tend to them along with the afternoon stage and the out-of-service horses. On strict instruction from Young Doc, Jess was relegated to a rocking chair with his leg elevated on the ottoman. From there he was content to serve as babyminder and dispense opinions on ornament placement by Andy and Jacob.
With Kim as his kitchen skivvy, Jonesy set about preparing a combination pre-Christmas and farewell dinner. Mild Bill and Opie were leaving the next day to rejoin their compadres at the Rocking W, the Whatleigh family's 'retirement ranch' for aged cowboys. Sally Whatleigh Lowenstein would be celebrating Christmas Eve and Day with her own family.
The remainder of the week slid by smoothly with the compass-point neighbors—the Bartletts, Gantrys, Livingstons and Keoghs—dropping by to trade good wishes and holiday cheer as late as Christmas Eve.
Slim and Jess were relaxing in the facing rocking chairs by the fire. Kim and Andy were playing cards at the parlor table. Jonesy was puttering around in the kitchen, concocting some late night snack. The kitchen table was laden with myriad offerings from the other families, who'd gone home with bottles and jugs of Jonesy's liniment and homemade blackberry wine.
Jess was frankly bewildered, not seeing the point in exchanging jars of preserves and jams and loaves of sweetbread when they already had a root cellar and pie safe full of much the same items. Slim steepled his fingers and set in to explain the symbolism of sharing.
"Looks to me like we already got all we need," Jess observed.
"We do... and so do they... but this is the time of year when we demonstrate doing unto others. It's a verbal and physical acknowledgment of looking out for one another. It's how we build a community," Slim said.
"Nobody never done nothin' for my family. An' we never had nothin' like this..." Jess swept his hand toward the gloriously decorated tree sheltering the modest assemblage of packages.
"I know... and I'm sorry... but that's all in the past and we can't rewrite history. Our family's had its share of sorrow and tough times, too, but we've been blessed in always having a roof over our heads and enough to eat. The important thing for you to remember, Jess, is that no man is an island. You're part of this family now... and, beyond that, part of this community... today and tomorrow and the day after that." Slim fell silent, having run out of steam, but his grey-blue eyes held Jess' deep blue ones in thrall, willing him to understand.
Jess nodded his head slowly, thoughtfully. He wasn't too sure about this feeling he was experiencing... but he liked it. Liked it a lot. It was warm and comforting. The aloneness that had dogged his footsteps for as long as he could remember was losing his grip.
Searching his friend's face for a sign of illumination, Slim smiled inwardly in satisfaction. He was winning.