The Christmas Edition

by Robin Shope

  John laughed. “I have always liked to stir things up. Speaking of which, I have a business proposition for you.”

  “Oh?” Lucy took a drink of iced water.

  John stopped cutting his meat and asked, “I need someone to manage my law office. There is no one I can think of who would do a better job than you. Up until this moment, I have procrastinated asking you because I know how committed you are to your family business…”

  “And now that we are about to be obliterated, you thought I might need a job, right?”

  “No, not right. I want to offer this opportunity to you because you are clearly the best person for the job.”

  “I am honored.”

  “And with you working right outside my office, you will remind me that life isn’t all about work and court cases. I would love to take our relationship to the next level. What do you say, Lucy? Come this spring, will you move to Milwaukee?”

  ****

  December 24

  The choir dressed as angels and sang Holy Night from the loft. The church’s lights had been dimmed and in their place, the congregation held miniature flashlights that looked like candles. Lucy sat in beside her parents with Mike and Monica in the pew right behind them, holding hands.

  The irony of it all was that this was the service Joe had promised to write an article about for the newspaper. He wasn’t here to do it. Since he no longer worked for them, it fell to her to see the job through. Her words wouldn’t be anywhere as poetic as Joe would have written, but the job would be done nonetheless. Lucy picked up her camera and scooted sideways down the length of the pew. She found a spot along the wall where she wouldn’t block anyone’s view of the service.

  Lucy adjusted the camera lens for wide perspective and then twisted the lens again for close-ups of the choir. Fortunately, with all the shots she planned on taking this evening, the sound of the camera clicks was drowned out by the singing and she used special film in order to avoid using the flash. Everyone was alive with Christmas spirit and anticipation of what waited for him or her at home. There’d be plenty of food and presents.

  For the next few days, Lucy decided she would put away her emotional unrest. For too long, she had allowed situations to dictate her joy. Not anymore. Lucy had her own private moment with the Lord at the back of the church, while no one watched. She bowed her head and handed Him her misery. Here and now, I am going to love Christmas again, starting with this one , Lucy whispered to herself.

  Pastor Owens looked especially serene tonight so she took a few close-ups—one had his hand crossing over in front of his face. It looked powerful captured in her lens. Joe’s voice was in her head. You’re like me. You see things no one else does. Lucy struggled, longing to see Joe again yet angry at him for fooling her.

  Lucy moved locations trying to get the personal shots. The back door of the church opened. With hope filling her, Lucy turned about, expecting—hoping and praying—to see Joe, but it was Blanche and Herbert hurrying in. They waved at her and took a seat at the back of the nearly full church. Lucy refocused her lens for a close-up of them. She held her breath and watched for that perfect moment. There it was. Blanche laid her head on her husband’s shoulder. They held the same candle. Even if the church hadn’t run short of them, Lucy was pretty sure they would still be sharing the same light. It was just the way they did things. Then Blanche tilted her chin up toward her husband just as he gave her a winning smile. The candle flashlight tipped to the side, washing them in a glow. That was Lucy’s shot.

  “I’m hungry!” she heard the soft whine of a child’s voice. There a few pews down was the Humphrey family. The girls wore matching black velvet jackets over red dresses. The middle-school boy wore blue jeans and a button-down shirt. Altogether, they were a fine looking family. Everyone, except their youngest daughter, was smiling toward the front where the choir sang. She had a big pout on her face. Her eyes were glassy with tears. Lucy took that picture.

  Lucy turned the lens of her camera as she moved throughout the congregation, taking snapshots of various people, always searching for that interesting one. A quick glance that only lasted for a brief moment, one that nobody else saw. She saw that on Tina’s face as she sat with her parents, looking up at the cross. Then Lucy took several shots of the closed door. No, Joe wasn’t coming. He had left Turtle Creek forever. And in his wake she had a big mess to clean up.

  The Christmas Edition

  The Christmas Edition

  Chapter Nineteen

  December 25

  Lucy wrapped the pillow around her head to drown out the voice of her dad downstairs singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing . He loved all Christmas music but that one in particular was his favorite. It had his name in it so he felt the song belonged to him.

  Even though it was Christmas morning, Lucy didn’t care. It was just way too early to get out of bed, no matter what day it was, especially since her family remained at church the night before until almost midnight. Once they returned home, they opened presents so it seemed she had only been asleep a few hours when her father cranked up the old stereo in the living room where the tunes were playing now.

  “Wakie, wakie! Eggs and bakie!” Harold hollered up the stairs.

  Like a good daughter, Lucy put on her robe and sleepily bumped into Mike in the hallway as he came out of his room. Through bloodshot eyes, he asked, “When will Dad ever stop doing this so early?”

  “Never.” Lucy yawned. “Our only hope is moving out.”

  “Now I know another New Year’s Resolution to make.”

