The Best of Times: A Dicken's Inn Novel (22 page)

“You look great,” he said and stood, “but you told me it wasn’t a requirement to wear black to Mormon funerals.”

“It’s not. It just . . . seemed like the right thing to wear.”

“I would agree.” He took her hands and kissed her. “You’re beautiful.” She tried to smile. “You okay?” he asked.

“Considering what day it is, I’m holding it together. Just hold my hand and help me through this day. I can fall apart later.”

“An excellent plan,” he said, and they left for the church where the funeral would be held.

Jackson was intrigued by the differences in a Mormon funeral compared to any he’d ever been to. He’d taken keen notice of all the people from Chas’s church who had been in and out of the house the last few days, bringing food and flowers and compassion. People had come to help with the funeral plans, and simply to check on her and see how she was doing. And Jackson had been impressed. Now, sitting through the service, he couldn’t recall a funeral ever having such a positive mood to it. More than grief and heartache, he heard hope and peace. It was more a celebration of this woman’s life, as opposed to sorrow over her death. Of course, it was mentioned more than once that she would be missed, and the difficulty was for those left behind. It was mentioned by Bishop Wegg that the woman they were honoring had not been a member of the church he represented, but that her granddaughter, who was, had requested he take charge of the funeral, and he considered it an honor. It was obvious he’d met Granny on more than a few occasions and knew her well. His tribute to her was touching.

At the cemetery it started to snow just as soon as the prayer spoken there was finished. Jackson stood with his arm around Chas next to the casket, holding an umbrella over them. Everyone else left, but she just stood there, and he was more than willing to stay there with her for as long as she needed. She finally blew out a long sigh, touched the casket, then headed toward the car, leaning into him while he kept his arm around her.

“I miss her so much,” she said in the car.

“I know. It’s going to be a tough adjustment, especially since you’ve been taking care of her. I worry about you. You’ve got to find something to fill in the hours you used to spend helping her, or you’re going to get depressed.”

“You’re an expert?” she asked.

“No, just an observer of human nature. You’re entitled to grieve and to miss her, but if what they said at the funeral today is true, you should be able to go forward with faith, find peace over this, and be happy, because you know that’s what she would want.”

Chas took his hand. “Listen to you telling me to have faith.”

“Hey, I’ve learned a lot from you and Granny.” He kissed her hand, then drove in silence back to the church building where a luncheon was being provided by the women of the Church. But Chas didn’t want to stay long. She told him she was tired of hearing condolences—and just plain tired.

Once they’d eaten and exchanged brief words with a few people, especially appreciation to the bishop and the ladies who had put on the luncheon, they were on their way home. Back at the inn, Chas said she was going to change her clothes and check on the work Polly was doing. But Jackson went to the office to talk to Polly long enough to be able to assure Chas that it was all under control. Then he found her in Granny’s room, her shoes on the floor, still wearing the same clothes, curled almost into the fetal position on the bed, holding her grandmother’s pillow. Jackson sat down and told her, “I’ve talked to Polly. Everything is under control and it will be until you feel ready to get back to work; however long it takes, she said.”

“Thank you. I didn’t want to deal with it.”

“I know, but you would have if you’d had to.”

“I’m glad I don’t have to.”

“Do you want to be alone?”

“No.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

“No,” she repeated, so he just sat there in silence for more than an hour, while Chas stared at the wall and didn’t make a sound. She finally closed her eyes, and when he knew she was asleep, he covered her with one of Granny’s blankets and went to change his clothes and take care of a few things that might help ease Polly’s responsibilities. He was back in the chair when Chas woke up. She reached out a hand when she saw him. He took it and kissed it and reminded her of how strong she was, and that they were going to get through this together.

“I like that together part,” she said and actually smiled.

The next morning Chas and Jackson were eating breakfast when Polly sat down at their table and said, “I don’t want to stress you out, Chas, and I’m willing to do whatever you need me to do, but I have to remind you that the open house is the day after tomorrow.”

“Oh, good heavens!” Chas said and hit herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. “I can’t believe I forgot.”

