Chapter Seventeen
I jumped out of bed and ran from my room, racing past Katy on the stairs. “What’s wrong? What are you doing?” she asked, seeing the look on my face. But I didn’t answer, because I didn’t know what I was doing. I only knew that I had to get to Mason.
Running as fast as I could across the floor, I dashed right into the front door before pulling it open and racing across the snow covered walkway, right into his arms. Mason dropped the bouquet of roses he was holding as he wrapped his arms around me. “Alexandra, I missed you,” he said, leaning into my hair and taking a deep breath.
“How could you do this to me?” I demanded, tearing myself away from him with difficulty and letting the tears and pain spill over. “How could you say you loved me—and you said your heart was mine alone.” I stopped to take a few short, painful breaths, wondering why he looked so confused. “I heard you on the radio. You said you couldn’t wait to get to your girl back home. You always had a girl waiting for you in Shilling!”
“No, I didn’t. I was talking about you.”
“Don’t lie to me! This isn’t your hometown. The man interviewing you kept talking about Shilling, and you did too, and—”
“Stop! Stop. Home is wherever you are. And this,” he took my hand and placed it over his heart. “This is yours. Only yours. You must not have heard the whole thing. I talked about you and Chicago. And I did correct him about how I wasn’t from Shilling anymore and never planned on going back.”
“Really?”
“Really. There is no other girl. There never has been. I meant it when I said I love you, Alexandra.”
I wanted to believe him, but I wasn’t sure. What if he was lying? What if he’d changed his mind about her and chosen me? How long would it be until he went back to her?
Mason leaned forward to kiss me, but I pulled my hand away from him and stepped back, feeling unsure. “Alexandra,” he said sadly, his gray eyes speaking his pain.
How many times have I wished I could look into those beautiful eyes again?
A door opened somewhere off to my left, and I looked over to see Mr. Smith walking out of his dark house, wrapped in a night robe. His old, graying features moved through his yard and into ours. I was sure that we’d woken him up and now he was coming to fuss about it. He was usually a kind man, but no one likes to be woken up during the night. “Hello, Alexandra,” he surprised me with a smile.
“Hello, Mr. Smith. I’m sorry if I woke you up,” I said.
“I was coming to ask if you would keep it down, but when I saw you through my window talking to this young man, I figured it was the Algoth kid and came to meet him instead. It’s perfectly understandable to make a little noise when your sweetheart’s just come home for Christmas.” His door opened again and his wife stepped out. She waved as she hobbled along. “This is my wife, Marjorie, and I’m Albert,” Mr. Smith said to Mason, as he put his arm around his wife when she had reached us.
“It’s nice to meet both of you,” Mason said, reaching out to shake their hands.
“Is your father here with you?” Mrs. Smith asked in her slow, weathered voice.
“Remember, he has to stay in New York to help the police,” Mr. Smith said loudly so she could hear him.
Realization shown on her face. “That’s right.” She reached out to hold Mason’s hand. “You left him in New York so you could keep your promise to Alexandra and be home on Christmas Eve.” I smiled at Mason as what she was saying set in. “That was such a nice thing to do, just the sort of thing my Albert would have done for me.”
“Ah, but I still would, my dear,” Mr. Smith said, smiling lovingly at his wife.
“So you heard us on the radio?” Mason asked. The Smiths both nodded. “Unfortunately, Alexandra missed most of that interview. Maybe you could tell her what she missed.”
“You missed it?” Mrs. Smith asked. “What a shame. Oh, Mason told everyone how much he couldn’t wait to come back home to Alexandra Roomer in Chicago, the most beautiful girl in the world, he said. Imagine our surprise when we heard that. Then he said how much he loved and missed you. We tried coming by to see you Saturday, but no one would answer the door…You’ve been crying. You must be so happy to have him home.”
“I am,” I said, smiling at Mason.
If only we’d picked up the phone or answered the door, I might have known the truth a lot sooner.
“Well, we best get back to bed. It was such a pleasure to meet you, Mason. You will bring your father by when he makes it here to Chicago, won’t you? I’d love to meet him.”
Mr. Smith held out his hand to shake Mason’s again. “Yes, we need more men like your father. It’s about time someone stood boldly against the criminals demanding power over this fine country.”
