Christmas by Accident
Page 14
He heard a voice.
“Hello? Carter? Are you there?”
One ring, two rings, three rings . . . only this time there was a click, a connection, and static.
“Hello? Carter?” Abby said. “Are you there?” The line crackled. “Carter, where are you?” She raised her volume. “Can you hear me?” Her eyes flooded.
Then she heard him cough. She listened to him rustle. Finally, he spoke. “Abby?” His voice was distant, weak.
“Carter, I’m here! Where are you? What’s happened?”
More coughing. More static. His words slurred, and she struggled to stitch the syllables together.
“Carter, I can’t hear you very well. Can you repeat that? I can’t understand!”
He choked out the plea again, but the sounds broke into nonsensical noise—a piece here, a word there. Then the connection dropped, the line went dead, and hope fell to the cold hospital tile and shattered.
Abby frantically redialed, waited for the line to connect, slumped when it clicked immediately over to voice mail.
“What did he say?” Seven asked. “Could you understand anything?”
Abby’s hands shook. She answered Seven as she dialed Carter again. “It was hard to make out what he was saying,” she said, “but I think he said that he loves me, but then . . .” Her face glowed with worry.
“Abby, what is it?”
She was trying to make sense, trying to glue his meaning together. “Seven, he said he wanted me to know that he chooses Christmas.”
Carter could no longer bend his fingers. He’d finally stopped shivering, but he knew that was not a positive sign. He pushed the horn one last time, but the duck was dead. He waited for his phone, but it no longer rang. He would have cried, but the cold would allow no more tears.
Mannie had asked Carter for help writing his obituary. Carter’s final regret was that he didn’t get to write his own.
How will I be remembered?
Before he had met Abby, the answer was easy: Carter Cross was a man who realized that Christmas is too commercial, that people’s motivations are often not pure. He died alone, with an empty heart, but sure in the knowledge that he was right.
But those words were no longer true. Since he had met Abby, his life had changed. His sleepy lips now barely moved, scarcely mouthed the message he longed to leave: Carter Cross was a man who discovered hope, who learned that belief can be a choice. While it’s true that he died alone—because at times that’s how life turns out—he also died content, a Christmas convert, thanks to Abby McBride.
And let it be known that just before he died, Carter Cross smiled.
In Carter’s dream there was a distant white light. Someone was softly calling out his name.
“Carter Cross! Carter Cross!”
The light grew brighter, hotter. His name got louder.
“I see him! He’s over here!”
There was a gruff man shouting directions. He was wearing a uniform and a badge that read Massachusetts Highway Patrol. “Get the blankets out of my car! We’ve got to get him warmed up!”
Carter heard sirens and voices and a sound like a lawn mower running beside his ear. There was metal crunching, glass breaking—and the sensation of being carried away.
He woke up enough in the ambulance to realize what was happening and asked how they had been able to find him. The attendant said they had tracked the signal from his phone, then told him to rest, that he needed his strength.
Carter closed his eyes, swearing that in the distant reaches of his head, he could still hear the soft ringing of “Santa Baby.”
Carter was taken to Harrington Hospital, where doctors found him to be in surprisingly good shape. His legs were bruised but not broken. The frostbite on his fingers was largely superficial. The laceration on his head was minor. They called in a plastic surgeon to stitch up his wound and expected a full recovery on all counts. They insisted he stay overnight as a precaution, pumped him full of fluids, and released him the next afternoon to the care of one Abby McBride.
She drove him from one hospital to another, and, as they entered Mannie’s room, a Christmas party was forming. Rosa and Seven showed up with a small tree, decorations from the store, and two gallons of André’s Christmas eggnog. André and his wife soon followed with an array of desserts so decadent, a rotation of nurses kept dropping in to check on Mannie.
Rosa led everyone in singing Christmas carols and even threatened to climb up on the bedside table to dance until a nurse explained it would never hold her weight.
Carter refused to let go of Abby’s hand—or was it she who wouldn’t let go of his?