“I think it’s reasonable that you forgot,” Polly said. “And I can take care of most of it. But other than what you asked Charlotte to do, the plans are in your head, so I need to know what you’ve got.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Chas said. “I can’t believe I forgot.”

“We got that already,” Polly said, completely calm. “It’ll be fine. Just tell me what you need me to do. Jen will help, and so will Michelle.” Jackson knew these girls were the maids who cleaned the rooms, but they were competent and hard working, and Jen had helped cover other things here and there many times. “Charlotte will help as well. If we can just sit down and go over some details, we’ll be set.”

“Okay,” Chas said, breathing deeply, as if she’d just avoided a near collision.

“What are we talking about?” Jackson asked.

“It’s been a tradition ever since we opened the inn,” Chas explained. “We had our grand opening at Christmastime right after the renovations were completed. We opened it for tours and served refreshments, and it helped get the business off the ground. After that, people around town started asking if we were going to do it again because they had such a good time, so we made it a tradition.”

“With the house already decorated,” Polly said, “all we really need to take care of are the refreshments, right?”

“Right,” Chas said.

“And Charlotte will be doing most of that, right?”

“Right,” she said again.

“And we’ll all just pitch in to help that day, and we can all play waiter that evening, and we’ll help clean up. It’s not a big deal.”

“I can do that,” Jackson said proudly.

“Do what?” Chas and Polly both asked at the same time.

“Be a waiter. I went undercover as a waiter once.”

“Really?” Chas said, and Polly laughed.

“It’s not funny,” Jackson said, pretending to be offended. “I was very good at it.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Polly said. “What else have you learned to be for secret missions?”

“It was not a secret mission; it was just a little undercover work.”

“Whatever your FBI definition might be,” Polly said, “it sounds secret to me. What else did you do?”

“Oh, exciting stuff,” Jackson said. “Janitor, pest control, bartender, store clerk a few times. But the most exciting was ticket taker at a theater.”

“That’s hilarious,” Polly said.

“So, how often do we encounter FBI agents passing themselves off as normal people?” Chas asked.

“Rarely if ever, I’m sure,” Jackson said. “Did you just say I wasn’t normal?”

“Ordinary,” she corrected. “I meant ordinary.” She took his hand. “You are far from ordinary.”

He made a disgruntled noise, then insisted on being present while the women discussed the open house and their plans. He was pleased when there was actually something he could do to help, and that Chas was willing to let him do it. The next day he was given a list of errands and a list of things to get at the grocery store. He was glad to see Chas keeping busy with something that kept her from thinking too much about Granny’s absence, although she still spent far too much time just sitting or resting in Granny’s room.

“Maybe you should just move into this room,” he said that evening when he found her there again. “It’s bigger than yours, and you spend more time here anyway.”

“Maybe I will,” she said and changed the subject.

The following day was very busy, but Chas was relieved to see how smoothly everything came together with the help of her friends. When guests started arriving, she was amazed to see that Jackson had been serious. He had no trouble being completely comfortable with inviting people to look through the house, and answering questions about it. And he was often seen carrying around trays with food, or making certain the punch bowl remained full. She wandered around, mingling with guests, some of whom she knew and some of whom she did not. The scented candles that were burning throughout the house, along with the soft Christmas music playing in the background, gave her a sense of anticipation for the holiday that she hadn’t felt since Granny had left her. She also loved the chatter of people having fun in her home, and realized that she loved this tradition as much as, if not more than, anybody else.

“You’re pretty good at this,” she said to Jackson during a quiet moment while they hovered where refreshments were set out on the sideboard in the dining room. “Maybe I should hire you.”

“You can’t afford me,” he said and chuckled. “Maybe you should just marry me.”

“Is that a proposal?” she asked.

“It’s a wish,” he said and kissed her quickly before he went back to work.

After the last guests had left the inn, Chas found Jackson in the kitchen, wearing one of her aprons folded down and tied around his waist. He was washing the baking sheets that Charlotte had used to bring her variety of baked delicacies, while Polly and Charlotte were packaging the majority of the leftover food for the freezer. Jen and Michelle were combing the house for stray garbage and dishes and making certain all was in order.

