It Really IS a Wonderful Life: The Snowflake Falls but Hearts in Love Keep a Home Warm All Year Long (22 page)

“Do you mean Broadway?”

“Yeppers, er, yes.”

“I expect so. Why do you ask?”

“I miss him. I asked Jesus to bring him back.”

So did I.
“A lot of people miss Jamey. We shouldn’t ask God to make people do things because it’s what
we
want. We need to pray that God will have them make the decision that’s right for them.”

“Jamey too?”

Especially Jamey
. “Yes. Jamey too. God has a plan for him. It might not include Midville or us. If it’s what God wants, we need to be happy for him.”

“I’ll try.”

So will I
.

***

Dorie knocked on the men’s dressing-room door while Josh pouted behind her. “Mom, I don’t need your help.”

True. The need was hers. She waited and listened outside the men’s room every time he went in by himself. When she thought he was ready to come out she stepped back, pretending she wasn’t worried.

Gabe opened the door, and Josh scrambled in, giving high fives to the Stanton boys. Gabe laughed. “Breathe easy, woman. Josh will be fine. You’d better go get into your costume. Evie’s doing makeup in the next room down from us. I’ll take Josh over when he’s changed.”

Dorie prayed for Josh’s protection.
Get ready for a lifetime of helplessness, Dorie.
No matter how much she resisted, her children would grow up and be vulnerable to bumps and bruises beyond her control.

She grabbed her script to refresh her lines. Potter’s secretary didn’t have lines to say. Maybe by the time she got to Mrs. Andrew’s entrance, the heebie-jeebies would wear off. At least she’d have a break before becoming Mr. Potter’s secretary again. What if she messed up her costume changes? Why did she put herself through this torture?

If only Jamey could be here.
Lord, I hope he’s happy. I do wish him success. Most of all I want him to be in Your will, not mine.

She held up the period housedress along with the skirt and jacket Evie had found in her grandmother’s closet. She smiled to think how the beginnings of a friendship had forged between them, especially after she’d learned that Evie’s father had been a Navy admiral.

Dorie glanced into the full-length mirror and tugged at her curls. “What do I do with this hair?”

Gillian stepped up beside Dorie. “Need help?”

“Is there hope?”

“I like a challenge. Sit.”

Gillian trained Dorie’s locks into a faux bun, then secured the coiffure with a dozen bobby pins and a thick layer of hairspray.

“Curtain in ten minutes,” Danny Riley yelled through the dressing room door.

Dorie slipped into the hallway and caught Danny before he could disappear. “Is Josh behaving himself?”

“He’s fine. It’s you I’m worried about. You’re white as a ghost. Nervous?”

“A little.”

“You’ll be fine. When the curtain rises, it’s like magic. You become that character and you enter another world. You forget about the audience.”

“Really?”

“Well, not entirely. With bright lights, though, you can’t see past the first two rows.”

She hurried to the makeup room.

“Ready for your transformation?” Evie dipped a wet sponge into stage powder. Using slow, deliberate swipes, she smoothed the mixture over Dorie’s entire face, neck, and hands. She added blush to her cheeks and penciled her brows. “You’ll want to put latex on your face and talc on your hair to age you a little when you become Ms. Andrews. I’ll help restore your makeup during the break. Taking two parts can be tricky.”

Great. Now I want to throw up.

Dorie joined the troupe backstage while Danny Riley made his introductions to the audience. She blew a kiss to Josh. He squirmed behind Zeke.

Danny came backstage and chirped stage directions, commanding the actors to take their places.

This is it!

Electricity filled the air as the curtain rose, and everyone sucked in a deep breath.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

She must be dreaming. She couldn’t see him, but not even Zeke the Parrot could deliver that opening line quite the same way as Jamey Sullivan.

Chapter Thirty-four

The cast came out for curtain call and the crowd stood to its feet. With the last bow, Jamey searched for Dorie. What would he say when she asked why he’d come back for opening night?

He searched the stage in vain, the Stanton boys the only ones who remained. One of them picked up a hat and dusted it off. Then they both left. Aunt Gillian sneaked up behind him and threw her arms around his neck.

“Does this mean you’re back for good?”

“Don’t know yet. Have you seen Dorie?”

