The Nine Lives of Christmas (22 page)

The loss of the family photo albums was the material possession people mourned the most after a fire. It was the one thing that would tempt a woman back inside a burning house. It was also one thing a firefighter couldn’t help with.

Except this time. Suddenly he knew exactly how he could help.

SIXTEEN

Ambrose and Zach were back in the treasure room again, this time with Mom.

Why were they here? Not that Ambrose minded. He was just … curious. He watched with interest as Zach opened the box he had found when they were last up here.

Obviously, he had discovered something important to Zach. It was important to Mom, too. Ambrose could tell by the way she caught her breath and put a hand to her mouth.

He’d seen that human gesture before. Moms made it when they were moved by something. Zach was moved, too, judging from the way he was looking all pleased with himself. (As if he were the one who had knocked that box open and not Ambrose—humans loved to take credit for things they didn’t do.)

Speaking of humans, Ambrose still wasn’t sure why all these extra members of the species were in the house. He knew something bad had happened because they had arrived smelling like smoke and crying.

They hadn’t arrived alone. They’d brought Aphrodite. She could stay as long as she wanted as far as Ambrose was concerned. They’d made up in the night while the humans slept and Ambrose took that as a sign that his nice, long ninth life was right around the corner.

But meanwhile, what was the significance of that book Zach had given Mom? And how did it affect Ambrose? He crept closer hoping to learn what was going on.

*   *   *

Mom opened the old photo album Zach had handed her and smiled. “Look how cute you were. And David—what an adorable pair!” Her smile faded.

Was she thinking of what could have been? He didn’t ask. There was no point.

She turned the page. “And, speaking of cute.”

He looked over her shoulder to see a skinny kid sitting at the kitchen table, his dorky smile displaying two missing front teeth. On the table in front of him sat a cake shaped like a robot. That had been a perfect Beaver Cleaver birthday. Dad had still been around. They’d still been a family. What would their lives have been like if Mom and Dad had stayed together?

“You loved that cake,” said Mom.

“It was a cool cake.”

She turned to a new page and there was the picture of Zach and David and Zach’s buddy Henry and Henry’s sister Anna, all on the front porch, right along with Aunt Leslie.

Mom quickly turned the page, but Zach reached out and turned it back. “What happened with Aunt Leslie?”

“She moved, honey,” Mom said, her voice matter-of-fact.

“Why?”

“Zach, people move.”

Zach frowned.
Way to state the obvious
. “You were best friends.” And then they weren’t. “You two had a fight, I remember. What did you fight about?”

Now Mom’s face had turned to stone. “Nothing that concerns you,” she said stiffly.

“Well, it concerned me at the time. I lost my best friend. One day we were all buddies and the next thing I knew they were moving.” That had been the beginning of the end, when the ground under their feet first shifted and cracked. In a matter of months his perfect world crumbled. Mom stopped smiling. The fuse on her temper grew short. Four months later, Dad moved out.

Wait a minute.

No, don’t go there
. That thought was way off base. There couldn’t be a connection between Aunt Leslie’s sudden move and Dad’s departure. Zach didn’t want there to be a connection, and his brain shied away from the nasty thought.

But his gut couldn’t let go. “I’m beginning to think it still concerns me. What really happened?” He didn’t want to know. Why was he asking?

Except he needed to know. It probably wasn’t what he thought it was anyway. If it was he’d have figured it out long before this.

Or not. Maybe he never wanted to solve the mystery of his father’s sudden departure. That would have been too painful. It had been easier to blame Mom.

“Zach, this is ancient history,” she said. She slapped the photo album shut and started to rise.

He caught her arm. “It may be ancient history, but it’s our history. Mom—” He didn’t want to say the words but now he had to. “Did Aunt Leslie and Dad…”

His mother bit her lip and dropped her gaze.

“Oh, God.” Zach felt suddenly sick.

“Children don’t need to know everything that happens between grown-ups,” Mom said.

“I thought you left him. All these years you let me blame you, make you the bad guy.” Why had she done that?

