by Nathan Roden
“Good morning, Wylie. She kissed my cheek.
I was in heaven. Just like last night. Heaven.
Holly joined us minutes later. Her hair was wet from an early shower. She was so beautiful that I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was so beautiful that I almost cried.
During the conversation over breakfast, Holly mentioned that she regretted having missed our date to see the movie “with 3 D’s”.
I checked the movie schedule.
“Holly, there’s another 3D movie showing tonight, if you want to go.”
Her eyes lit up.
“I would love to.”
“A 3D movie?” Oliver McFadden said. “I’ve heard about those—haven’t seen one yet.”
And that was how my first real date with Holly came to include the entire McFadden family. And I didn’t have a problem with that at all.
We returned to the castle at about midnight. Holly enjoyed the movie, but not as much as her father did. Oliver McFadden was gushing.
“That was simply brilliant! Truly magical. And the meal afterward was the perfect complement! I hope to attend the IHOP Cinema many, many more times!”
“Actually, Mr. McFadden,” I said. “The restaurant is separate from the movie theater. The movie theater is called the ‘IMAX’. The IHOP is the International House of Pancakes.”
“Nevertheless, Wylie. What an experience—it was like being inside of the film itself! But it may be days before I am able to move freely. The pancakes with boysenberry topping were beyond compare—and they kept asking if I would like some more. It seemed impolite to decline…”
“I’m very happy that you enjoyed yourself, Sir,” I said.
“You are such good hosts; yourself and Mr. Lynchburg,” Gwendoline said. “Our Holly has done herself well in this new land.”
“Thank you, Ma’am. You are very kind.”
“What are we to do with these now?” Oliver McFadden said. He was wearing his 3D glasses.
“Well, Sir. I believe they expected you to leave those at the theater.”
“Oh.”
Quentin walked into the great room.
“How was your evening?”
“Outstanding!” Oliver said. “We won’t be in need of an early breakfast, Quentin. Are you familiar with the Intercontinental Home of Pancakes?”
“The Inter—” Q said. “Oh, yes. I know what you’re talking about. I’m very familiar with that place. You probably feel that you won’t need to eat again for a week, right?”
Oliver and Gwendoline patted their full bellies.
“That is correct. Perhaps even longer.”
“I’m glad,” Q said. “Well, I’ll be on my way. Sleep well, all. Do you need a ride, Wylie?”
“No thanks, Q. My car is here—and I learned my limits at IHOP a long time ago.”
“Mr. Lynchburg,” Oliver McFadden said. “We appreciate your hospitality. We should speak soon about allowing you and your home to return to normal.”
“There’s no rush whatsoever, Oliver.”
The Christmas Extravaganza at Castle McIntyre was upon us.
It was six-thirty on the evening of December the nineteenth. I called my mother’s phone.
“Hello, Wylie! Yes, the flight was fine—everything went off without a hitch.”
“Are you still at the airport?”
“No. We’re driving to the motel. Did you pick out this car? It’s as big as a battleship.”
I laughed.
“Yeah, I picked that one out. They only have two of them, so I figured it must be nice.”
“Nice? The people at the desk looked at us like we must be movie stars or something. Jessie’s in the back seat and she’s so far away that I don’t think I could hit her with a rock.”
I heard someone yelling in the background.
“Hold on a second, Wylie,” Mom said. “Jessie wants me to put you on speaker.”
“Wylie! Tell your mother to quit throwing rocks at me!” Jessie yelled.
I laughed, of course.
“She doesn’t listen to me, either, Jessie!”
“That makes three of us!” my dad said.
“Hi, Dad!”
“Hello, Son.”
“Do you know where you’re going?”
“I have no idea.”
“We’re following the motel shuttle,” Mom said.
“Uh, the place you’re staying isn’t exactly called a motel,” I said.
“Why is that?” Mom said. “Please tell me that we don’t have to sleep in a room with strangers.”
“Wow, Patty. You got grown-up all of a sudden,” Dad said. “Did you forget about San Francisco? We used to sleep thirty people to a room.”
“Yes, I remember. I also remember when I could throw some water on my face, run a brush through my hair and be ready to take on the world. But in the morning, I’m going to see my boys and meet a lot of new people. If I faint and have to be revived, I will have fresh breath and be wearing fresh underwear.”
Listening to my mother talk, I got a little choked up. I hoped that they continued talking because I didn’t think I would be able to.
I couldn’t remember if I had ever heard Mom sound so much like her little sister, Jessica. Jessie, for short.
My mom’s wit—her sense of humor—had been buried behind her grief for so many years. She always seemed so old, to me; older than her years. The Patty Westerhouse that I was listening to at that moment was like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. At that moment, my emotions had the stability of watery pancake batter.
I cleared my throat.
“You’re not coming—”
“Oh, my word!” Mom said.
I heard Dad and Jessie laugh.
“Wylie? Johnny? Are we in the right place?”
I was okay, for the time being.
“Yeah. It’s pretty impressive, huh?”
“There’s a carnival here, Wylie,” Mom said. “An indoor carnival!”
“It’s actually a water-park.”