“She’s helping Josh gather his things.”

Jamey headed toward the auditorium door.

“Jamey!”

He turned to see Josh and Emma barreling toward him. Josh beat Emma and wrapped his arms around Jamey’s waist. “You’ve come back.”

Dorie’s mom caught up with the children. “Looks like the whole town is glad to see you. Great performance tonight, Jamey, as always.”

“Thank you. Where’s Dorie?”

“Backstage, I suppose. She asked me to take care of the kids tonight. Apparently, most of the cast is getting together at The Pines.”

Josh kicked an auditorium seat. “Mom won’t let me go. Not fair. The Stanton boys are going.”

Jamey bent down and lifted Josh’s chin. “Maybe she doesn’t know the other boys will be there. Want me to ask her for you?”

“Yeppers. She’s in the girls’ dressing room.”

“Stay here with your grandmother. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

***

Dorie hung up her costume and looked in the mirror. Traces of talc collected under her chin and her mascara blackened both eyes. “What a mess.”

Evie picked up a stray tube of blush from the floor. “There’s cold cream in the ladies’ bathroom. That’ll get most of the gunk off.”

Since her hands were still sticky from peeling off latex, she backed out of the dressing room door.

“You did a good job tonight, Dorie.”

A fresh flow of tears probably smeared her already-streaked makeup. Too embarrassed to look him eye-to-eye, she hid her face. Jamey gently spun her around. “Well, aren’t you going to return the compliment?”

“Why did you come back?”

His face reddened. “I think you know why.”

“No, I don’t. I thought you were going to trip the light fantastic.”

Seeing him now, knowing he’d leave again, burned worse than when he left the first time. “Excuse me, I’ve got to find Josh. I’d told him he couldn’t go to The Pines, but then I found out the Stanton boys are going. He’ll be disappointed—”

He put a finger on her lips. She sensed his urge to kiss her and she lowered her eyes in submission—a heartbeat from bliss. Gillian breezed by and suffocated the moment. “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything. I thought maybe I could ride with Dorie, but I see you have other plans. Gabe and Susan won’t mind if I go with them.”

They laughed together as she skittered off in a whirlwind of embarrassment.

Jamey took Dorie’s hand and ushered her into the music room where he had ripped her heart out. Now he wrapped his arms around her. “I got your e-mail, Dorie.”

“I never meant for you to give up—”

He cupped her chin and drew her into a gentle, quick kiss. She wanted more.

“I didn’t give up anything. I love you, Dorie. I don’t want to live the rest of my life without you.”

“What about—”

 “After I read your e-mail, I realized that, if I tried hard enough I could probably wear away your resistance, uproot you and the kids, and make a life for us in New York. We’d be okay, you and I. Okay isn’t good enough.”

Had he come back to hammer in what she already knew? “That’s what I tried to tell you the last time we were in this room.”

“And that’s why I left. I thought I knew what I wanted. Then I heard the voice again.”

“The voice?”

He released her and paced. “Do you remember Brandy telling you how I saved his life?”

“Now? You want to explain that to me now?”

“It has everything to do with now.” Jamey faced her again. “That night, four of us junior counselors sneaked out of the cabin and built a bonfire on the beach. When we saw Brandy come out of the administration building, we thought we were busted.” His tone flattened. “We were past curfew.”

“And?”

“We’d been smoking pot.”

“You don’t smoke pot now.”

“Of course not.”

“Go on.”

“Apparently Brandy didn’t see us, so we high-tailed it toward the dorm.”

“Let me guess. The other three were Gabe, his brother, and your brother.”

“Right. We got half way back and I stopped. The others ran on ahead.”

“Why did
you
stop?”

“A voice inside my head told me to go back. I wasn’t sure why. When I got to the beach, I saw Brandy slip under the water’s surface. I jumped in and pulled him out. We talked until the sun rose. Not as scoutmaster to scout but as friends bound by shared secrets. You see, Brandy hadn’t gone for a midnight swim. We just let people think that. Truth was, he tried to drown himself.”

“Why would he want to do that?”

“His business was on the verge of bankruptcy, and he couldn’t see any way out. I told him Pop was always in and out of financial woes and that he should wait it out. Before long, we started talking about deep stuff, including religion. I told him what I’d been doing on the beach before he got there. But I made it sound as if I’d been alone.”