  They came down the steps and into the kitchen where a large breakfast waited for them, all laid out on the table.

  “Merry Christmas!” Margaret sang out. “Grab a plate and help yourselves.”

  “Mmmm, it all looks delicious, Mom.” Lucy gave her a kiss and then hugged her dad. “Merry Christmas to everyone!”

  Mike slid into a chair at the table, staring down at the cup of coffee Margaret had just placed in front of him. “I’ll eat in a minute. Still waking up.” His yawn was long and loud.

  “Hurry and eat. Santa left a few extra gifts beneath the tree while we were all sleeping,” Margaret continued.

  “Really?” Lucy perked up. “We get to open more gifts today?”

  “Really,” Harold answered. “You know your mom is never done shopping for Christmas.”

  “It’s Santa,” Margaret emphasized. “Santa is never done with his shopping. And if the truth were known, I have no idea what is even in the boxes. I found them stuck way back in my closet when I was cleaning it out. You know how I hide presents throughout the year. I haven’t a clue how long they’ve even been back there. Thankfully, the names were on the packages. It will be kind-of fun to see what’s inside, don’t you think?”

  “I, for one, cannot wait!” Lucy clapped her hands.

  After breakfast, they sat on the floor around the tree. Mike and Lucy took turns opening the gifts. Lucy peeled off the reindeer wrapping paper. Inside was a gold locket with her name engraved on the front. “This is beautiful.”

  “Now I remember,” Margaret sighed with happiness. “That’s what I bought for you when you were in eighth grade.”

  “That was twelve years ago.” Lucy looked wistfully at the locket in her hand. “I am kinda glad you forgot about it until now. I think this means more to me today.”

  “How sweet of you to say, honey.”

  “My turn. All eyes on me, please.” Mike tore off his elves wrapping paper. “Wow, oh boy, I always wanted a model airplane! So this was going to be a gift when I was eleven, huh?”

  “We can still build it together, son,” Harold said.

  Lucy opened the next gift that had her name on it. “This is like a time machine. What else did I want for Christmas long ago?” she asked herself aloud as she opened the box. “A pink angora sweater! Do you think it will still fit?” Lucy hoped, holding it over her bathrobe.

  Mike had already torn open his next present. �
�Wow, baseball cards! I bet some of these are worth some money by now.” Then he looked up sheepishly. “Not that I am going to sell them or anything.”

  “Hey, I still see something way back there under the tree,” Lucy said reaching under. “Something else you forgot about Mom…er, I mean Santa!”

  Margaret looked oddly at the two gifts. “No, there were only four gifts I found in the closet. I am not sure where those came from.” Margaret read the tag and then smiled. “Joe…they’re from Joe. How sweet. One has my name on it and this one is for you, Lucy.” Margaret passed her the box.

  “Joe didn’t leave a present for me?” Mike looked almost hurt.

  “Yea, strange, isn’t it,” Lucy panned. “And you were so nice to him when he was here, too. Check your stocking for the coal.”

  “I liked Joe. It’s too bad things didn’t work out for him here.” Harold looked a bit glum.

  Margaret took an ornament from the box. She laughed. “Isn’t this a cute one?” She held up the Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus ornament. “And it was made in Germany, too. This goes perfectly with the other ornaments on the tree.” Margaret got to her feet and looked for a spot to hang it. She decided on a place near the top in the front.

  “Do you remember the first day Joe walked into the office?” Harold was reminiscing.

  “Yes, Dad, we all do. It wasn’t quite a month ago.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

  “He was such a nice young man. Kept that apartment nice and tidy,” Margaret said smiling at Joe’s present.

  “I remember how he used to sit in his chair and write up those great editorials,” Harold said with a sigh.

  “What did he buy you?” Margaret asked Lucy.

  Lucy had planned to unwrap the gift in the privacy of her bedroom but the anxious looks of her family forced her to open it here. Lucy removed the ribbon and the paper. She opened the lid and reached inside. On top was a note. It read, 1930 USSR hand-blown glass ornament. The moon shines at night. Lucy took out the glass moon ornament. The moon had little craters. One side of the moon was painted silver and the other side was dark. It was quite fragile. Memories of Joe dancing her around the Cotton Candy House came flooding back. The memory was fresh and too painful.

  “Here, Mom, you can put it on the tree for me.” Lucy got to her feet and ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

  ****

  December 27

  Lucy couldn’t do the copy for this particular edition of the newspaper. Joe’s last editorial would be in it, proving too painful to read so Mike took over. Yep, he was good in a pinch and Lucy was grateful. Monica was working alongside him on this issue so Lucy took over the main desk.

  What a numbskull she was to have fallen so fast and hard for a man who wasn’t what he seemed to be. Lucy had given her trust to him. Next time someone would have to earn it. If there is a next time . Her track record with men was appalling.