“I’ll bring him by. He should be here mid-January.”
“Good, good. Merry Christmas to you both.”
“You, too.”
Mason moved closer to me as they turned away. This time, I reached out and clung to him. No words could adequately express the joy and relief I felt in knowing his heart was still mine. “Alexandra, how could you doubt me? Have I not done enough?” He pulled his head away suddenly and reached behind his back, looking worried, so he could pull my left hand around to look at it. His face relaxed as he ran a finger over my ring.
“Of course you have, Mason. If I had heard it from anyone else, I wouldn’t have believed it. But they were your words. You should have heard the way it sounded.”
“I did. I said them. And I was pretty clear about the way I feel about you.”
I felt awful, knowing this wasn’t the way he wanted things to go when he came home. “I’m sorry, Mason,” I said, feeling the tears returning. My emotions were already so close to the surface.
He smiled and bent down to pick up the roses at his feet. “It’s okay. And I’m sorry you thought I had another girl. I would never do that to you, you know?” He handed me the flowers.
“I know.” I smiled as a tear trickled over my cheek.
Mason took my left hand. “You still wore my ring, though.”
“I couldn’t let you go.”
He leaned over and stopped right before his lips met mine. His eyes seemed to flash when he blinked and then they stared deeply into mine. “I love you so, so much, Alexandra.”
These words drew something between a laugh and a whimper from my lips, right before I pressed them against his. I slid my fingers through his as his other arm went around me. I reached my other hand out to grab onto his coat and pull it tight. “I love you, too,” I said, letting him lift his head, even though neither of us let go of the other. I laid my head against his chest and let go of his hand to wrap my arm around his waist. His arms closed in around me. “Don’t ever leave me again,” I said.
“I won’t leave without you. Every day got harder while I was gone. I couldn’t do that again.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
I smiled and snuggled closer to him, realizing that I was beginning to get cold.
“Benny said he would make you partner if you came back to work at Swatches,” I said, remembering he had a job waiting for him.
“What?” Mason arched his back so I would lift my head up to look at him. “You went back to Swatches?”
“I took Hayden with me so I wouldn’t have to be alone with him.” His face reverted further into disbelief. “He dropped the charges and he’s seeing Emmaline now—Hayden, I mean. And he really likes her. Benny said he was sorry.” I went on to tell Mason everything Benny had said. And then everything Emmaline and Hayden had said about each other, so he would know Hayden wasn’t the threat he once thought he was.
When I was finished, Mason stared thoughtfully down the road in the direction of Swatches. “I was going to try and open my own shop, but if he made me joint owner it would save me a lot of trouble and money. I’d have to talk to his dad.” He looked back at me. “But he’ll have to agree never to go near
you. I still don’t trust him.”
“I don’t, either. I only went to talk to him because I thought you might stay here if you had a job.”
“I would have stayed no matter what.” He rested his forehead against mine. “But thank you.” He kissed me before he nodded to the right. “The For Sale sign’s still up at that house. Have you heard if anyone’s made any offers?”
“The Watkins’ house? I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“Well, maybe I’ll just buy it.”
I glanced at the house that was nearly right across the street. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. My dad told me he was planning to open a real estate business here in the city, since he refuses to return to Shilling after the way everyone there acted. So he told me to get a house.” He twisted his neck around to look at the house. “That one’s perfect. It’s plenty big enough, not far from downtown.” He looked back at me. “And it’s close to you. I could even drive you to school every morning.”
“That sounds perfect. So, is that your father’s car?” I looked around him at the brand new car, smiling when I noticed my lion sitting in the front passenger’s seat.
“No, it’s mine.”
I looked back at him skeptically. “Yours?”
“Yeah.” He leaned closer and spoke in a whisper. “Just between you and me, some of the money my dad recovered is in a secret bank account that only the three of us know about. So me and my dad each got a car. And the day after tomorrow, I’ll buy this house, paid in full. Since I’m not leaving town without you, maybe you’d go to Shilling with me when I go to get all our stuff out of the old house.”
“Of course I’ll go. I bet my father will come and give you a hand, too.”
“So he’s not mad at me anymore?”
“Neither of my parents are. They’ve both wanted to see you since the day that article was printed so they could apologize…They were really upset after the radio show because I wouldn’t be seeing you anymore.”
