No Silent Christmas

by Barbara Goodwin

Violet Ingram coughed. “Well. I think I’ll go shopping today.” She gave them a pointed look that said they needed to be left alone. “I’ll just call a cab.”

  “Take the car, Violet. We’ll get the studio to pick us up later today,” Scott said.

  “Thank you, Scott. But I can’t drive.” Violet laughed at herself. “I always had drivers so there was no reason for me to learn.” She waved her hand lightly in the air. “I’ll call the cab. It’s no problem.”

  The cab showed up thirty minutes later and Maggie’s mom was off on her adventure. “I’m sure Mother will shop at the finest stores. She’s used to the best.” Maggie sat at the table again and touched the BlackBerry. She ran her fingers over the case, tapped a few of the buttons and sat back in the chair with a long sigh. She knew Scott had watched this little pantomime.

  “How does this gizmo work?”

  “I wish I knew, love.” Scott laughed. “If I’d known it was a time travel device I would have been much more careful. As it is, I thought it was my brother’s cell phone.” Before she could ask he explained what a cellular phone was to Maggie.

  “Sounds complicated,” she said. “So every person in the country has one of these?” She had picked it up and was turning it over in her hand, careful not to touch the buttons.

  “Almost. Very young children, elderly people and others who can’t afford them don’t have any. But I’d say three quarters of the country does.”

  “So you just call anyone you want anytime, anywhere?”

  “Yes. Sometimes you can’t make the call because there isn’t a signal…” Scott waved his hand. “Never mind. That’s just too complicated to explain right now.”

  “Can you explain how you ended up here in 1925?” Maggie asked.

  Scott told her about being in his brother’s new house and wanting to call his dad to invite him for Christmas dinner. He explained their relationship with his father and how they became estranged and ended with an explanation about how Mike and Shauna met.

  Maggie didn’t say anything when he finished. She felt bombarded with emotions. Excitement about the future, fear that she’d lose Scott if he went back and left her alone in her time and sadness that he didn’t have a good relationship with his father the way she didn’t have with hers.

  Maggie stood up and turned to Scott. He stood too, placed his big, strong hands on her shoulders and raised one eyebrow. “What?”

  She could hear his voice shaking. She knew he was worried about what she’d say. Maggie took his hand and twined her fingers through his. After stepping closer to him but not so close she couldn’t look up into his face without craning her head back she said, “I love you. I can’t and won’t live without you. Does your marriage proposal still stand?”

  Relief drained the worry from Scott’s eyes. His body sagged with release of the tension he’d known he’d been hiding. Scott bent down on one knee, still holding Maggie’s hand. He watched her pull her bathrobe around her tighter, stared at her heeled slippers with a blue fuzzy ball on top for a minute then looked up at Maggie and said, “Maggie, sweetheart, I love you. I’d be honored if you would consent to spend the rest of your life by my side as my wife.”

  The simple words rang true. The air in the apartment sang with joy. Maggie would swear years later that she saw sparkles dancing around them with happiness. She reached down, stroked his masculine face, ran her fingers along his square jaw and stroked his lips. “Scott Forrester, I’m proud to accept your proposal. I can’t wait to be your wife.”

  Scott jumped up and lifted Maggie into his arms. He whooped and hollered with joy and spun her around the room. Before Maggie could catch her breath Scott carried her into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him.

  They lay on the bed tangled in each other’s arms. Scott’s heart pounded and desire flowed hot as it seared through his veins. He touched Maggie’s lips with his then followed with his tongue. Once he’d ringed her mouth with wetness he trailed kisses down her neck, along her collarbone and dipped his tongue into the hollow in the front of her throat. Maggie moaned sending bolts of fire through Scott’s body. His thighs tightened and he hardened painfully, but Scott continued a slow and arousing torture on Maggie’s body.

  As he kissed and tickled, rubbed and soothed, Scott undressed Maggie. The blue robe fell to the bed exposing her light, filmy, satin nightie. He raised the material over Maggie’s head keeping her hands entangled in the soft folds. Scott straddled Maggie’s body and stared at the lovely captive below him. “Now I can do all that I want to you,” he growled. “And you can’t touch me. This is all about you, only you.”

