"Mignon, there's a lot to do. Now just reach down into your very
depths and summon up the courage to tackle this most arduous task." Mignon's eyes narrowed. "You can be so mean sometimes." "Mothers are supposed to be mean."
Vic entered the dining room. "All right, what next?"
"Bring the tree in. But you can't do that until your little sister here, I amend that to your afflicted little sister, puts together the base."
"Make you a deal," Vic spoke to Mignon. "I'll do the base if you put on the lights."
"I hate that job."
"You hate every job. Take your pick."
"If we did the lights together, it would take half the time," Mignon bargained.
"If we did the lights together, I'd wind up doing them all."
"No. We'd divide the strands up. You take half, and I take half. I'll have to finish my half no matter what. Now that's fair."
"All right."
R. J. laughed, "Mignon, you'll wind up in politics."
Three hours later, the huge Douglas fir, sturdy in its base, lit by strands of colored lights, dominated the corner of the living room farthest from the fireplace. Piper had already made a bed under it.
R. J., Vic, and Mignon carried out the boxes of Christmas balls, stored in the basement in a huge wooden chest. A few of the orna-
ments dated from the late 1800s, and one was from 1861 and was
dubbed "the war ball." Most were from the 1950s when R. J.'s mother had gone on a Christmas buying spree.
They started with the inside of the tree limbs and worked their way out. That's how Vic and Mignon had put on the lights. Doing it this way created depth, fullness. R. J. allowed no shortcuts.
After all the balls were in place, the process would be repeated with icicles. Then the golden garlands would be wound around the outside, top to bottom, and finally the large gold star would be placed on the top.
The mantelpieces were draped in pine garlands studded with holly and shiny red and gold Christmas balls.
In the wide center hall, also adorned with garlands, mistletoe hung from the beautiful, hand-blown nineteenth-century light fixture. A children's sleigh, filled with teddy bears, sat at the end of the hall.
Just as the setting sun turned the James as red as a holly berry, the three women finished the tree.
R. J. took a step back. "Ladies, what do you think?"
"The best, really, Mom, the best tree we've ever had," Vic said. Mignon walked around it. "Piper thinks so, too."
The thump thump of a dog tail punctuated Mignon's observation.
R. J. walked to the long windows overlooking the river. The hand-blown glass in the small square panes was a little wavy in places. "The winter solstice. Always brings a mixture of melancholy and hope."
Mignon, now standing next to her mother, said, "'Cause we get a minute more of daylight each day after today?"
"Yes, but the worst part of winter is still ahead of us, so the melancholy." She put her arm around Mignon's waist. "I'm lucky to have such wonderful daughters."
"Oh, Mom." Mignon hugged her.
"You're looking so beautiful these days, Mignon." R. J. hugged her back.
"My sister, the movie star," Vic called out as she stacked up the empty boxes to take them back to the basement.
"You two put those away, and I'll make us some mulled wine. We've earned it."
Vic and Mignon were still in the basement when Charly arrived. When R. J. opened the front door, he presented her with an enormous floral centerpiece for the hall. He dashed back to the car and returned with his arms filled with presents. R. J. led him into the living room, where she took the presents out of his arms, one by one, putting them under the tree, where Piper sniffed each one.
"Why, it's Santa Claus." She kissed him on the cheek. "Here, let me take your coat, come on in the kitchen."
They both heard the two sisters thunking up the wooden stairs, laughing uproariously about the Virgin Mary's latest transformation.
"Charly!" Vic hurried over and gave him a big hug and a kiss.
"Merry Christmas, beautiful." He kissed her back; then he released her and gave Mignon a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Merry Christmas to you, Mignon. Another beautiful Savedge to kiss."
"No wonder you like coming here." Vic pulled out a chair for him.
"No, no, let's sit in the living room like civilized people," R. J. said. She glanced out the kitchen windows. "God, look at that sky, will you? What a show."
Flames of scarlet, orange, and melon curled high in the sky, the place on the horizon where the sun had set vibrating a deep red. At the edges of this wide expanse, the clouds tinged with pink would soon be scarlet, too.
"Let me run upstairs and get Charly's present." Vic dashed up the stairs.
"Me, too." Mignon followed.
They fetched the present and then hurried down the wide front staircase to meet Charly and R. J., who had carried the warm wine into the living room.
"I'll just put this under the tree until you go. You can't open it until Christmas morning." Vic knelt down, placing a large silver package with a red ribbon under the tree.
"Mine, too." Mignon did the same.
Charly sat on the sofa so Vic could sit next to him. R. J. and Mignon nestled in the large chairs opposite them. Outside the whole western sky was on fire.
"What a solstice!" R. J. exclaimed. "I just can't get over it."
They drank their wine and chatted about their holiday plans. "Mom, when's Dad coming home?" Mignon asked.
"Why, are you hungry?"
