"Notes from the Past"
by Tanya Reed
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own 'em.
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Part 1, Chapter 4
Sydney chose a moment when she and her father were alone to show him the music box. Nigel was in the washroom, and Karen and Claudia had dragged Jenny up to their bedroom to show her some outfit or shoes or something.
She waited until their girlish chatter disappeared up the stairs before picking the box up from under the tree and going to her father. He was sitting in the big armchair, so she propped herself on the arm.
"Dad, I want to show you something."
At her serious tone, he looked at her with questions in his eyes. She turned to meet them before silently handing him the music box.
He took it gently, running his long fingers over the smooth wood and tracing the detail as Sydney had done herself. After a moment of studying it, he opened the top and the familiar melody surrounded them, saying so much more than words.
"Sydney, where...where did you get this?"
"It was a gift from Claudia. I couldn't believe it. Mom had one like this. Do you remember?"
"Your mother didn't have one like this. This was your mother's."
"Was my...Dad, are you sure? How can you tell?"
He turned it over, his hands shaking slightly. On the bottom was an inscription that Sydney had never noticed. It said,
"R,
With this box, I give you both the gift of music and my love. Carry them both with you always,
Maman"
She gasped. "It was a gift from Isabelle?"
"Your mother loved this music box. When she passed away, she wanted her best friend to have it..."
"Laura." Sydney pulled the name from deep in her memory. The face that went with it was blurry, and all she could remember was lots of red hair and freckles.
"Yes. I heard she passed herself a few years ago."
He handed the box back to Sydney, his expression tinged with grief. It was plain that no matter how much he loved Jenny, his first wife still had a place in his heart. She was glad that Jenny was the type of girl who could accept that.
She was still feeling stunned about the news that her music box was the one from her memories and dreams when Nigel came into the room a few seconds later. He must have read her face, because he stopped short and looked from Sydney to Randall and back again.
"Is everything okay?"
Sydney smoothed her features. "I showed him the music box."
She wanted to tell Nigel everything, but she didn't want her father to know how confused and emotional she was suddenly feeling. She pushed everything to the back of her mind, promising herself that she would talk it out with him later.
Randall and Jenny left soon after that because they had a long drive back to her parents' house. Sydney hugged her father fiercely and missed him before she even released him. Because they lived so far apart and both had hectic jobs, they rarely got to see each other. He kissed her briefly, shook Nigel's hand, waved to Claudia and Karen, and then he and Jenny were gone. Sydney felt strangely bereft as she closed the door behind them.
With the closing of the door came a cold blast of air. Sydney shivered and hugged herself, glad she was wearing her new green sweater instead of the vest she'd worn while preparing dinner.
Nigel reached out and rubbed her arm absently, as if unaware he was doing it. "Cold?"
She nodded.
"I thought you liked snow," Karen teased.
"Outside...when I'm dressed warmly...and I have a warm bath to look forward to..."
"Let's retire to the living room," Nigel suggested. "It's nice and cozy in there."
Sydney was all for getting warm, so she nodded again. As she passed by Claudia and Karen on her way, she heard a whispered exchange that made her smile.
"Have you caught him yet?"
"No, he's being very careful."
"I came close, but he moved seconds before I could get him."
Sydney knew exactly what they were talking about. She decided not to tell them that she had caught him...and that she'd be looking for her opportunity to catch him again.
When Claudia saw Sydney's music box and noted that it had moved, she asked, "Did you show it to him, Syd?"
She didn't have to ask what. Her father's words were still ringing in her ears.
"I did."
"Did he remember...?"
Sydney eyed her friends for a moment before deciding to tell them everything. "Claudia, what exactly made you buy the box?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "When I saw it, I thought of you. And then the cards told me it was meant for you. Why?"
"Because the box isn't like the one my mother had. It actually belonged to her."
The other three were stunned, even Claudia, who usually took such coincidences in stride. Sydney could see it in their faces as they traded glances around the room.
"What?" Nigel asked eventually. "How do you know?"
"My father showed me an inscription I didn't even know was there. It was from my grandmother." Sydney felt an unexpected lump come to her throat.
"Wow!" Claudia whispered. "That's amazing."
Karen was more practical. "Sydney, are you okay?"
She took a deep breath. "Yeah. It was just a shock."
Nigel's hand was suddenly on her shoulder again. He remained silent, but she felt his support. She knew at that moment that telling them had been the right thing to do.
