A Mackenzie Family Christmas: The Perfect Gift

by Jennifer Ashley

  This stream broke into three, each heading a different direction. One stream zoomed across the floor straight at Jamie before veering aside at the last second. Another whirled into curlicues, like flower petals opening on the floor. The third went up a series of ramps, to clatter across the picture rail under the cornice.

  The last domino on the rail fell to land against another on the window seat. This stream ran to another box that sprang open in an explosion of sulfur-smelling smoke.

  "That's Danny," Cameron said, sounding as delighted as the children. "He's always loved blowing things up."

  Another crack and puff answered the remark as the dominos swarmed down the window seat. The next device they triggered released a string of puppets dancing on a wire, a music box below them playing a merry tune. The dominos ran on, tripping a lever on a clock they ran past. The clock chimed, and from its top issued a line of figures that bowed, danced, or tapped drums in front of them, before they disappeared back into the clock.

  "Glockenspiel," Daniel said to Jamie's wide-eyed stare. "Friend and I made it."

  The stream now met up with the two others that had been flashing around the room. The dominos ran side by side, three abreast, then knocked into others that grew the stream into four and five, then six and seven across. The dominos parted and flowed into a diamond-patterned design, meeting precisely at the end, the streams dissolving back into three before picking up again for the next diamond.

  The diamonds finished, reduced the dominos to two streams again, then one, which zigzagged up ramps to the ceiling fixture, its facets removed. The dominos raced around the rim then fell like a waterfall into a pile below. One knocked into the next row, which tripped another box.

  Out popped a clockwork bird, which took wing and flapped around the room. Dominos gathered into a wild swirl, tripping more and more, until they all fell down in the middle of the circle.

  A final lever tripped, and a box burst open with a puff of smoke and a ball of glittering paper, which exploded over the room.

  Confetti rained down in a gentle shower, the last domino fell, and all was silence.

  Mac let out a wild whoop, startling Beth out of her stunned stillness. She had to open and close her mouth a few times, her voice not working, as the others bathed Ian in wild applause.

  "Ian, you did all this?" Mac asked.

  "Daniel put in the clockworks," Ian said quietly, lifting the first domino to stand it upright again.

  "It was all Uncle Ian's idea," Daniel said. "Born in that mathematical brain of his. He came up with the designs and how to make them work. I just put together the clockworks. Uncle Ian's a bloody genius."

  Ian said nothing. He showed Jamie how to set up the dominos again. Jamie let him get to five before he knocked them down and shouted happily.

  The rest of the family swarmed in, adults and children alike, examining the fallen dominos and Danny's devices, exclaiming in excitement. Hart had pulled off his paper crown, but he bent over the patterns as eagerly.

  "You'll have to set them all up again," Hart said. "I want Eleanor to see this."

  "Uncle," Daniel said in dismay. "It took us weeks to do this lot."

  "Take more weeks," Hart said, without sympathy. "Not Eleanor's fault she's abed. She'll want to see it when she's better."

  "True." Daniel brightened, with his usual lightning-swift change of mood. "Auntie El shouldn't miss it. Here, Jamie, help me with these."

  He led Jamie to another stream, and Ian rose and came to Beth.

  "Daniel's right," Beth said to him. "You are a bloody genius. And here I was afraid . . ."

  Ian gave her a puzzled look. "Afraid of what? It was for Jamie. For Christmas."

  Beth flung her arms around her husband and pulled his tall body down to her. "Ian, I love you so very much."

  Ian's strong arms came around her, his warmth filling his embrace. "I love you, my Beth," he whispered against her hair. "Are you happy?"

  "Of course I am. It was a fine thing to do. Something only you would think of."

  Ian raised his head to give her a long kiss, then he buried his face in her neck, his arms tightening on her back. "Everything's all right then," he said.

  *** *** ***

  "My love, you will not believe what Ian did."

  Hart stretched out on the bed next to Eleanor, his eyes sparkling, though his face was too pale. He needed sleep.

  Eleanor listened while Hart described the dominos Ian and Daniel had set up. She laughed, even though laughter brought a twinge of pain. "They needn't bother with it again. It must have been much labor."

