Christmas seemed to be most people’s favorite holiday, but Richard’s was Thanksgiving. There was just something so right about taking a whole day to be grateful for the bounty of life. Too many people took their good fortune for granted or refused to even see how much of it they had. Richard was extremely aware of his blessings, but it didn’t stop him from craving more.
He spent an entire afternoon purchasing trinkets for Mimi and her family, and the morning of his flight, he even stopped to buy her a dozen of her favorite bagels.
Going to Chicago for Thanksgiving seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Of course he’d have to put up with Elliot, but that was a small price to pay.
Mimi’s friend Kevin picked up Richard at the airport. As soon as they arrived at the Fielding house, his friend put them to work grating fresh ginger root and pulping oranges for the cranberry relish she was making for dinner the next day. As they worked, she fussed around the kitchen and made small talk.
After a significant lull in the conversation, she tentatively broached the subject, “Richard, I don’t know what happened with you and Philippa at my wedding . . .”
Richard hadn’t even thought about Elliot’s sister since he’d returned from London, so he gruffly replied, “Mimi, I told you I don’t want to discuss it with you. In fact there’s no reason to ever mention it. It’s not like I ever have to lay eyes on the woman again.”
Mimi exhaled loudly, “Richard, I’m afraid you are going to have to see Pip again. I mean, rather, crap. It’s like this. She’s in town and she’ll be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner.”
Kevin piped in with, “She’s staying at Renée’s house with you.”
Mimi hurried to add, “But you know how big her house is, so you won’t even need to see her if you don’t want to.”
Richard replied, “I thought I was staying here.”
Mimi shook her head and explained, “No, Elliot’s parents are staying with us. But Renée and Laurent have plenty of room.”
Richard picked up his phone and immediately started looking for hotels to book. Mimi asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for a hotel,” he replied. “Look, I don’t want to put myself in Philippa’s path again. Things didn’t work out very well the last time we met, so it might be better if I stayed elsewhere.” Call after call ended in frustration. Apparently Richard wasn't the only one trying to avoid people, as all the local hotels were full for the holiday. Much to his chagrin he'd be staying with Mimi's sister, after all.
Renée and her husband invited everyone over for a pizza party the night Richard arrived. With Thanksgiving such a huge production, they thought it would be best to have an uncomplicated get-together the night before. Richard pleaded a headache and took to his room so he didn’t have to socialize with Elliot’s sister.
Richard knew he had to get his thoughts together about Philippa. Even though he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind before he went to London, he’d successfully replaced all thoughts of her with the alluring stranger from the auction. He didn’t quite know what he felt about whom anymore.
Richard started to wonder if there was something wrong with him. Why did he seem to be intrigued by women who clearly weren’t right for him? First with Philippa, who obviously had a screw loose, and then with the masked woman at the auction who paid a fortune to go on a date with him before dropping off the face of the earth.
Richard fell into such a deep sleep that night, he ceased to connect to his body. He felt his spirit lift up and hover in the air momentarily before catching a breeze and gently floating out of the window. The wind was cold and bracing as he gently settled to the ground below. Richard immediately saw the person wearing a wedding gown from his previous reveries. She was sitting on a bench by a small pond, so he walked over to join her.
When she looked up, he wasn’t surprised to see she wasn’t a woman, rather the same man from his other visions. He sat down and greeted, “Bertram, do you ever get tired of dressing like a woman?”
The bride laughed loudly and replied, “It’s symbolic, mate. If you just dreamed about me when I was wearing my normal togs, it would have never been enough to leave a lasting impression. But dreaming about marrying another bloke, well, that’s enough to stick, yeah?”
Richard agreed, “I’d say. So, what is it that you want to tell me that you don’t want me to forget?”
Bertram sighed. “There are rules,” he started, “things I’m allowed to say and things I can only hint at.”
Richard listened attentively as the apparition continued, “Look mate, it’s like this, there’s more at stake here than just you and your search for the perfect woman. I really need you to pay attention to what I’m going to say and I need for you to remember it.”
Richard replied, “I’ll do my best.”
Bertram shared a very shocking message with Richard, one he wasn’t sure if he believed or not. So he asked, “Bertram, who are you exactly?”
The spirit answered, “For your purposes, you can consider me your guardian angel.” Then he added, “Don’t forget, you have to be there in time for the trial. Now, so you’ll remember me.” He turned to Richard and kissed him straight on the mouth and said, “The name’s Bertram. Bloody chuffed to meet you, mate.”
Thanksgiving
Chapter 35
Thanksgiving morning was a quiet affair. Renée put out a selection of brunch foods, juice and coffee in the kitchen for her guests to eat at their leisure. As such, Richard was able to put together an assortment to take it back to his room, thus avoiding running into any of the other home’s occupants, primarily Philippa.
At two Renée’s household met out front to drive over to their local parish. They were going to meet the rest of the family to serve at the soup kitchen before reconvening at Mimi’s house for their own celebration.