"The music box was one of my favorite things belonging to my mother. I never knew what happened to it after she died. I can't believe you found it after all this time."
"It was meant to be," Claudia said firmly in that deadly serious mystic voice she got sometimes.
"It's so odd," Sydney continued, going over to pick up the music box once more.
Nigel came over to have a better look at it himself. "It's very beautiful."
"Yes. When I was a little girl, I used to help my mother when she was getting ready to go out. She kept her favorite jewelry in here. She'd open the top to take them out and just leave it open so we could listen to the melody. I never knew she was remembering her own mother when she did so."
"I remember," Nigel said softly, "that my mother always came to tuck me in. Every night, she would come in, pull the covers up around me, and gently kiss my forehead. When she died, that was what I missed the most. Preston never understood because he was always asleep, but I purposefully stayed awake just so I could have that special moment..."
He trailed off and flushed as he noticed all three women looking at him. Nigel rarely talked about his mother, and Sydney felt suddenly as if he were giving her a precious gift.
"Losing a parent is hard," Karen agreed, her voice cracking. For her, the wound of her mother's passing was still fresh.
Claudia still had both parents, but she looked as if she were closer to tears than the other three. She bit her lip and her eyes were on the floor. Her fair skin was paler than usual, with just a faint tinge of pink along the cheekbones.
"Well," Sydney said crisply, going over to the mantle to put the box in front of the Santa she had put there the day before. "That's enough sadness. This is Christmas day. Who's up for building a snowman?"
Claudia burst into laughter as Nigel exclaimed, "It's bloody dark outside!"
"Are you afraid of the dark, Nigel?"
"It's freezing."
"I've got mittens."
"It's almost nine o'clock."
"Santa came last night. We can stay up as late as we want."
"Come on, honeybun." Claudia smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "Don't be such a fuddy-duddy."
Karen reached over and rubbed the place Claudia had just smacked. "It'll be fun, Nigel."
He looked at the three women as if they were crazy. After a moment, he sighed. "All right, let's bundle up."
Sydney felt a grin spread over her face. It had been years since she made a snowman, and anticipation tingled through her. Sometimes being the eldest of this group made her feel motherly, but tonight she wanted to jump right in and be zany along with them. She especially wanted to prod Nigel into it because he was way too serious for someone so young.
They had a blast—even Nigel was flushed, glowing, and laughing when they came in an hour later, completely exhausted and soaked to the skin.
Sydney hadn't realized she was cold until the warm air from her entryway hit her.
"Close the door! Close the door!" Claudia squealed at Karen, who was behind her.
"I'm trying. Move, Nigel."
Nigel was standing beside Claudia but, at Karen's words, he quickly moved, bumping into Sydney, who was taking off her boots.
"Oomph," she said, almost falling over. The only thing that saved her from doing a face plant was Nigel, who had one mitten off, grabbing her by the belt loop.
"Sorry, Syd."
"Yeah, sorry," Claudia added. "But at least we got the door closed. I feel like a Claudia-sicle."
"I'm with you on the sicle thing," Karen agreed, shedding snow like it was a second skin.
Sydney finished taking off her boots, realized her socks were sopping, and discarded them as well. "I think we all need a towel, warm jammies, and more hot chocolate."
No one argued as they stripped off their outer clothes. Sydney considered stripping down to her underwear, but settled on her jeans and sweater like the others. They then made a dash for the stairs, the tile floor as cold as their socks had been on their bare feet.
Sydney found them all towels, and they disappeared into their rooms to dry off and change. Sydney was so chilled that she dug out the biggest, fuzziest nightdress she owned. She called it her 'cozy nightdress', and usually only wore it on the coldest nights or when she was in need of comfort. It was a dingy grey-blue color, and she had owned it for years. The sleeves came right down to her wrists, and the nightdress brushed the tops of her feet, which she had slipped into slippers the moment she entered.
She was combing her still slightly dripping hair after changing when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in."
Nigel entered, dressed in his navy blue silk pajamas with his hair sticking up from being vigorously rubbed with a towel.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey." He came towards her, concern in his eyes. "Sydney, are you really okay? You had quite a shock today. Granted, it was a nice shock, but a shock all the same."
Sydney stopped combing and looked at him for a moment. Was she okay? She had made peace with her mother's memory when she was a teenager, but seeing the music box had brought back some of the pain. It had brought back some of the memories as well, and that's what her heart had embraced. They were worth the pain.
