The Sixth Part of Chapter 17: Three Families, Three Christmases

With dinner and cake eaten, Mary and Andrew were in conversation upstairs, where they were sure the parents would not overhear.

Mary asked her husband, “Clarissa still seems rather morose, don’t you think?”

“Yes; I miss her smile,”

“So do I,”

Mary thought back to when she used to call Clarissa “Miss Sunshine”, “Miss Dazzling Whites”, and “Miss Happy-go-lucky”. From what she heard, happy-go-lucky was an apt description of how she and James had met. She dearly wanted the Clarissa with the pleasant demeanour back, and the Clarissa with the melancholy demeanour taken away; it was almost as if they were two different people, as if some part of her personality had died with James.

“What do you think we can do to cheer her up?” She asked Alice, who was beside her.

Alice reacted. “Short of finding her another man?”

“Another man may cheer her up, but do you think it’s a really…tasteful thing to do?”

“It maybe somewhat lacking in taste, but at least it will put a smile on her face again, and that’s what really matters.”

“Do you think we should take her to a movie tomorrow night? It might help her get over the slump,”

“I can’t help remembering the greeting she gave me: ‘Oh, hello Mary.’ Normally she would have said: ‘Mary!’ and would then rush up to me and give me a big hug. Speak of the devil! Clarissa, we were just talking about you; we were discussing ways to cheer you up. We miss the smiling Clarie, and we want her back!”

“I want that part of me back too, but alas: James has left, and so has my spark.”

“Please Clarissa, tell us it’s just on vacation! We like happy Clarissa who talks about various boring things pertaining to the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy, not morose Clarissa who talks about the same thing! When you put a smile on your face, inter-bank overnight lending rates sound at least halfway interesting.”

“They call it the dismal science for a reason, you know,”

Alice came into the room with her son in tow; Sean’s mouth was covered in chocolate; Alice had failed to prevent him from finding out where Margaret and Hyram kept their chocolate fudge, and he had made short work of it.

“So, what would be best? Do you want a new man? Do you want to laugh some more? Hey, how about you and I go to the movies on Tuesday and we can watch something funny. Jake can take care of that little monster.” Alice gestured to her son Sean, who was old enough to run around and wreak havoc on the house, but seemingly too young to understand the phrase “honey, please put that down,” which was often said to him in the context of him holding knives, vases, small animals and porcelain figurines; tonight he was causing Margaret no end of vexation. The sight of him was enough to put a smile on Clarissa’s face, which was just as much a smile of longing for when she would be harassed by a terrible two-year old as of amusement at the sight of him blowing raspberries.

Jacob said, in observation of his younger sister, “Hey, Sean got you smiling! Do you want to take care of him for us? That would certainly make us happy, and you’ll get some preparation for yourself. You can’t get too much of that; you are due in May, after all.”

The jesting question made Clarissa smile. “It’s nearly nine,” she said.

“Oh, yes, it’s nearly time to go. I’ll tell Andrew.” Mary went to the living room, where Andrew had wandered off shortly into their conversation, and was now talking to Hyram about the environment; she had just caught the tail end of it: “––and that’s why there needs to be more investment in public transportation.”

“Andrew, honey; it’s getting late, and I would like to return to Kitchener.”

“Really?” He glanced at his watch, to find out that it had stopped. He then looked at the grandfather clock just visible in the hall to confirm what his wife was saying.

“Oh, yes,” Andrew was much less enthusiastic about leaving than Mary; he liked the company of his wife’s family. “Well, thank you so much, Margaret, again for your hospitality.”

“It’s nothing, Andrew,” she said. Why hadn’t I developed this sort of rapport with James? Why should I feel so much closer to this son-in-law than the other? It was strange how she had taken a shine nearly immediately to Andrew, but not James. She thought he might still have been alive, had she taken a greater interest in him. Maybe it’s something that simply started on the wrong track. “Goodnight, Andrew and Mary, and Merry Christmas!”

Margaret hugged and kissed Mary and Andrew as they left.

Jacob and Alice also made to leave, while Sean, obviously not wanting to leave, made as if to be oblivious to all that was going on around him, and picked up a book to look at the pictures; this was a new stall tactic; previously he would have just screamed if he wasn’t getting his way.

“What’s this?” he asked nobody in particular.

“Oh, that’s the CN Tower,” replied Margaret.

“Sean, we have to go, honey,”

“No!”

“Sean––”

“Happy here!”

Alice took Sean firmly by the hand, and smiling at Margaret, bade her good-bye.

Sean screamed, “But mommy, I don’t wanna go!” Sean still found the old tactics useful from time to time.

After the family had left, Margaret turned to Clarissa. “I had been meaning to ask you something: how are you coming along in terms of your baby?”

“Very well; it seems to be the thing that’s giving me hope. I really appreciate the crib you gave me; I hadn’t gotten around to buying one myself. I really like all the kids’ books you gave me as well.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to have purchased something that would clutter your house; the baby isn’t due until May, at any rate. By the way, have you determined the gender?”

“The doctor said it was to be a girl.”

“That’s so nice! I think Sean would like to have a playmate, that way he wouldn’t annoy
me so much!”

“Really? I would have thought that they might grow to plot things together, you know, horrible things, and such stuff that toddlers dream up.”

“Oh, please, let’s concentrate on the positive: you are going to be a mother, and that’s simply wonderful,”

Clarissa smiled softly. “Thank you, for thinking of me,”

“Caring for a daughter in need is a mother’s foremost duty, Clarie, now matter how old she is,”

The double meaning of this statement was not lost on Mary, who was standing nearby, first as an affirmation of the relationship between Margaret and her daughters, and secondly as a reminder and admonishment for Clarissa to take good care of herself for her baby’s sake. Speaking of which, she seemed to be taking the pregnancy well enough; she didn’t seem sick all the time, or perhaps it was her putting on a brave face under all the pressures of work, loss and motherhood.

Clarissa sniffed. “Well, goodnight mom.” With that, she went upstairs into the room she had lived in as a child, and went to sleep, as it was a very busy day, and all the food had its effect on people.

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