  "Yes, they do need to bother. It will be a nice treat for you after all this. You deserve it."

  Eleanor didn't argue. When Hart wanted to bully someone, especially about something concerning her, little could stop him.

  "Well, I'm glad Ian did something so good for the children. And all of you, if I read the excitement in your voice right. It makes me feel light, which will be good for when I go down to supper."

  "El." The smile left Hart's face, and he became the worried husband again. The over-worried husband. "No one will think less of you if you stay and rest. They know the baby is coming soon."

  Eleanor sighed. "Sometimes I think he's not coming at all. I wake in the morning, so sure it will be today, and go to sleep as heavy as ever. Stubborn little chap. So like a Mackenzie."

  "It's Christmas. Perhaps it will be today."

  Hart could be optimistic, but then he wasn't lying here like a bloated balloon.

  Hart drew a small packet from his pocket and laid it on the covers over her bosom. "Merry Christmas, love."

  Eleanor touched the package in surprise. "What's this? I thought you were too Scottish to give presents any time but New Year's."

  "I didn't want to wait."

  He spoke calmly, almost offhand, but Eleanor heard the need in him, and the fear. He wanted to make certain she received the gift, in case something happened.

  Poor Hart. Eleanor tried to reassure him that she was not fragile and frail like his first wife, but he was too aware of the danger. Eleanor was aware of it too, but they could only wait and see what happened.

  She unwrapped the tissue around the gift, revealing another wrapping of silk. She opened this as well then gazed in rapture at the earrings that lay on the blue fabric. Soft gold geometric shapes studded with blue stones hung from wire so fine a breath might displace them.

  "Oh, Hart." Eleanor lifted one earring, her eyes wide. "This is astonishing." The gold was so thin it could have been paper, but heavy enough to have substance.

  "They're from Egypt." Hart slid closer and rested his head on her shoulder. He touched the dangling gold. "An Egyptian queen wore these."

  "Truly?" Her fascination increased. "How old are they?"

  "Ancient. Made several thousand years before Christ was born."

  "They're beautiful. But where did you get them? Did you slip off to Egypt sometime when I wasn't looking?"

  "I intercepted them on their way to the British Museum."

  Eleanor very carefully lowered the earring. "Then perhaps we should let them be displayed in the museum."

  "Rot that. They were destined for a box in a basement, probably to be buried for eternity. I persuaded them to let me have charge of them."

  Hart's persuasion could be aggressive. "I see. Then please tell the gentlemen at the museum I will take very good care of them."

  "They know."

  Eleanor slipped one into her earlobe, then smiled at Hart. "There. Shall I wear them to supper?"

  Hart slid his arm behind her, turning her to face him. His lips met hers in a slow, savoring kiss, his finger stealing to the earring and then drawing down her neck, tracing fire.

  It would be a while, Eleanor reflected, sinking into his embrace, before they thought of going down to supper.

  *** *** ***

  Lloyd Fellows still hadn't become comfortable with his welcome into the Mackenzie family. Years of animosit
y, on both sides, took time to fade.

  The women of the household--those ladies mad enough to marry Mackenzies--always greeted Fellows warmly. He had to admit that visits to the duke's grand mansion were made easier by the soft embraces and friendly kisses of the four ladies. The gentlemen still eyed him askance, although Ian, of all people, accepted Fellows without rancor.

  Even so, sitting at the long table in the grand dining room, amidst Hart Mackenzie's highborn guests, was unnerving. Those not of the family stared at him in open curiosity. They were amazed by the fact that the lofty Mackenzies had not only acknowledged Fellows's birth, but accepted him as equal to the Mackenzie brothers. Fellows was a lowly policeman, raised in the slums of London. He ought to be taking his dinner below stairs. And yet he sat at the high table, next to the duchess herself, who'd risen from her bed to preside over the meal.

  More unnerving to Fellows than the guests' glances and whispers, however, was the presence of Lady Louisa Scranton, sister to Lady Isabella, seated right next to him.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Twelve

  Except for the glance they'd exchanged over the stair railings a few days ago, Fellows had not seen Lady Louisa since his arrival. He'd thought himself safe from any awkward meeting with her until this afternoon, when he'd entered the dining room to find that she'd been seated at his side.