  Maggie’s eyes widened and Scott laughed with a newfound power. He could do anything he wanted to her. It occurred to him that her feet and legs weren’t bound so he gave her a light tap on a nipple, sucked it to a hard peak then moved down her legs, tickling along the insides of her thighs. Maggie’s cries of pleasure poured through Scott raising his awareness of each touch, each shape, each moan. Her scent flowed over him like smooth brandy, warming his blood to the boiling point. As he wrapped her feet in the bedclothes he traced her arch, her ankles and her toes. When he had her truly, softly bound he moved back up her legs, this time caressing the outside of her legs, the back of her knees and finally, finally the center of her thighs.

  Maggie’s groan came from deep within her. Scott could feel her desire, her passion, her need. He touched and licked, rubbed and blew and Maggie cried out for release. But Scott wanted her desperate, demanding and delirious. He left the juncture of her thighs for her breasts where he sucked and pulled then nipped and soothed. Maggie was almost at her peak. Scott felt her straining for release. He moved back down her body never leaving a place untouched. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, her head thrashed from side to side and when Scott felt she could take no more he entered her.

  The feeling was so profound Scott felt tears form in his eyes. He stopped Maggie’s head from thrashing and held her steady. She opened her eyes as their bodies strained together. Her half-lidded look, filled with love and desire warmed Scott. “You are so beautiful.” He leaned down to kiss her. At the same time he thrust in and out, pushing Maggie over the magic threshold.

  Maggie screamed with release. Her body clenched around Scott’s and he followed her over the crest gasping and panting with a pleasure so great he thought he’d die. They rode the dwindling waves until they subsided and collapsed in each other’s arms.

  Maggie, still tangled in the sheets lay stunned, flushed and panting. Scott grinned at the disheveled, beautiful woman beneath him. “I’ve never felt anything like that in my life,” she whispered.

  He touched her face with a trembling hand. “Neither have I, love. Neither have I.” Scott knew that if he hadn’t already fallen in love with this woman, this perfect match of lovemaking would have done it. As it was, at that moment he fell deeper, harder, irretrievably in love with Maggie Ingram. He knew that his heart was hers forever. He knew that each breath he took belonged to her, that nothing he did in this world would be without thought of Maggie. Scott rolled to the side and pulled Maggie into his arms, spooning her. He loved the feel of her snug against him and traced random patterns on her arms and shoulders. He felt her shiver, heard her breathing slow and soon her body relaxed in his.

  Scott loved Maggie more than life. “Dear God. I promise you with all my heart and soul that from this moment forth and for every moment left on this earth, I will protect, love and cherish Maggie Ingram. Please keep her safe from harm, allow her love and happiness and a full and rewarding life.”

  Scott fell asleep with the prayer on his lips and Maggie in his arms warm and sure that at that moment in time all was right in his world.

  * * * * *

  Two days later it became apparent to Scott that wrapping up The Gunslinger’s Wife would not happen any time soon. There was a small glitch.

  Carey Chambers had disappeared.

  No one had seen him since the night at the Mexican res
taurant when Maggie was kidnapped. No one had noticed he was gone because at first he hadn’t had any scenes to shoot.

  Scott and Maggie and Sandra Cummings had shot every scene that didn’t involve him while they waited for him to show up. Only two scenes were left to shoot. One when Alex tells William he has the court’s approval to take back his father’s ranch and the climax of the movie where Maggie tells William she’s going to marry Alex and live with him on his father’s ranch.

  Sid Goodman visited the set just as Damon Westerly and Scott were discussing what to do about Chambers.

  “I’m telling you, Damon,” Scott said, “it’s time to tell Sid.”

  “Tell me what,” Goodman boomed. “You’d better not have any more bad news about this film.”

  Scott nodded to Westerly. “Tell him.”

  Goodman waited. His brows were furrowed and his arms were crossed, a sure sign that anything they told him would cause an eruption.