"I miss her."
"I understand."
She smiled softly. He smiled back.
"Hey, what's going on in here?"
Claudia's voice made both of them jump.
"Nigel was just offering to brush my hair," Sydney said flippantly, brandishing the hairbrush.
Claudia eyed him in appraisal. "Is that so?"
Nigel stepped back from Sydney as if she were on fire. "No...No, of course not."
"He said he wanted to braid it with bright pink bows," Sydney added.
Claudia clicked her tongue. "I thought you had better taste."
"I do!" he exclaimed, then hastily continued. "If I were going to brush Sydney's hair...which I'm not because...well, she can brush her own hair, can't she?"
Sydney didn't reply. She just finished combing her hair and pulled it up into a ponytail. Then, the three of them headed downstairs and to the kitchen. Karen was already there, plugging in the kettle.
"Where've you been?" she asked.
"Nigel had to brush Syd's hair," Claudia told her.
A strange expression went over Karen's face. "What?"
"She's kidding," Nigel said grumpily. "I'm not known for randomly brushing women's hair."
"It would be a great way to get dates."
"Very funny, Claudia."
Sydney listened to them bicker absently, her mind still on her mother's music box. For some reason, it called to her, as if there were something it needed to say.
Soon, the kettle was whistling and she pushed all thoughts out of her head but ones of sitting with her friends, sipping hot chocolate, and enjoying their Christmas evening together.
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She was tall and blond, with sparkling green eyes and a loving smile. Her arms were soft and meant comfort when a big brother was just a little too rough. Her voice was sweet and knew just what to say to turn tears into laughter.
He dreamed of her that night, of her warm embrace and her tender kiss. She was so real that he could feel her hand on his brow and see the worried concern on her face.
He hadn't dreamed of her for a very long time; he hadn't spoken of her in even longer, but she was always there, in his heart and in his mind. Sometimes, her voice was just a whisper in the darkness, but he could always hear it. She had always meant comfort and safety to him, and he had not felt it again after she left him—not until he met Sydney.
It must have been the music box. He had no other explanation. They had spoken of mothers and of loss, so his own mother had come to him as she had so many times in the years just following her passing.
The dream was a good one and, despite her concern, she spoke to him as an adult. She told him she loved him and that she missed him. And then, she had said something so strange. She told him to watch over Sydney.
"I always do," he said in puzzlement, waiting for her explanation. None come, however, because he was suddenly jolted from sleep by a voice calling his name.
"Nigel...Nigel! Come on, Nigel. Wake up!"
He swam towards awareness—he had to, the voice was so insistent. The bed wiggled under him as if alive, and he groaned.
"What?"
"Nigel, are you awake?"
He knew the voice. The realization brought full awareness back to him in surprising suddenness.
"Syd?"
He blinked his eyes open to see her shadowed face just inches from his own. Nigel jumped at her nearness, smacking his head on the headboard. The crack drove away the silence in the room. It also drove away the last of his sleep.
"What time is is?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Around five," she whispered. "I couldn't sleep."
"Couldn't you not be sleeping alone?"
"No, Nigel. You don't understand. Push over."
Without protest, he slipped over as far as he could in the small bed. Sydney slipped in beside him, so close that their sides touched. The bed was so narrow that if they weren't so close, there was danger of one of them falling on the floor. Her body was warm and soft and distracting enough that he didn't hear her next words.
After a moment, she said, "Nigel, are you listening to me?"
"Not awake yet, Syd," he mumbled.
"I said I found a secret compartment in my mother's music box."
"A secret compartment?"
"Yes."
She turned on the lamp by the bed, causing light to stab into his eyes.
"Ow! Syd, couldn't this have waited until morning?"
She ignored this. "There were things in it Nigel! My mother's secret things. I couldn't believe it. Her friend had the music box all this time and hadn't found them."
By now, Nigel had blinked the tears away and could see Sydney in the lamp's pale glow. Her dark eyes were shining with excitement, and her hair was still mussed from her pillow. She looked extremely exotic, and Nigel felt himself unexplainably blushing.
"Things?" he asked, covering, "What kind of things?"
"A letter from my aunt and...well, I'll have to show you. But they can wait until you get up. I just needed to tell someone. There's a mystery here, and I think we can solve it."
"A mystery?"
"It's been waiting for me. Claudia was right. Her finding the music box was no coincidence. Fate was just waiting for it to be time for me to get involved. It was meant to be. I just know it."