  Louisa smiled at him, utterly composed, as though they'd not met on top of a stepladder in this very house last April, as though she hadn't leaned forward and kissed his lips. And then told him she'd contemplated doing so for some time.

  Today Louisa was like a bright angel, dressed in bottle green, with a plaid ribbon pinned to her bodice to indicate her honorary connection with the Mackenzie clan. Her red-gold hair had been drawn up into complicated curls on top of her head, with delicate wisps brushing her forehead. Tiny diamonds dangled from her earlobes, and a silver pendant rested on her chest.

  She was younger than Fellows, from an aristocratic family, lovely and graceful, her manners polished. Though her father had lost every bit of capital he'd had, and more he'd never owned, in Louisa's world birth and breeding counted for more than money. She was so far superior to Fellows that she might as well be soaring like a lofty kite while he stumbled along the ground, too slow to follow.

  Louisa was perfectly polite to him all through the meal. No indication that she remembered their kiss--their fiery, hot, magical kiss. Her fascination with him, and the kiss, had probably been a whim, long forgotten. If the incident embarrassed her, she made no sign.

  After the meal was over and cleared, a grand procession entered the dining room. The butler led it proudly, carrying a masterpiece of a plum pudding, flaming with brandy, the lights lowered to highlight the effect.

  Fellows could hear his mother's Cockney voice now--"What's the point of lighting food on fire? Food's too precious to waste making it into a piece of art. It's for eating, innit?"

  His mother was at her sister's as usual, enjoying her Christmas meal with her nieces, nephews, and now grandnieces and grandnephews. When Eleanor's letter with the invitation to her first Christmas dinner as Duchess of Kilmorgan had arrived, Mrs. Fellows had bid him go. "It's where you ought to be," she'd said. "You're as good as any duke. You go and show 'em."

  Fellows, listening to the others exclaim over the plum pudding, thought he'd be better off at his aunt's house, bouncing his cousins' children on his knees.

  A slab of pudding, studded with fruit and smelling of spices, landed on his plate. Fellows nodded his thanks to the footman who'd served it.

  "Careful," Louisa said as Fellows scooped a chunk of cake onto his fork. "You might have a sixpence."

  Fellows did enjoy the English tradition of coins or little trinkets stirred into the Christmas pudding, at least he had when he was younger. His aunt usually put in farthings or tiny toys for the children, but he'd always imagined the Mackenzies put in gold guineas.

  If they did, none had ended up in his share of the pudding. He tasted treacle, raisins, nuts, cloves, and brandy, plus the creamy rum flavor of the hard sauce, but no silver or gold. Louisa ate in dainty bites, including Fellows in her conversation or joining in with others near her. These guests were more aristocrats Hart wanted to keep well tamed in case he wanted to use them again. Louisa was very good at putting people at ease, he saw, as was Eleanor, who chatted amicably from the foot of the table, her pregnancy well hidden beneath her dress and the tablecloth.

  "Oh," Louisa exclaimed, then she smiled as she removed a silver bit from her spoon. "I've found a sixpence."

  "Excellent," Eleanor said. She'd barely eaten any of the pudding, but she'd torn it apart to see whether she'd received any coins. "You'll have good luck all the year, my dear."

  The sixpence also meant prosperity, Fellows knew, though he assumed the duchess was being delicate in not implying that Louisa needed assurances of money.

  Louisa cleaned the sixpence on her napkin then her smile deepened as she held the coin out to Fellows. "You take it, Inspector. It was on the edge of my piece, so it likely was very nearly in yours."

  Fellows eyed the glinting silver, then Louisa. "No, indeed," he said. "It was in your slice. I'd hardly take a sixpence away from a lady."

  "It's for luck." Louisa still smiled, but her eyes were watchful. "And a memento of the occasion."

  Something to remember her by. Yes, he wanted that. And she wanted it. Perhaps. Or she might be teasing him. Fellows had no idea, and his swiftly beating heart didn't care.