Richard made sure to get into the car Philippa wasn’t in. He still hadn’t made up his mind how to behave around her. Then there was that strange dream he’d had the night before, and while he didn’t remember much of it, he did know that it had something to do with Pip. He recalled sitting on the grounds of Renée’s house with that man, Bertram, who kept showing up in his dreams wearing a wedding dress. He remembered being told not to forget an important message, but try as he might, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. The only thing he clearly recalled was the man kissing him.
When they arrived at the church, Richard stayed in the parking lot to help unload the food while most of the family went inside. He took a deep breath of crisp winter air before joining them. He still didn’t know how he felt about Philippa, so he figured he’d just have to wing it.
Richard helped serve mashed potatoes several spots down from where Elliot’s sister was handing out silverware. He watched intently as people of all ages passed by him in line. They ranged from babies to grandparents and every last one of them had a story. These weren’t nameless, faceless beings of no value. These were people, children of the same God as everyone else. How had they ever wound up in their current situation?
Richard thought of the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty and felt his blood chill as he recited the lines in his head:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
He wondered when exactly the lamp by the golden door had gone out. How could a land of such plenty also be the land of such need? It defied reason.
By the time everyone had gone through the line, the weight on Richard’s heart felt very heavy indeed. He stood still and watched people fill their stomachs, wondering if they knew where there next meal was coming from.
Then he saw Philippa mingle amongst the diners. She sat down with one old man and even took his hand. She spent several minutes talking to him. Ri
chard had no idea what she said, but when she moved on to the next person, the man had tears in his eyes.
Again and again Richard watched as Philippa did this with several others, until she was the one who sat still and a line formed around her. He wondered what she was saying because every time someone walked away from her, their face looked lighter and less full of worry and angst. Some of them looked positively ebullient.
Eventually, Richard decided he needed to know what was going on, so he approached the first man Philippa had spoken to. He stood next to him and asked, “May I join you?”
The older man motioned to the chair across from him and replied, “Always happy to have some company.”
Richard started, “Do you mind if I ask what that woman said to you when she sat down with you?” He discreetly pointed to Pip.
“Not at all,” the stranger replied. “She had a message for me from my wife, Maud. She said Maud is with me and that even though times are hard right now, they won’t be for much longer.” Then he looked at Richard solemnly and confessed, “I’m dying from cancer. I can’t tell you what it means that my girl is waiting for me and keeping a watch over me. We were married for forty-nine years.”
Richard was shaken, but managed to ask, “What can I do to help you, my friend? I’d like to make sure you’re comfortable until you see your wife again.”
The man replied, “Son, at least I have a roof over my head, unlike so many of these people. According to my doctors I’ll be with my love very soon now. Why don’t you take your charity and help some of these folks who really need it? Help someone who still has a future.”
Richard stood up and shook the stranger’s hand. He promised, “I’ll to do that, sir, and I wish you an easy passage to your wife. Thank you for sharing your story with me.”
Richard moved on to a table near Philippa and listened to what she was telling a young girl. She said, “Your grandma still loves you very much and she wants you to know that even though life doesn’t always seem fair, there’s always joy to be found.” Then Pip pulled something out of the bag she’d brought with her and handed it to the child.
The little girl cried out, “Thank you, Gram! Thank you for not forgetting me.” Then she hugged Pip long and hard until the little girl’s mother reluctantly pulled her away.
Richard watched Philippa take her time and talk to every person who wanted a word. Everyone left with something special that she’d brought for them, something they seemed to have a personal connection with. One boy received a baseball glove, another girl left with a doll, and an old lady held a small jeweler’s box close to her heart.
Richard had no idea how Pip had known to bring all the things she did. He mused that watching her was like watching Jesus walk among the masses. There was nothing but love coming from her and he could tell that every person she talked to was changed for the better.
He later found out the reason why there were no hotel reservations open in the area. Pip’s father had rented out every available room for four nights to offer everyone at the soup kitchen a reprieve from the cold weather. Richard decided to talk to the priest and see what he could do to help find a longer term solution for them. It was hard to spend a day like Thanksgiving with these people and not be willing to help them beyond their immediate needs.
Richard’s phone rang while everyone was getting ready to sit down to eat. He normally wouldn’t have taken the call, but it was from his mother, so he excused himself to wish her a happy holiday. When he joined everyone in the dining room, the only chair left was the one next to Philippa. He sat down next to her with a smile and lightness of heart he’d yet to feel around her.
After the blessing and once everyone had filled their plates, Richard announced, “Philippa, I enjoyed watching you talk to the people at the soup kitchen today.”
Startled, she looked up and replied, “Why?”
“Because you seemed to be making a lot of people very happy. That was a nice thing to witness.”
Pip simply grunted in response. Then deciding a change of subject was in order, she said, “I understand from Mimi that you’re in advertising.”