“Thank you,” she said, sidling up next to Jackson with a clean dish towel that she used to dry the pan he’d just washed.

“A pleasure,” he said and kept washing.

“Did you go undercover as a dishwasher?”

“Yes, actually, but it only lasted a few hours.”

“What a relief for you,” she said, and he laughed.

With the open house behind them, the holiday was fast approaching, and Chas put all her efforts into creating the best possible celebration. She missed Granny every hour of every day, but she found strength in imagining her close by, observing all the preparations with a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face. During the moments when she felt tempted to grieve over Granny’s absence during this most precious time of year, Chas turned her thoughts instead to Jackson. Having him in her life didn’t replace her grandmother’s presence in her home, but his being here for the holidays gave her more to look forward to. His company assuaged her sadness and made her losses more bearable.

The countdown to Christmas began with a day in the kitchen, where everyone was involved. Chas always purposely scheduled this day on a Monday or Tuesday when there were few if any guests at the inn. There was only one couple staying in the Carol on Tuesday evening, and there were no guests on Monday, so there was no one to take care of Tuesday morning. As always, Chas had scented candles burning and Christmas music playing quietly. She considered that creating the perfect atmosphere was one of her gifts, and she took it very seriously. Charlotte always supervised the baking projects, giving her children special assignments, and Chas supervised the making of fudge and caramels and chocolate-covered pretzels. Polly was patient about stirring candy that had to get to the perfect temperature, and the children were mostly occupied by cutting out batch after batch of sugar cookies. Chas loved watching Jackson. He was wearing one of her aprons, guiding the children, and covering himself with flour. At moments it seemed he had a great deal of experience with children and was perfectly patient with them; at others he seemed like a child himself, and she wondered what his Christmases had been like when he was young.

By suppertime phase one was completed, and the countertops in the kitchen were covered with a variety of candies and baked treats, waiting for the finishing touches to be done during phase two on the following day. They ordered pizza for supper and worked together to wash all of the dishes and put everything in order before it arrived. After they’d eaten, they all gathered in front of the TV to watch a Christmas movie while they strung popcorn and cranberries, which were added to the already-decorated Christmas tree for a homey effect.

After Charlotte and her children had left and Polly had gone to her room to read, Chas and Jackson sat near the Christmas tree, holding hands while they looked into the flames of a fire that he had kept burning throughout the evening. Chas took the opportunity to ask him something she’d been wondering all day. “Tell me what Christmas was like when you were a child.”

He made a disgusted noise. “If you want the day to remain cheerful, we shouldn’t talk about that.”

“Was it really that bad?” she asked.

“It really was,” he said. “My mother tried; I’ll give her credit for that. But a holiday was just another excuse for my father to be drunk, and since he spent all of his money on booze, there wasn’t much money for anything else. Enough said. What was Christmas like when
you
were a child?”

“Almost like today,” she said. “Granny taught me and Charlotte everything we know. Until the house was renovated, some of it was in pretty bad shape, but it always felt like home. Granny loved Christmas and worked hard to make it wonderful, even if there wasn’t a lot of money.”

“You live her legacy well, then.”

“I try,” she said and got a little sniffly. “I miss her.”

“I miss her too,” he said. “I can’t imagine how much
you
must miss her.”

“Having you here helps,” she said. “I’m grateful for that.”

He kissed her hand. “I’m grateful too,” he said and smiled.

The following morning, Charlotte and the kids arrived after breakfast, and they all spent the day frosting and decorating cookies with artful details. The kids made a glorious mess with the different colors of frosting and the variety of sprinkles and decorations. After lunch, having given the cookies time to dry, lovely gift plates were assembled with some of everything they had made. And everyone sampled a little bit of everything, along with hot chocolate, just to make sure it all was good enough to share. That evening they went caroling and distributed the goody plates to many friends and neighbors and people that Chas went to church with.