"You haven't said what kind of mystery."
"That'll wait three or four hours." She took his chin in her hand. "You look tired. I think you need more sleep."
"I look tired because it's five in the morning. We both need some sleep."
"You're right," she said, reaching over and clicking the light. "Now that I've told someone, maybe I'll be able to sleep. See you in a couple of hours."
That's when he realized she had no intention of moving. He had half a mind to kick her out or scold her, but settled back down to sleep instead.
"You know, if you're going to start doing this, your guest rooms will need doubles instead of twins."
There was no answer.
"Sydney?...Syd?"
Her only reply was a barely audible snore. Nigel sighed and rolled away from her, trying to touch her as little as possible. It took only minutes for him to follow her to dreamland.
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Sydney sighed and snuggled closer to the body she was wrapped around. It was warm in the cold morning air and smelled clean and familiar. She buried her face into the shoulder and tightened her arm about the waist.
As sleep slowly receded, memories slowly returned. With them came the knowledge of just who exactly she was cuddling up to. Guiltily, she released him, though her body protested.
The sun was up now, and Sydney blinked sleepily in its rays. She yawned and studied the back of Nigel as he continued to sleep. She was tempted to curl herself around him again and join him. Gently, she reached over and ran the backs of her fingers over his cheek.
Only one thought made her fight the temptation-- Claudia and Karen. What would their reaction be to finding Sydney and Nigel in bed together, no matter how innocent it was? Sydney could imagine the scene. Claudia would tease them mercilessly for the next two days, and Karen would be unavoidably hurt. Sydney knew Karen had a crush on Nigel that waxed and waned but remained strong. Karen could accept a relationship between Sydney and Nigel, if there ever were one, but the dissolution of her fantasy could be painful. To save Nigel humiliation and Karen pain, Sydney slipped out of bed and hurried to her own room.
As she passed by Karen and Claudia's room, she could hear noises inside indicating that the two of them were awake.
When she opened her bedroom door, she spotted the music box on her bed. Excitement bubbled through her belly as she remembered her five o'clock discovery.
She approached the bed slowly, remembering the moment the night before when she had been tenderly running her fingers along the side of the box. The trigger was subtle, and most people wouldn't have noticed it. Sydney, however, was not most people, and she recognized it for what it was immediately. With surprise and anticipation, she had opened the secret compartment. Trembling hands had removed the things inside. There was the letter, which she read over and over, amazed at its existence, and a picture of two smiling girls. And there was the medallion.
Sydney sat now and picked it up, studying the picture on one side and feeling the words on the other. It was slightly larger than a Canadian toonie but thicker, almost twice as thick. It was made of a light metal, one that felt almost negligible in her hand. The picture on the front was of a cougar with lips peeled back from sharp teeth and ears turned backwards, tight against its head. The words on the back didn't make much sense, at least not when read together. They were in English, and Sydney estimated the disc wo be about a hundred years old.
She then picked up the letter. It was on looseleaf, scrawled in a quick hand, with small, round letters. The handwriting wasn't familiar to her, but she remembered the woman it belonged to. Her Aunt Melody, a woman who was as different from Rosemarie as it was possible for two people to be. Where Sydney's mother had been delicate and pretty, prone to smiling and kind, Melody had been tall and boisterous, wild and uncontrollable. She had married a disreputable gambler at sixteen and broke every rule she could think of. Even so, Melody had loved Rosemarie deeply, always looking to her big sister for advice, though not always taking it. She had loved Sydney too. Sydney could remember her bringing her gifts and taking her places. Then, when Sydney was eight, Melody had disappeared. Sydney had missed her terribly, but didn't really understand the mystery surrounding her disappearance. Now, with her newfound clues, she began to wonder what had really happened to her aunt.
"Dear Rosemarie," it said, "Hi! How are you? How is the weather on your end? How is my favorite little niece? It seems like forever since I've seen the two of you. I miss you, and I plan on coming to see you soon. Maybe I'll come when Nic is on one of his little trips.
'Things here have been okay, for the most part, but slightly odd. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I don't know. It's just that I've got this feeling that someone's been watching me. Does that sound foolish? The feeling began soon after...Maybe I should start at the beginning.
