Home in Time for Christmas

by Heather Graham

  Melody nearly spit coffee across the table. She choked, and coughed.

  Her mother patted her on the back.

  “Are you all right, dear?” Mona asked.

  “Fine,” she said.

  George wagged a finger at her. “And another thing I’m interested in is—black holes! Amazing. Magnetic properties of the earth combined with the technology of man.”

  “Help me, help me!” Keith teased.

  “All right, when you see me walking around with a giant fly head, I’ll quit, okay?” George asked.

  “Dear, speaking of flies, I think we will go to the Wicked Wiccan Christmas Ball tonight. Jake has a job playing there with the band, and the kids want to go,” Mona said.

  “Mom, what does that have to do with flies?” Melody asked.

  “Flies—fly. The concept of witches is that they can fly on broomsticks. Of course, we all know that’s not at all true, but…fly. And fly,” Mona explained.

  “Great logic, Mom,” Keith assured her.

  George groaned. “Really?”

  “Dad, it will be great,” Melody said.

  “Honestly, sir. I met the fellows last night with whom I’ll be playing. Quite fine. I think it will be tremendously enjoyable,” Jake said.

  “And what do you think of all this Wiccan malarkey?” George asked.

  “I think it’s amazing that we’ve come so far in American history that any man can practice any form of life or worship,” Jake said sincerely.

  George looked at Mona helplessly. “I suppose it is better, much better, than…well, than the old way.” He frowned. “Yes, we’ve come far. Yes, we’ve a long way to go.” His frown became a grin as he looked at his wife. “Yes, I think most of your Wiccan friends just really love dressing up in black, and looking like the real thing for their commercial stores,” George told her.

  “You’re going to have to behave,” Mona said primly.

  “I intend to behave. I’m never rude, Mona.”

  “Not purposely, but you can’t laugh when someone says that they’re a medium, George,” Mona said.

  “There will be mediums there? Fortune-tellers, crystal-ball readers?” Jake asked.

  “All of the above,” George said wryly.

  “If waves can go anywhere, then so can the human mind, perhaps,” Jake said.

  “Dad, Mom is right, you know—and so is Jake,” Keith said. He winced. “The last time one of Mom’s friends said she was a medium, you said that she looked as if she were a small. Not a good joke at a Wiccan party, Dad.”

  “Oh, come on, don’t Wiccans have senses of humor?” he asked.

  “Not when you push it, Dad,” Melody reminded. “You asked another of her medium friends if she was ever rare or well done,” Melody said.

  George groaned. “Okay, okay, I’ll just have my palm read. But if they tell me I’m going to have four children, I’m leaving!”

  Mona rose, rolling her eyes. “You will behave, or I’ll start working on some kind of waves myself out there in that lab of yours, and I promise you’ll be sorry!”

  She carried her plate into the kitchen. They all rose to do the same.

  “What will you kids do today?” George asked. “The snow is soft up on the hill. You could take Jake snowboarding or tubing.”

  “That sounds great,” Melody said.

  “I really must continue with research,” Jake said.

  “Research?” George said, frowning. “But you’re here for Christmas vacation, young man.”

  “Ah, but Christmas comes quickly,” Jake said. “And I’m afraid that—”

  “He’s such a hard worker!” Melody said, grabbing Jake’s arm. “Come on, Jake, I’m sure we can play in the snow and get in some research, too. Right, Keith?”

  “Oh, yeah, sure, certainly,” Keith said. He added in a whisper, “You owe me!”

  “Hey, I feed your broken-down pet parade all the time!” Melody whispered back heatedly.

  “Oh, right, like this is anywhere near the same thing!”

  “What are you two squabbling on and on about?” George demanded.

  “Nothing,” Melody said.

  “She’s whining about feeding the dogs,” Keith said, grinning.

  “I am really going to strangle you!” she hissed to him.

  Keith was having way too much fun with this. She dragged both him and Jake down the hall to the parlor, and away from her parents.

