The Christmas Clock and A Song For My Mother: A Kat Martin Duo

by Kat Martin

  “Just the cost of the wood.” He ran a finger over the gabled roof of the house. “Thing is, Teddy thinks it would look better painted. He thought you might do it for him.”

  Her eyes lit with interest. She'd always had pretty eyes. She walked over to examine the birdhouse. “You know, it might look real good painted some nice, bright colors. I could make the house yellow and the shutters dark green, something like that, maybe a bright blue roof.”

  “That sounds good.” They talked a minute more and then Floyd left the little birdhouse sitting on the table and headed for the door. He walked out of the warm, steamy kitchen, though he didn't really want to. He was pushing open the back porch door when he heard Doris's voice.

  “Wait a minute, Floyd. Before you go back to the shop, why don't I make you a nice hot cup of tea?”

  Floyd turned, a smile breaking over his face. “That'd be nice, Doris. That'd be real nice on a cold day like this.”

  Syl sat across from Mary in the living room of Syl's apartment.

  “So how's it going with Joe?” Mary asked, the question that hovered in both of their minds.

  “We're still seeing each other at least three times a week. He's backed off a little, behaving like a real gentleman. He kisses me good night but that's it. I guess he doesn't want to rush me. It's starting to drive me insane.”

  Mary laughed. Her dark, shoulder-length hair got caught in the collar of her turtleneck sweater and she reached up and freed the strands. “Well, it's not like you two don't know each other well enough. Why don't you just jump him? That's what I finally had to do with Denny.”

  Syl smiled. “Actually, I've been thinking about it.”

  “So what's stopping you?”

  She sighed. “I'm not sure. For starters, this whole thing with Teddy. Joe wants kids. Once I realized I would never be able to have them, I sort of put up this wall where children are concerned. I still like them, of course, but I'm always careful to keep a certain distance.”

  “Teddy's a really great kid.”

  “I know.”

  “I heard Joe's applied for some kind of guardianship or something.”

  Syl nodded. “He's got a petition in front of the court to become Teddy's foster parent. I think he'd adopt the boy if he could. With Joe's felony, it's against state law but according to his lawyer, under certain circumstances, the judge can make an exception. I guess it doesn't happen very often.”

  “If you and Joe got married…”

  Syl held up a hand. “I can't, Mary. I'm not ready to even think about marriage. That's one of the problems with Joe and me. If he asked me to marry him now, how would I ever know if it was me he wanted or if he was just trying to maneuver the court?”

  “I think Joe loves you. I don't think he ever really stopped.”

  “The timing's just not good, Mary.”

  Mary studied Syl's face. “You ran away once before, Syl, and came to regret it. You'd be a fool to do it again.”

  Syl said nothing. Joe had made a couple of comments about marriage but she had purposely ignored them. He hadn't brought the subject up again, so it didn't really matter.

  Making love to him, however, had nothing to do with marriage. At least not these days.

  A knock sounded just then and Mary jumped up to answer the door. She checked the peephole first.

  “It's Joe!”

  “Well, let him in.”

  He walked in smiling, making Syl's breath catch, making her think how handsome he was and how much she wanted him to kiss her.

  “Hi, Mary.”

  “Hi, Joe.”

  “Hello, Syl...” He held out the bundle wriggling in his arms. “I brought you something. You don't have to keep it if you don't want to.”

  She took a step toward him, saw that it was a puppy, black and white, with short, curly hair and a small, black button nose.

  “Oh, Joe! He's adorable.” She took the dog from his arms and cradled it in her own. The puppy looked up at her with big brown, liquid eyes that seemed to beg for a home.

  “They're nothing but trouble," Mary warned. “But I'll take him if you don't want him.”

  “Not a chance!” Syl smiled up at Joe. “What kind of dog is it?”

  “A male, some kind of terrier-poodle mix. He's definitely not purebred, so if that matters…”

  “Not to me.”

