by John Gray
The elderly woman took one hand off the blue Tiffany’s bag she was holding and reached out to shake Chase’s hand. “So lovely to see you again, dear.”
Chase smiled and said, “You as well, ma’am, but, with all due respect, there’s no way you could remember me.”
Grace gave her a stern look and said, “I beg your pardon. This old mind is as sharp as a tack, and I do remember meeting you. Not so much the face, but I remember what you said to me that day.”
Chase looked puzzled. “I only remember not being able to afford a keychain, and you gave me the Tiffany’s box anyway. Which was so sweet. I don’t recall saying anything else.”
Grace replied, “After I gave you the tiny box, I asked what your plans were, and you told me you were going off to college and hoping to be a writer someday.”
Chase was astonished the woman remembered that part when Chase did not.
Grace continued, “I always wondered what happened to that young lady who wanted to write. And you know what, Chase?”
Chase responded, “What, Mrs. O’Reilly?”
“Grace, please call me Grace,” she replied.
Then she continued, “I didn’t realize it, but I’ve read some of your stories and never knew it was you. When Gavin contacted me through my old store manager and told me why he wanted me to be here today, he told me about your most recent article on Sebastian Winthrop. And I told him, I read that and loved it. So, you see, dear, I was a fan of your writing and didn’t even know it.”
Chase smiled warmly. “That’s amazing, Mrs., I mean Grace.”
The old woman replied, “But look at me, blathering on when there is work to be done by this young man.”
With that, Gavin reached into the bag and produced the same Tiffany blue box that Grace had given to Chase nearly twenty years earlier. He dropped to one knee, and there at the center of the Bow Bridge, just as Sebastian had done for Vida fifty years ago, opened a ring box to reveal a perfect stone. It was a little over two carats, in a traditional round cut. The light bouncing off the diamond was nearly blinding, making it clear this was an exquisite ring.
Chase nearly burst into tears at the sight of her man down at her feet, looking up with those blue eyes which were now filling with water.
“Chase,” he began, “from the moment I met you on the side of a country road, until this one, I’ve been in love with you. Only a fool could believe someone so beautiful on the outside could be equally beautiful inside, but you are. Your whole life is about helping others.”
Chase could swear her feet were lifting off the ground as Gavin continued.
“You are the only woman I know who is comfortable dressing up and standing shoulder to shoulder with millionaires at an auction and then grabbing a flashlight and work boots and searching for a missing dog in the woods at midnight. Pretty as they are, I don’t need lightning bugs or the stars at Grand Central Station. You, Chase, are my light. I know I’m just a plainspoken man, so I’ll put it to you like this. I don’t want you to be my girlfriend anymore.”
With that Gavin stood up and took the ring out of the box, adding, “I want you to be my wife.”
He took her left ring finger and touched the promise ring he had placed there three years earlier and said, “This ring made you a promise. Today we keep that promise and replace it with a ring that means forever.”
Gavin slid the ring with Chase’s birthstone off and onto another finger on her hand, and then put the incredible Tiffany diamond in its place.
Most women would have been transfixed by the diamond, but Chase couldn’t stop looking into Gavin’s eyes. She just stared as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Finally, Grace leaned in and said, “He’s waiting for an answer, dear.”
Chase kissed Gavin passionately and then said in the softest, most loving voice, “Yes.”
Strangers, who were waiting patiently to cross the Bow Bridge, broke into spontaneous applause, and one let out a loud whistle, causing everyone else in the park to turn and see what all the celebrating was about.
Chase looked down at her stunning ring and then gave Grace a hug, thanking her for making this moment so perfect.
She then turned to Gavin and said, “This WAS a surprise. Well done.”
Gavin gave her a mischievous look and didn’t answer right away, causing Chase to ask, “The ring, the box, you finding Grace, was my big surprise, yes?”
Gavin took her by the hand and said, “Most of it. But there’s still one part left.”
Gavin led her by the hand off the bridge and said, “We have one last stop.”
Chase pointed toward the carriage and said, “Are we riding in that?”
Gavin smiled, “As much as you remind me of Cinderella, no, we have almost two miles to cover, and I think we’d freeze in this December air. I believe we can manage something a bit more comfortable that that.”
Chase now noticed a short distance away a shiny black limousine was waiting by the curb. Gavin escorted his brand-new fiancée and Grace into the back of the limo, where chilled Dom Perignon was waiting in a silver ice bucket.
“WOW, top shelf,” Chase exclaimed, picking up the bottle to pour the three of them a glass.