“So they think I’m a two-timer, too?”
Before I could answer, Mr. West’s car pulled up behind Mason’s and Hayden got out. “It must be eight o’clock. What’s he doing, coming over so late?” Mason asked, as he let go of me with one arm.
“I don’t know.”
“So you’re already here,” Hayden said to Mason as he walked over to us and handed me the newspaper he was holding. “I was looking at the paper my father had earlier and I saw this.” Hayden pointed to a paragraph he’d circled within a short article titled, The City’s Wait for Sydney Algoth’s Son.
I set the flowers down behind me and moved the newspaper around so I would be able to read it by the light of the streetlamp.
On this Christmas Eve night, all of Chicago holds its breath as they await the arrival of Sydney Algoth’s son, who proclaimed his love nationally over the radio for our very own Alexandra Roomer, and announced his commitment to keeping the promise he made to her to be here on the night of Christmas Eve. So tonight, we welcome him, and his father when he also arrives, as the two newest members of our proud city.
I caught the word Swatches in the next paragraph before I looked up. “My father said he heard the whole interview,” Hayden said. “He had no idea what happened over here. I didn’t say anything to him about it and he couldn’t believe your father didn’t, either.”
“We didn’t say anything to anybody,” I said.
“There’s something else…I want to get everything out in the open so we can put it all behind us…so I think I should also give this to you.” He reached into his coat pocket for a folded up piece of paper and handed it to me. “Try not to be angry with me.”
“Why would I be angry?”
“You’ll understand.” He glanced at Mason and took a step to the side, further away from him. I noticed the torn edge along the top as I opened it.
I’ll be home before Christmas. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. I miss you already. I love you.
Love, Mason
“You took half of the letter Mason left me? Do you realize how badly I needed this?” I asked in disbelief.
“Where did you get that?” Mason asked, glaring at Hayden.
“I went to apologize to you the morning the newspaper article was printed and I got there before Alexandra did. I—I followed her last Monday when school let out early. Knowing Katy and how much she likes you, I figured she let the snakes out and I wanted to make sure Alexandra was safe.”
Mason stared at Hayden in outrage. “You think I would hurt her? I’ll die ten times before I let anything happen to her.”
“No. I did, but now I don’t. Look, I wanted to apologize for everything and let you know I would drop the charges. That was the whole point.”
“But why did you take this?” I asked Hayden, holding the paper up.
“It was obvious when I read it that Mason would be gone for a while.” Hayden took a deep breath and fixed his anxious eyes on Mason. “I thought if I took this part of the letter and you didn’t know when or if you would ever see him again, you might choose me instead.”
I felt the muscles in Mason’s arm tighten right before it left me. He took a step toward Hayden. “You conniving, little—”
“But she wouldn’t,” Hayden said, throwing his arms up to shield his face.
Mason stopped, but stood just as tensely, as if he were waiting for his moment to strike.
Hayden looked back at him through his arms when the blow never came. “I was here when you came on the radio. I was the one that shut it off when we thought you’d just announced you were going home to someone else. I was the one who followed her upstairs to try and comfort her. I was the one who tried to take advantage of her pain and work my way into her heart, to try and replace you there,” Mason’s fists tightened at his sides. “but she wouldn’t. Even though she had just heard you tell the world that you needed to get home to Shilling to your girlfriend, the girlfriend she thought you had the entire time you were with her, she couldn’t let your ring go. She couldn’t talk about anything except how much she wanted to be with you. And I would have given the rest of the note back to her that night when it became clear to me how deeply she loves you if it hadn’t been for what you’d just said. So maybe you can forgive me because it gave her a chance to prove her love to you, which she has done completely.”
I reached out for Mason’s hand. He was standing in front of me, a little to the left, with his back to me. He visibly relaxed when he felt my fingers slide into the center of his hand, before he turned to face me. His hand, so much bigger than mine, let go, and then both slid along my sides and over my back as he moved closer to me. “Thank you,” he said in a low voice. I smiled as I put one hand on his neck and let the other wander through his hair, shining black in the bits of clouded moonlight.