  If things went according to her calculations, Lucy figured the newspaper had one more year to pump up sales. Oliver and Duckworth could and would wait them out. She’d do everything within her power to keep her family business afloat, but if it wasn’t enough, they would be closing their doors. Statistics from similar situations gave them about a year. Lucy wasn’t sure what her plans would be after that. Maybe John’s offer to work for him would still be possible.

  As she doodled on a piece of paper, lost in her thoughts, a man walked in making the bell over the door jingle. Lucy looked up.

  He looks familiar . She did a double take; it was Ryan Oliver. Her competition and enemy just walked into her territory. How dare he . He was the root of everything that was wrong with her life. Joe was gone and soon her family’s livelihood would be as well. Lucy stood and went to the counter. Without smiling, she asked, “How may I help you, Mr. Oliver?”

  “Ah,” he nodded his head. “You know who I am.”

  “How may I help you?”

  Oliver looked a bit put-off over her attitude. “Is Joe McNamara here? I need to speak with him.”

  “Oh, you don’t know?” Lucy put her hand on her hip.

  “Know what?”

  “Your man has gone back to Chicago. I am sure he left his forwarding information with you,” Lucy snipped. She wished Mike would come out of his office and see this man standing here. Surely there would be plenty of fireworks.

  “You seem to be taking your bad morning out on me. Is there something wrong?”

  “Where do I begin? You put Joe in here as your spy. Being a psychiatrist, he was the perfect instrument to ferret out our weakness and then report back to you,” Lucy snipped.

  “Is that what Joe told you?” Oliver scratched his head.

  “He didn’t have to since it became transparent when I saw you and your partner having lunch with him and toasting your new deal.”

  “When was this?” he acted sincerely confused.

  “At Clear Water in Williams Bay. Everything suddenly made sense to me—Joe applying to be our editor, his secret meetings...” She shook her head as she tried to control her emotions. “What hurts most of all is buying up land so you could build here and put us out of business.”

  “We bought land to build but now it’s up for sale again.”

  Lucy’s head snapped back to look him straight on because she had to have heard wrong. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s true I met with Joe on several occasions, but he is the one who contacted us.”

  “Joe made the initial contact?” This was so much worse than she’d imagined.

  “Weeks back Joe came to our office to talk to us about the newspaper we planned on building here. He told us it wasn’t a good idea to do so.”

  “Joe said that?” Lucy felt as if someone had taken all of the air out of the room as she sat down on the tall stool, afraid her legs wouldn’t support her.

  “He pointed out that there were already too many newspapers in this one southern lakes region and we’d be competing with folks who already had an established relationship with newspapers who have been here for generations. Once I ran the demographics, I had to agree with him. Change doesn’t bode well in such an area. Joe went on to say that trying to start a new business here wouldn’t do us any favors. People tend to draw lines.”

  “That’s true.” Lucy nodded her head as her mind went numb with surprise over this news.

  “He suggested we relocate our newspaper venture to a different section of the state. Joe even studied the entire state, finding where all the small newspapers were located and then found us a beautiful spot about three hundred miles from here that was perfect for us. We’re leaving town today as soon as we sign-off on putting the land back up for sale with a realtor. To answer your earlier question, no, Joe didn’t leave his forwarding address with me. You see, he told me he had planned on making Turtle Creek his permanent home. I only came to say goodbye to him and shake his hand.”

  Lucy watched the back of Ryan Oliver leave her office. She looked over at Ulilla who was shaking her head.

  “You sure blew it with Joe,” she tsked.

  Lucy raced into the private office. “Mike! I’ve made a terrible mistake!”

  “What?” he asked looking down at the copy. “This looks perfect to me.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Lucy leaned over the desk. “I was wrong about Joe. He wasn’t meeting with those fellows at the other paper to do us in. He found them another location to build that is over three hundred miles away!”

  “Well, I’ll be.” Mike grinned and slapped his knee. “I never would have thought that!”

  “Ah-oh, Lucy, you did something really bad by letting him go,” Monica said shaking her head.

  “We have got to get Joe back, but I can’t do it. Mike, you have to go after Joe. Promise him anything if he will come back. Tell him I’ve been fired if you have to.”

  “No good, sis; I can’t do it.”

  “Why not?”

  Ulilla walked into the room. “No one can fix your mistake but
you, Lucy. You blew it. You fix it.”

  “I can’t,” she answered helplessly as she slid down the wall to the floor. If only she could curl into a little ball. “I didn’t believe in him. He won’t forgive that. He probably hates me too much by now.”

  “There’s also the Angela element standing in your way, don’t you agree?” Monica reminded her. “By now, she probably has her claws back in him. All three inches of them.”

  ****

  December 28

  Lucy sat at her desk typing out the new ad for the employment section.