"I'm getting there."
"He'll be home in about a half an hour, unless someone detains him at the office. Charly, you'll stay and have dinner with us, won't you? Actually, you must. Having you here is the best present." She smiled her dazzling smile.
"He will." Vic squeezed his hand.
"Yay!" Mignon reluctantly followed her mother into the kitchen. R. J. was giving her the high sign.
"Outnumbered," Charly sighed in mock defeat.
R. J. stuck her head back in the living room. "Are you starved, or can you hold out for a little bit?"
"Hold out," Charly called back.
When R. J. returned to the kitchen and Charly felt secure that Mignon wouldn't pop back in or spy on them, he wrapped his arms around Vic, giving her a long kiss. "Merry Christmas, baby."
"Merry Christmas to you, too."
"Okay, you have to open one present now. The others can wait until Christmas morning." He rose and walked to the tree.
"Others, Charly?"
"Beautiful women need to be spoiled." He beckoned her to the tree. "You have to open this one now." He pointed to a small, dark green velvet box, silver icicles glittering over it.
Hesitantly, she untied the thin red satin ribbon. She opened the box. Nestled in black velvet a five-carat marquise diamond glistened in a platinum setting, the cold light almost blue in its pure brilliance.
"Oh, my God!" Vic almost dropped the box, then juggled it to her breast safely.
"It was my grandmother's."
"Charly, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. My God. I don't know what to say. 1, oh . ." She couldn't help herself. She slipped it on her finger, and it fit perfectly. "I cannot believe it." She threw her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately. "I cannot believe it. Oh, Charly, it really is the most beautiful thing."
He laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen you this way."
"Oh, I don't know what to say."
Gracefully, for he was so graceful, he dropped to his right knee, took her right hand, and kissed it. "Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"
Vic froze. The tears spilled out of her eyes. She couldn't stop them as she struggled to speak. "Oh, Charly, let's get through your last semester."
"Is that a yes?"
"That's a delay." She removed the ring and pressed it back in his palm.
"Victoria, I love you. I will always love you until the day I die.
The ring is yours. You come to me when you're ready."
"Honey." She knelt down, facing him, throwing her arms around his neck. "You are the best man in the world. You are the only man I would ever marry. It's just well, I've gotten thrown out of school. I need to get a job."
"I'll take care of you." He kissed her again. "I've told you that. You just need to believe me."
"I want to take care of myself. I don't want to be a burden." "You could never be a burden."
"Well, I want to earn my keep. I can't live the life that your mother lived or mine even."
"I know that."
"Let me work this semester. When you graduate, then we'll do the right thing."
He placed the ring back on her finger. "I can't live without you."
"I love you. Whatever happens in our lives, just know that I love you."
Outside a truck horn sounded.
"I'll get it," Mignon called from the kitchen, and dashed through the hall and out the front door.
Charly and Vic got to their feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body to his, and kissed him. "I will never forget this Christmas."
"Well, since you haven't given me a clear yes, may I assume it's a clear maybe?"
"Sure." She shuddered at her own cowardice.
"Mom, Vic!" Mignon yelled from the front yard. "Hurry up!"
Vic hurried out of the living room and down the hall. Mignon had left the front door open. "Mignon, what—?"
Charly came up behind her. They both walked outside to join R. J. and Mignon and beheld Edward Wallace behind the wheel of his new truck. Yolanda was in the back, looking festive in a little elf hat. She was munching on alfalfa, the best of the best, and as happy as she could be.
Edward, at his most expansive, stepped out of his truck, handing R. J. a very expensive bottle of brandy. "You deserve the best, R. J. A Merry Christmas to you. Oh, and a little something for the girls." He handed. Vic and Mignon each a bar of milk soap, wrapped with a red gingham ribbon.
"Edward, you come right on in now because we have a little something for you." R. J. put her arm around his shoulder.
"Poppy will be right back," Edward called to Yolanda, who paid no attention at all.
Piper, awake at last, dashed out, saw Yolanda, and set to barking. "That's enough out of you," Vic told her.
The excited dog stopped barking but decided to sit there and give Yolanda the evil eye.
Just as Vic was closing the door, she saw a pair of headlights speeding down the driveway. "Charly, I think it's Sissy."
It was, and she was hauling ass, too. She slowed a bit at the wide curve in the driveway, then straightened out, heading directly toward the side of her father's gorgeous blue-and-silver truck.
"Sissy, slow down!" Vic hollered.
Sissy, eyes straight ahead, rammed the truck so hard that Yolanda fell to her knees.
"Jesus Christ." Charly sprinted to Sissy.
"I'm fine. It's that goddamned cow I want to kill." Sissy pushed Charly in the chest. "Hamburger. Do you hear me, Poppy? Hamburger."