Feeling the intensity in his voice and in his hands pressing against my back, I leaned up to kiss him, inhaling everything deeply as I did—the way he tasted, the way his arms felt around me, and the tinge of that mechanic smell he still had, even though he hadn’t worked on a car in days. Everything felt perfect, because it was him.
Hayden cleared his throat. “I guess I’ll be going then,” he said as Mason let go of me. “I just wanted to give that to Alexandra and ask for her forgiveness. I guess I should ask for yours as well, Mason. It’s obvious you’ll be around for a while, and I’d hate to have this wedged between us.”
“Just promise you’ll never do anything like this again,” I said. It was impossible to be mad when Mason was finally here with me.
“You have my word.”
“It’ll be harder for me to forgive, but,” Mason looked down at me. “you’re family to her, so I guess I have to.”
Hayden stepped closer to us and held out a hand to Mason. “I still think you’re a first-class troublemaker,” he said with a smile, “but I guess you’re all right.”
Mason laughed as he let go of me and reached out to shake Hayden’s han
d. “And I still think you’re a pompous tightwad, but I guess you’re okay, too.”
“Hey!” Katy’s voice came from the front porch, where the door had been left cracked open behind her. “What’s he doing here?” She began storming toward us, and I could see the same rage in her eyes I’d seen every time his name had come up since Friday.
“Katy, it’s all right,” I said, standing in front of Mason protectively. Her eyes remained locked on Mason’s. She was almost there.
“Hey, Katy,” he said.
“I was the girl he said he needed to come home to,” I said. She was only two steps away now, still acting as if I wasn’t there. “Katy—” She put her hand on my shoulder and pushed me to the side effortlessly, right into Hayden. I turned around in time to see her punch Mason in the jaw. “Katy, no!” I screamed, trying to move in front of her as Mason held his cheek.
She stared angrily at me, only an inch or two from my face. “You’re so naïve and trusting. He’s a liar and a cheat, Alexandra.” She brought up her arms and shot them forward just above my shoulders, slamming them into Mason behind me. “Get out of here,” she said to him as she tried to move around me.
“Stop it.” I tried to restrain her, but it was like trying to hold back an angry bull. She was so much stronger than me.
“Do you know how badly you hurt my sister? We were afraid we would wake up and find her dead from grief every morning. It actually occurred to me when she ran outside just now that she might be going to throw herself in front of a moving car.”
I gave up on trying to stop her and went to hug Mason. “Hayden, do something,” I pleaded.
Hayden moved in front of Katy and grabbed her arms. “Stop it. You’ve got it all wrong.”
“Don’t touch me.” Katy grabbed Hayden’s arms back and pushed down, causing him to go to his knees.
“Look at this, and then you can continue with this needless violence if that’s what you really want,” Hayden said, holding up the newspaper I’d dropped when Katy pushed me.
She looked at the paper suspiciously as she took it. “Just what am I supposed to be reading?” Hayden pointed out the circled paragraph.
I looked up at Mason as she read. “Are you all right?” I asked him.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his face where she’d hit him as he opened and shut his mouth. “But, man, your sister can throw a punch.”
“I don’t understand,” Katy said, looking up from the paper at each of us.
“You must have turned the radio off right before I mentioned Alexandra, and Chicago,” Mason said.
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith were just here talking about it and Hayden’s father said he heard it, too. That’s why Hayden’s here,” I added.
“I love your sister, Katy,” Mason said. “I would never lie to her or do anything that would hurt her.”
“Well…I guess I’m sorry, then,” she said to Mason a bit grudgingly. “You just should have seen her. It was like having the Grim Reaper living in our house.”
I nearly laughed at the picture this brought to mind of myself in a black cloak with a scythe in hand, realizing I must have looked like death walking these last few days.
“It’s okay. It’s good to know you’re looking out for her so well.”
“I think I’ll go, since that’s straightened out,” Hayden said, walking toward his car.
“Bye, Hayden, thank you,” I called after him.
“Do you want to come in now?” I asked Mason, bending down to pick up my flowers.
“Yeah.”
“You better let me go talk to Mother and Father first. I’ll show them the paper,” Katy said. We all headed toward the house. Katy pushed open the still-cracked door and Mason and I waited just outside.
“I thought I would never see you again,” I said, the bitter and sweet of those words lingering on my tongue.