  It would be ungracious to refuse a gift from a lady. Fellows bowed, held out his hand, and let her drop the sixpence into it. He noted that she was very careful not to touch him.

  Those around them watched the exchange, puzzled and curious but too polite to ask. They did, however, begin to speculate on the things sixpence could buy, things even an inspector of Scotland Yard could afford, they said without actually saying that.

  It didn't matter. Louisa smiled at him, all he needed to make him forget silly games with pudding and thinly veiled insults. Let them fire at him. Louisa's smile took all the sting away.

  *** *** ***

  "Mac, I can't see where I'm going if your hands are over my eyes."

  "Almost there." Mac was warm behind her, his fingers gentle on Isabella's face.

  "We ought to be downstairs," she said. "The ball's about to start."

  "True, but this has been the only time all day I've been able to bring you up here." Mac led her into the room, and Isabella heard him kick the door closed behind them. "You may look now."

  Mac slid his hands from Isabella's eyes and turned her to face what he wanted her to see.

  They were in Mac's studio. A painting had been propped on an easel at one end of the room, the picture waiting to dry and be framed. Mac had set the lights so that the picture was illuminated, the rest of the room shadowed. Isabella saw that he'd already put into use the brush holder studded with semiprecious stones she'd given him this morning, but her attention was all for the new painting.

  The picture showed Aimee in a pretty white dress, the skirt pulled back over a tiny bustle, her plump legs encased in white stockings and little black high-button shoes. She leaned casually on a chair and looked down at the fiery-haired Eileen, who was seated on it, her arms around her baby brother Robbie. Eileen grinned out of the picture, and Robbie gazed at the painter--his father--with curiosity and good humor.

  Achilles, the heroic dog, lay with head up in front of the chair, on watch. Fergus, the little white terrier, had his feet on the chair, mouth lolling in a smile at the children.

  "I hadn't meant to paint in the dogs," Mac said. "But when I was doing the preliminary drawings, the bloody animals wouldn't leave."

  He'd depicted them in a garden, though Isabella knew he'd likely done all the sittings right here. The picture was full of bright summer flowers and twining vines, the landscape flowing into recognizable mountains, the ones near Kilmorgan.

  The colors were vivid,
and a large pitcher on the ground held a bouquet of yellow roses. The yellow roses shouted Mac painted this, even over the casually scrawled Mackenzie in the bottom corner.

  Isabella pressed her hands together, eyes blurring with tears. Her children, two she'd had with Mac, one adopted to save from a wretched life, were bright and beautiful on the canvas. Mac had captured them as only Mac could, not stiffly posed, but laughing and playing as they loved to.

  "Oh, Mac, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

  "A bit slapdash," Mac said in his careless way. "Our children do not like sitting still. The dogs were better behaved."

  Isabella turned in his arms, even if it meant she had to look away from the wonderful painting.

  "Don't you dare belittle that picture. It is beautiful, the best thing you've ever done."

  "I don't know. There was a Venetian view that I thought turned out rather well--"

  Isabella placed her fingers over Mac's mouth. "Stop."

  He grinned, eyes shining. "I was teasing. The Venetian paintings were bloody awful."

  "Shush," Isabella said, her voice softer.

  She lifted her fingers away and replaced them with her lips. "I love you, Mac Mackenzie." She kissed him again. "Thank you. It's a marvelous gift." One straight from his heart.

  Mac slid his arms around her. "The ball is beginning," he reminded her, but his voice was low, coaxing, his smile hot.

  "Bother the ball," Isabella said, and drew her husband close once more.

  *** *** ***

  Cameron danced well, Louisa observed from where she sat against the gilded wall next to her mother. He swung Ainsley around in exuberance, her gown billowing, his kilt pressing her legs. He danced closer than decorum decreed, even between husband and wife--especially between husband and wife these days. Husbands were meant to leave their baser needs to their mistresses.

  Very silly, Louisa thought. She'd seen how happy Isabella had grown under Mac's rather indecorous attentions. Anytime Isabella was caught kissing her husband, she blushed rosy pink, but not with shame.