Later, when the room was still, after the laughter had drifted away, the desserts were long gone, and the nurses rested quietly at their stations, “O Holy Night” began to play over the hospital’s speakers. Carter glanced down at sleepy Abby and whispered, “This will always be the most incredible and sacred Christmas of my life.”
But she would have none of it. “Oh, no, Carter!” Abby corrected. “Every Christmas is wonderful in its own unique way. Just wait!”
A Santa-sized smile wrapped Carter’s face because he absolutely believed her. Like a boy giddy with the anticipation of imagining what could be wrapped in the boxes under the family’s lighted tree, Carter could hardly wait to see what the future would bring.
It was then that Abby leaned close, so close her mouth nearly touched Carter’s ear. “Merry Christmas, Carter Cross,” she breathed, but before he could reply Merry Christmas back to her, she twisted his head ever so slightly to press her lips quietly against his.
He would later—when trying to describe the sensation to her—talk about swirling colors of crimson, amber, and gold, except this time the flooding colors stirred delicately together with melodic music, cool breezes, fresh-picked strawberries, and billowing sheets of beckoning silk—oh, and rivers: deep, flowing rivers of warm, dark chocolate.
Two Months Later
“Here we go!” Abby giggled to Mannie as the old organ drew a breath and began to bellow Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.” Abby’s eyes seeped sunlight as Mannie gave her hand a proper squeeze.
“Let’s do it!” he directed.
And then, in front of a full but hushed audience at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Springfield, Abby pushed Mannie down the aisle so he could give her away in proper fashion to Carter Cross in front of a waiting crowd of family and friends.
Rosa sat beside Lenny, and both profusely wept. Seven and Rick kissed. Yin, the country’s newest citizen, cheered. André and Ziva hugged as Carter and Abby cut the most spectacular twelve-layered, white-chocolate wedding cake ever created. Lorella and Joel agreed it was a wedding that bested theirs, since no one needed to run off to the airport in the middle of the party.
A month to the day after the wedding, Mannie McBride quietly passed away at home, with Carter and Abby by his side. Naturally, tears were shed, but it was a day that was surprisingly peaceful. Late in the afternoon, after the funeral home had respectfully taken Mannie’s body away, Abby found an envelope on the bedside table that read Mannie’s Obituary.
“Let it be known that I, Mannie Foster McBride, was blessed with an extraordinary life. I’ve read Hemingway from the heights of Kilimanjaro. I’ve studied Pliny from the Colosseum’s steps in Rome. I’ve eaten pupusas in the untamed jungles of El Salvador and Irish stew as I overlooked the Cliffs of Moher. Though I’ve been brought to tears by the sheer majesty of our world, its grandeur is but a shovelful of soil compared to the mountain of contentment that a tiny and timid three-year-old rag doll of a girl heaped onto my blessed life. She taught me that the miracle isn’t in what we accomplish in our lives, but in the relationships we nurture. In place of listing undeserved accolades, let us simply remember to: LaughMore, for laughter is the window through which we glimpse the joy of God;
HopeMore, because tomorrow life will give us another chance; GiveMore, for when we share our time, we share our most prized possession; ForgiveMore, because as we forgive others, we learn to also forgive ourselves; and LoveMore, for while faith may have the power to move mountains, love has the remarkable power to change the human heart.”
Eighteen Months Later
The ReadMore Café had never looked more festive, especially on the first Monday in October—but Carter insisted they get a head start on the holiday season.
Abby crafted her trademark display of Christmas books, though it was not an easy job for a woman with a protruding pregnant belly that kept knocking things over. This year, an exciting new addition completed the tree: a book just published by a small New England Press. It was a story that Carter had hoped to call The Christmas Carol, Angel, Box, Wish—because all the best nouns are taken, but the publisher considered the name ridiculous and changed it to Christmas by Accident.
It didn’t matter. It was a story authored by Carter and Abby Cross about a man who had loved Christmas as a little boy, but as he grew older forgot its meaning for a time, distracted by the cynicism of the world. He remembered the magic of the season when an accident nearly snatched everything away.
As Carter helped Abby straighten the display, a customer entered, spied the Christmas books already out, and rolled his eyes into a scowl.