  “One more! One more crack, and I’m going to tell that the girl you brought home that year was a stripper,” Melody warned.

  “A stripper?” Jake asked.

  “I’ll take you to see a few soon enough, my friend,” Keith promised. “Melody, okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll lay off.”

  “Lay off—and perhaps tell me the truth?” Mona’s voice demanded.

  They all swung around, even Jake, surprise and guilt on their faces.

  Mona stared at them one by one, stern accusation in her eyes. “Well?” she demanded.

  “What—um—truth?” Melody asked.

  “Child, you have actually sucked as a liar all your life,” Mona informed her. “Not a bad thing, not really.” She gave Keith a parental swat on the shoulder. “And you! The lies come a bit glibly to your lips. And it’s not nice to torture your sister.”

  “I wasn’t torturing her—”

  “Just shut it,” Mona said firmly. “Shut it!”

  She stared at Melody. “You didn’t know Jake before, did you?”

  “What?”

  “You didn’t know him before the day you came here.”

  “Well, I met him…”

  “We met in the middle of an icy road, Mrs. Tarleton,” Jake said. “I never meant for anyone to lie to you. Melody simply assured me that no one would believe the truth.”

  “And what is the truth?” Mona persisted.

  “I hit him in the road, Mom. Jake has—amnesia.”

  “I do not have amnesia,” Jake protested.

  “Then?” Mona demanded.

  “Mom—”

  “From him, young lady,” Mona said.

  “Where’s Dad?” Keith asked.

  “He’s gone out back. Let me hear this, then I’ll decide what he’ll believe and what he won’t,” Mona told them.

  Melody inhaled on a deep breath, trying to still think of some way to hedge.

  But Jake took a step forward. “I was being hanged, Mrs. Tarleton. It was a beautiful morning, crisp and clear, in New York, New York, but I had been captured by the British, and a certain commander had determined that Christmas season or no, I should be hanged. Serena Mallory is my adopted sister. She came to the city and I was terrified that she would do something to stop the execution, and that they would find some way to…hurt her. She said a few words and threw rose petals into the sky, and the next thing I knew, I was on the road, and lights were coming at me. Extraordinary lights. From an automobile. And the thing is, I have to get back. I have to find my sister, and I have to make sure that she’s all right, that she made it home from New York.”

  Mona stared at him as Jake finished speaking.

  Melody thought that her mother would burst into laughter.

  Or that she would shake her head in disgust and demand to know the real truth.

  She did neither. She looked at Melody.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth from the beginning?” Mona demanded.

  “Mom…I don’t think, honestly—I mean, it’s not possible. It’s just not possible. I believe that Jake does work for a reenactment company, or the park service, or some such entity. I think that he went down in the snow and hit his head. I believe that Jake believes what he’s saying—sorry!” she added quickly, looking at Jake. “But that what he’s saying is just not possible.”

  “Honestly, daughter, where’s the magic in you?” Mona asked her, shaking her head.

  “Um, you believe all this, Mom?” Keith asked.

  “I certainly think we’ve seen a few unusual coinciden
ces regarding this young man and our own home, and he certainly knows a great deal…and his clothing and boots are amazingly authentic. I think it’s sad that you thought you had to lie to me. And I think it’s wonderful that you’re here for Christmas, Jake, because whatever time period you came from, and from wherever in all the frequencies of life, you are a fine young man, and it’s a delight to have you in my house. Now, the three of you—get out. Go snowboarding or something. Give me a bit of time to try to get a few ideas going, and get some research done! Shoo—shoo!”

  “Um….” Melody said.

  “Go!” Mona told her.

  “Mom, are you—really all right?” Keith asked.

  “I’m fine, just fine. And, by the way, I knew perfectly well that the young lady you brought home that year was a stripper. Though it may not be the most family-friendly activity, she was, at the least, honestly employed. So, excuse me—I have a few things to do. Go on. Get out of here. All of you.”