  Joe readied over and scratched the puppy's ears. “Cute little devil, isn't he? They've got a lot of animals that need homes out at the pound. He's had his shots and been neutered and everything.”

  Mary flicked a glance at Joe. “Listen, you two dog lovers, I've got to run.” She winked at Syl. “Remember what I said.” And then she was gone, the door shut firmly behind her.

  “So what'd she say?” Joe asked, taking the puppy from her arms and setting him down on the floor.

  Why don’t you just jump him? Syl hoped he wouldn't notice the color seeping into her cheeks. “Nothing. Just girl talk.”

  Joe turned back to the dog. “We're going to need some newspapers. He's already trained to use them. That's the first step, I guess. We can spread them on the kitchen floor.”

  Syl took care of the job while Joe went down to the car and got the dog food, water bowl, and bed he had bought.

  “I've never had a dog,” Syl said, grinning at the darling puppy sniffing around her feet.

  “I remembered you saying way back when that you'd always wanted one. I was hoping you'd like him.”

  “I love him. Thank you, Joe.”

  “So what are you going to name him?”

  “I'll have to think about it.” The puppy wandered around the house, checking out his new home, then climbed into his cozy little basket bed, curled up on the pillow in the bottom, and went to sleep. “Maybe I'll call him Lucky. It's lucky for me you gave him to me.”

  Joe chuckled. “It's luckier for him and I hope you're still saying that next week.” He gazed down at the dog. “Looks like he's already making himself at home. I envy the little guy ... getting to sleep in your apartment.”

  Syl stared up at him, saw the warmth in his eyes, went up on her toes, and kissed him. It was a simple kiss, a thank-you. But the taste of him was heady and when she parted her lips, the kiss turned deep and yearning, a thorough exploration unlike any of his kisses before.

  Suddenly Syl had more than a thank-you in mind. She felt hot all over as if she wanted to climb into his skin. When Joe tried to ease away, she slid her arms around his neck and wouldn't let him go.

  “We're both adults,” she whispered between soft, nibbling kisses, the words he'd said to her before. “We can do whatever we want.”

  Joe caught her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. She could read his hesitation and his hope. “Are you sure, Syl?”

  “I'm not... not really sure of anything right now. But I want this, Joe. I want you. Make love to me ... please.”

  She didn't have to ask him twice. While the puppy snoozed in its basket, Joe swept her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

  “I want to see you,” he said, ignoring the curtains since the room was upstairs. “Watch your face when I'm inside you.”

  “Joe ...” she whispered, reaching up to touch the hard line of his jaw, settling her mouth over his, and kissing him softly.

  Joe helped her out of her clothes, and she helped him out of his, admiring his beautiful body, the muscles that were thicker now, the scars here and there that made him look even more masculine.

  The wind blew outside, rattling the branches against the window panes, and the first flakes of snow began to fall. Winter would soon be upon them. Christmas was not far away. As Syl welcomed Joe into her body, felt the rightness of it, felt the powerful connection she knew she would never feel with another man, she thought that God had given her an early present that blustery November day.

  Thanksgiving came but it wasn't the same as before. The family Teddy was staying with, the Macks, bought their Thanksgiving dinner down at King'
s Supermarket. The food tasted okay but he missed his gramma's turkey with raisin and walnut stuffing and her homemade punkin' pies.

  Teddy got to stop by her house for a while that Thursday afternoon but the lady who lived with her had bought the same dinner from King's he'd already eaten. He guessed no one cooked much, anymore.

  He wondered what Joe got to eat. He wondered if he'd had Thanksgiving with Miss Winters. Teddy knew Joe liked Miss Winters a lot and Teddy liked her, too. She was always so nice to him and when he talked, it seemed she really listened.

  He hadn't seen Joe for a while. The Macks didn't think it was a good idea for an eight-year-old to work in an auto shop, so he'd had to give up his after-school job. And they had told Joe not to stop by anymore.