He put his arm behind my back and pulled me closer to him. “I’ll never let that happen,” he said. I laid my hands on his shoulders and my cheek against his chest.
A few peaceful minutes later, the door opened behind me and my mother shrieked. “You’re here! Oh, it’s so good to see you.” She threw her arms around him, forcing me to the side. “Come in, come in.” She ushered him toward the living room, leaving me to close the door behind them.
My father and Katy met us halfway there, coming from the living room. My father stopped in front of Mason and held him with a firm stare. “I was wrong about you…I’m sorry,” he said as he held out his hand.
“That’s all right, Mr. Roomer. Will you allow me to see your daughter, now?” Mason asked as he shook his hand.
My father smiled. “Of course I will. So where are you staying tonight?” He put his arm around Mason’s shoulder and led him to the living room, leaving me behind, just like my mother had.
But in the living room, Mason stayed standing until I reached him. Then we sat down on the couch together, where he held me close at his side. “I was planning to rent a hotel room after I saw Alexandra—” Mason began.
“But tomorrow’s Christmas,” my mother said. “You just better come over as soon as you wake up and spend the day here. Ted’s parents will be coming over and I know they’d love to meet you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Roomer. I will.”
“You can call me Lillian, dear. You’re seeing my daughter now, so we’ll become great friends.”
“All right, Lillian, I was telling Alexandra outside that my father asked me to find a house for us and to go ahead and buy it. I think that house across the street is just right. So I’ll get started on that Wednesday, since tomorrow’s Christmas. As soon as that’s settled, I’ll bring all our stuff here from Shilling. I’m hoping to have it done before my father gets here so he can move right in. I’ll be fine in a hotel until then.”
“Oh, I know.” My mother sat up straight and clapped her hands against her legs. “You could stay here. We could put that cot in your office, Ted, and he could sleep in there.” My father and I stared at her in surprise and I wondered if I’d heard her right.
“I don’t want to impose, Mrs. Room—Lillian.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, either,” my father said.
“I’m sure Mr. Roomer will need his office to work in.”
“During the day,” my mother said. “But not during the night when you would be asleep.”
“That’s true,” my father cut in. “But that’s not the problem. The problem is Alexandra. We can’t have her boyfriend staying here. The neighbors will talk.”
“No, they won’t,” I said. “He’s Sydney Algoth’s son, so a lot of them will be happy he’s here so they can come over and meet him, and he’ll only be here until he can move into a house. The neighbors will understand.”
“I agree. I’ll go get the cot,” my mother said before she stood up.
“Lillian, wait, you shouldn’t have to carry that up the stairs,” my father called after her, his voice falling on deaf ears. “I better go help her.” He shook his head as he stood up to leave the room, but stopped in front of us to raise an eyebrow. “If anyone asks, he’s staying downstairs, far away from you, Alexandra. Got it, Katy?”
“Wh—” Katy stammered from the other end of the couch. “If anyone asks me, I’ll tell them to mind their own business.”
“Katy.”
“Fine, Mason sleeps downstairs. I’m going to bed.” She walked up the stairs and into the bathroom.
“You had better be off to bed, too, Alexandra. Mason, maybe you could give me a hand with that cot. I really don’t want Alexandra’s mother having to carry it up the stairs.”
“Of course. Um,” Mason looked over at me. “Good night, Alexandra.” His eyes softened, like liquid silver, as he leaned over to kiss my cheek.
“Good night.”
We both stood up. Mason’s voice trickled away with my father’s as I made my way up the stairs. “I really appreciate this, Mr. Roomer.”
“Lillian’s right.
You’re a grown young man who’s dating our daughter. You can call me Ted…”
I couldn’t help but smile as I walked into my room. When I woke up, Mason would be there. When I went to bed, Mason would be there.
Picking up my hairbrush and moving to the window, I looked over at what used to be the Watkins’s house across the street. I’d been inside it a few times when I baby-sat for their little boy and girl. If Mason took the upstairs bedroom in the corner of the house closest to ours, we would be able to see right into each other’s windows. He could be the first thing I saw every morning when I woke up.
Lifting my gaze to the sky, I found my Christmas wishing star, and said, “Thank you,” as I ran the brush through my hair.