  But they didn’t leave. They were all still stunned, and they stood there.

  Finally, Jake took a step forward. He reached for Mona’s hand, and held it. “Thank you. Before God, what I’m telling you is the truth. And your kindness and charity toward me have been amazing. If there is ever any way for me to repay you, I would most humbly beg the chance.”

  Mona grinned. “You’ve done quite enough, young man. You’ve brought a lot of…magic into our house. Now, get out of here. All of you. And trust me, by the way.” She stared at Melody. “And your father. He’s a little slow at the gate sometimes, but he’s an amazing and brilliant man.”

  “You’re not going to tell Dad any of this—” Melody began.

  “Not yet, not yet, don’t worry. I know how to handle your father. So, please, right now—go!”

  Melody was too surprised to do anything other than what her mother had ordered. She headed for the closet and reached in for their coats.

  “Go up the old hill, they have tubes to rent. You’ll have a great time,” Mona called over her shoulder.

  “Let’s go up the hill, like Mom told us,” Melody said, still stunned and uneasy.

  “Sure, sure, let’s just get out of here for now,” Keith agreed.

  They stepped outside. It was a beautiful day. The snow appeared brilliantly white in the dazzle of the sun. The sky was blue, with just a few powder-puff clouds rolling slowly by.

  Jake stepped down to the walk, looking around, seeing the sky and the snow.

  “Tubing,” Keith said numbly. “We really should just go tubing.”

  “I don’t think I really have all that much time,” Jake said. “I keep feeling that…I’m supposed to be home for Christmas.”

  “But—this is your home. Or was your home,” Melody reminded him.

  He didn’t answer. He was just staring at the day again.

  “Jake?” she said quietly.

  He turned to her; she had his full attention.

  “I’m sorry, I was just thinking.”

  “Thinking what?” she asked.

  “How happy I am just to be alive.”

  7

  It was cold, but they were in the right shoes, right parkas, and, if that wasn’t enough, Melody had bought a bunch of hot packets. They were really quite incredible; you broke the packet—almost like a glow-in-the-dark necklace—and it released heat. They could go in boots, down your back, your front, or anywhere you thought you might need a little extra heat.

  Right at the beginning, after their first wild ride down the hill, Keith decided that his rump was freezing and he used two. Then his rump was too hot and he jumped around trying to shift the packets. A group of teenage girls laughed gleefully, and that started a snowball fight.

  The second run, Melody hopped on with Jake when he didn’t seem to know how to get the tube going. They flew down the hill, her arms locked around his chest. At the bottom, the tube tossed them out and over, and they lay locked in the snow together, laughing.

  When she looked into his eyes, she knew that she was suddenly praying again that he had merely lost his memory, that he would turn out to be a guide in Boston, Salem or Concord, perhaps, that he would prove to be unmarried and unattached, and she could spend her life with him….

  Ridiculous thought. She didn’t know him that well.

  She did know that she wanted to get to know him. She knew that she could have stayed there in the snow with him forever, no matter how cold it was, that she was warm enough with him above her, that his closeness promised everything in the world that she could ever want.

  “Here! I’ll help you up!” Keith said, running over with their lost tube.

  Jake was quickly up, of course, and they both reached a hand to her, bringing her to her feet.

  “Great. Wow. Thanks so much, Keith!”

  He didn’t seem to catch a bit of her muted sarcasm.

  Yes, he did.

  He was grinning as he looked away.

  They did several more runs down the hill—Jake and Melody together every time. And every time they landed entangled and laughing, and she wanted the day to go on forever.

  Even with Keith there to make sure they moved every time before the next tubers could come crashing down.

  They broke in the early afternoon, heading to a hill’s little coffee shop, and warmed up by ordering rich clam chowder served in bread bowls.

  “I should have been doing…something,” Jake said. “But, I must admit, that was tremendous fun.”

  “I wouldn’t worry, my mom will be doing something,” Keith told him.