“Your friends left you to take the heat. They didn’t deserve your loyalty.”

Jamey shrugged. “The point is that Brandy and I became Christians that night. We’d both been brought up in church, but neither of us had taken it to heart. There on that beach, Brandy and I realized we needed God.”

“I don’t understand what all that has to do with us.”

Jamey stroked her hair. “I’m getting to that. Later, Brandy led the Wellington boys and my brother to the Lord along with a lot of other young people, some of them becoming ministers and missionaries. None of that would have happened if I had kept walking the other way.”

Jamey took her hands into his. I read your e-mail before last night’s performance. I didn’t know what you’d hoped I’d say to you. So I didn’t reply. During the play, it all made sense to me.”

“I’m glad it makes sense to you, because I’m confused.”

“At her funeral, Emily Gibbs reminisces how wonderful her life had been. Her words reminded me of Clarence’s line, “You see, George, you really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?”

Dorie searched Jamey’s face—a face filled with peace.

“That’s when I realized that my Grover’s Corners, my Bedford Falls—is Midville. And the voice told me to turn around, that the best of my life would be here, in the town of my birth with the woman I love. George Bailey knew it. And now I know it too.”

Jamey pulled her in with a grip that said he’d never let go. “The curtain has risen on us, Dorie. I’m never leaving Midville or you again.”

Epilogue

Snow drifted across the yard as dusk settled on the best Christmas Day ever. Icy droplets glistened on the windows. Dorie lit the striped candles she’d purchased at Bargains Galore
earlier in the week
.
The memories of the day, a graceful minuet of wonder and joy, danced through her mind.

Jamey had arrived seconds before the children sprung from their beds and stampeded downstairs.
For a child’s eternity, Emma squinted at an unwrapped present nestled against the lower branches. “Is that dolly mine?”

“Yes, sweetie.”

She ripped off the cellophane and hugged the doll to her chest. Mr. Bear might have serious competition. That would be for the best. His left leg was now completely severed, and his stuffing littered the carpet and furniture. Next stop, Teddy Bear Cemetery.

Mom and Daddy had arrived at ten for Christmas brunch. Daddy insisted on taking the family out for dinner later in the afternoon. “You can’t beat The Pines for a Christmas buffet,” he’d said. Spoiled by Mom’s expert culinary skills, Dorie couldn’t help wondering if Daddy really wanted to eat out or if he dreaded Dorie’s cooking. At least he’d acquiesced to letting Dorie have Christmas at her house.

After the buffet at The Pines, Mom and Daddy returned to their house. Then Josh and Emma went upstairs to play with their new toys, giving Dorie and Jamey a few minutes of quiet as the sun crept behind the horizon and a full moon ascended.

After lighting the candles, Dorie dimmed the lamps. The Christmas tree cast radiant beams across the carpet. Jamey came in from the kitchen, handed her a cup of hot chocolate, and pulled her next to him on the couch. “You did a nice job decorating.”

“Thanks.”

“When I was kid, my father used to have us all gather around the tree and sing Christmas songs while he played the guitar. I’d give anything to have those days back. I’m going to miss him.” His eyes misted.

They’d shared much over the past two weeks. The more of Jamey Sullivan she discovered, the more she loved him. Yet he was still secretive about the future of Sullivan Enterprises.

“I hate to bring up business on Christmas,” she said, “but I’m curious. Are you going to sell or not?”

“Why? Is Junior giving you a bad time?”

“Now that he’s attending church, he’s almost human. He even shuts our adjoining door.”

Jamey took Dorie’s hot chocolate and set it on a coaster. He clasped her hands within his. “I thought we would talk about this later, but since you brought it up … I know we planned to exchange our gifts after the kids went to bed tonight and watch the video of the play. We might want to consider going over to our parents’ houses instead.”

She gave him a pretend jab to the arm and feigned confusion. “Don’t go changing the subject.”

“I’m not changing the subject. Sullivan Enterprises is not for sale.”

“And you didn’t tell me? I’ll bet Branson’s one unhappy camper.”

“Like you said, he’s changing. He gets every red cent of profit during the negotiations. At the height of our profitable season, that should compensate for his wounded pride.”