by Kathi Daley
“Why isn’t he cooking?” She slipped her hand into mine.
“I guess the boys had some last-minute Christmas shopping to take care of, so Daddy took them to the mall in Portland. They’re going to pick Grandma and Donovan up at the airport, but they’ll be home in plenty of time for dinner.”
“Are Grandma and Donovan staying through Christmas?”
“They’ll be here for two whole weeks.”
“Oh, good! I want them to meet the new puppy. Grandma is going to love him.”
“She is,” I agreed. “She’ll think it’s very cool that we named the puppy Tucker after the first Tucker who lived in this house all those years ago.”
“I wish that I could have met that Tucker.” She climbed up on a stool at the counter. “He sounds like the best dog ever.”
“He was the best dog ever. He was my first dog, and I loved him very much. But at least you got to meet Shadow, and he’s a pretty awesome cat.”
She smiled. “I’m really happy that magical cats live forever.”
I guess I must have fallen asleep at some point since the sun was high in the sky when I next opened my eyes. I slipped out of bed and hugged both dogs as Shadow, my magical cat, jumped on my head in an apparent attempt to let me know he was looking for his breakfast.
“Okay, I’m up,” I said as I pulled on a robe. “It is Christmas Eve, you know. People sleep in on Christmas Eve.”
“Meow.” Shadow trotted out the door and down the stairs. I followed behind so I could let the dogs out, feed the cat and dogs, and make coffee.
Once the animals were settled, I picked my phone up and looked at my messages. I smiled as I read a text from Trevor letting me know he was looking forward to our evening together and that after thinking about it, he’d decided it might be easier if I just came to his place rather than him picking me up. I texted him back to let him know his plan was fine with me and that I looked forward to our night together too.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Alyson after hitting send. She might not be visible, but she wasn’t gone. She always had been and always would be a part of me. “I know what to do,” I assured her as I let my mind wander back to my dream about the perfect little girl who’d been waiting for me to finally commit to the man who I knew, in my heart, I’d always loved as much as he’d always loved me.
The End
Hunt for Christmas
A Sand and Sea Christmas Short Story
“Naia Makena’s teenage daughter has been located and returned to her family. It appears that all our cases have been closed in time for Christmas,” my father, Keanu Pope, announced as he began gathering his belongings to leave for the day.
“Actually,” I said, “we did have a woman call and inquire about our willingness to track down an antique angel that has gone missing.”
“Antique angel?” Dad asked.
“Lani is talking about a tree topper,” my roommate, best friend, cousin, and business associate, Kekoa, explained. “I know that finding lost objects isn’t normally the sort of thing we do, but this particular case seems important, so I told the woman I’d talk to you both about it.”
Personally, when Kekoa had mentioned that we had a case in need of solving, I’d been thrilled. I was having a hard time getting into Christmas this year, no matter how hard I tried. Having a case to focus on, even if it was a missing object and not a murder or missing person case, seemed much like a godsend.
“Halia Oliana, the woman requesting our services, seems to have a good reason for going to so much trouble to track down this item,” I jumped in. “According to Halia, this will be her grandmother, Olga’s, one-hundredth Christmas, and because of Olga’s declining health, it will most likely be her last. Halia wanted to make this a special holiday for her grandmother. I guess she was forced to move into an assisted living facility five years ago and hasn’t really been happy since. After a bit of negotiation, Halia was able to get permission to have an artificial Christmas tree in her grandmother’s room. She brought a box of her grandmother’s old ornaments to the care facility so she could pick out the items she wanted to display. Unfortunately, when they sorted through the box, the Christmas ornament her grandmother most wanted to display was missing.”
“The angel,” Dad said.
Kekoa picked up the conversational thread. “The angel is actually a tree topper that Olga brought with her from Germany when she fled the country as World War II was just getting underway. She was nineteen at the time, and except for her grandmother, she was completely alone in the world. Her family was killed in a random act of violence and her grandmother could see that things were deteriorating, so she searched for and found passage for Olga from Germany to the United States. On the day Olga boarded the ship, her grandmother gave her the angel. She told Olga she would most likely never see her again, but that she loved her, and she was giving her the angel to keep her safe on her journey. She told her she needed to be brave and strong and never to look back, and according to Halia, that’s exactly what her grandmother did.”
“I guess that is pretty special,” Dad admitted.
“It really is,” I agreed. “According to Halia, Olga kept the angel close at hand, and every year, she would place her in a position of honor atop the family Christmas tree. When the family decided that Olga could no longer live on her own five years ago, they had her admitted to an assisted care facility. Until then, this tradition had never been broken.”
“The facility has a community Christmas tree in the gathering area, but having trees in the resident’s rooms is frowned upon,” Kekoa jumped in. “Halia pulled some strings and convinced the staff to make an exception. In hindsight, doing so has only brought to light the fact that the angel was not in the box with the other tree ornaments as Halia believed.”
“So she wants us to find it,” Dad said. “Does she have any idea what might have happened to it?”