  Westerly squared his shoulders and said to Goodman, “Carey’s gone missing. We haven’t seen or heard from him in two days.” He stepped back a bit. “We’ve shot every scene that he wasn’t in and now we have only the last two to finish, one being the climax of the movie.”

  Only the thinning of Goodman’s lips showed his reaction to the news. Scott watched the mental process, fascinated that Sid Goodman could stand so still and look so angry. “When did you notice he wasn’t on the lot?” Goodman ground out between clenched teeth.

  The quiet furor in Sid’s voice galvanized Damon Westerly to explain. “Look, Sid,” Westerly said before Sid could really explode. “We were busy shooting everything else. I figured Chambers had been on a binge or something and needed the time to sober up.”

  “That good-for-nothing drunk isn’t allowed to drink on my studio lot. For Christ’s sake, he isn’t allowed to drink at all!” hollered Goodman. Now the explosion came. “I’ll kill the son-of-a-bi—”

  “Why don’t we call the police, Mr. Goodman?” Scott interrupted. “Maybe they’ve heard something about Carey.”

  Sid rounded on Scott. “I’m not calling the cops! For God’s sake, every newspaper in town will sniff out the story. There’s always some jerk newspaperman hanging around the police station just in case someone stupid like Chambers screws up.”

  No one said anything for a moment. Scott figured that Goodman needed to think about his options. “Would you like us to try to find Carey?”

  “Would I —” Red suffused Goodman’s face. For a moment Scott thought the man might have a stroke. “Get out there and find the little prick. Bring him back here and finish the damn movie!” Goodman stormed his way out of the building.

  “Well, that went well,” Scott said to Damon. “Now that we’re the search party how do you want to go about looking for Chambers?”

  Westerly ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve never had this kind of a problem with an actor before. I’m glad Goodman won’t hire him again. I know I won’t direct him in another movie, that’s for sure.” He heaved a sigh and said, “Check his trailer, The Coconut Grove, and a couple of his other hangouts. Here are the addresses.” Damon wrote them on a piece of paper. “I’ll go to his home, ask his girlfriends if they’ve seen him and hope we get some news on the jerk.”

  “Okay, I’ll get Maggie to go with me. She knows this town better than I do. We’ll hook up later.”

  “Hook up?” Damon looked confused then said, “Oh, you mean get together. Sure. We’ll do that.”

  Scott turned to leave then had a thought. “Damon, is there any way to finish the film with footage already shot?”

  A light brightened in Damon’s eyes. “I don’t know, but that’s a good idea. I’ll look into it as soon as I get back from my search.” Damon heaved a sigh. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Scott did too but didn’t want to say it to Damon. “We’ll find him.” He waved goodbye to the director and went to get Maggie.

  * * * * *

  Scott and Maggie had checked his trailer, which was cold and musty and littered with empty whiskey flasks but no Chambers. It surprised him that the suave, debonair movie star was such a slob.

  The dress code at The Coconut Grove was strict so they changed clothes to a more formal attire. Scott wore a dark, pinstriped suit and Maggie wore a mint colored flapper dress with a low waist. Even though the dress was shapeless, to Scott she looked beautiful. They entered the restaurant at dinnertime.

  “May I help you, Mr. Forrester?” the maître d’ asked. He gave a slight bow to Maggie and said, “Welcome back, Miss Ingram.”

  Scott was momentarily floored that the maître d’ remembered his name. He’d only been there once before and with the A-list celebrities that frequented the restaurant he thought he’d be quickly forgotten. “I’m supposed to meet Carey Chambers here. Has he arrived yet?” Scott didn’t want the man to know they were looking for him.

  “No, sir, he hasn’t.” The man gathered two menus and asked, “Would you like a seat while you’re waiting?”

  Maggie shifted by Scott’s side. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He glanced at her face. She gave a tiny nod toward the hotel lobby. In order not to draw too much suspicion he said to the maître d’, “No, thank you. I think we’ll wait for him in the lobby.” They turned and left the astonished man standing at the podium.

  “What caught your attention?” Scott whispered near her ear. They walked through the lobby not seeing the glorious decorations. They were both searching every face for Chambers.