“Isn’t it a bit early?” the grumpy man said to Carter, letting his disgust shower across the room.
Carter’s lips turned up. It was his favorite question. “I used to think so,” he told the man, “until I met my wife—literally by accident—except that’s when I learned there are no accidents, only miracles, especially at Christmas. Let me buy you a piece of the most decadent double-chocolate dessert you’ll ever taste, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
I’ve been blessed with funny children. They have, in turn, married witty spouses. It only made sense when I needed humor for this story to rely on their wit and wisdom, for which I am sincerely grateful. I love you all.
Camron Wright has a master’s degree in Writing and Public Relations. He has owned several successful retail stores in addition to working with his wife in the fashion industry, designing for the McCall Pattern Company in New York.
Camron says he began writing to get out of attending MBA school, and it proved the better decision. He is the author of several acclaimed novels, including Letters for Emily, The Rent Collector, The Orphan Keeper, and The Other Side of the Bridge. Learn more about Camron and his books at AuthorCamronWright.com.
1 package (3.4 oz.) instant
French vanilla pudding mix
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ginger
⅛ teaspoon allspice
5 cups milk (whole or 2%)
¾ cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon rum extract (optional)
Combine dry pudding mix, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice; mix together well.
Combine milk, cream, maple syrup, vanilla, and rum extract in a large bowl. Slowly hand whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients until mixed thoroughly. (Do not use a blender.)
Refrigerate for at least one hour to thicken (two or three hours is better). Stir well. (If the consistency is thicker than desired, add ½ to 1 cup milk to thin.)
Pour into cups, garnish each with a spoonful of cinnamon whipped cream (next page), sprinkle with freshly ground nutmeg, and enjoy!
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup cream
In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In a separate bowl, whip cream with beaters or hand whisk while slowly adding dry ingredients. Whip until soft peaks form. (Don’t over whip.)
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Before you begin baking, be sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. They will mix more easily and the finished cheesecakes will have a smoother texture.
Crust:
Purchase a package of your favorite chocolate wafer cookies. (For a gluten-free option, omit the crust, letting the bottom chocolate cheesecake layer become the crust.)
Cheesecake Filling:
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Chocolate Filling:
1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
For Peppermint Filling:
1 cup crushed peppermint candy canes
(approximately 6 large candy canes)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Sour Cream Topping:
1¼ cups sour cream
⅓ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Garnish:
Chopped peppermint candies and chocolate chunks.
Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Put paper liners in 24 muffin cups. Put a chocolate wafer cookie in each muffin cup.
Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, just until blended. Fold in sour cream and vanilla. Divide batter between two bowls. Mix melted chocolate into one bowl. Stir crushed peppermint candies and extract into the other bowl of batter.
Put a spoonful of chocolate filling into the bottom of each muffin cup over crust. Carefully smooth until even with a small knife. Spoon peppermint filling over chocolate layer to cover until the cups are almost full. Smooth with knife as before.
Bake 18–20 minutes, being careful to not overbake. Centers should still look soft. They set up as they cool. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate uncovered several hours to overnight.
Mix ingredients together by hand for sour cream topping. Remove cheesecakes from liners and arrange on serving tray. Spoon sour cream topping over each cheesecake and smooth with back of spoon.
Garnish with chopped chocolate and peppermint pieces. Refrigerate until set, at least one hour.
Makes 24.
2 cups milk (whole milk preferred)
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces quality dark chocolate, chopped (approximately 72% cocoa)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup quality caramel sauce, divided (Torani brand, if available)
4–5 gingersnap cookies, crushed
Whipped cream
Mix milk and heavy cream in a medium saucepan and heat on medium-low, stirring occasionally, until just before the mixture simmers (the edges will barely begin to bubble). Use a large enough saucepan to ensure it isn’t more than half full.
Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted. Whisk in brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and ½ cup of the caramel sauce. Continue to heat for two or three minutes, whisking occasionally. It will thicken slightly. (If it begins to boil, turn down the heat.)
Ladle hot cocoa into mugs until they are half to three-
quarters full. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle generously with gingersnap crumbles. Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce. Enjoy!
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