She managed a small shrug. “In a way it was my fault.”

“Your fault!”

“Your father felt terrible afterward. He wanted to try and put it behind us, start again. So did I. I tried, but I just couldn’t get past it.” Tom crept over to her and she scratched behind his ear. “I didn’t see the point in telling you boys. You didn’t need to hear bad things about your father from me. Our relationship was ruined but I didn’t want to poison yours.”

Zach ran a hand through his hair. “All this time … Mom, I’m sorry.” He was going to cry. He was a grown man and he was going to cry, just like he did after Dad moved out. So many nights he’d buried his face in his pillow and shed angry tears about the unfairness of the whole thing, racking his brain to figure out what he or David could have done to make Dad want to leave.

Mom put her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” he said, the words coming out in an angry rush. “God, Mom. He cheated on you with your best friend.”

“He made a mistake, one he’s regretted all his life. We all make mistakes, Zach. I wish we didn’t, but we do. Your father and I have both paid dearly for ours.”

Zach shook his head. “It was such a shock when he left. We had a good life before. You seemed happy.”

“We were. Once.”

“It never lasts for anyone,” Zach muttered.

“Yes, it does.” Now she sounded angry. “Zach, look at me.”

He felt like he was eight years old again, about to get a lecture. He had to force himself to meet her gaze.

Her expression turned earnest. “It can and does last. Yes, things went sour between your father and me. But then I found Al and he’s been a wonderful husband and we’ve been happy together. Love isn’t always the most stable emotion, but when you find the right person it’s the best of life’s prizes. You have to take a chance.”

“It’s a big chance.”

She smiled. “Yes, it is, but when it pays off you win big. I took a chance moving back,” she added softly. “And I’m so glad I did.”

This was all too much to process. His head was going to explode.

“Honey, a person really only has two choices. You can wander through life safe and alone or you can take a risk.”

“I think I’ll wander.”

“Then I’m afraid you’ll miss out,” she said simply.

A certain sweet face with big green eyes and kissable lips came to mind. He shook his head in an effort to dislodge it but it remained like a psychic burr.

“It’s cold up here,” he decided. He rose and held out a hand to his mother. “Come on. Let’s go downstairs and I’ll make a fire.”

The rest of the day was filled with good Christmas experiences. The chief stopped by with an envelope full of cash courtesy of the guys at the station so Mom and the Steps could get new clothes. Mom’s friends from the old neighborhood tracked her down and came to the front porch caroling and delivering a holiday feast as well as money and presents. One family had put together a basket of DVDs for the Steps.

As Zach stood looking at happy couples and their kids singing “Joy to the World,” the little face with the big green eyes whispered, “That could be us.”

Wishful thinking
, he replied.

“That was awesome,” said Natalie after the last batch of visitors left.

“Let’s eat this turkey while it’s still warm,” suggested Mom.

“And watch a movie,” added Kendra.

Zach tried not to cringe when she plucked
Mamma Mia
from the basket, in his opinion, one of the dumbest flicks ever made. “I should probably run by the station,” he said.

“Oh, no,” said Kendra, grabbing him by the shirt. “The chief gave you the day off to spend with your family. That’s us, in case you didn’t notice.”

He was beginning to.

They made themselves at home in the living room with plates loaded with turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce and watched Pierce Brosnan make a fool of himself trying to sing. People not knowing what they were doing, falling in and out of love, chasing each other around—what a dumb movie. It was enough to make a guy toss his Christmas cookies.

And then, just when Zach thought the flick couldn’t get any dumber, one of the women in it started singing “Take a Chance on Me.”

The little green-eyed face at the back of his mind started singing, too.
Take a chance. Take a chance. Come on. You run into burning buildings for a living. Get some guts. Take a chance
.

The little voice kept singing long after the movie was over.

And when Tom managed to knock the Clue game from the window seat and Natalie picked it up saying, “Hey, this might be fun,” it started screaming.
TAKE A CHANCE, BOZO!

Zach jumped off the couch like his pants were on fire. “I’ve got to go.”