  “There’s a man over by that pillar.” Maggie said in a low voice. “The one with the brown fedora pulled over his eyes. He doesn’t fit in. Oh, he’s wearing the formal attire of the evening, but he looks shifty to me. What do you think?”

  Scott gave the man a covert look. “I agree.” It was as if the man knew Scott and Maggie were discussing him. He pushed the hat up a bit and looked in their direction. Scott pulled Maggie into a passionate kiss. He turned her back toward the man so he could have a better look. Passersby grunted and grumbled under their breaths about “bad behavior, no manners and decorum”. Men scooted their women to the other side of the room. Scott ignored the comments and the dirty looks and continued to kiss Maggie.

  The kiss started out to be a ruse, but soon turned real and passionate. The resulting fire that raced through Scott’s veins momentarily distracted him. Maggie pulled away. “We’re here to find Chambers,” she whispered in a harsh voice, “not make fools of ourselves in public.” Her hands shook as she pushed her mussed hair back into place.

  Scott grinned. Maggie looked disheveled and thoroughly kissed. Her eyes sparked at him. “I know, we need to do something. But you are so delicious that I can’t keep my hands off you.”

  A blush stained Maggie’s cheeks. “You can charm a snake,” she muttered. “Oh, look,” Maggie pulled on Scott’s arm so he would turn around. “The suspicious man is moving. Let’s follow him.”

  With nothing better to do and no plan in mind except to go to two or three addresses that Westerly had given him, they followed the man.

  The man got into a black sedan. Luckily, Scott had parked the Rolls nearby, not with the valet. He and Maggie hurried inside the car and followed the man as he pulled out of the entrance to The Ambassador Hotel.

  “I wonder where he’s going,” Maggie said.

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” Scott said. “Did you get a good look at him? I want to make sure that if he goes someplace public we can still find him.”

  “I did,” Maggie said as she leaned next to Scott’s shoulder. “He’s about medium height, has dark hair, I saw it when he took off his hat to get into his car, and is wearing a brown suit with brown, scuffed shoes.”

  Scott groaned. “Sweetheart…that can describe almost every man in town.”

  “Well, it’s the best I could do at the moment,” Maggie huffed. “Oh, he’s turning up that winding road.”

  They had followed the man down Sunset Boulevard to a
small street nearly hidden by overgrown bushes on either side. The man turned to the right and drove up the narrow street. Scott kept the man’s car in sight as best he could considering the switchbacks. No roads intersected this one so Scott felt reasonably sure that they hadn’t lost the man. After about a mile the road turned into a driveway. Scott stopped the car down the street a bit and let the Rolls idle. “You stay in the car. I’m going to walk up the driveway a little and see if I can see anything.”

  “Be careful,” Maggie warned with a hug. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “I will be careful. You lock the doors.” Scott climbed out and strode away. He hugged the thick foliage that grew right up to the street. He rounded a tree and stepped onto the long, dirt driveway. No one was in sight, no cars could be heard coming down the driveway. Scott strolled up as if he belonged there. At a curve in the driveway stood a sign. “The Hideaway.” A feeling of excitement surged through Scott. He walked further up the lane and saw a ramshackle building at the end. There were twenty or thirty cars parked in a haphazard way, some blocking others.

  Scott heard a noise and stepped into the bushes to hide. A man came out of the building. When the door opened loud music, shouts and laughter rang through the clearing. “See you later, Tim!” The man laughed, waved a fistful of money at the doorman and got into his car. He drove down the driveway.

  Scott panicked. What would the driver do when he saw Maggie in the Rolls idling at the end of the driveway? He ran down the dirt path staying close to the bushes that lined each side. He heaved a huge sigh of relief when he burst out onto the road. The car wasn’t there. Maggie had moved it.

  Scott waited a minute or two until he heard a car approaching. He ducked into the bushes and waited. When he saw the Rolls pull up he showed himself. Maggie stopped next to him and opened the door.

  “Well? What did you find?”

  “I think I found a speakeasy.”

  Maggie drove them back down the hill to her apartment. Once inside they discussed their next move. “Do you think Carey goes there?” she asked Scott.