'Remember when I told you that Nic thought he was onto something big? I remember distinctly because you gave me that look. You might not have believed it, but I did. I'd never seen him so excited. He told me that he had figured out where something special was hidden—but he wouldn't say what or where. Well, almost a week ago, Nic came home claiming to have found the key. Then, he handed me a coin of some kind. If I didn't love Nic so much, I'd find it implausible that this piece of metal could be the key to anything. It's a strange little thing, with a cat on one side and a jumble of words on the other. When Nic gave it to me, he told me to keep it safe at all costs. He was so fierce and sincere that I had to promise. The next day, he got a lead on something in Las Vegas and left. Now, here I am, babysitting this coin.
'It was right after he left that this feeling started. It's like a soft whisper at the back of my mind telling me that I'm being watched. Maybe the creepy way Nic was acting that night got to me. I don't know. Today, paranoia drove me to hide the coin. I hid it in a place no one but you could ever find it. Maybe, now that it's safe, I can put aside all my feelings of unease..."
From there, the letter trailed off into inconsequential things, and on previous readings, Sydney had absorbed them with relish. On this reading, it was the first part that interested her. Melody had hidden the coin, yet it had been in the music box. At some point, Rosemarie must have gone and found it, hiding it away somewhere she thought was safe. After reading the letter, Sydney was sure that the medallion was the cause of her Aunt Melody's disappearance. But what had happened to Melody? And what secret was the coin the answer to? She knew she could find the answers. For one thing, that was what she did—she solved ancient mysteries with only the barest of clues. Also, the box had chosen now to come back into her life again. There had to be a reason.
The first question was where to start. There were a couple of ways that she could go. First, there was her uncle Nic. After Melody's disappearance, Sydney had only seen him once. He had come to their home to see Rosemarie. Now, she wondered if that visit had anything to do with the coin. Considering it was his only link to the thing he sought, it was a definite possibility. Secondly, there was her father. He could tell her things about her aunt's disappearance that would have flown right over the head of an eight year old. Sydney just wished she knew what the cat symbol meant.
Karen found her there a few minutes later, still staring at the coin. The secretary knocked lightly, and Sydney looked up.
"Morning, Syd."
"Morning, Karen. How'd you sleep?"
"Not that great," she admitted. "With all the talk about mothers, I couldn't help but think of my own mother...and having to tell Cory she was gone."
Sydney stood up and went over to Karen, putting her arms around the slighter woman and giving her a tight squeeze.
"Are you all right now?"
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"It's going to be all right," she said, kneeling down to look him in the eye.
The small boy, short and skinny, with hair so blond it was almost white and a pixie face, looked at her with shattered eyes and a trembling lip. He seemed so frail that Karen just wanted to wrap her arms around him and never let go.
"How, Karen?" he asked. "How is it going to be all right without her?"
She knew how he felt. In fact, deep in her heart, she was feeling the same thing. She was nineteen years old. Her mother was supposed to be there forever, someone to turn to as she matured and aged; someone to care for her in the times when she still felt like a child. It wasn't fair.
Karen did put her arms around Cory now. She felt his slight body shaking with emotion and knew that he had started to cry. She wanted to cry too, but fought the tears back. This was no time for tears. Tears were for when you were alone and little eyes couldn't see them. Like it or not, she had become the adult in her young brother's life. He was her responsibility, and he needed her. There was no way she was going to let him down.
"We'll find a way," she whispered. "Me and you."
"I'm scared."
"Me too, but I will never leave you."
He cried harder at this, and Karen had to really fight to keep back her tears. She felt so bereft without her mom. When she closed her eyes, she could still see her face and feel her careworn hands.
I won't let you down, Mom, she said to herself. We'll be fine, me and Cory. Everything will be all right.
And suddenly, she felt a little better. It was almost as if her mother were behind her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Karen felt stronger and ready to tackle the world for the little boy now in her care. She kissed the top of his head and pulled away, lifting his chin with her fingers.
"We really will be okay, you know." And for the first time, she really believed it.
He looked at her for a few seconds before nodding and bringing his palms up to scrub his face. Then he took her hand.
"I'm glad you're here."
"Me too."
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"Yeah. You know how it is sometimes in the middle of the night."
Sydney nodded, squeezed her again, and released her. "Are Claudia and Nigel up yet?"
"Claudia's in the bathroom taking a shower. I haven't seen Nigel."
"Okay, I'll go check on him. I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast."
"Great." Karen graced her with a smile. "I"ll even make it."
"You're just scared because of my turkey stories yesterday," Sydney teased.
The two women left the room, one headed down the stairs, and the other headed down the hall. As Sydney passed the bathroom, she heard the shower running and Claudia's voice over the spray singing slightly off key.