“Actually, she does,” Kekoa answered. “Halia told me that she donated a lot of her grandmother’s stuff to the local church when she sold her house. Halia called the church to inquire about the angel, but the woman she spoke to was new. She told Halia that a lot of the items donated were sold at the yard sales the church holds several times a year in order to raise funds for special programs. She didn’t know for certain that the angel had been sold in this manner, but she did say that if the person accepting the donation at the time had decided to keep the angel, she would be stored with all the other keepsakes in the church attic. Halia hasn’t had time to look, but she said we were free to do so.”
“So, is this woman willing to pay us to look through boxes?” Dad asked.
“She is,” Kekoa answered. “I quoted her our regular hourly rate, which she agreed to. This seems to be very important to her.”
Dad looked at me. “I told your mother that I’d take some time off over the holidays, and I really think it’s important to keep my word and do so. However, if the two of you want to look for this angel, you have my blessing.” Dad picked his briefcase up. “Will I be seeing you both for Christmas Eve dinner?”
“We’ll be there,” I promised as he walked out the front door and into the already dark parking lot.
“So, what do you think?” Kekoa asked. “Should I call the woman back and tell her we’ll take the case? It’s just five days until Christmas, so time is of the essence.”
“I’m willing. I can even start this evening if the woman is available to be interviewed.”
“I’ll call her and set it up. I’ll even go with you.”
“I thought you had a date with Brad.”
Brad was Kekoa’s boyfriend. He worked with my brother, Jason, at the Honolulu Police Department, and it seemed as if the two of them had gotten serious over the past few months. In fact, the last time we spoke about it, Kekoa had mentioned that the two of them had plans for every evening until Christmas.
“I did, but I guess there’s some sort of flu going around, so a lot of the officers at HPD have called in sick. B
rad is working double shifts the next few days, so if you want to take on this case, I’m totally in to help out.”
“Okay. Call Halia and set up an interview. We don’t have a lot of time, and it doesn’t sound like we have a lot to go on, but we’ll do what we can.” I sighed as I looked out the window at the clear, dark night. “At least someone should have their Christmas wish come true,” I whispered so quietly that there was no way Kekoa could hear me.
Kekoa called Halia, who agreed to meet us in an hour. We decided to run back to the condo we shared to grab a bite to eat since neither of us had gotten around to having lunch that day. When we arrived, the lights were on in condo number four, which had been empty for months and months.
“It looks like we’re getting a new neighbor,” I said.
“Yeah,” Kekoa agreed, smiling, while at the same time seeming to struggle to contain the smile. “Elva told me that there was someone new moving in.”
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
Kekoa slipped her key in the lock of unit one, which was the unit we shared.
“Nothing is going on,” she said, opening the door.
“I’ve known you my whole life, and I can tell when something’s going on.” I turned the light on.
Kekoa tossed her purse on the dining table. “What could possibly be going on?”
I opened the refrigerator. “I’m not sure, but I recognize that half-smile of yours.” I pulled out the ingredients for sandwiches. “If I had to guess, this new neighbor is good looking and single, and you and Elva have cooked up some sort of matchmaking scheme even though I’ve told you a million times that I’m not interested in being matched.”
“There’s no matchmaking going on, I promise.” Kekoa held both hands up. “I know that you’ve been struggling with the way things were left with Luke and that you need time to reconcile all those feelings before moving on.”
Luke Austin, the love of my life, was supposed to marry me this past summer, but he got stuck in Texas, helping with the family ranch after his father passed away. I hadn’t seen him in almost a year and hadn’t spoken to him in months. When he’d first gone home, he called every day, but as time wore on, and it became more and more apparent that his short trip would most likely become permanent, we’d basically drifted further and further apart. I knew Luke loved me, and I loved him, but there was no way our relationship could survive with us living on different landmasses, so my only option, it seemed, was to let him go. Of course, knowing that letting him go was the right thing to do and actually doing it were two different things.
“I totally understand that dealing with complex feelings can take time,” she added.
“I know you do.” After Kekoa’s boyfriend, Cam, had decided to move to LA, she’d been a total wreck, but then she met Brad and had been happier than I’d ever see her. Maybe there was hope for happiness in my future as well, but unlike Kekoa, who’d made the decision to move on, I wasn’t quite there yet. “It looks like we’re out of spicy mustard. Is regular okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Why don’t you take Sandy out, and I’ll make the sandwiches,” Kekoa suggested. “We can eat them on the way. I don’t want to be late.”
I did as Kekoa suggested and took my dog, Sandy, out for a short run along the beach. I usually took him to work with me, but today had been an odd day with a lot of running around, so I’d left him at home. As we passed condo number four, Sandy began yipping and wagging his tail.
“Does the new neighbor have a dog?” I asked, suspecting as much based on Sandy’s happy wiggle.
The unit was dark, and the blinds were pulled, but it seemed as if someone had begun the moving in process. Maybe I’d have the chance to meet them the following day.
By the time I returned to the condo, Kekoa was ready to go. I turned the TV on for Sandy and promised not to be any longer than need be. I really did feel bad about leaving him home alone, but there were times when leaving him at home was really the only option.
“Where does our new client live?” I asked as we headed west and then south.