Vic swung up on the pickup and examined Yolanda, finding only a little scrape on her right front knee. "There, Yolanda, it's a long way from your heart."
Edward, glass in hand, for he'd been sampling his own brandy, charged outside. "You dipshit! You hear me, Sissy? Oh, Yolanda, how is my baby?"
"She's just fine, Mr. Wallace," Vic reassured him. "Scraped her knee."
He climbed up pretty fast for an old man. He ran his hands over her legs. "You're all right, sugarpie." Then he jumped off the truck like a man half his age. He pointed to Sissy, as R. J. bent down to pick up the brandy glass he'd thrown to the side. "Out of my will. This does it!"
"Who you calling a dipshit, you old windbag? You're too goddamned mean to die. You can take your will and shove it where the sun don't shine!" Clearly, Sissy was filled with holiday spirits of the liquid variety.
Edward ignored her. "R. J., do you have a place where I could leave my Yolanda? I don't feel I should drive her home under the circumstances. Someplace warm?"
R. J. thought. "You know, I think the girls could clear out the garden shed. There's a fence around it, Edward. She'll be tidy. I can throw a blanket over her. Girls." R. J.'s voice had the tone of command.
"Let me help." Charly hurried off with them.
Vic dashed back in the house and grabbed a jacket and gloves. It took them twenty minutes, but they got the garden shed in pretty good shape, making sure there would be nothing for Yolanda to step on, rub against, or eat.
R. J.—now helped by Frank, who had come home—kept the two warring Wallaces apart.
With gentleness, the gentleness of Joseph leading Mary toward the stable, Edward coaxed Yolanda toward the gardening shed. Charly and Frank both carried her alfalfa.
Yolanda settled right in. Mignon brought an old blanket, which they rigged up for her with a little rope that crossed over her chest and another one around her large middle. Yolanda might have been old,
but she was a very well-fed animal. A large bucket of fresh water was placed in the corner.
"Now, Edward, don't you worry about a thing. We'll crack the ice in her bucket in the morning. She'll have everything she needs," R. J. soothed him.
"If this truck can drive, I'm dumping it at Don's door, Frank, will you follow me?"
"I can follow you," Sissy suddenly offered.
"You can follow me to hell is what you can do." He turned his back to his youngest. "No Cadillac for you!"
This stung more than the threat of being cut out of the will. After .being used so many times, that one had grown stale.
"Isn't that hydraulic lift the prettiest piece of work you've ever seen?" The old man pressed the button, and the lift miraculously slid back up in place.
Luckily, Sissy's savagery had damaged the side of the truck, not the rear.
"Folks, you go on and eat. I'll eat when I get home." Frank kissed R. J. on the cheek, climbed back in his car, and followed Edward down the driveway—the Dodge ran pretty well, all things considered.
Sissy Stood in the middle of the driveway, her lower lip about to drag the ground. "I hate him. You just don't know how much I hate him and Georgia, too, the flaming hypocrite! Georgia has sex with young men. She pays them. I, at least, get volunteers!"
"Now, Sissy, let's discuss this later." R. J. blushed. "Would you like supper?"
"No, I want a new father and a new Cadillac and a handsome man to pay attention to me. If there's no handsome man, I'll settle for an ugly one with a big cock." She slammed her car door and backed down the driveway.
"Did she say what I thought she said?" Mignon's mouth hung wide open.
"You can catch flies that way." Vic laughed so hard her sides hurt. "She did." Charly wiped his brow more out of nervousness than overexertion.
"Well, darlings, suppertime," R. J. sang out. "Suppertime."
It wasn't until they were all seated that Mignon noticed the marquise diamond. "What a rock(
R. J. put down the serving fork and reached for her daughter's hand. "Honey, that is beautiful, stunning. That is the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen." Her eyes moistened. "Does this mean what I think it means?"
Vic cleared her throat. "Not exactly. It means we'll figure all this out when Charly graduates."
For a moment everyone was silent. Then Yolanda from the garden shed let out a glorious, happy "Moo."
T
he phone rang at ten-thirty on December 22. Until then it had been blissfully quiet . . . except for Yolanda. Vic and Mignon were out on a trip to the feed store. They bought a sack of high
protein mix, some corn, molasses, other grains, and asked GooGoo (so named because he ate GooGoo Clusters morning, noon, and night) to drop off a round bale for Yolanda. She wouldn't be going home anytime soon with Edward fearing for her life.
When Vic rolled back down the driveway an hour later, her mother opened the back door and said, "Vic, call Chris. She says it'
s important. I've got to run over to Regina Baptista's. Lisa has been picked up for shoplifting."
"What?" Vic was surprised, but Mignon, who remained silent, was not.
"I don't know how long I'll be. First order of business is settling down Regina, who is awash in an extravaganza of emotion. Then I'll carry mother and daughter down to your father. He'll do what's necessary."
Alma Mater Page 24