“And there is a huge swimming pool—”
“There are four swimming pools, Mom. We like for all of our guests to be impressed and comfortable when they visit Branson,” I said.
“You’ve spent a fortune, Wylie. I hope you don’t plan to live like those other rock stars and end up broke and living in the park.”
“Nope,” I said. “This is the only extravagance on my list, so I may as well tell you now. Your Christmas gifts will be very small—tiny, as a matter of fact.”
“You had better not be talking about mine!” Jessie said.
“No, of course not. You still wanted that bicycle, right, Jessie?”
“That’s right. And don’t forget the training wheels—sometimes I like to have a little drink or two.”
“You’re not coming over tonight, then?”
“I know that you can’t tell,” Mom said. ”Because your aunt is acting like she’s eight years old, but she’s very tired. She couldn’t even keep up with me—walking through the airport.”
“Lies! It’s all lies, I tell you!” Jessie said.
“Hold on,” Mom said.
When she came back, she had turned off the speaker.
“We—okay, I, need to have all my faculties when we do this thing, Son. We’ll be there in the morning.”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll see you in the morning. Call if you need anything.”
I stayed over at the castle, because—well, nothing else made sense. What if I overslept, and didn’t get to see this set of introductions happen. Can you imagine? Me either.
I didn’t think I would be able to sleep. Holly went to bed early.
Quentin had been spoiling the McFaddens rotten—at least as far as food goes. It seems like every night he’s introducing them to a new American cuisine.
Maybe “cuisine” isn’t the right word; because Q has a thing for junk food—especially ice cream.
Holly has fallen in love with cheeseburgers. She’s still g
oing to the tanning salon about once a week. I think she’s starting to find out that there’s a price to pay when you fall in love with cheeseburgers. She’s started jogging in the evenings. I haven’t said anything. There is nothing in this world I would rather look at than Holly Larrimore McFadden.
I sat on the big, comfy sofa in the great room and was getting ready to try and find a good old scary movie to watch on the big screen.
Duncan and Nora came in and sat with me.
“Whatcha doin’, Wyles?” Nora asked.
I looked at Duncan and nodded.
“Wow. Impressive, Nora! You are well on the way to becoming a totally awesome and rad mall-girl.”
Nora laughed and elbowed Duncan.
“I don’t know what that means, but it sounded funny,” she said.
“Well, I was getting ready to—”
“He was probably getting ready to find something bloody and disgusting to watch on the television,” Duncan said. “Because Wylie is not well in all parts of his brain.”
“Nope. You have misjudged me yet again, big brother,” I said.
I looked around.
“Where’s Rugrat?”
“Charlotte?” Duncan said. “Tooie left her dolls here, so I’m sure—”
I stood up.
“I’ll go get her.”
“What are we going to watch, Wylie?” Charlotte asked as she sat between Nora and me.
“It’s called ‘Toy Story’. You’re going to like it. Barbie is in it.”
“Really?” Charlotte squealed.
That was a night I wanted to capture in a bottle and keep for the rest of my life.
I fell asleep in that same spot, which is not exactly a surprise.
I opened one eye the next morning, with Holly pushing on my shoulder. She offered me a cup of fresh coffee.
“A huge black car just pulled up out front.”
“That’s them. Is Quentin up?”
“Everybody’s up, except for you.”
“Preparation is overrated,” I said. I checked my appearance in a nearby mirror.
Close enough.
The next hour was perfect. I almost hate to say it, since my life has been so screwy for the past several months. I didn’t want to jinx it. But almost everyone in the world who mattered to me was together in the same room. It was as if every single thing fell into place. Like a movie script. Like my own personal ‘Toy Story’, complete with the tense and captivating series of dramas that we’ve had to endure to reach the happy ending.
My dad had transformed from the last time I saw him. He looked younger, taller, and more full of life that I had remembered. Mom was radiant. And Aunt Jessie—well, she looked like a movie star to me.
Apparently, she looked like a movie star to Quentin, too. That took me by surprise. A good surprise. I had seen Quentin smitten by Veronica KwyK, and he looked pretty much the same way when he met Jessie.
We were standing in an ancient Scottish castle here in Branson, Missouri because Quentin Lynchburg had his heart stolen by a mysterious woman named Blair. But if I was allowed to play Cupid, I would have shot an arrow square in the backsides of Quentin Lynchburg and my Aunt Jessie. In a heartbeat.
Duncan elbowed me in the ribs.
“Hey. You see that? Huh?”
“Shut up. Don’t jinx it.”
“That would be awesome, wouldn’t it?” Duncan said. “Jessie and Quentin?”
“Of course, it would. Except for Jessie’s surgeon and Q’s mysterious ‘Blair’.”
“Well, we could always try to hook up Blair with the surgeon,” Duncan said. “As long as we’re writing the script in this fairy tale.”
“Works for me.”
“I guess it’s my turn to make introductions,” Duncan said. “This should be a hoot.”
“At least Bruiser isn’t here yet,” I said. “Or Dougie. Or Delbert.”
“They’re coming over tonight,” Duncan said. “I don’t think we could keep Dougie away from that pool table if we tried.”