“Look at the date,” Gavin replied, smiling.
Chase found it on the bottle and bit down on her lip, causing Grace to say, “What is it?”
Chase then said to Grace, “It was bottled the year Gavin and I met.”
The limo driver, another friend of Matthew’s who was pressed into service, took less than ten minutes to reach their destination in Central Park. They could have been driving to the moon and Chase wouldn’t have noticed, having never taken her eyes off the ring.
When the vehicle came to a stop, Chase asked, “Where are we?”
Gavin replied, “Do you remember the end of that movie you loved, Serendipity?”
Chase smiled and said, “NO! Are we at the ice rink?”
It was the Wollman Rink, another famous landmark in the park, filled with Christmas Eve skaters holding hands, falling down, some falling in love on this perfect December day.
Chase turned to Grace and explained, “In one of my favorite movies the boy and girl find each other, lose each other, and eventually find each other again right here at this ice rink.”
Grace smiled and then surprised Chase when she said, “I love a good John Cusack movie, young lady—I know it well.”
The limo driver opened the back door to help Chase out, and she was immediately greeted with a loud cry of, “CONGRATULATIONS!!!”
Chase almost burst into tears again when she saw who was waiting for them: Raylan and Bonnie from the café, Peter, Mary, Charlie, Matthew her driver, Deb and Nick holding hands, no less, her college roommate Jennifer, and a half dozen other faces from the neighborhood whom Chase used to wave hello to every day.
“I thought such a special occasion should be shared by friends. I hope you don’t mind,” Gavin said, as he wrapped his arm around Chase’s shoulders.
A children’s choir was in the park that day, singing a festive Christmas song about hope and love. Directly to their left, Chase saw an array of street vendors selling hats, scarves, bags, and artwork, roasting chestnuts and heating pretzels, the very essence of Christmas in Manhattan.
As Chase looked from her friends to Gavin and then down to her ring, she couldn’t believe how perfect this all was. Then …
“How’s the house?” a voice asked from the crowd. It was Charlotte Stonewall Jackson, dressed in a pretty pink sweater, her hair all done up, making her seem soft and approachable.
Chase just stared, her mouth slightly open, shocked by how good she looked.
“What? A lady can’t dress up now and again? This is a special occasion,” Charlotte said, smiling now at Chase. Chase smiled back, “You look amazing.”
Charlotte moved closer and said out loud, “I heard you sold Briarcliff for twenty-seven bucks. Not a very smart businesswoman, are you?”
Chase and everyone looked on, not sure what to say, then Charlotte winked and added playfully, “You could have gotten at least twenty-eight.”
Everyone chuckled at her good humor.
Then Chase met Charlotte’s eyes and said, “I sold it to Peter over there, so it could become a home to help the families of sick children. The way the Winthrops did with Rose. You okay with that?”
The big mean woman the world knew as Stonewall stepped forward, gave Chase a hug, then said, “I couldn’t be prouder of you. Sebastian and Vida would have loved the idea.”
Charlie and Mary approached Chase and Gavin to offer congratulations, when Charlie reached into her coat pocket, taking something out and then holding her closed fist in front of Chase.
“What’s this?” Chase asked, with curiosity.
“I guess she has a gift for you,” Mary said,
Charlie shook her fist up and down, urging Chase to open her own hand so she could give it to her.
Chase did as instructed, and then Charlie released her grasp, dropping a small square piece of wood into Chase’s palm.
Gavin let out a gasp and said, “Is that the …?”
Chase turned it over and revealed the missing R from the Scrabble game back at Briarcliff. It was the very tile that Rose carried around and lost shortly before her death.
“Where did you get this, honey?” Chase asked, almost breathless.
Charlie then signed, “I was chasing my dog, Bella, from my yard into yours when she stopped to rest by the rock wall behind your house. It was just sitting there near the place where I see you leave yellow roses. I think it goes with your game.”
Gavin gave Chase a look and she read his mind, bending down now so she could whisper to Charlie, “This belonged to a very special little girl like you. I think she’d want you to have it.”
Charlie picked the R up with her tiny fingers and smiled, then gave Chase a loving hug.
Raylan interrupted the moment and said to Chase, “Hold up, hold up! We see, Chase, that you now have the ring—gorgeous, by the way—but Bonnie and the rest of us want to know the big question: when and where’s the wedding?”
Chase looked at Gavin, then back at all their waiting faces, and replied, “We haven’t gotten that far yet. I mean, Vermont? Seattle? Here in the city?”