  Teddy wasn't sure why that was but he overheard Mrs. Mack call Joe a jailbird in a nasty kind of way. The last time Teddy had seen his friend, Joe had said for Teddy to keep his hopes up, that he had hired a lawyer who was trying to find a way for Teddy to come and live with him. Every night before he went to bed, Teddy prayed it would happen.

  Joe was his very best friend. Teddy had never had a father but if he could pick one, he would pick Joe.

  “Teddy! You get down here right now! You're going to be late for school!”

  “Coming!” Teddy raced down the stairs into the kitchen, hoping Mrs. Mack wasn't scowling, but she was. He had only seen her smile a couple of times, maybe because she had two other kids and they never did anything she said. Teddy tried to do everything she wanted, but even when he did, she wasn't happy.

  Tonight, he would pray even harder that the lawyer would fix it so he could go home with Joe.

  A snowstorm hit the first week of December but the snow melted away, leaving only a dry, brittle cold. Doris put the second coat of paint on Floyd's little wooden birdhouse with extra special care. It was for Teddy and she wanted it to look just right. She added a couple of finishing touches and stepped back to survey the finished product.

  As she had planned, the walls of the little house were yellow but she'd decided to make the shutters a brighter shade of green. The roof she changed to red, which really set it off—or at least Doris thought so. When she heard Floyd wiping his feet outside the back porch, her stomach did a funny little twist. It was silly, but she wanted him to like what she had done.

  “Thought I'd wind up a little early,” he said. “Need to get some Christmas shopping done.”

  Doris nervously bit her lip, waiting for Floyd to notice the birdhouse. When she made no sound, his gaze swung to where she stood next to the table and he spotted the bright yellow house.

  He didn't say a word, just walked over and stood in front of it, studied it from several different angles. Doris held her breath.

  “You know, that boy was right. Birdhouse looks a whole lot better all painted up this way.”

  She relaxed, gave him a bright, sunny smile. “I was hoping you'd like it.”

  Careful not to touch the still-wet paint, Floyd turned the birdhouse around to examine the back. “Teddy's gonna love it and I think Syl will, too.” He scratched the fringe of hair that rimmed his bald head. “You know, if you could find time to do a few more of these, we might try selling them down at the merc. I got a hunch they would go over real well.”

  Surprise widened her eyes. “You think so?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Well, you always did have a good head for business.”

  He glanced down at the toes of his work boots. “If you wanted ... we could set up a table out in my shop. That way, you wouldn't have to put all your paints away every night when you got finished.”

  Her heart started thrumming, hammering with something that felt oddly like hope. “You'd let me work with you out in your shop?”

  He shrugged his beefy shoulders. “We used to work together every day.”

  “Yes, we did.”

  “Used to be kind of fun.”

  Doris felt an unexpected burning behind her eyes. It took a moment to realize that it was the sting of tears. She turned away, dashed them off her cheeks with the hem of her apron, hoping Floyd wouldn't see.

  She gave him another sunny smile. “Well, we could certainly give it a try ... if you think you can find a table out there for me to use.”

  “I've got a couple I think will do. If it works out, we might want to get us a real heater in there ... maybe one of those fancy jobs that's an air conditioner, too. That way, it wouldn't get too hot for you in the summer.”

  He was thinking that far ahead? That she would be with him out there in the summer? Doris said a silent, grateful prayer. “And we could still use the old stove,” she added, “maybe put a tea kettle out there so we could make ourselves a nice cup when we felt like it.”

  Floyd smiled so wide that little crinkles formed beside his eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him smile that way. “Yeah, a little tea in the afternoon is always a good idea.”

  Doris’s smile was equally bright.

  It wasn’t Christmas yet, but that didn’t matter. Floyd had just given her the best Christmas present she had received in years.

  10

  Syl dropped by the repair shop after work. Dr. Davis's office closed half an hour before the garage closed up, so she figured Joe would still be there. She thought she would see if he wanted to go get a pizza or something.