SEVENTEEN

Merilee had shed her fancy clothes and changed into her cozy jammies: pink flannel with a candy cane print. She’d turned on her tree lights and served herself some light eggnog along with the small plate of Christmas cookies her mother had sent home with her (comfort food), and now she was snuggled under an afghan (more comfort) with
It’s a Wonderful Life
playing on her TV (which should have been comforting). A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Not.
She was by herself. She didn’t even have a cat now. What was so wonderful about that?

It will be a new year, she told herself. You’ll go to school. You’ll find the right man on Myotherhalf.com. And you’ll move and get a cat. There. The new year was looking better already.

She took a big slug of light eggnog. This stuff sucked. Tomorrow she was going to the store and get some good eggnog. And meanwhile she was going to…? Quit obsessing over Zach!

She opened her laptop. She’d check and see if Myotherhalf.com had sent any new frog princes hopping her way.

George Bailey was begging to live again and Merilee was checking out a new potential other half when someone started pounding on her door. What on earth? She wrapped her afghan around her and padded over to the door and peered through the peephole.

Zach? Was she hallucinating? Under the influence of too much eggnog?

“Merilee, open up.”

She looked down in horror at her flannel jammies. Great. Where was her slinky black top when she needed it? She pulled the afghan around her shoulders and opened the door, sure her cheeks were as red as her hair, to find him standing there, filling the doorway.

“Zach,” she said stupidly.

He didn’t give her time to say anything else. He pulled her to him and kissed her. And what a kiss it was! The only thing that kept her from going up in smoke was her flame-retardant jammies.

Was she dreaming? No. Her eyes were still wide open in shock, and there was that handsome face, up close and personal. Right along with other parts of him.
Ooh
.

But … “What are you doing here?” she asked when he finally set her mouth free. And why was she asking? Whatever Christmas spell he was under, did she want to break it?

“I’m taking a chance,” he said, and kissed her again.

Those potential princes were immediately forgotten and the afghan fell to the floor.

From the TV, Mary Bailey cried, “It’s a miracle!”

And she was right.

EPILOGUE

One year later

This was the life,
thought Ambrose as he stretched by the fire. It looked like it was going to be a nice, long one.

He had sure earned it. It hadn’t been easy getting Merilee and Zach together, but he’d managed. He still looked back on some of his lives and couldn’t make sense of them. One thing he knew for sure, though: this last one had been his most important. He had used it well.

And it had paid off. It was snowing outside, fat flakes laying a freezing carpet on the lawn, but in Zach’s living room everything was cozy. Christmas music came from the funny little contraption on Zach’s coffee table, and in the bay window, the lights on the Christmas tree twinkled temptingly. However, Ambrose was too smart to get fooled into going anywhere near the thing. He’d had enough tree encounters to last a ninth lifetime. Still, it was pretty to admire from a distance.

His evening stretch finished, he relocated to the couch where Zach and Merilee were snuggled with Zach’s computer looking at pictures of brides, making himself at home on Merilee’s lap. She had been off to something called veterinary school but she had come back for the holidays, and to welcome her home Zach had given her a diamond ring.

Ambrose knew about that. Cats didn’t bother with such fol-de-rol, but humans seemed to need things like rings and ceremonies before they could take mating seriously.

Come summer, there would be a big ceremony and then probably, somewhere down the road, children.
Ugh
. But into every cat’s life a little rain must fall.

A new song started and a chorus of humans began to sing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas.”

It had been a Merry Christmas, with all of Zach’s family over, and lots of women to pet Ambrose. They hadn’t brought Aphrodite but that was okay. It meant more attention for him. He and Aphrodite had managed to keep in touch and probably later tonight he’d be slipping out his cat door for a rendezvous. Ah, life was good.

“We wish you a Merry Christmas,” crooned the singers, “and a Happy New Year.”

A log shifted on the fire and settled with a little whoosh, adding “And a happy ninth life.”

Thank you,
thought Ambrose, and he closed his eyes and purred.