Peter joined in: “Maybe Briarcliff Manor?”
Chase nodded in agreement, thinking that was certainly a romantic option.
There were endless possibilities, but before anyone could offer up another suggestion, Gavin tapped his champagne glass to get everyone’s attention and dramatically cleared his throat saying, “Ahem, I have one last announcement to make.”
With that, Gavin shouted, “SAMUEL!!”
Suddenly, from behind a row of strangers, Sebastian’s old driver, Samuel, appeared, pushing through the crowd with Chase’s dog, Scooter, on a leash.
He said, “Go to your mom, boy.”
Scooter pranced over and sat directly in front of Chase, looking up adoringly, with a thin white envelope attached to a red ribbon that was tied around his neck.
“Take it,” Gavin said to his now fiancée.
Chase unclipped the envelope from the ribbon, and as she started to open it, Gavin said, “It’s a surprise.”
Chase looked over and said, “From you?”
Gavin just responded, “Not me.”
As Chase opened the envelope and the card inside, with everyone watching in silence, Gavin added, “The day I got on the plane to come home from my visit to Seattle, your mom met me at the airport and handed me that. She said she’s been saving a long time and she wanted it to be her wedding gift.”
Chase just looked at it silently, her expression one of pure astonishment.
“What is it, Chase?” Bonnie asked.
Raylan then joked, “A subscription to Sports Illustrated?”
Gavin replied, “Oh, it’s a bit more than that.”
Little Charlie then signed, “Tell us, Chase, tell us.”
Chase then blurted out, “It’s an all-expenses paid trip, first-class air and four-star hotels, private tours, meals, the best of the best …”
A long pause, then … “to Italy.”
There was an audible gasp from everyone.
Charlotte Jackson asked, “A honeymoon, perhaps?”
Gavin then took Chase’s left hand and held her ring up high, for all to see, and said, “How about a wedding!”
Chase looked up from her perfect ring and then at her fiancé, then over to her friends’ loving faces, and said, “Ya think?”
Gavin put his strong arms around her like he’d never let her go and said, “You spent the last year Chasing Manhattan. You wanna go Chasing Rome?”
With that, Scooter let out a loud bark of approval, and everyone smiled, their hearts bursting with joy for their favorite couple.
Charlie then stepped forward directly in front of Chase and Gavin, bringing both arms across her chest in the form of an X and squeezed.
“What does that sign mean?” Gavin asked.
Chase nodded her head at the child, then looked into Gavin’s eyes, and said, “It means LOVE.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing and publishing a book is a bit like taking a canoe down the rapids; nobody paddles alone if they want to avoid hitting the jagged rocks. I wish to thank the wonderful staff of talented people at Paraclete Press for their help and dedication in bringing you Chase’s latest adventure. Specifically, I wish to thank Jon Sweeney, Robert Edmonson, Michelle Rich, Sister Estelle Cole, Jennifer Lynch, and Rachel McKendree.
I owe a debt of gratitude to not one, but two New York Times best-selling authors for taking the time to look at my humble work and showing the kindness to share their encouragement.
The first of these is Dana Perino, who is not only a talented journalist and writer but a huge animal lover, devoted to her husband, Peter, and her fabulous furry friend, Jasper. Dana is not just a role model for young women, but she is also a champion for the underdogs of this world and a big fan of my blind and deaf pup Keller.
A tip of the hat as well to Richard Paul Evans, author of one of my favorite books, The Christmas Box, for his continued support of my prose. No Christmas is complete without a Richard Paul Evans novel nearby, and his new novel The Walk is a treasure as well.
A huge thank you for the beautiful artwork on the cover from my immensely talented friend Shanna Brickell.
I want to thank the wonderful and eclectic people of New York City for inspiring the characters in this novel. Taking a seat in any coffee shop in Manhattan gives you a window to the world, in all its beauty.
I also want to thank my mother and my sister, Mary Ellen, for dragging me to Manhattan every December when I was but a teenager. Those long, bumpy bus rides that dumped me in Rockefeller Center opened my eyes to a big and different world, one that at first was scary, but eventually it became a place I loved to go to. Many of my personal experiences, including the reference to Tiffany’s in this story, are drawn from my own life.
I wish to thank my wife, Courtney, for her unwavering support of my writing and patience with me when the words stumble and my work keeps us apart longer than I promised.
Last but certainly not least, I thank God for the blessings and gifts he has given me. The older I get and the more I write, the more I realize I am not the rapids, but the canoe meant to carry his message to those with an open and willing heart.
—John
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