“Wahiawa. I have the address if you want to punch it into the GPS on your phone.”
I did as Kekoa suggested since she was driving.
“I guess we’ll get as much information as we can this evening and then plan to dedicate the entire day tomorrow following up on leads. Hopefully, they’ll take us where we need to go.”
“I know it’s a longshot, but this seems important,” Kekoa said. “I’m glad you agreed to take on the case.”
I shrugged. “It does seem like a worthwhile case, and I suppose I do need a distraction. I guess you can tell that I haven’t been in the Christmas spirit this year.”
“I’ve noticed,” Kekoa said. “Maybe finding the angel will help with that as well.”
After we arrived at the address our new client had given Kekoa, we parked at the curb and walked up to the house. A middle-aged woman answered the door and invited us in. Her home was lovely, as were many of the homes in this area. She showed us into a room that appeared to be a family room and asked us to take a seat, then offered us iced tea and thanked us for coming.
“I know that tracking down a Christmas tree topper isn’t the type of case you usually take on, so I appreciate your willingness to do so,” she began. “I really want this Christmas to be special for Grandma, and I know it won’t be if I can’t find the angel.”
“You said that you believe that the angel was last stored in the attic with the other tree ornaments,” I said.
She nodded. “Grandma is a bit of a packrat. After we decided that she really needed to be in assisted living, my cousin and I went through the attic. I thought I saved all the Christmas decorations, but I didn’t sort through each and every box to make certain I had them all. When I had the idea to set up the tree in Grandma’s room, I decided to use her old ornaments, but the angel wasn’t in the Christmas boxes. I looked and looked for her, but she just isn’t in the stuff we kept.”
“Does your grandmother remember where she last left the angel?” I asked.
“She swears the angel was in one of the boxes in the attic, but as I said, I didn’t find her, so now I’m worried that she was in one of the boxes I donated.” The woman looked genuinely distressed. “I know that I should have taken the time to look through every box, but there was just so much, and I was in a hurry. I’m afraid all I really did was pop the top off of each box, took a peek at the contents on top, and then sorted the boxes into those to keep and those to donate.”
“That’s understandable,” Kekoa said. “I called and spoke to a woman down at the church, and she said we could stop by and look through the decorations left in the storeroom. It will be somewhat easier since most of the church’s decorations are on display. Lani and I plan to head over to the church the first thing in the morning.”
“Do you have a photo of the angel?” I asked.
“Several.” She got up, walked over to a table, and picked an envelope up. “I made copies of the photos I have featuring the angel on the top of the tree. Grandma took a photo of her tree every year, so I had a lot, although the older photos were slides. I picked out the four where the angel shows up the most clearly.”
I opened the envelope and looked inside. The angel really was gorgeous. This wasn’t a cheap tree topper like the ones you’d find at the local big box store. If I had to guess, an angel tree topper of this quality and age would be worth a lot of money if she was sold as an antique.
“Okay. Is there anything else you can tell us that might help us narrow down our search?” I asked.
“Not really,” the woman said. “I just feel so bad. I’m afraid if I can’t find that angel, Grandma’s last Christmas will be a sad rather than a joyful one. I know finding her at this point is a longshot, but anything you can do will be appreciated.”
“What time did you tell the woman from the church we’d be by tomorrow?” I asked Kekoa as we drove back toward our condo.
“Eight works for me.” I turned and looked out the window at the clear, starry night. “There’s something about that angel that seems familiar.”
Kekoa turned her head slightly. “I agree. I feel like I’ve seen her before, but I’m not sure where.”
“I’ve never visited the church Halia donated the items from her grandma’s attic to, so I couldn’t have seen her there. Maybe on one of the trees set up around the island.”
“Maybe. If that’s the case, there are going to be a lot of trees to check.”
Kekoa was right. If someone from one of the dozens of resorts, malls, or community centers on the island bought the angel from the church to use for their display, it was going to take a whole lot of Christmas magic to track down the right tree out of the hundreds on display.
As planned, Kekoa and I were on the road early the following day. Since it was likely we’d be gone for a good part of the day, I didn’t want Sandy to have to stay home alone for such an extended period, so I’d taken him to Jason’s house this morning. Besides, I knew he’d have a lot of fun playing with Jason’s children while we were away, and if Sandy was happy, I was happy.
When we first arrived at the church, we took a tour just to make certain that the angel wasn’t on display. I hoped it would be that easy, but, of course, it wasn’t. We showed the woman who worked in the office a photo of the angel and told her the story. She made a copy of the photo and volunteered to ask around. Once we’d looked through the boxes in the attic where the decorations that hadn’t been used this year were stored, we thanked the woman and prepared to leave.
“You know,” she said, “I work most of the yard sales, and I do remember a woman donating a lot of boxes from her grandmother’s attic. I don’t remember the angel specifically, but I do remember that a woman named Beatrice bought several boxes of Christmas decorations before the sale to the public even started. She said she volunteered at the teen center, and the group planned to implement a community service project that included groups who planned to decorate trees in the area. I don’t know for certain that any of the boxes she purchased came from the attic of the woman whose angel you are hoping to find, but you might want to talk to her.”