  Syl smiled as she walked toward the glass front door beneath the new sign that read Dixon's Auto Repair. The name change was Bumper Murdock's early Christmas present to Joe, though Bumper would still be part owner until Joe's last payment, which was due next June.

  Since that afternoon in her apartment, Joe had been spending most of his nights at her place and it had been wonderful. He was everything she remembered him to be and so much more, a man now instead of a boy.

  She was in love with him, she knew, and sometimes the fear arose. What if Joe's feelings for her weren't the same as hers were for him? What if his image of the girl she had been didn't match the woman she had become?

  She tried to face her fears, which she handled okay most of the time. Today, they were nowhere in sight and she just wanted to be with Joe.

  She walked into the shop to find Bumper Murdock standing next to his son, Charlie. They were cookie-cutter images, two men built like fireplugs, except that Bumper had a roll around his middle that hung over his pants, and his dark brown hair was studded with silver.

  “Hi, Bumper! Hi, Charlie!”

  “Hey, Syl!” Charlie called back to her and Bumper waved.

  She glanced around, looking for Joe.

  “He ain't here," Bumper said. “Had an appointment with that attorney he hired. Should be back, though, anytime soon.”

  “I think I'll wait.”

  She didn't have to wait long. Joe walked through the back door, and the instant she saw him, she knew something was wrong.

  She hurried over, meeting him halfway across the shop. “What happened? Is it Teddy?”

  Joe's jaw hardened. “The court turned down my petition. Said with my criminal record, it was too much of a risk.”

  “Oh, Joe.” He walked into the waiting area and sank down heavily on the sofa. Syl followed him in and so did Bumper and Charlie.

  “That's a load of crap,” Bumper said. “You were a kid back then. You're not like that now.”

  “The judge said if the court was to err, it had to be on the side of safety. They have to protect the kid.”

  It was a good argument, though in this case, the best place for Teddy was with Joe.

  “So what are you gonna do?” Charlie asked.

  “I don't know. The lawyer says we might be able to file an appeal but even if we do…” He broke off, shook his head, swallowed. “I've got to tell Teddy. It isn't fair to keep his hopes up.”

  “Will the Macks let you see him?” Syl asked, her heart aching for Joe. Until this moment, she had secretly believed the court would grant him custody. Joe was meant to be a father. Knowing she cou
ld never give him the children he deserved was one of the reasons she had ended their engagement. Joe loved children and he loved Teddy. There couldn't be a better man to become Teddy's father.

  “I called Bill Mack. I told him the petition had been denied and asked if he would let me come over and talk to Teddy. Mack said it was okay.”

  He looked at her, and she could see the pain etched into his face. “God, Syl, what am I going to say to him? I let Teddy believe he could count on me and now I'm letting him down.”

  “You tried, Joe. You did your best. That's all anyone can do.”

  He didn't answer her, just leaned over and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. “I need to go over there now. I'll call you when I'm finished.”

  “You want me to go with you?"

  He shook his head. “Thanks, but I need to do this alone.”

  Syl understood. Her heart was hurting, aching for Joe. And for little Teddy. She watched Joe walk away, his broad shoulders slumped in a way she had rarely seen them.

  She wished so much there was something she could do.

  Joe knocked on the door of the Macks' two-story brick home and waited for someone to answer. The house was in a middle-class neighborhood, the inside kept fairly clean. But there was something missing in this house, something Joe couldn't quite put a name to.

  From what Joe had seen on his few brief visits, the two Mack kids had little respect for their parents. Which was maybe because the parents paid little attention to their kids. He wondered if they were doing the temporary foster home thing for the extra money or to prove to themselves they weren't really the rotten parents they seemed.

  Whatever the reason, Joe hated that Teddy was there. Now that the petition had been denied, the court would find the boy a permanent placement. Joe prayed it was a better home than the one the Macks provided.

  The odds weren't good. The system was overcrowded. Kids had to take what they could get. Joe tried not to think where Teddy might wind up.

  The door swung open just then and Teddy appeared in the opening. Joe's stomach knotted. “Hey, kid.”