CALIFORNIA PARADISE
Chapter Nineteen
After a minute had gone by and he still
hadn’t heard a thing, Jack got up to check on Rose. When Molly started to
follow him, he said, "It’s okay. This is the only warm room in the house,
and I won’t be gone for too long."
When he got to the front hall, he spotted his
wife standing there, unable to move with shock, while still clutching the front
door open. He could hear the wind outside howling and he watched as a few dead
leaves found their way into the house.
Suddenly, a sob escaped from Rose’s mouth as
she leaned forward to hug the person standing outside.
A grin broke across Jack’s face. He slowly
crept closer, but had enough manners to let the mother and daughter reunite
without interfering.
*****
Ruth watched the taxicab slowly move into the
distance. As it climbed up a hill, she watched it get eaten by the darkness of
the night. She slowly turned around and faced the towering mansion in front of her.
Thank you, Jack, she said in her mind. For giving my daughter a
good home. I really underestimated you.
She walked up to the front door and rang the
doorbell three times. The thick walls prevented her from hearing anything that
was going on inside, but the door quickly swung open.
The young woman standing in front of Ruth was
exceptionally beautiful. She wore a red skirt that flew freely from the
matching belt clutching her waist and a long sleeved forest green shirt with
delicate buttons going down the front.
Ruth mouthed the word, "Rose," but
she was so taken aback that her throat couldn’t function properly enough for
any sound to come out.
*****
In her mother’s warm embrace, Rose let the
tears of joy flow freely.
"Oh, my darling Rose. I’m so, so
sorry," she heard her mother whisper in her ear.
"It’s okay," she said, and hugged
her even tighter.
Inevitably, the hug had to end. When Ruth
finally pulled away, Rose let her into the house, closed the front door, and
spun around on her heels to find herself face to face with Jack.
"I--I’m guessing you like the
surprise?"
She laughed and put her arms around him.
"Jack! Oh, I love you so much! How in the world did you pull this all
off?"
He quickly kissed her on the lips. "Later.
We have a guest in the house. Really, Rose, sometimes you act so
unladylike," he joked.
"You’re so right." She turned back
to Ruth. "Mother, you do remember Jack, don’t you?"
"Well, of course." She held her
hand out to him. He cautiously shook it.
"It’s good to see you again."
"No. The pleasure’s all mine."
*****
"So really, Jack, how did you manage all
this?"
Molly and Ruth had long since gone to bed in
the guestrooms, and Rose was putting her nightgown on.
Jack, already under the covers, pulled them
aside and motioned for her to join him. She lay down on the bed, snuggling
closer to him as he put his arms around her.
Then Jack began, "Well, it just kept on
getting closer and closer to the holiday season, and I realized that I had no
idea what to get you. Anything that I gave you, you could just go out and buy
yourself anyway. So, I kept on asking myself what you really wanted.
Eventually, I figured out that all the signs pointed to your mother. I used
every connection I had, arranged for ads to be put in newspapers around the
country, and finally, after a lot of work, Molly contacted me and said she
could get Ruth over here just in time for Christmas, since they had kept in
touch. I never got to speak directly to your mother, but I was pretty willing to
just take Molly’s word for it. And then, I guess, the rest is history."
She hugged him even tighter to her. "Oh,
Jack, I can’t believe you did this for me. And tomorrow you’re going to get my
present to you."
He looked up at the clock. "It is
tomorrow."
She kissed him. "Then Santa’s running
late, and we should just go to sleep and in the morning your present will be
here."
Jack chuckled softly as they both dozed off.