  “There’s the afternoon,” Melody said.

  He shook his head. “I have to get to the castle and practice with the band.”

  “Of course, wow, I forgot that,” Keith said. “But, as I said, don’t worry, my mom will be up to something.”

  “Don’t tell him that,” Melody said.

  “Why? Your mother is extraordinary,” Jake said.

  “My mother is ever so slightly crazy!” Melody protested.

  She saw Jake’s hand tighten around his coffee mug. But his voice was level when he looked at her. “You don’t believe me, but she does.”

  Melody shook her head. “Jake, you can’t travel through time. I’m so sorry, but…no. And if your memory doesn’t return soon—”

  “My memory is in perfect working order,” he said.

  She let out a breath. “Okay, say everything that you’re saying is true. That doesn’t mean that there is an answer. It doesn’t mean that you can go back. Maybe this was the only way that you could be saved and your sister knew it. Would it be so terrible if you had to stay here?”

  She felt the tension ease out of her. Once again, he was staring at her with his crystal eyes, hazel eyes that held green and brown and, more than the color, something that oddly spoke of honor and humor, and his fascination with life. Maybe even with her.

  “Oh, come on. That would hold impossible logistics,” Keith said. “He wouldn’t have a birth certificate. Or a social security number.”

  She didn’t really hear her brother.

  “It wouldn’t be terrible at all to be here,” Jake said softly. His hand covered hers. “I don’t know about the rest of this world. But I do know that you have created a beautiful place in time and history here, you and your family. But what if…what if I was supposed to be in my own time? What if…I don’t know. Christmas comes, and the noose tightens? More than that, I must try. You have to understand. Serena was willing to die for me. I have to make sure she is all right, that she made it home. I have to know that she made it alive and well. Truly. I could not live with myself if I did not do everything in my power for her.”

  “But what if you just can’t get back?” Melody asked.

  “There is a way. I know there is a way,” he said. He almost reached out and touched her. He seemed to remember that her brother was there, that they were in a crowded room, and he did not. He offered her a rueful smile, and gave his attention to his food.

  �
��We’ll get you to the castle so you can rehearse. We’ll be there with my folks when the party starts,” Keith told him.

  “That will make the evening complete. I’ll be able to pay you back for some of what you’ve given me,” he said.

  “You really don’t owe us anything, you know. Heck, you could have sued Melody for a small fortune,” Keith said.

  “What?” Melody protested.

  “Pardon?” Jake said.

  “Oh, you really don’t understand our day, do you?” Keith inquired. “We’ve done some good things. We’ve also become a sadly litigious society. A car accident like that? Melody running you down in the snow? You could sue her to smithereens.”

  “But I wasn’t hurt,” Jake said.

  “A good lawyer could get you a bundle,” Keith told him.

  “Why would I want a good lawyer to get me a bundle when I wasn’t hurt? That would be horrible. A frivolous lawsuit would be a terrible event in which to engage,” Jake said seriously.

  Keith looked at Melody and shrugged. “He means it.”

  She rose. “Let’s go. We have to get Jake to the castle.”

  Melody was worried when she left Jake with the Irish band. God alone knew what he might say or do. The band members greeted him with claps on the back and welcoming words; they liked him. They had played with him. Music was a universal language, so they said, and it was constantly proven true.

  It must be a timeless language, as well.

  One of the fellows, a tall blond man, raised a hand to Melody and Keith as they drove away. “Will be seein’ you later?” he asked politely.

  “Oh, yes, thanks!” Melody returned.

  Keith backed along the drive to make a U-turn. Melody sat in brooding silence.

  She felt her brother looking at her.

  “Really, Melody, what if this is all true?” Keith asked.

  “It’s not.”

  “It could be.”

  “No.”

  “Then pretend he is telling the truth. What if something goes terribly wrong if he isn’t returned to his own time?”

  “Keith, stop it. I don’t care how…how good he makes it all sound. It’s simply impossible.”