“Look at Dad,” I whispered. “He looks totally different.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Duncan said.
“I think we did the right thing.”
“I can’t argue with you there,” Duncan said. “Mom seems happier, too—once she got over herself.”
We watched as Mom and Dad said hello to Oliver and Gwendoline McFadden. Dad shook Oliver’s hand and then he put his arm around Mom.
Duncan and I exchanged a glance.
“Do you think that Mom and Dad—?” Duncan said.
“Could be. Anything is possible, especially today.”
I watched Duncan introduce my parents and Jessie to Dallas and Elizabeth McIntyre. There is no way I can describe what that was like. I stood next to Jessie. We took turns squeezing each other’s hands—probably because we both needed to know that we weren’t dreaming.
Holly appeared in the doorway. I crossed the floor and took her by the hand. We walked to the center of the room and waited our turn at introductions.
I’m not sure what Holly thought—especially after my Mom started to cry and threw her arms around her. My Dad did the same thing. Jessie too. Holly smiled and kept her cool.
Mom and Dad apologized to Holly for their emotional reaction. They stepped back and dried their eyes.
Jessie smiled at Holly and winked.
“We thought Wylie would live in the basement until he was forty.”
Holly and Jessie burst out laughing—and soon everyone in the room was laughing at my expense. And I didn’t even care.
Mom threw her arms around me. She whispered in my ear.
“She’s perfect, Wylie! You have my permission to marry her immediately. And those hips!”
“Jeez, Mom! She has ears like a bat!”
I peered over Mom’s shoulder and saw Holly smiling at me. My face got hot.
“I love her, and I love her family,” Mom whispered. “I don’t understand everything they say, but I’ll get over that. It is English, after all.”
Holly took my dad’s hand and motioned for me to do the same for Mom. Duncan stood in front of us, holding hands with Nora. Charlotte held her sister’s other hand.
It’s a good thing that Dad was standing next to Mom because he had to help me catch her. I guess the sight of her ghost son with his beautiful soul-mate was more than she could take for the moment. The introductions resumed a couple of minutes later—after we moved Mom to the sofa.
Mom pushed herself to her feet. She wept quietly. She put one hand to Duncan’s cheek. She put her other hand to Nora’s cheek.
“Patty?” Jessie whispered. She stepped to Mom’s side.
“Are you okay?”
Mom turned and looked at her sister. I had never seen that look on her face before. Ever.
“I’ve seen her, Jessie!” Mom said softly.
She touched Nora’s cheek again.
“I saw you. You stayed with him. You sat with my Duncan.”
Nora was weeping also—but she was smiling. She nodded.
Mom took her hand away and covered her mouth with it.
“I thought I was losing my mind, Jessie,” she said.
Jessie squeezed Mom’s shoulder. She shook her head vigorously.
“No, Patty. I saw her, too.”
Mom stumbled forward. She looked puzzled and turned around. She had been nudged by a small, semi-transparent horse.
“What in the world—?”
“This is Honey, Mrs. Westerhouse,” Charlotte said. “She likes you.”
Mom stroked Honey’s head, and then she got down on one knee.
“Is Honey yours?”
Charlotte smiled and nodded. Honey pushed Charlotte from behind and almost toppled her over. Mom panicked and tried to catch her.
“Don’t worry about her, Mrs. Westerhouse,” Nora said. “These two wrestle like a pair of kid goats.”
Charlotte grabbed Honey by the mane and shook her head. And then s
he threw her arms around the pony’s head and kissed her on the nose.
“She doesn’t like it when I say that she belongs to me because she thinks it’s the other way around.”
The introductions took a lot out of everyone. Holly gave an impromptu tour of the castle to Mom, Dad, and Jessie. Oliver and Gwen contributed as well. After that, everyone lounged in the great room.
The pool table was put to use. I didn’t know my Dad played. His first attempt at a break sent the cue ball across the floor.
I guess he doesn’t play. Not yet. I realized that I could afford to buy him a pool table—if I knew where he was going to live, that is.
I sat down between Mom and Jessie.
“Some day, huh?”
They both just shook their heads with their mouths open.
Dad chased down the errant cue ball while he apologized.
“We’re not laughing at you, Johnny,” Quentin said. “We’re laughing with you.”
Quentin, Oliver, and the ghosts were still laughing.
“I lied,” he said. “We are laughing at you.”
Dad was grinning like a baboon.
“Dad looks…different,” I said. “He looks great!”
“That’s right!” Mom said. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Uh, know what?”
“Your father. He had all these overseas connections—from his days at the firm before…well, when he was working. Right after you boys came to visit, he was on the phone almost constantly. I didn’t know what he was doing, but he was so full of life and energy that I wasn’t about to interfere.”
“What was he doing?”
“Opening up ‘Westerhouse Creations’ to the World Market!” Jessie said.
“You’re stealing my thunder, Sister,” Mom said.
“Oh,” Jessie said. “I’m sorry. I got excited. Forget I said anything, Wylie.”
“You’re worldwide now?” I asked Mom. “How is that going?”