Nigel's door was still closed, as it had been when she left it an hour earlier. Sydney knocked gently and waited for an answer.
"Come in," Nigel's sleepy voice mumbled.
Sydney threw open the door. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead! It's ten o'clock."
Nigel blinked sleepily as she entered. He covered his mouth as he yawned.
"Ten o'clock?"
"You're sleeping the day away."
He drew his brow together in thought for a moment before saying, "Seems to me, I had someone in here keeping me awake at five this morning."
Sydney put on her most innocent look. "Really? Who was that? Has Claudia been hitting on you, Nigel?"
"Very funny, Sydney." He shuddered at the thought.
She chuckled. "Come on, get up. Karen's making breakfast."
"Breakfast?" He sat up, looking more awake already.
"Yes, food."
She was about to leave when his voice stopped her. "Syd?"
"Yeah, Nige?"
"About what you said earlier..."
"It can wait until after we've had something to eat."
Sydney was reluctant to get back to the mystery, which was unusual for her. She was excited, yes. She wanted to know the answers, but this was also her last day with her three closest friends, and she wanted to enjoy it while she could. The next morning, Claudia would be on her way back to New York, and Karen and Nigel would be off to their own homes. The mystery had waited twenty-five years, it could wait another day—but she still planned on calling her father sometime that day and asking him her questions.
When she got to the kitchen, it was full of good smells, and Karen was still there alone.
"Need some help?" Sydney asked.
"No, thanks. I'm just making omelets. Is Nigel getting up?"
"Yep. I mentioned you and cooking in the same sentence, and he couldn't get up fast enough."
Karen laughed. "I don't know how he eats what he does and still stays thin."
"Relic hunting. It's great for the abs."
"Where is everyone?" came a shrill voice.
"We're in the kitchen, Claudia."
"What are you doing in there?" She came barreling in, still wearing her over sized pajamas, with her short hair wet and slicked back from her shower. "Oh."
"I'm cooking, Claudia," Karen said. "Want to help?"
"No, thanks. I think I'll just...I think I'll just...um...see if the cat needs anything."
Sydney shared a glance with Karen as Claudia hurried back out the door. It was refreshing to see, though she had matured some, Claudia was still herself at the core.
"Nigel!" Claudia's voice came again. "Nigel! I'm going to kill you! Come here."
This time, the glance Sydney shared with Karen was startled. After a second's hesitation, and a sound like the roof caving in, the two of them raced towards the living room.
When they got there, Claudia was chasing Nigel, swinging one of the pillow's from the arm chair, which had tipped over onto the floor. Sydney didn't even want to know how that had happened.
"Nigel!" Claudia cried again, swinging but missing Sydney's dodging assistant. Nigel looked smug and laughing, so Sydney could only conclude he'd done something to deserve the swipes Claudia was aiming at his head.
"What's going on?" she demanded. "Nigel, mind the tree!"
Nigel narrowly missed having another tree disaster as he twisted right at the last moment. Claudia gave up waving the pillow and let it go. It hit Nigel in the stomach. He hadn't been expecting it, and the momentum made him trip. His arms windmilled, but he couldn't keep his feet and toppled backwards.
"Nigel!" This was from Karen, concerned instead of enraged.
"What's going on?" Sydney repeated.
Claudia opened her mouth to speak, but Nigel hurried to say, "I didn't do anything, Syd."
He regarded them petulantly from his place on the floor, looking and sounding like a bad little boy.
"Then why is Claudia chasing you and hollering like a banshee?" Silence. "Nigel?"
"He pinched me!" Claudia exclaimed.
"Nigel!"
"Well," he protested. "She wouldn't listen! If someone says to you, 'If you don't pay attention, I'll pinch you,' don't you listen?"
"Listen about wh..." Sydney trailed off as Karen gave a cry and ran back towards the kitchen. The smell of burnt eggs wafted down the hallway about a second before Sydney's smoke detector went off. She gave both Nigel and Claudia her sternest look before grabbing her abused pillow and hurrying to the hallway to wave smoke away from the smoke detector.
She heard Claudia ask behind her, "Are you all right, Nigel? Did you hurt yourself?"
"Just my pride. I'm sorry I pinched you. I did warn you that I would."
"Nobody's reacted that way to my kiss before..."
Sydney shook her head before waving the pillow wildly. The mistletoe had struck again.