Richard nodded, “I am. And what do you do?” He realized that was probably the wrong question if they were to avoid speaking of her strange abilities. After what he’d observed that day, he was sure there was something to her claim of speaking to the dead. He just didn’t believe she’d really talked with his father.
Philippa didn’t miss a beat though, and replied, “I spend most of my time volunteering.” Then she added, “I just worked on a charity event for childhood lupus.”
Startled, Richard asked, “Was it the bachelor auction in London?”
She nodded, “It was.”
“Then you must know I was there, as well. Why didn’t you come over to say hello?”
Pip figured there were two ways to progress, one was to come clean that she was the mystery woman who’d bought a date with him, and the other was to pretend she’d been too busy to socialize. In order to protect her heart, she chose the latter. “It was such a chaotic night for those of us working behind the scenes. I’m sure you can understand how busy I was.”
What Richard understood was that she was still mad at him. From what he saw, the helpers at the function had quite a lot of free time to enjoy the evening. He answered, “I wish you would have at least said hello.”
Philippa put her fork down and turned to look Richard straight in the eye. “You seemed a bit preoccupied with one of the other women working the event.”
Richard wondered what she’d seen. If she’d witnessed the kiss then yes, he’d been preoccupied. He thought about asking Pip if she knew who the mystery woman was, but he had Honey for that. He realized he didn’t want to upset the tentative truce they seemed to have called, so he simply replied, “I always have time for my friends.”
“Is that what we are, Richard? Friends?” she asked.
“I’d like to be,” he answered. “After all, you’re Elliot’s sister and I’m a good friend of Mimi’s. It stands to reason our paths will cross from time to time in the future. It would be nice if they did so amicably.”
She replied, “So we’ll just forget about our previous encounter at the wedding and move on?”
He answered, “If that suits you, yes.”
Pip agreed. “Fine. But just so you know, I never wanted to pass on that message from your father.”
Uncomfortably, Richard nodded his head. He still didn’t believe Philippa had actually had a message from his father. His father hadn’t been that interested in him in life, so he couldn’t imagine he’d discovered any in his death. But still, he didn’t want to go backwards with Pip. He was glad they’d moved past the stage of open warfare and hoped at the very least, they could be civil to one another from that point on.
Richard decided to change the subject, “I bet your event made a lot for the Childhood Lupus Foundation.”
“We pulled in quite a nice sum.” She tentatively teased, “I imagine it would have been a bona fide fortune if everyone sold for as much as you did. Ten thousand pounds is nothing to scoff at.”
“It most certainly isn’t.” Then he added, “It’s too bad I didn’t get a date out of it, though.”
Feigning ignorance, Pip commented, “I thought the whole point of the auction was to go out with the man you’d won.”
“I thought so, too,” he replied. “Apparently my date wasn’t interested in taking advantage of that boon. It seems she just wanted to donate to charity and wasn’t interested in me.”
Pip enjoyed Richard’s pique. “It must be frustrating to have a complete stranger find you wanting like that without even bothering to get to know you first.”
Richard sensed that Philippa was alluding to his treatment of her at the wedding. Not wanting to enter that landmine, he chose to reply, “Yes, well people often have their reasons.”
The rest of their meal was spent in pleasant, if stilted, conversation. They shared basic
information about themselves and even discussed hobbies and interests they had in common. For instance, it turned out Richard could make a mean soufflé and promised to prepare one for Pip if she was ever in New York City.
Philippa replied that she would be happy to host Richard for a meal if he ever found himself in London again. It was as far away from a declaration of love as Pip could imagine. She knew Bertram wouldn’t be pleased by her progress with Richard. But at the very least, they’d buried the hatchet. That had to be worth something.
London
Chapter 36
Pip unpacked her suitcase while Bertram chatted away. He announced, “The court denied my wife’s petition to have life support removed.”
“Bertram that’s wonderful!” Pip replied. “So there’s no pressure about how long they keep you on the ventilator now?”
“Don’t get excited,” he answered. “She’s appealing. But even if she doesn’t win, I’m deteriorating and my muscles are weakening rapidly. Every day I’m out of my body reduces its ability to accept my spirit back in.” He continued, “Keep in mind I’ve been away from myself for almost a year now.”
“I guess that means there’s no hope you’ll get off my back about shagging Declan and let our relationship progress in its own time then?”
“Declan?” her contact exclaimed. “I thought we decided he wasn’t the one for you.”
“No,” Pip responded, “I believe you came to that conclusion on your own. I’m the one who thinks he’s a perfectly delightful fellow with whom I might actually have a future, as long as you’re not riding me to hurry up and declare my undying love.”
“But what about Richard? What about Thanksgiving?” he demanded.
“What about him?”
“Well,” Bertram began, “I thought you and he were going to, you know, be friends.”
Kindred Spirits: A Romantic Comedy About Love, Life, and the Afterlife . . . Page 17